Intermediate Level Of English Proficiency Research Articles

English proficiency of Japanese third-age learners: A Quantitative Inquiry

The EFL (English as a Foreign Language) participation and engagement of third-age learners, whose ages range from 50 up to 70 and above has received global attention. Japanese third-age learners' pursuit of English competence exhibits broader societal trends and personal desires for lifelong learning. Utilizing a descriptive-correlational approach, the study assessed the level of English language proficiency (ELP) of 59 Japanese third-age learners registered in the 2023-2024 EFL program in five cities of Aichi prefecture, Japan, when they were taken as a whole and when they were demographically grouped by sex, age, educational background, and weekly average study time. The results show that on average, third-age learners in Japan achieve an intermediate level of English proficiency or B1, with variances observed attributed to demographic criteria such as sex, age, educational background, and weekly English study time. The study found a significant relationship between ELP and the respondents’ demographic, indicating that ELP levels are influenced by sex, age, educational attainment, and the number of hours spent learning English per week, with males showing higher proficiency and older learners generally showing higher levels. The study underscores the need for tailored English language instruction for third-age learners, taking into account their specific demographics. It also considers the policy implications of institutionalizing programs for third-age learners in Japan, aiming to promote active aging, social integration, and overall well-being. Researchers, teachers, and curriculum designers may use this study as one of the bases for developing tailored curricula and instructional materials for third-age learners.

The Effect of Self-identity and Positive Emotion Intervention on College Students' English Reading Study on the Correlation between Test Scores

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of self-identification and positive emotion intervention on college students' English reading comprehension. In the context of globalization, proficiency in English reading is crucial for effective cross-cultural communication and career advancement. However, previous research has primarily focused on the influence of self-efficacy on long-term learning, neglecting the examination-specific utilization of psychological adjustment strategies (such as positive emotional intervention) and its correlation with test performance and scores among students. Therefore, this study posits that through psychological adjustment and alleviation of test anxiety, positive emotional intervention and self-identification can facilitate improvements in English reading comprehension skills as well as enhance test coping abilities. A total of 61 non-English major college students were randomly selected and divided into two groups: “moderate self-identification group” and “high self-identification group”. Each group was further subdivided into an intervention group and a control group. The statistical software SPSS was employed to conduct descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, cluster analysis, and difference analysis in order to elucidate the relationship between positive emotions, self-identification, and English reading scores. These findings aim to provide novel insights for both the education industry and the psychological field. The results revealed that positive emotion intervention significantly influenced students' English reading test scores across different levels of self-identification. Specifically, students with a moderate level of self-identification exhibited improved performance after receiving positive emotion intervention, whereas those with a high level of self-identification maintained better performance without additional situational motivation. Furthermore, it was observed that reading materials of varying difficulty levels also impacted reading comprehension at an intermediate level of English proficiency. Overall, this study confirms the efficacy of positive emotion intervention in assisting students in effectively coping with challenges and enhancing their accuracy.

DEMYSTIFYING STUDENT NEEDS IN NON-ENGLISH PROGRAMS FOR ENGLISH-SPECIFIC PURPOSES

It cannot be hindered that needs analysis is a crucial element of English for Specific Purposes theory. Without it, effective communication in targeted domains cannot be achieved. Since ESP is linked to their field of study it presupposes that student chose to be extra curious in comprehending issues related to their domain of study or work, which should have a connection between components and English skills. This study examines students' requirements for learning English for specific purposes, encompassing their needs, preferences, and areas of deficiency, with a focus on multidimensional learning needs. The research employs a descriptive qualitative approach. This study employed several techniques to collect data, including conducting interviews with students enrolled in English for Business Management (ESP) courses during their second semester. The results of this research were analyzed using Hutchinson and Waters (1987) theory of needs analysis. Researchers found that students have a high need to learn English; they desire to improve their speaking skills for work, but there is a gap between their current proficiency level and what they need. It is highly recommended for students who are planning to pursue a degree in management studies to possess an intermediate level of proficiency in the English language before starting their academic journey. Therefore, it is advisable for students in the management study program to have at least an intermediate level of English proficiency before commencing their studies. This strategy ensures their ability to address their English learning requirements effectively.

