Role In Foreign Language Learning Research Articles

FACTORS AFFECTING NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS’ WRITING AT A UNIVERSITY IN VIETNAM

Writing plays an important role in foreign language learning, especially for undergraduate students who need this skill for academic and research purposes as well as for communication in their future jobs. However, writing is deemed to be the most difficult skill for Vietnamese students. Therefore, a survey was conducted to investigate the factors affecting the English writing skills of non-English majored students at Thang Long University (TLU). 182 first-year students participated in this research by responding to a questionnaire. The survey found that the approach to teaching and assessing writing, teacher instruction and student practice, the influence of sociocultural context, and the writings’ communicative purposes influence students’ writing capability. This study may act as an impetus for future action research, based on which the curriculum for teaching writing to non-English majored students at TLU can be adjusted.

Achievement goals, emotions and willingness to communicate in EFL learning: Combining variable- and person-centered approaches

Willingness to communicate (WTC) plays a key role in foreign language learning. However, little research has been devoted to the role of achievement goals and achievement emotions in understanding WTC. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between achievement goals (i.e. mastery goals, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals) and WTC via achievement emotions, specifically enjoyment and anxiety. Chinese secondary school students ( N = 408) participated in this study. Both variable- and person-centered approaches were used to analyse the data. Study 1 used a variable-centered approach to investigate the relationship between achievement goals and WTC. Results indicated that mastery and performance-approach goals were positively associated with WTC via higher levels of enjoyment. However, anxiety was not significantly associated with WTC. Study 2 adopted a person-centered approach to identify students’ achievement goal profiles and how these profiles were associated with achievement emotions and WTC. Results indicated that students could be categorized into four groups: mastery-oriented, high-all, average-all, and low-all. Students from these different groups showed varying levels of achievement emotions and WTC. Specifically, the mastery-oriented group had the most adaptive outcomes, while the low-all group had the least desirable outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

ПРЕДИМСТВА НА ДИГИТЕЛНИТЕ ПЛАТФОРМИ ЗА СЛУШАНЕ НА АУДИОКНИГИ В ЧУЖДОЕЗИКОВОТО ОБУЧЕНИЕ ПО АНГЛИЙСКИ ЕЗИК

In recent years, the use of audiobooks to enhance language skills in a foreign language and, in particular in English language, remains somehow outside this field of studies and their advantages are still unexplored and underestimated by foreign language researchers and teachers both in Bulgaria and worldwide. This paper aims to present a report on the most widespread digital platforms for listening to audiobooks, which are suitable to be implemented both in the classroom and in self-study practices. Their functionality is considered and an attempt is made to systematize their use according to language proficiency levels and appropriate age groups. This study is driven by the growing interest in audiobooks during the Covid-19 pandemic and the research of their place and role in foreign language learning.

English as a Foreign Language Teachers' Identity and Motivation: The Role of Mindfulness.

Teaching is a career with a high rate of anxiety and burnout in all phases of teaching with specific challenges related to the feature of language education. The concept of motivation can be an important basic mechanism since educators who are not motivated are distressed because of the anxious characteristic of the education profession. Moreover, educator identity is a new issue that has built a perspective to examine educators’ growth by thinking about who they are as well as how they perform what they perform in a specific situation. Recently, programs that are based on mindfulness are known as efficient interventions enhancing motivation and decreasing tension in people. Given the prominence of mindfulness in educational settings and its neglected role in foreign language learning, the contemporary review attempts to inspect the function of mindfulness on English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ motivation and identity. Subsequently, some pedagogical recommendations for the educational representatives such as teachers and teacher trainers are offered.

EFL Student Learning Motivation: A Study of Classroom-Specific Factors

Motivation plays a vital role in foreign language learning as it leads to deep, goal-oriented and persistent learning. A number of variables are associated with motivation, among which five factors viz., Teacher, Teaching Methodology, Text, Task and Test. These are classroom-specific and can be adjustable for enhancing student learning motivation. This paper investigates EFL students’ perception of these five variables and factors that influence their motivation. Renandya’s 5Ts model was used as a framework for investigation. The instrument for data collection was a five-point Likert Scale questionnaire that included 27 items related to factors that affected students’ motivation in language learning classroom. The data was analyzed with SPSS software version 21.00. It was found that the students perceived Teacher as the most important factor, followed by the factors of Teaching Methodology, Task and Text; the Test factor was considered as the least important. The regression analysis, however, shows that the Text, or Teaching materials in current use were the most influential. The findings fill the gap of research in Vietnam’s EFL context and therefore, they are of theoretical and practical significance.

