Reading English Books Research Articles

THE DIFFICULTIES FACED AND THE STRATEGIES USED BY ENGLISH DEPARTMENT STUDENTS IN LEARNING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

The study aims to identify the difficulties faced and the strategies used by English Department students at Universitas Trunojoyo Madura in learning English. The study used a mixed-method approach, which is a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. The source of data was one class in the second semester that consisted of thirty-seven students. The data were the difficulties faced by the students in learning English and the strategies they used to deal with them. The research instrument used was questionnaires containing both close-ended and open-ended questions. The data that was obtained from closed-ended questions were analysed quantitatively while those that were derived from open-ended questions were analysed qualitatively. The results showed that the difficulties faced by English Department students in learning English include pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary and they exercised different strategies to solve them. Specifically, the strategies to solve the difficulty in learning pronunciation were listening to English songs, singing English songs, watching English movies or films, imitating using Google Translate, and practising the pronunciation by themselves. The strategies to tackle the difficulty in learning grammar were watching YouTube, reading English books, learning from the internet, learning through Instagram, and learning by themselves. Furthermore, there were several ways that they used to deal with the difficulty in learning vocabulary, for example, they used English dictionaries, watched English movies, read English books, used English songs, and memorized new vocabulary.

Learning Strategies and Challenges of EFL Learners in Enriching English Vocabularies

Challenges always exist in learning any English skills, including vocabulary building. This leads to the fact that EFL learners still do not know what strategies can be used to enrich English vocabularies. This qualitative study therefore aims to investigate what strategies are used by EFL learners and the challenges experienced by them in enriching and memorizing vocabularies. To achieve those objectives, this research categorizes the respondents into three groups, namely the first, second and third grades of senior high school. They are all interviewed in a semi structured way to find out in-depth data. The analyses reveal that the respondents employ various strategies to enrich the English vocabularies. The majority of the first grade respondents use the strategy of watching movies, reading English books and saying English words repeatedly. Then, the second grade respondents prefers to use the strategy of saying the English words repeatedly, watching movies and reading articles. Lastly, the third grade of the respondents use the strategy of watching movies and listening to music. This indicates that enriching vocabulary not only requires formal strategies in the classroom but also informal strategies outside the classroom.

Artificial Intelligence-Based Content Generator Technology for Young English-as-a-Foreign-Language Learners’ Reading Enjoyment

Artificial intelligence has recently seen tremendous growth, and been applied to several fields, including the second-language domain. In this article, we share an innovative practice based on one of potential artificial intelligence technologies for second-language teaching and learning – artificial intelligence-based content generator, which generates texts based on user’s keywords. In total, 121 young English-as-a-foreign-language learners participated in the study, with half of them having engaged in the artificial intelligence-based content generator-based activity, and the other half having received traditional English-as-a-foreign-language reading instruction. We examined the extent to which the artificial intelligence-based content generator-based activity could influence the participants’ foreign language enjoyment and interests in reading English books, and the participants were given the survey addressing these variables, prior to and after the innovative practice. It was found that the condition based on the artificial intelligence-based content generator-based activity was more effective in terms of enhancing the target variables, and that the group which engaged in the artificial intelligence-based content generator-based activity was largely in favor of artificial intelligence-based content generator technology. Pedagogical implications for employing this technology in second-language contexts are provided.

Mother Tongue Interference in EFL Students’ Writing

Understanding the similarities and differences between English, as the target language, and Indonesian, as the native language, is an essential thing for students to know if they want to master English. One problem as the most challenging thing for students is to express themselves in English appropriately, orally or written. The student’s original language, Indonesian, interferes with their ability to compose English sentences correctly, especially in writing. It is essential to find and identify errors made by students of English, in this case, the interference of Indonesian in writing. Therefore, this study was conducted to analyze the interference of Indonesian in students English writing. This study provides an analysis of the interference of Indonesian on English writing made by EFL students. The data for the study is collected from essay writing on a descriptive text by 32 university students in the fourth semester majoring in English and whose native language is Indonesian. Those 32 students were purposively chosen as samples since they sit in one class and had the Essay writing Course. The students then asked to write about two pages of descriptive essays on specific exciting topics for them. It is found that there are a total of 359 Indonesian interferences on the students’ English writing. The findings suggest valuable strategies to aid students in developing their writing skills, such as viewing English-language movies, reading English books or articles, and listening to English news and music.