EFL Learners’ perceptions of the Effectiveness of Duolingo

This study was conducted to investigate EFL learners’ perceptions ofthe effectiveness of the Duolingo application in enhancing English listening skills and their attitudes toward using this tool to study English listening. To this end, a total of 119 English-majored students who have used the Duolingo application participated in this research. Data were collected using a five-point Likert scale questionnaire and interviews. Data were analyzed both quantitatively using descriptive statistics and qualitatively using the content analysis method. Findings revealed that the Duolingo application is a popular program among English majors and most students think that it was helpful for them to improve their listening skills and keep them motivated to learn English. The interesting, vivid, and intuitive exercises in Duolingo and its feature of frequent reminders motivated them to study. However, it was also found that Duolingo was more suitable for students who are at basic and intermediate levels of English proficiency than for advanced students. Then, some pedagogical implications were proposed.

The Effect of Lexical Inference Strategy Instruction on Saudi EFL learners’ Reading Comprehension

Lexical inference strategy plays an important role in increasing the level of reading comprehension of second or foreign language learners. Lexical inferencing as an efficient strategy to deal with unfamiliar words has attracted much attention in the comprehension literature. However, few studies on lexical inferencing have been conducted in an English as a foreign language (EFL) setting. To fill in the existing gap, the current study aimed at investigating the effect of lexical inferencing strategy instruction on Saudi EFL students’ reading comprehension. Additionally, it sought to identify the lexical inferencing strategies used by Saudi EFL learners while they were inferring unknown words in a text. Last, the current study attempted to find the relationship between lexical inference strategies and reading comprehension among Saudi EFL learners. Sixty students from the English department were selected based on their scores on the Oxford Placement Test, indicating that they were at intermediate levels of English proficiency. The participants were randomly divided into two groups: control and experimental (each consisting of 30 students). The participants in the control group received regular instruction, while the participants in the experimental group were treated using lexical inference strategies. The instruments used for collecting data were Oxford Placement Test, reading comprehension test, and think-aloud protocol. A pre-test and post-test were administered for control and experimental groups. The results of the independent samples t-test revealed that teaching inference skills had a significant effect on reading comprehension performance among EFL learners. The results of the paired t-tests showed that lexical inferencing instruction had a statistically significant effect on EFL learners’ reading comprehension development. The results of the Spearman correlation coefficient indicated that there was a significant relationship between lexical inferencing strategies and reading comprehension. The findings revealed the profound impact of lexical inferencing strategy instruction on the experimental group's performance in understanding reading text. Hence, it was concluded that lexical inferencing strategies were recommended to teach to improve the students’ reading comprehension performance.

Group Dynamic Assessment and EFL Learners’ Oral Production, Motivation, and Classroom Anxiety

The present study examined the impact of group dynamic assessment (G-DA) on English as foreign language (EFL) learners’ oral production, motivation, and classroom anxiety. For this purpose, Student Motivational State Questionnaire Guilloteaux and Dornyei, TESOL Quarterly 42, 55–77, (2008) and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) Horwitz et al., The Modern Language Journal 70, 125–132(1986) were employed. In addition, IELTS Speaking Sample Tests were used to assess participants’ oral proficiency levels before and after the treatment. At first, 100 EFL learners at pre-intermediate and intermediate levels of English proficiency were selected through convenience sampling procedure from some language institutes. Next, a sample TOEFL Junior Standard Test was administered to the participants and based on test rubrics, 77 A2 and B1 level EFL learners were identified and randomly assigned to experimental G-DA groups A and B, and non-dynamic assessment (NDA) control groups C and D. All study groups participated in 14 sessions of speaking practice in which G-DA-based mediations were employed for groups A and B following Poehner’s (2005) mediation typology, while groups C and D were subjected to NDA forms of practice. The results underscored the relative positive impact of G-DA on EFL learners’ oral proficiency development and classroom anxiety reduction. However, compared to NDA, G-DA did not have any positive effect on the participants’ motivation level. The findings seem to imply that a socially constructive environment which is more likely created in EFL classes as a result of the application of group-based dynamic assessment of the EFL learners’ language problems leads to more efficient identification of the group’s zone of proximal development (GZPD). Furthermore, G-DA seems to be an efficient procedure for lowering the anxiety level of foreign language learners in classroom context.

