Libyan EFL Research Articles

Libyan EFL Undergraduates’ Motivation Toward Integrating Improv Cards with Role-Play Technique in English Speaking Classes

Libyan EFL Undergraduates’ Motivation Toward Integrating Improv Cards with Role-Play Technique in English Speaking Classes

The Difficulties of Translating English Phrasal Verbs into Arabic,”The Case of Libyan EFL Graduate Translation Students at the Libyan Academy”

The Difficulties of Translating English Phrasal Verbs into Arabic,”The Case of Libyan EFL Graduate Translation Students at the Libyan Academy”

Investigating Stance and Engagement Markers in Ph.D. Theses of Libyan EFL Postgraduates

Investigating Stance and Engagement Markers in Ph.D. Theses of Libyan EFL Postgraduates

Second Language Learners’ Awareness of Adjectivalisation: The Challenge of Differentiating between Verbal Participles and Adjectival Participles by Libyan EFL Students

This study explores Libyan EFL learners’ awareness of the process of adjectivalisation, and more specifically the process of using the participle form and progressive form of verbs as adjectives used in English Language. In addition, this study aims to test Libyan students’ recognition of adjectival participles and whether they will be able to distinguish them from verbal participles, prove them as real adjectives with their progressive – ing, and participle – ed, – en forms, and find out appropriate Arabic equivalents of these adjectives easily. The data gathered for this study were based on students’ marks they got by answering a two-part test consisting of an introductory part which is a multiple-choice test, followed by the main part which is the translation test. In the first part, the participants who were 30 students enrolled in Translation III course, were asked to choose the correct adjectivalised participle, and in the second part, the participants were asked to translate some participles used as adjectives into Arabic language. The study was mainly based on quantitatively as well as qualitatively analysing students’ answers to the test questions. The findings of this research revealed that only 16.67 % of the participating students successfully recognized verbal participles used as adjectives. On the other hand, 33.33 % of the students have appropriately rendered the involved de-participle adjectives into Arabic. In addition to the previous results, 20 % of the respondents properly recognized the present participle adjectives, whereas 50% of them truly recognized past adjectival participles in English.

From Hesitation to Fluency: Unraveling Speaking Barriers in EFL Context

This study investigates Libyan EFL students' perceptions of their speaking skills, identifies barriers to their development of this skill, and explores the underlying causes of these barriers. A Likert-scale questionnaire was employed to collect quantitative data from 41 English-major students at the Department of English, University of Zawia, Libya. The findings indicate that while students acknowledge the significance of speaking skills for academic and professional success, they encounter challenges related to linguistic aspects, including vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Psychological barriers, such as fear of criticism and shyness, also hinder their willingness to participate in speaking activities. Furthermore, the study highlights that insufficient practice opportunities and traditional, teacher-centered instructional methods are major contributors to students' difficulties in speaking. The study suggests that enhancing students speaking skills can be achieved by increasing engagement in interactive speaking activities, shifting from teacher-centered to more interactive teaching methods, and creating environment that encourage speaking practice both inside and outside the classroom.

Effectiveness of Audio-Visual Aids in Teaching English as a Foreign Language at the University Level

The purpose of this study is to investigate to what extent the widespread use of audio-visual aids with Libyan EFL university instructors. Also, it is to examine how such audio-visual aids are appropriate to Arabic-speaking Libyan undergraduate students specializing in the English language as to be teachers of English after graduation. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches for collecting data was followed. The quantitative approach was based on a closed-ended questionnaire to check Libyan EFL university instructors’ opinions towards using audio-visual aids within the class whereas the qualitative approach was based on observations to notice the effectiveness of audio-visual aids in the class. Thirty four Libyan EFL university instructors participated in filling in the questionnaire sent via personal e-mails and Facebook messenger. This was followed by twenty four undergraduate students at Tripoli University (Faculty of Education – Department of English) who were observed while attending lectures on Listening and Speaking. The obtained results of the study showed how audio-visual aids had a strong effect on students' interaction. The implications of this study suggest that Libyan EFL university instructors have to consider audio-visual aids as a means to motivate students’ interactions. They are highly recommended to focus on the integration of audio-visual aids in teaching foreign languages.