THE OBSTACLES OF ENGLISH LEARNING TOWARD STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT AT SMA N 2 TAKENGON

This study describes the obstacles in English learning at SMA N 2 Takengon. The location of this school is close to the city and all access to be able to develop students' English skills, but this school does not stand out in the English language arena, therefore the specific objectives of this study is knowing the obstacles faced by students in English learning. This study is qualitative study with an explorative approach. The subjects of this study consisted of nine students who were selected using a purposive sampling technique. Data collection techniques using observation, interviews, and documentation. After that, the data obtained are classified according to Ayu Lestari's theory to determine the obstacle, then the data were analyzed using the theory of Miles and Hubeman, there are; data reduction, data presentation and conclusion drawing/verification. The results of the study is the obstacles faced by students in learning English have two aspects, the first is external; the school does not have a language laboratory, the school library does not provide English reading books such as novels, comics and dictionaries, the school does not have slogans and wall stickers in English. Second is internal; students are not confident in speaking English during English lessons, students are not used to watching movies and reading English books. At the end of the study, it was found that the obstacles faced by students at SMA N 2 Takengon.

Practicing Reading for Pleasure in the EFL Classrooms: Using [The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time] in a College English Cou rse

This paper explores a college EFL course designed to practice reading for pleasure during the pandemic. Sixty EFL college learners in a required English course read Mark Haddon’s (2004) [The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time] within the structure of a regular reading and writing focused academic English course. Reading for pleasure is often considered unfit for inclusion in regular curriculum. Nevertheless, for digital natives, the act of pleasurable reading especially in L2, should be actively implemented into classroom activities. This study follows a case study which practices reading for pleasure by utilizing weekly quizzes, discussion questions and response paper. Students’ feedback was collected and analyzed in order to share students’ experiences in completing the tasks. The feedback shows how weekly quizzes and class discussions have encouraged them to continue reading the text, influenced their attitude on reading English books and how they were able to empathize with the characters. This paper invokes the need to include reading young adult literature into general English courses for college learners to make them lifelong readers of L2.

“Smoke Detector” of Human Diseases for Environmental Aerosol Exposure

Comprehensive SummaryAir consists of various different pollutants (both biological and non‐biological). COVID‐19 pandemic further threatens the air safety. Aerosol exposure causes many diseases including asthma, respiratory infections and death. Using protein biomarker for early diagnosis often fails due to its lower level at the very beginning of a disease. On another front, different technologies were attempted for realtime monitoring of air toxicity. Nonetheless, many aerosol exposures occur silently without any knowledge due to limitation of available analytical methods. Exhaled breath has emerged as a promising non‐invasive sample for disease diagnosis, including cancer and diabetes. Most recently, it was shown that rats emitted distinctive profile of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) within minutes when exposed to different air pollutants including ozone and endotoxin. During the pandemic times, breath‐borne VOC was also used to rapidly screen COVID‐19. Pollutant exposure could result in changes in metabolism, thus releasing different patterns of VOCs via breath within very short time. Close monitoring of exhaled biomarker profile could spot the early signs of a disease, thus offering an earlier warning. Sensor array and machine learning together can lend a great hand toward such an objective. This mini review is undertaken to share such endeavors and inspire further innovations. What is the most favorite and original chemistry developed in your research group?Realtime aerosol detection and toxicity analysis, as well as breath biology, including its application in rapid COVID‐19 screening.How do you get into this specific field? Could you please share some experiences with our readers?Motivation and problem driven curiosity are key elements for performing impactful and milestone work. Additionally, being ambitious in leading plays another critical role in scientific exploration, excellence and influence. These research directions are the results of the ambition for solving important problems facing mankind and society. Of course, perseverance is another key driver toward pioneering discovery and effort.How do you supervise your students?Students are the key part for research discoveries. Thus, communication and discussion are very important both in education and performing influential work. It is critically important to find a rewarding and innovative project to motivate them to move forward with a plan. Good project can not only produce high impact data, but also help students develop essential problem solving skills and thinking. In return, this will cycle back to performing the impactful work. Eventually, students benefit greatly from the process and become very capable and confident.What is the most important personality for scientific research?Scientific devotion and ambition in tackling key problems facing mankind.What are your hobbies? What's your favorite book(s)?My hobbies include listening to music, reading English books & news, thinking, occasionally watching movies made from Kungfu novels and most recently enjoy running.Who influences you mostly in your life?During childhood, my grandma influenced me most. Now, it seems challenges we are facing take my most time.How do you keep balance between research and family?It takes some compromise to find a balance between work and family. They are equally important. During different age periods, you will feel a different need to balance between them. Nonetheless, communication and understanding play an important role in solving balance problem. Another useful tip is to improve work efficiency and to avoid unnecessary things, thus saving more time for family and impactful work. In addition, having a well‐planned to‐do‐list is useful to the balance too.Could you please give us some advices on improving Chinese Journal of Chemistry?It helps by rotating 20% of the editorial board, i.e., every three years, speeding up the review process, placing the novelty on the first priority, and conducting double blind review. Top high quality paper should be a must principle regardless of the manuscript origin. In addition, increasing the publicity of journal, e.g., using social media not just domestic, but also those overseas, also makes a difference.