The Effects Of Environmental Problem-based Learning Method On Malaysian Primary ESL Learners’ Vocabulary Achievement

Environmental education has long been introduced as early as the 18th century in western countries, but in Malaysia, it still can be considered as a new start in the year 1979. In relation to this, various programs have been conducted by the government to produce literate individuals that are aware of and concern of environmental issues. In primary English education, there are a few topics on the environment that should be taught by teachers, and environmental education is also considered as a cross-curricular subject. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of environmental problem-based learning (PBL) on Malaysian primary school learners' vocabulary achievement. Environmental PBL is an instructional method that provides learners the opportunities to learn cooperatively in groups to find solutions to any problem. This study employed experimental design, which involved 20 learners that came from an intermediate level of English proficiency. They were randomly divided into experimental group and control group. The experimental group was treated with environmental PBL in learning new vocabulary, while the other group was taught using the conventional memorisation method. A set of vocabulary test (pre and post) was used to measure learners' vocabulary achievement and the data were analysed by using independent sample t-test. From the data, it was found out that the learners who were taught by using environmental PBL improved their vocabulary acquisition significantly as being compared to the control group based on the means of marks obtained by the research participants in the experimental group with 12.80 and the mean achieved by the control group with 6.20. Next, this study also showed how environmental PBL helped the experimental group in learning vocabulary based on their orientations which included two themes (effectiveness and participation). Hence, it is suggested that English teachers should use environmental PBL as an effective method of teaching vocabulary to young learners.

A Survey of Indonesian Students' Use of Dictionaries

This article aims to define the profile of Indonesian speakers as dictionary users by using a questionnaire-based research. The survey was distributed to university students who were studying English as a foreign language. The students fall in two groups with pre-intermediate and intermediate levels of English proficiency. They were instructed to fill out the survey. The question items encourage students to report their consultation frequency of dictionary use, dictionary choices and ratings, and needs of dictionary information. The findings confirmed that both pre-intermediate and intermediate students use bilingual dictionaries more often than monolingual dictionaries. The two groups show indifference towards the evaluation of different dictionary types, since learners rate bilingual dictionaries as good as monolingual dictionaries. The collected data offers insights into students' awareness and knowledge of various dictionary types in Indonesian lexicographical context.

B1 Single Sentence Descriptors

Single sentences are commonly used to develop objective questions that are used to evaluatestudents’ learning progress. It is crucially important to be able to develop objective questions of differentdifficulty levels consistently. Therefore, B1 Single Sentence Descriptors (B1-SSD) is invented to facilitateinstructors who need to construct single sentences that are used for developing objective questions ofthree difficulty levels at B1 or the intermediate level of English proficiency. To date, there is no descriptorsfor single sentences found on Google Search. From the studies that have been published so far, thereare limited readability formula for single sentences that can be used as guidelines for constructing singlesentences of different difficulty levels. Moreover, the studies employ a strenuous process of determiningof single sentence readability. Therefore, B1-SSD has specified the features for single sentences of threedifficulty levels at B1 or the intermediate level of English proficiency that that are more easily determined.The features can be analysed by using free resources such as the sentence depth by using Enju athttp://www.nactem.ac.uk/enju/demo.html and the vocabulary level by using Online Cambridge Dictionaryat http://dictionary.cambridge.org/. B1-SSD is significantly useful to facilitate instructors in in developingobjective questions faster, more easily and economically. It also has a great potential in developingobjective questions for learning assessments and instructional games that have commercial values for aspecified target group.