Grammaticality Judgments as Evidence for Null-subject Parameter Resetting by Young and Adult Libyan EFL Learners

This study investigates a number of issues related to the differences between young and adult second language learners concerning the process of parameter resetting in cases when the first and the second language have two different values of the same parameter. The case which is examined in this study is the fact that Arabic which is the first language of the target groups of participants in this study is a pro-drop (null-subject) language, while English which they are studying as a foreign language is a non-pro- drop (non-null subject) language. The study uses Grammaticality Judgment tasks to which group of the Libyan EFL learners, the young or the adult learners’ group have reset this parameter from its value in Arabic to its different value in English. These Grammaticality Judgment tasks were applied to 91 university students who are studying in the Department of English, Faculty of Arts at Misurata University. The young learners’ group included 45 pupils in the first grades at the International Knowledge School in Misurata. The academic performance level of the participants in the two groups was considered as a factor which may affect the grammaticality judgments of the participants. The results showed that younger learners performed better in the grammaticality judgment tasks and that their judgments were not affected by the fact that their first language had a different value of the pro-drop parameter. It was also noticed that the intensive academic study at a university level did not help the older participants to be better than younger participants in this task. Moreover, the level of academic achievement was not a factor in this study that participants with lower academic levels performed better than those with higher academic levels

Cohesion and Errors in Essay Writing by Libyan EFL Students: A Study in the English Department, Omar Al-Mukhtar University

This study examines the misuse of the cohesion features in persuasive essays written by second-year students in the Department of English Language at Omar Al-Mukhtar University for the academic year 2022-2023. The study is guided by Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) cohesion theory. It utilized a qualitative descriptive method to study the cohesion and errors in essay writing by Libyan EFL students. The data is obtained from the participants by writing a persuasive essay that discusses one of the two topics provided. The findings of this study are three types of errors in the use of cohesion features, namely: reference features, lexical cohesion and conjunctions. The analysis also found several errors related to the structure and content of the essay, namely: the absence of thesis statement, the use of inappropriate punctuation marks, the absence of appropriate transition signals, the inconsistency of ideas, errors using parts of speech and diction that are inappropriate.

Challenges Faced by Libyan English Instructors in Using E-Communication Tools

The popularity of online teaching has increased significantly due to the outbreak of Covid-19 which prompted a sudden shift of educational activities to the online environment. In Libya, the government imposed online teaching and television learning programs as “emergency online education”. However, while online education offers numerous benefits as a flexible mode of knowledge delivery, both instructors and students tend to face various obstacles in the teaching and learning process. This study aimed to ascertain the challenges of using e-communication tools and their correlation with teaching experience among EFL instructors in Libyan universities. A total of 100 EFL instructors were examined using a cross-sectional survey method. The data were gathered through a structured questionnaire and analyzed using the mean, frequency, standard deviation, and Pearson correlation. The findings showed that major challenges faced by Libyan EFL instructors in using e-communication tools result from inadequate technical skills and lack of institutional support, followed by lack of student engagement and poor internet connection. The study also revealed a weak correlation between challenges of using e-communication tools and teaching experience among the instructors. This study was envisaged to provide information that can be useful to the Libyan government and higher learning institutions in the process of e-teaching implementation in the EFL context.

Online Learning is a City without Police: Influence of Proficiency on Libyan EFL Learners’ Perceptions

With the spread of COVID-19 and the replacement of face-to-face classes with emergency online learning, many studies have investigated English as a Foreign Language learners’ perceptions regarding their experiences of emergency online learning. However, the influence of EFL learners’ proficiency levels on their perceptions is still a neglected area. Conducting in-depth interviews with a group of Libyan EFL learners (n=18) by employing the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique, this study investigated their metaphorical perceptions regarding emergency online learning across the three proficiency levels of Basic, Independent, and Proficient Users according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Considering the large number of EFL learners around the world and the felt literature gap, this study investigated the relationship between EFL learners’ proficiency levels and perceptions. The three main features of online learning reflected in the participants’ metaphors were (i) lack of the teacher’s physical presence, (ii) lack of peers’ physical presence and (iii) lack of nonverbal communication cues. Furthermore, this study reveals a significant relationship between the learners’ language proficiency levels and perceptions. For instance, Basic Users perceived the lack of a teacher’s presence by metaphors of ‘unsafety’ and ‘fear’, while Independent and Proficient Users respectively perceived it by metaphors of ‘freedom’ and ‘power’. Accordingly, the learners reported different class behaviors and learning strategies in response to these features

A Study on the Diagnostic Effect of Social Media on Libyan EFL University Students Writing Skills in General and Day-to-day Written Communication Specifically

The present study aims to scrutinise the diagnostic effect of social media on Libyan EFL University Students Writing skills in General and day-to-day Written Communication specifically. As social media is a growing phenomenon that contributes to language change and the way we use it, the effects this language change has on EFL students is of particular interest. This research covers Facebook and Instagram, as it also employs a quantitative method with an online questionnaire as its research instrumentation to collect the data. The questionnaire was distributed online through Google forms using a closed-ended questionnaire. The findings indicated that Libyan EFL University Students believe that social media has a positive effect on their language. It was also found that writing is the most affected and improved skill when using social media for learning the English language. Results also indicated that social media helps learners acquire and practise new vocabulary and decrease spelling errors. The researchers recommended more research to assess the influence of other social media platforms on EFL learners, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Furthermore, further research into the impact of social media on each skill independently is also advised.