Exploring EFL Students’ English Reading Habits: Reading beyond Classroom Practice

Some previous studies have proven that having good reading habits is important for students. Regarding the importance of having good reading habits, it is essential that students who learn English as Foreign Language (EFL) to develop good English reading habits. If EFL students have good English reading habits, it will be much easier for them to receive language inputs and produce some language outputs after reading. The study is intended to investigate whether EFL students have good English reading habits as the fact that it is important for EFL students to develop good English reading habits. It covers the students’ general attitudes toward reading, the students’ amount of practice for reading English books, types of English materials the students read, topics of English texts the students read, number of English books the students read, the students’ purposes in reading English materials, and the students’ beliefs of English reading habits. This study uses descriptive research survey involving 154 EFL students of a state university in Malang, East Java, Indonesia. The results show that EFL students have developed good English reading habits, but they still need improvement in the frequency of reading practice and the number of books read. Besides, they have positive attitudes toward reading, various kinds of English reading texts and topics to read, various reading purposes, and positive beliefs toward English reading habits. However, it is found that some respondents have difficulties to give fast responses in answering the questions through the questionnaire platform used. Therefore, some suggestions are also given as the recommendations for future researchers related to this field of study.

The Process and Problems of EFL Learners in English Writing

The objectives of the study were to investigate the process of English writing from students of undergraduate international class, to describe problems faced by students in writing English, and to find out the factors which inhibit and improve their writing skills. There were six female respondents in international class. The study used documentation from the students’ work, open-ended questionnaire and interview as the instruments for data gathering. All the data were analyzed by using descriptive qualitative approach. The results of this study showed that all students used four stages in the process of English writing: planning, drafting, editing and final revision. The students’ English writing problems covered content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanic. The factors which inhibit them in writing English included not being confident in writing English, not mastering grammar and vocabulary, and lack of practice in writing. The aspects which encourage them to write English were due to the demands as international class students, watching English movie, reading English books or journals, listening English songs and having ambition to acquire scholarship overseas.

CASE STUDY: THE ROLE OF LEARNING STRATEGIES, PERSONALITY AND MOTIVATION IN THE SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: WRITING PROFICIENCY OF A SOMALIAN STUDENT

The study aims to investigate a case study of second language acquisition of a foreign learner studying at Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim, Malang. There are three aspects examined by the researcher such as the learning strategies, personality, and motivation which influence the learner’s second language acquisition of English. The findings of the research show that the subject has good learning strategies such as reading English books, learning via online media, and studying with friends. The subject has a good personality, an introvert who is confident in practicing English with several people in Indonesia. The subject has high motivation in learning English to get the scholarship and to have a good career in the future. After assessing his essay with the rubric score, the students’ writing proficiency is improved.

Access to books and English reading: A virtuous circle

The hypothesis explored in this paper is whether a “virtuous circle” can be established to promote English language development: providing access to interesting and comprehensible reading material, which in turn will increase reading English books, which in turn will promote English competence and in turn more reading of English books. Specifically, we seek to determine if those with more access to English books at home and through visits to bookstores show more interest in reading, and in turn are more supportive of having an English library at their school. Analysis of responses of sixth graders at four schools in Korea revealed little access to English reading material, but supported the virtuous circle hypothesis, suggesting that the path to high English competence may be easier to establish than we have imagined.

Minding the Gap in Vocabulary Knowledge: Incidental Focus on Collocation through Reading

The present study seeks to contribute to our knowledge of the effectiveness of reading in the incidental learning of collocations. The study also addresses the question whether out-of-class exposure such as watching TV, listening to radio or music, reading English books and using social media plays a significant role in the learning of collocations. The research participants were 46 Arabic-speaking young adult EFL learners. They were asked to read a modified text containing 10 pseudo-word collocations and to verify that all were unfamiliar to them. One week later, they read a text containing the actual 21 target collocations, which had been selected on the basis of appearing in instructional materials and a reference corpus, as well as of frequency. Participants were then asked to complete a meaning-recall cloze test in the form of a gap-filling task in which the 21 target collocations were embedded in sentences. Subsequently they were administered a self-report survey about any incidental exposure to English. The analysis of the quantitative results revealed that the target collocations can be learned incidentally through reading although the level of mastery was limited. The survey data showed a positive correlation between the learners’ knowledge of collocations and activities such as watching TV, listening to radio and reading English books. The study also confirmed that collocations are particularly difficult for adult EFL learners and is thus an aspect of vocabulary knowledge in need of further empirical investigations.