Academic Perseverance in Foreign Language Learning: An Investigation of Language‐Specific Grit and Its Conceptual Correlates

AbstractThe emerging interest in grit, referred to as sustained perseverance and passion for reaching long‐term goals and conceptualized as a facet of conscientiousness, has shown that language‐specific grit is positively linked to foreign language (FL) achievement. Evidence from recent studies on intended effort and academic buoyancy—constructs conceptually related to grit—suggests that they also play a meaningful role in FL learning. Drawing on the framework for noncognitive factors in academic performance and academic perseverance in particular, this study examines grit and its conceptual correlates. A total of 360 FL learners responded to a survey assessing their FL grit, conscientiousness, intended effort, and buoyancy. The results demonstrated that grit largely overlapped with intended effort but was found to be conceptually distinct from buoyancy and the industriousness facet of conscientiousness. Contrary to previous research, the consistency‐of‐interest facet of grit demonstrated superior predictive and incremental validity with regard to FL achievement compared to the perseverance‐of‐effort facet. The findings suggest that the role of academic perseverance in FL learning is a fruitful area of investigation that merits further exploration and research.

Psychological features of studying a foreign language for professional purposes

The article considers the issue of taking into account the psychological characteristics of students in the study of a foreign language for professional purposes. It was analyzed the methodological aspects of taking into account psychological features in teaching a foreign language. Emphasis is placed on the need and importance of taking into account the psychological characteristics of students in the process of learning a foreign language for professional purposes. The main psychological factors of learning a foreign language are identified. Among the main psychological factors are: motivation and interest in language learning, temperament, memory, ability to learn languages, language barrier. Motivation is a major factor in language learning. Only the motivation to succeed can bring results in language learning. Psychological comfort in the classroom is a way to realize their importance in society, trying to get the most information for successful self-development. Under the condition of complete psychological comfort, the intensive development of mental processes and imagination, the improvement of memory, and the ability to communicate begin. Activating memorization processes also plays an important role in foreign language learning. The human brain is a complex mechanism and the main indicator of its efficiency is attention. If attention is reduced, a person can hardly concentrate. The article states that the success of learning a foreign language is determined by a combination of factors: motivational, emotional, cognitive, linguistic, psychophysiological and interactive. This means that the psychological aspects of learning a foreign language determine not only the goals and objectives of teaching, motivation, interest of students, but also the methods and approaches to learning. Emphasis is placed on the need to constantly search for new opportunities and ways to form and improve methods of learning a foreign language for professional purposes. The leading idea of the article is that taking into account the psychological, pedagogical and individual characteristics of students in the study of a foreign language for professional purposes allows to introduce new technologies into the educational process, increase learning efficiency, develop language skills and competencies, develop creative abilities, increase independent and extracurricular activities.

영어 모국어 화자와 중국어 모국어 화자의 한국어 이야기 주제어 학습: 언어 유형별 생략 현상 대조와 응집성

This study investigates how Chinese- and English-speaking learners of Korean as a foreign language ellipt a topic and maintain cohesion of a narrative text accordingly. It is known to have characteristics that Chinese and English are typologically different in terms of prominence of a topic vs. a subject (Li & Thompson, 1976). It has been reported that a topic is ellipted in a topic-prominent language in referring to old information, unlike in subject-oriented languages which typically disallow a null component in a sentence. The present study tests whether it is a typological difference or a topic-comment universality that is related to foreign language acquisition. A total of 36 subjects in their twenties in Seoul, Korea, including the two experimental groups and Korean native speakers as a control group, participated in this study. Spoken narratives were collected in a task of describing The Pear Story (Chafe, 1976). The results showed that Chinese and Korean native speakers used ellipsis more frequently than English native speakers. It is concluded that typology-specific first language properties play a role in foreign language learning.