The Effects of Deductive and Inductive Instructions on Medical University Undergraduates’ Improvement of Medical Research Articles Writing Performance

This study attempted to compare the effectiveness of the explicitly deductive (ED) and the explicitly inductive (EI) instructions in teaching particular structure that marks causal relations in medical research articles (MRAs) among Chinese medical university undergraduates of elementary and intermediate levels of English proficiency. The effects on short- and long-term learning were also investigated. Research proves that the causal relations are essential for MRAs and the verbs + that-clauses are commonly adopted as the causal markers in published English MRAs. Thus, they were taught as the target knowledge in the present study. A total of 64 medical university undergraduates were recruited and randomly divided into two instructional conditions. Performances in both conditions were measured by immediate and delayed posttests. The Mann-Whitney U test, repeated measured ANOVA and the two-way ANOVA were conducted to analyze the data. Results revealed a statistically significant difference between these two instructional approaches, with the EI instruction having a greater effect on participants’ short-term and long-term learning of the target knowledge. English proficiency had no significant influence. The results shed light on the impact of the deductive and the inductive approaches on English for specific purposes (ESP)/ MRAs writing teaching, and some implications for teaching as well as future studies were provided and discussed.

The Teaching Methods in Translation Courses: E-Learning Resources

Context: This study was carried out during the second semester of academic year 2017-2018 at the Islamic Azad University of Tehran, North and South branches, aiming at providing a description of the attitudes of English-major students towards the teaching methods in translation courses (TCs). Evidence Acquisition: A multi-item Likert-scale questionnaire was developed based on the principles applied in the three traditional, complex and modern methods of teaching for collecting research data. Cronbach’s alpha was used for estimating the reliability of the items. Besides, experts’ judgment and item analysis were used for the coverage and relevance of content and construct validity, through which a questionnaire with 32 items was developed. The number of participants was determined based on the margin of error (5%) and 95% confidence level for the population size of 140. Accordingly, the required sample size for the study was calculated at 100. The respondents were randomly selected from the population and were homogenized by the results obtained from the Preliminary English Test (PET). The students were at intermediate level of English proficiency with the mean score of 16.18 and standard deviation of 0.31. Results: According to the participants’ viewpoints, although all the methods were common, but modern methods challenged the traditional and complex methods by emphasizing on the necessity of incorporation of the principles for assuring quality and relevance by applying various study resources like e-learning facilities. Conclusions: It is not possible to consider any of the methods as superior, however, it is necessary to further adapt the principles included in any of the three methods to the local and novel needs. In other words, gaining the viewpoints of learners as the final recipients of the methods would be helpful for instructors via enabling them to find out how subtle variations in methods might lead learners to various directions depending on their attitudes and the use of e-learning resources, based on which the necessary adaptations are made in the application of methods.

The Effect of Planning and Monitoring as Metacognitive Strategies on Iranian EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing Accuracy

One of the most problematic areas for foreign language learning is writing. Writing is the most sophisticated and complex achievement of the language system (Lerner, 1997). Writing requires the activation and coordination of orthographic, graphomotor and several linguistic skills including, but not limited to, semantics, syntax, spelling, and writing conventions (Scott, 1999; Singer & Bashir, 2004).With the development of cognitive psychology, metacognition has drawn more and more researchers’ attention and provides a new perspective for EFL writing, especially argumentative writing model. Since this strategy is a high-ordered executive skill by its components (planning, monitoring, and evaluating) this study investigated the effects of planning and monitoring skills as metacognitive strategies on Iranian intermediate EFL learners’ argumentative writing accuracy. Sixty university students participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups. They were at the intermediate level of English proficiency. Their language proficiency was determined by Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency (MTELP) (Corrigan, 1979).The experimental group (EG) received metacognitive strategies-based writing instruction whereas the control group (CG) received only the routine writing instruction (Product Approach). After eight weeks of instruction both groups were post tested. Data were submitted to the independent T-Test analysis and the results showed that there was a positive effect in the experimental group's writing performance. The findings have implications for pedagogy as well as for research.