Online Learning is a City without Police: Influence of Proficiency on Libyan EFL Learners’ Perceptions

Online Learning is a City without Police: Influence of Proficiency on Libyan EFL Learners’ Perceptions

Beyond Engagement: Using Storyboards as a Digital Storytelling Tool for Teaching Libyan EFL University Students Literary Fiction During the Covid-19 Pandemic

In the current situation of COVID-19 pandemic, and in response to an appeal from the Libyan Ministry of Education to all universities and colleges to improvethe quality of education as the country is in lockdown, there are new ongoingdiscussions on how best to integrate technology for online-learning and teaching. How best to address the academic rigor of the new situation in Libyan EFL university classrooms during this period of unexpected and unprecedented educational disruption, and to engage students in meaningful use of technology for learning is a topic of great interest to practitioners and researchers alike. Byencouraging online or blended learning, language institutions are making greatefforts to further promote the foreign language learning process. Integratingtechnology into the EFL curriculum is not a single concept which is generated from a single theory, and its implementation calls for a range of perspectives and theoretical views. This paper discusses the issue of technology’s contribution in EFL classroom, more specifically it investigates the teaching of literary fiction and how best to support its reading and understanding through technology. The question raised in this paper is how technology facilitates the attainment of coursegoals. So, it tries to propose answers to the questions: How can we best make use of technology for planning literary lessons? What instructional strategies can teachers use to promote reading development? How do teachers help their students acquire the necessary skills for literary analysis and understanding in an online environment? The aim of this research paper is therefore to provide suggestions which Libyan EFL classrooms could make use of in the current situation, to promote technology use and online learning when teaching literature, and also make use of this technology to promote understanding, and analysis of literary texts (fiction) in order to develop creativity, collaboration, and eventually language skills. It, therefore, proposes the utilization of digital storytelling tools like ‘StoryboardThat’ as an instructional approach to facilitate art-based language standards

Raising Libyan EFL undergraduate students’ awareness about environmental issues through project-based learning

Although project-based learning, as a language teaching strategy, is considered important for developing college students' academic and soft skills is still a neglected approach in EFL teaching in Libya. This study aims to investigate the use of project-based learning in EFL writing classrooms to raise students’ awareness about environmental issues. It is carried out in the Department of English at Sabratha College of Arts. The findings of this study, based on an open-ended questionnaire and students’ reflection journals, show that PBL enhanced the students’ English language knowledge and skills. Also, students gained content knowledge about the environment, soft skills, autonomy, and self-confidence in using the English language in its context. Finally, the PBL experience promoted the students’ awareness of the environment and how to protect it. This research provides good evidence of the effectiveness of PBL to engage and enhance students' learning. Keywords: EFL; environmental issues; Project-based learning; soft skills.

Libyan EFL Students’ Listening Comprehension Problems in Listening to Connected Speech

Listening skill is one of the challenging skills in a foreign language learning context where exposure to native connected speech is restricted. EFL learners encounter various listening comprehension issues which affect their mastering of the targeted language. Therefore, this study investigates the listening comprehension issues in listening to connected speech among a group of Libyan EFL learners. It examined the learners’ perception on the problems they encounter during listening to connected speech, with the goal of improving their perceptual and listening comprehension skills in the future. Data was collected from a total of 62 Libyan intermediate level learners using a Listening Comprehension Processing Problems Questionnaire. The difficulty levels experienced by the participants while listening to connected discourse ranged from moderate to high. These challenges occurred in all the three categories of listening comprehension; utilisation, perception, and parsing. Additionally, a strong positive and significant correlation was detected between the three categories of listening processing problems. The study also has pedagogical implications. These findings could be used by teachers, researchers, syllabus designers, and material developers to address the challenges associated with listening comprehension among EFL learners, and how including connected speech in the learning and teaching materials became an excessive necessity.