Effects of artificial intelligence on English speaking anxiety and speaking performance: A case study

AbstractForeign language anxiety (FLA) has been a perennial concern in language learning, as foreign language (FL) learners often communicate feelings of anxiety, stress, or nervousness. This study explored the role of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in speaking practice for FLA management of 48 undergraduate participants in an EFL class in Egypt. An eight‐week, quasi‐experimental pretest–posttest design examined learner anxiety levels using a 33‐item FLA questionnaire. Their oral proficiency was assessed via roleplaying using an interaction‐enhanced public version of the IELTS speaking evaluation rubric. The results confirmed that FL learners experienced FLA pre‐ and post‐intervention. The identified anxiety levels played a facilitative role in FL learning with several ensuing gains. The use of conversationally enhanced AI chatbots in interactive activities slightly intensified learners' FLA, thus meriting further investigation of these objectives. Overall, subject to further development, AI chatbots are promising for significantly improving linguistic output gains; however, this study found that learners' speech‐related anxieties were not reduced following the interactions with the chatbots. It is concluded that FLA plays an underexplored facilitative role in sharpening learner cognitive faculties and linguistic capacities. Moreover, AI chatbots may be beneficial in advancing FL learning with significant potential in EFL contexts, facilitating improved interaction and oral communication. These findings support the integration of AI technologies as effective tools in FL education, providing flexible, interactive, and learner‐centred learning. This study is expected to be of considerable interest to FL educators and learners.

Verbal Aptitude Levels of Prospective English Teachers: A Study in an EFL Context

Yabancı dil yatkınlığı, yazılı dili kullanma ve sözcüklerle sunulan kavramları anlama yeteneği olarak tanımlanır. Yatkınlık, yabancı dil öğreniminde önemli bir rol oynamaktadır. Araştırmacılar tarafından yürütülen çalışmalar, sosyo-psikolojik bir yabancı dil (ikinci dil) öğrenimi kuramının tartışılmasının gerekliliği üzerinde yoğunlaşmaktadır. Kuram, ikinci bir dilin başarılı biçimde öğrenilmesi için başarılı bir yabancı dil öğrencisinin hedef dildeki belli dilsel ve sosyal etkenleri benimsemesi gerektiği yönündedir. Ancak, katılımcıların yatkınlık düzeylerinde onların yaş, cinsiyet ve not ortalama puanları gibi değişkenlere göre herhangi bir değişiklik olup olmadığının araştırılması ve ortaya çıkarılması yabancı dil öğretmenleri için önem taşımaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı katılımcıların sözel yatkınlık düzeylerinin yaş, cinsiyet ve not ortalamaları gibi değişkenlere göre bir farklılık gösterip göstermediğini saptamaktır. Çalışma kesitsel modelli nicel bir çalışmadır. Araştırmaya 101 İngilizce öğretmeni adayı katılmıştır. Yabancı dile yatkınlık düzeyleri ile diğer değişkenlere göre anlamlı bir farklılık olup olmadığını saptamak için katılımcılara sözcükleri doğru heceleyebilme, doğru dilbilgisi kullanma, sözcük anlamlarını anlama ve sözcüğü anlama yeteneğini ölçen öğeleri içeren 40 maddelik çoktan seçmeli bir sözel yatkınlık testi uygulanmıştır. Veriler SPSS 22 programı ile çözümlenmiştir. Sonuçlar, dil yatkınlık düzeyleri hakkında bilgi sahibi olmanın, araştırmacıların dil öğrencileri, öğrenme ortamı ve öğrenme çıktıları hakkında daha iyi bir anlayış edinmelerine yardımcı olabileceğini göstermektedir. Sonuçlar ilgili alanyazın ışığında sunulmuştur. Bu çalışma etik kurul onayı ile ilgili karar verilmeden önce derginin sistemine yüklenmiş olduğu için etik kurul onay raporu bu çalışmaya eklenmemiştir.

The Impacts of Integrative and Instrumental Motivation for Indonesian Learners

Motivation plays an important role in foreign language learning. This paper discusses the definition of motivation, types of motivation; the factors influencing motivation in learning English, and Gardner’s socioeducational model. The purpose of the study was to find out the the impact of integrative and instrumental motivation in learning English. This study applied descriptive quantitative method. Using a purposive sampling technique, obtained the 20 respondents who met the requirements. The subjects in this study were seventh grade students of SMPIT Putri Al-Hanif. The writer designed a questionnaire of motivation by using likert scale. To achieve the goal, Gardner and Lambert's model were taken into consideration. They were distributed among students by simply evaluating 20 statements. Results indicated that seventh grade students of SMPIT Putri Al-Hanif have stronger integrative motivation than instrumental motivation.