Toward Finding an Approach for Improving Rhetorical Organization of EFL Learners’ Argumentative Writing

This study aimed at examining the probable impact of three distinct approaches to teaching writing, namely Process, Process-product and Product approaches on the rhetorical organization of EFL learners’ argumentative essays. To fulfill this aim, after ensuring the homogeneity of the 45 participants of the study through Oxford Placement Test (OPT) the learners who were all at the intermediate level of English proficiency were divided into three groups comprising of 15 learners, each receiving instruction for 6 sessions based on the aforementioned approaches. After teaching the basic structure of an argumentative essay, the students in each group were required to write an essay in each session. In the last session they were asked to produce an essay which was considered as their post-test. The rhetorical organization of their writings was analyzed using a rubric adopted from the study of Tsai (2006). Using SPSS 16, the results of One-way ANOVA at the alpha level of .05 revealed that there was a significant difference between those who wrote based on process approach and also process-product approach and those who were taught on the basis of product approach to writing. The pedagogical implications of the study are further discussed throughout the paper.

Understanding the “mmhm”: Dilemmas in talk between teachers and adolescent emergent bilingual students

Dyadic teacher–student interactions represent a potentially valuable opportunity for adolescent emergent bilingual students to access academic knowledge, develop language proficiency, and acquire literacy skills in secondary school contexts. But to what extent are these conversations actually an affordance for students? Drawing upon insights in interactional sociolinguistics, conversation analysis, and other classroom discourse research, this study analyzes interactions during in-class writing activities between teachers and Spanish-speaking adolescents at beginning and intermediate levels of English proficiency. Data indicate that students often tend to offer agreement or limited responses in interactions related to language use, generating ideas, factual knowledge, and conceptual issues. Analysis of discourse includes a focus on both the dilemmas teachers face in interpreting students’ limited contributions and teachers’ interactional and interpretive roles in these interactions.

Improving Productive Vocabulary Knowledge Through Writing

To improve and activate the vocabulary of EFL learners, an alternative to common advice in trying to use them in speech can be invited. Mclaughlin, B. et al. (2000) previously argued for the role of reading comprehension in improving the vocabulary knowledge of nonnative speakers. The same can be shown through writing. As two quite different methodologies in writing pedagogy are process and product writing, it is interesting to find which holds more promise for the vocabulary improvement. Product writing pedagogy encompasses accuracy-based and error-corrective tradition and students acting one-off (Gabrielatos, 2004), while process writing enacts students learning how to write by writing involving brainstorming and production of multiple drafts based on teacher’s feedback (Paribakht, 2003). For the purpose of this study, sixty four from a hundred interested students at the intermediate level of English proficiency, set by a TOEFL score, pursued and consummated the weekly classes of writing instruction. A class is selected to be instructed in process writing by the flip of a coin and the other taught product writing then. After a semester period of teaching process and product writing to respective homogeneous groups and applying a pretest-posttest design, the researchers used a T-test to compare mean difference of group scores from pretest and posttest which is a productive vocabulary test. The results of study demonstrate that process group improved their vocabulary significantly better over product group. Controlling that all subjects be of the same age range, language proficiency level and of both sexes in balanced divisions, while every other factor is held constant to make a fair estimate of the role of writing method on vocabulary.

Integrated Reading and Writing Tasks and ESL Students' Reading and Writing Performance in an English Language Test

This exploratory study investigated whether content knowledge from reading would affect the processes and the products of adult ESL (English as a second language) students' writing and reading performance in a simulated English language test that made use of reading and writing modules. Following a counterbalanced within-subjects design, 34 first-year engineering students with intermediate levels of English proficiency did two reading and writing tasks in two conditions, one when the reading passage was related thematically to the writing task, and the other when the reading passage was not. In addition, participants answered interview questions and filled out a retrospective checklist of the writing strategies they used when the writing task was related thematically to the reading task. The students performed significantly better on their writing and on summary recalls of their reading comprehension in the condition where the reading and writing tasks were thematically related. The study revealed that the thematic connection between reading and writing enhanced both the processes and the products of students' writing performance.

A Rationale for Providing Service to the Limited English Proficiency Student

This paper presents a rationale for the legitimacy of including Limited English Proficiency students in the caseload of the public school speech-language pathologist and provides an outline of language facilitation techniques and appropriate objectives for students at a beginning or a low intermediate level of English proficiency.