Minding the Gap in Vocabulary Knowledge: Incidental Focus on Collocation Through Reading

The present study seeks to contribute to our knowledge of the effectiveness of reading in the incidental learning of collocations. The study also addresses the question whether out-of-class exposure such as watching TV, listening to radio or music, reading English books and using social media plays a significant role in the learning of collocations. The research participants were 46 Arabic-speaking young adult EFL learners. They were asked to read a modified text containing 10 pseudo-word collocations and to verify that all were unfamiliar to them. One week later, they read a text containing the actual 21 target collocations, which had been selected on the basis of appearing in instructional materials and a reference corpus, as well as of frequency. Participants were then asked to complete a meaning-recall cloze test in the form of a gap-filling task in which the 21 target collocations were embedded in sentences. Subsequently they were administered a self-report survey about any incidental exposure to English. The analysis of the quantitative results revealed that the target collocations can be learned incidentally through reading although the level of mastery was limited. The survey data showed a positive correlation between the learners’ knowledge of collocations and activities such as watching TV, listening to radio and reading English books. The study also confirmed that collocations are particularly difficult for adult EFL learners and is thus an aspect of vocabulary knowledge in need of further empirical investigations.

Book-Talk: An Activity to Motivate Learners to Read Autonomously in a Foreign Language

Abstract In the last decade, extensive reading (ER) had been incorporated into English as a foreign language (EFL) education in various Japanese institutions. It restored the once broken balance of accuracy and fluency in traditional English education, and assisted reluctant EFL learners to start reading. However, ER required rather longer term for elementary learners to enjoy its benefits and the learners needed an extra encouragement to continue ER for the longer term. Book-talk was such an activity to encourage learners to read voluntary and to improve their language skills additionally. In a book-talk, several learners sat around a table, introduced the books they had read during the week, and accepted questions and comments from the others in turn. It also fitted well in lessons because 3-minute talks and 2-minute Q&A of six members took only 30 minutes. We will report how the activity motivated elder students, who had three or more years’ experience of ER, to continue their reading outside the class, and how it encouraged autonomous ER of adult EFL learners, who were reading English books borrowing from the college library. A combination of few talks and many readings worked well in EFL settings.

Effective Solutions for Reducing Saudi Learnerss Speaking Anxiety in EFL Classrooms

Foreign language anxiety plays an essential role in language learning and negatively impacts on the whole learning process. This research aims to explore the Saudi learners’ perceptions of speaking anxiety in language classrooms and provide some effective and helpful solutions for reducing it. The sample of this study involved 10 Saudi female students, studying their foundation year at the English Language Institute (ELI), King Abdulaziz University. Their ages range between 18 to 20 years old. To reach a richer insight and better understanding of the research phenomenon, a qualitative approach was conducted. For gathering data, ten semi-structured interviews with ten Saudi female students from levels 102, 103, and 104 were used and then thematically analyzed using Nvivo 10 software. The qualitative data found that Saudi female students do feel worried and anxious in foreign language classrooms when speaking the foreign language. However, they showed a positive attitude and a willingness to improve their English speaking proficiency level as a way of reducing anxiety by watching English movies, using English internet sites, traveling abroad and talking to native speakers, doing more presentations, practice reading English books and joining English institutes during summer vacation.

Thorkelin y elBeowulf/ Thorkelin andBeowulf

Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) chose an unconventional hobby to occupy his middle age when he devoted himself in the 1950s to the study of Anglo-Saxon language and literature. His efforts were made easier by his fluency in English. “Georgie” had grown up speaking English with his father and Staffordshire-born grandmother and reading English books in the family library (Williamson 34). He would later call the time spent in that library “the chief event of [his] life” (“Autobiographical Notes” 42). In the following essay, “Thorkelin y elBeowulf” (“Thorkelin andBeowulf”), Borges sympathizes with a fellow student of Anglo-Saxon whose own moment of bookish revelation would come to define him: Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin (1752–1829), the first modern editor ofBeowulf.This unpublished essay recounts Thorkelin's seemingly predestined attraction to theBeowulfmanuscript and the catastrophic course of his long devotion.

Extensive Reading in a Formal English Reading Class

This paper examines the feasibility of an extensive reading approach as a way of teaching English reading into a formal English reading course. To this end, the study selected one of the eight English reading classes in the Korea Air Force Academy (KAFA) and tried to examine the students’ reading behaviors and their perceptions of extensive reading. The impacts of extensive reading on the development of English reading ability were also examined. The results of the students’ reading behaviors showed that they read a great deal of English books inside and outside the classroom. The analysis of the students’ perceptions indicated that their interests and confidence in reading English books increased to some extent. Their perceptions of the graded readers were also positive. Most of the students were willing to read more English books after the course. However, they mentioned a need for revision in the evaluation method. The results of three reading tests revealed that their reading abilities in English improved. The results of the present study indicate that an extensive reading approach could be incorporated into a formal college-level English reading course effectively.