Demotivational Factors Towards Learning English for the Students of Social Sciences High SchoolMotivation,

Demotivation plays a key role in foreign language learning. However, studies in this field mostly focused on the factors influencing the learners’ motivation positively instead of the factors causing demotivation. In this regard, this study aims to identify the sources of demotivation towards learning English for the students of social sciences high schools. For this study, data was collected by means of Demotivation Scale developed by Sakai and Kikuchi (2009). 4073 students, chosen according to the stratified sampling method, compose the sample of the study. As a result of the research, it is found out that the main source of demotivation in English classes among students is factors related to class environment. It is also observed that course materials are as effective as characteristics of class on student demotivation towards English. While factors related to experience of failure was the forth source of demotivation for students, teacher related factors are found to be the weakest demotivator. Furthermore, as a result of this study, it is revealed that there is a correlation between demotivation and gender, academic level and proficiency.

A Study of English Vocabulary Learning in China—From the Perspective of Conceptual Metaphor Theory

Vocabulary plays an essential role in foreign language learning, and it is the same with Chinese students’ learning English. However, in China traditional ways of English vocabulary learning focuses on the recitation and analysis of the sound, spelling and meaning of English words without considering their cognitive motivations and thus makes understanding and memorization of them invalid and boring, which directly affects Chinese students’ English level of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Therefore, some effective methods of English vocabulary learning must be found so as to arouse students’ interests and facilitate their learning of English words. Conceptual metaphor theory reveals that metaphor is not only a universal cognitive phenomenon but also a cognitive tool of human beings, which can shed some lights onto English words learning, a kind of cognitive activity. Conceptual metaphor theory also depicts cross-domain mapping as its working mechanism by saying that cross-domain mapping is a kind of thinking link from source domain to target domain. And this thinking link is of great help to the memorizing processes of words and understanding of words’ connotation and can make English vocabulary learning systematic and flexible. This paper explores the application of conceptual metaphor theory into college English vocabulary learning from three aspects, namely, polysemous words, idiomatic expressions and word connections, aiming at cultivating students’ metaphorical awareness and improving their metaphorical competence in vocabulary learning.

LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY EFL LEARNERS IN A RURAL AREA

Learning strategy has been widely acknowledged to play an important role in foreign language learning to help the learners in improving language competence. However, studies about language learning in EFL setting in various setting with different participants are still required as to provide a comprehensive representation of how language learning strategies are applied by L2 learners, particularly in an Indonesian EFL setting. This study aimed to examine what language learning strategies are used by EFL learners who work as the local tour guide at National Park of Bromo Tengger Semeru /Taman Nasional Bromo Tengger Semeru (TNBTS), located in East Java, Indonesia.  Participants of this study were 33 English learners who work as local tour guide The instruments used was Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) version 7.0 adapted from Oxford (1990) consisting of 50 questions with 5 scale for each item. This study had a quantitative design as it dealt with the analysis of the numeric data collected from the questionnaire results and employed SPSS software as a tool to analyze descriptive statistics. The result showed that the most frequent strategy used was compensation strategy with mean value 3.64 and the least frequent strategy used was memory strategy with mean value 2.77.

INTERACTIONS AMONG LEARNING STYLES, LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES AND GENDER OF EFL LEARNERS

Many studies have investigated isolated dimensions of learning styles (e.g. field independence/dependence) for their role in foreign language learning, but relatively few studies have used a comprehensive learning styles instrument to determine predictors of language learning strategies used by students. Hence, employing the descriptive and correlational method, this study aimed to identify students’ minor, major, and negligible learning styles, students’ usage of language learning strategies, the difference in the learning styles and language learning strategies based on gender, and the relationships among those three variables. A total of 30 students enrolling in the first year of senior high school were given two kinds of questionnaire, the Indonesian version of PLSQ and SILL. The result revealed gender differences only occurs in compensation strategy, in favor of female students. Furthermore, the correlational study revealed significant relationships between visual style and cognitive and metacognitive strategies; between auditory style and cognitive and compensation strategies. Moreover, social strategies are correlated with tactile, group, and individual styles. These findings are useful for both teacher and student to employ strategies suitable with their learning styles.

How and how much?