Effects of Explicit Connected Speech Instruction on Libyan EFL Learners’ Perceptions of Listening Comprehension Problems in Speech Recognition, Parsing and Utilisation

This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of explicit connected speech instruction in reducing EFL learners’ listening comprehension problems associated with speech recognition, parsing and utilization. Sixty-two (N = 62) Libyan intermediate-level EFL learners, aged 19 to 21, served as the subjects. They were randomly assigned to either the treatment (n = 32) or control group (n = 30). The treatment subjects were exposed to explicit instruction on the features of connected speech for one term (i.e., 12 weeks). An adapted Listening Comprehension Processing Problems questionnaire was administered to both groups before and after the treatment in order to investigate the problems they encountered in comprehending connected speech. The questionnaire contained items measuring language comprehension difficulties in three categories, i.e., speech recognition, parsing, and utilisation. Following the 12-week intervention, the treatment group showed a significant improvement in their report of comprehension problems, while the control group remained constant or unchanged in their perception of the problems. The effect sizes of the differences between the treatment and control group were large, ranging between d = 1.14 (parsing) and d =1.19 (recognition). The findings highlight the necessity to teach connected speech recognition in the EFL curriculum to improve learners’ listening comprehension ability.

The Role of Mobile Phones As Effective Tools For Language Learning By Libyan EFL Learners

The current technological era has witnessed a great advancement in the world of mobile technology. Mobiles gadgets have now turned out to be an integral element of the daily life. Given the fact that mobile devices can be used to serve a number of functions, EFL learners can utilize them regularly to enhance their process of learning and attain good learning outcome. This article intends to explore the effectiveness of using mobile phones in language learning by Libyan EFL learners. To further investigate this issue, questionnaires were administered to 151 Libyan EFL undergraduate students from the English department of Sebha University and focus group discussions (FGDs) were carried out with 18 students. The results revealed that using mobile phones in learning was effective to a great extent. Besides, the majority of Libyan EFL learners utilized their mobile phones mostly to check meaning of words, to listen to English songs and to develop reading, listening, speaking and writing skills. The findings also demonstrated that Libyan EFL learners exhibited positive perceptions towards using mobile phones in learning English.

The Role of Mobile Phones As Effective Tools For Language Learning By Libyan EFL Learners

The current technological era has witnessed a great advancement in the world of mobile technology. Mobiles gadgets have now turned out to be an integral element of the daily life. Given the fact that mobile devices can be used to serve a number of functions, EFL learners can utilize them regularly to enhance their process of learning and attain good learning outcome. This article intends to explore the effectiveness of using mobile phones in language learning by Libyan EFL learners. To further investigate this issue, questionnaires were administered to 151 Libyan EFL undergraduate students from the English department of Sebha University and focus group discussions (FGDs) were carried out with 18 students. The results revealed that using mobile phones in learning was effective to a great extent. Besides, the majority of Libyan EFL learners utilized their mobile phones mostly to check meaning of words, to listen to English songs and to develop reading, listening, speaking and writing skills. The findings also demonstrated that Libyan EFL learners exhibited positive perceptions towards using mobile phones in learning English.

Realisation of the Speech Act of Request, Suggestion and Apology by Libyan EFL Learners

This study investigates the three speech act strategies of request, suggestion and apology in Libyan Arab EFL undergraduate students (AREFLUS) and Amazigh EFL undergraduate students (AMEFLUS). It also examines their linguistic and pragmatic competence in these strategies. Two Libyan universities (Sebha and Zwara) are selected for the study, which includes 50 AREFLUS and 37 AMEFLUS participants. To investigate the students’ socio-pragmatic and pragma linguistic competence, two instruments are used: a questionnaire in the form of a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) and a rating scale. The results reveal numerous similarities between the Libyan Arab and Amazigh participants in performing all the speech act strategies of request, suggest and apology. However, some significant differences regarding gender are found among Libyan EFL students. Overall, both groups appear to be more competent in functioning than in structuring the three mentioned speech act strategies.

Perceptual Learning Style Preferences of English Major Libyan University Students and their Correlations with Academic Achievement

Exploring perceptual learning style preferences and their relationships with academic achievement is important to success in teaching and learning language. The aim of this study, therefore, was to investigate the perceptual learning style preferences of Libyan EFL University students majoring in English at Omar Almukhtar University and to check whether there is a significant relationship between students’ perceptual learning style preferences and their academic achievement. A total of 75 fourth year English major students were participated in this study. A self-reporting learning style questionnaire developed by Kinsella (1994) was used to collect data and final semester examination scores were used to determine the average academic achievement for each participant. The findings showed that tactile style was the most dominant learning style among the students followed by auditory style while kinesthetic style was the least favoured learning style. The findings also revealed that there was a significant relationship between students’ learning style preferences and their academic achievement; the strongest correlation (r=0.30, P<.01) was found between the auditory learning style and academic achievement. The findings are discussed in this study with implication for university instructors to identify their students’ perceptual learning style and match them with their teaching style to influence students’ achievement, and deliver their lectures by using different approaches and techniques to ensure that the learning process is effective and efficient for a great number of their students. This study contributed to the EFL field in Libya by providing clear information on students’ learning style preferences and their correlation with academic achievement.