Abstract Vocabulary plays a crucial role in foreign language learning, and vocabulary mastery proves to be challenging at different competence levels. Compared to other areas of research into Chinese as a foreign language, vocabulary acquisition and vocabulary teaching have rarely been investigated. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary size and to verify whether vocabulary size is positively correlated to proficiency level. A total of 95 Italian undergraduate Chinese learners, from elementary to intermediate levels, participated in this study. The participants were first given a vocabulary learning questionnaire and then a vocabulary size test. Statistical and qualitative analyses of the data revealed two trends: a poor variety of vocabulary learning strategies and a positive correlation between vocabulary size and proficiency level.

Investigating the Impact of Mnemonic-based Instruction on Saudi University Students’ Attitudes Towards Vocabulary Learning

Vocabulary learning plays an essential role in foreign language learning. It is also central to language teaching and is of paramount importance to a language learner. Mnemonic is a technique that is used to instruct vocabulary and it helps learners remember better. The association of images and sounds with mnemonics can make it more powerful and effective to help language learners remember better and for a longer time, this can be achieved through applying a method called the keyword method. This study was designed to investigate university Saudi students’ attitudes towards the mnemonic keyword method. By employing a survey research design to discover the attitudes of the students enrolled in the preparatory year program at Taibah University. A questionnaire about ‘Students’ Attitudes towards Keyword Method (SAKM) having four Likert scales was used as an instrument for data collection from a sample of 40 students. Descriptive statistics (mean, median, mode, standard deviation.) and independent-sample t-test were exploited to analyze the data. The results of the study showed that Saudi students have positive attitudes towards the mnemonic keyword method that was used to instruct vocabulary.

La fluidez conceptual en la interlengua escrita de aprendientes alemanes de español como lengua extranjera

This paper focuses on the written interlanguage of German college students studying Spanish as a Foreign Language in four different levels (A2-C1). In order to observe the evolution of conceptual fluency, a total number of sixty participants wrote an essay about their Spanish studies without previous instruction on the Theory of Conceptual Metaphor (Lakoff/Johnson 1980). The metaphorical density index was measured with special attention paid to the differences and similarities between the German and Spanish semantic conceptual systems and the metaphors used in each stage of learning. The results show that the L1 plays a fundamental role in the typology of metaphors, while quantitative factors such as the metaphorical density index can also vary depending on the target language and the topics of the essays. Therefore, conventional metaphors play a fundamental role in foreign language learning, as the most significant examples in terms of lack of conceptual fluency have been caused by copying linguistic structures from conventional German metaphors into the target language.

An analysis of EFL learners’ error self-correction attitudes


 
 
 During language teaching and learning, the focus is on how correct or wrong the input is reflected in the output. Accuracy first approaches reject errors due to the risk of interference whereas the communicative approaches use them as signs of learning. So, errors play a vital role in foreign language learning. It is viewed as improvement in different language learning approaches. This paper after reviewing the literature about error and error correction in English language teaching examines the types of errors the students can self-correct. The procedure is as follows: Twenty erroneous sentences from examination papers were chosen as student errors and learners were asked to correct any kind of errors in the sentences. The results were categorised, analysed and commented. The results show that students are better at correcting the structural errors and worst in discourse ones. Under these findings, it is suggested that learner training should focus more on contextual learning.
 Keywords: Error correction, EFL, self-correction, accuracy, exam papers.
 
 

The Effects of Gloss Modes on Chinese EFL Learners’ Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition through Reading

Vocabulary learning plays an indispensable and important role in foreign language learning. Incidental vocabulary acquisition is one of the common ways of vocabulary learning. Based on the previous studies, the present study attempts to investigate the effects of different gloss modes on Chinese EFL learners' incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. Two important factors, i.e. gloss position (pre-text, post-text) and textual enhancement (with textual enhancement, without textual enhancement), as well as their interaction effects are examined. The results show that different gloss positions (pre-text, post-text) and textual enhancement (with textual enhancement, without textual enhancement) do not have significantly different effects on Chinese EFL learners' incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading and that no significant interaction effects between gloss position and textual enhancement have been found. Besides, students' performances on the immediate vocabulary tests and the delayed vocabulary tests are significantly correlated and delayed vocabulary retention is significantly weaker than immediate vocabulary retention. The current study sheds some light for English teachers and English textbook publishers in China.