Second Language Learners Of English Research Articles

Analysis of the English Language Needs of Grade 12 Learners in Lebanon

This research investigates the language needs of Grade 12 English Second Language Learners (ESL) in Lebanese public schools, aiming to identify gaps between the curriculum and student requirements. Employing a qualitative case study approach, using document analysis, interviews, and questionnaires, the study reveals critical shortcomings within the Lebanese English curriculum. Findings indicate widespread dissatisfaction among both teachers and students with the curriculum, highlighting significant gaps and inconsistencies between ministry objectives and practical implementation. The curriculum fails to resonate with students' real-life experiences, resulting in disinterest and boredom. Outdated teaching methodologies, a disparity between public and private schools, and an emphasis on exam-oriented learning limit students' exposure to effective learning techniques. Recommendations include increasing English lesson frequency, assessing students' reading levels, incorporating diverse reading strategies, providing more reading materials, and integrating technology into teaching. Suggestions also advocate for authentic materials exposure to enhance language skills. Both teachers and students emphasize the urgent need for an updated curriculum emphasizing real-world application, critical thinking, and interactive learning. Addressing these concerns is crucial to delivering a more effective English language education aligning with students' contemporary needs and preparing them for future academic and practical endeavors.

The Effect of Congruency and Frequency of Exposures on the Learning of L2 Binomials

Although extensive research has been carried out on opaque formulaic language where the meaning is not the sum of the individual words (i.e., idioms and many collocations), it is still not clear how cross-language congruency and frequency of exposure influence the learning of transparent formulaic language in an L2. In the current study, self-paced reading along with offline word order recognition tasks were used to investigate the role of cross-language congruency and the frequency of exposure on the learning and processing of fully transparent binomials. In the self-paced reading, Arabic second language learners of English and native English speakers encountered three types of binomial phrases either two or five times in English texts: English-only binomials, Arabic-only binomials that were translated into English, and congruent binomials (acceptable in English and Arabic). A subsequent offline task revealed that both native and non-native speakers developed knowledge of the ‘correct’ order of binomials (i.e., fish and chips, not chips and fish) after only two exposures in the self-paced reading. Native speakers were more accurate on congruent and English-only items than Arabic-only items, while non-natives speakers exhibited no differences in accuracy across the binomial types. The offline task showed that native speakers responded faster to congruent and English-only items than Arabic-only, and non-native speakers responded faster to congruent items than English-only and Arabic-only. The frequency of exposure had no effect, with no difference in response times and accuracy between two and five exposures.

Written Retelling Strategy in Improving Reading Skill among ESL Students in Malaysia

Skills of reading and comprehending in English are crucial for academic success in schools. Pupils with low reading ability skill may result in obtaining low grades and poor test scores. Traditionally pupils are taught to lift specific information as a reading strategy to answer comprehension questions, comparatively, this study uses retelling strategy to evaluate pupils’ understanding. Past research indicated that retelling strategy enhances accuracy and greater comprehension. Thus, far study that investigates effectiveness of this strategy remains scarce in Malaysian English as Second Language (ESL) primary schools. As reading skill starts to develop in early stage of schooling, it is deemed necessary to conduct this study among primary level pupils. The present study specifically analyzes the effects of written retelling strategy on pupils’ understanding of story structure among year three primary school pupils in Malaysian ESL classroom. A quasiexperimental research design with pretest and posttest was adopted to carry out the study. Pretest and posttest questions consisting of structural comprehension questions and written retelling were used to measure the effects of written retelling strategy on the pupils’ achievement in reading comprehension and their understanding of the story structure. A pretest was conducted before teaching and learning took place. This was followed by a posttest. An independent t-test was used to obtain the mean values and standard deviations. The results obtained in this study conclude the written retelling strategy had notably improved the pupils’ reading skill as they are able to retain information from the story and make better predictions. Subsequently, it increased their abilities in answering the comprehension questions. The results also indicate that written retelling could be a prospective reading strategy along with other strategies for primary ESL learners in Malaysia and similar context.

A Comprehensive Approach to Eliminate English Second Language Learners’ Grammatical Difficulties

In order to produce academically competent learners, a comprehensive approach addressing English Second Language (ESL) learners’ grammatical difficulties needs to be developed. Research has shown that learners’ essay writing skills are spoiled by incompetent writing abilities, in particular, grammatical difficulties. This enquiry, whose main objective was to unravel grammatical difficulties experienced by ESL learners and to propose a comprehensive approach addressing these, was guided by a theoretical framework that emphasises cognitive, socio-cultural, and communicative perspectives. An interpretive paradigm, embedded in a qualitative approach, was used to gather data from 16 conveniently nominated participants. A case study design was deemed suitable for this enquiry because of its ability to focus on a specified group of participants. The data were generated through semi-structured interviews and thematically analysed. The findings were that error analysis, followed by explicit instruction of language structures; learner engagement in corrective feedback; multiple exposure to and practice of a language structure; and immersion into rich target language environments could be beneficial. The learners would then take responsibility for their own learning. It is recommended that professional development for language educators is essential to employ these approaches to combat the widespread incompetence in learners’ writing abilities, which negatively affect their academic performance.

Exploring the Influence of L1 Chinese on L2 English Acquisition

The impact of L1 Chinese on L2 English acquisition has received more attention as more Chinese students study English as a second language. This paper reviews previous research on Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and introduces some factors that can influence language transfer. The writers focus on three linguistic aspects, syntax, lexicon, and phonology, to explore how English as Second Language (ESL) learners L1 Chinese has influenced their English acquisitions. Results found that: 1) Syntax: The syntax structure includes many factors influencing Chinese learners English acquisition, such as subjects, verbs, and adverbs. English requires an issue while Chinese tend to omit the subject; English has a verb conjugation system while Chinese does not; and English adverbs can be placed in different positions according to the type while Chinese adverbs are mainly set in the middle; 2) Lexicon: Lexical errors may occur when ESL learners may make errors when they meet the differences in linguistic features such as polysemy, part of speech and word collocations between the two languages.; 3) Phonology: As Chinese is a tonal language and English is a non-tonal language, their tones of phonology are, to some extent, different, which might cause ESL learners confusion. These features of Chinese and English differ, and how these disparities have prevented positive language transfer from Chinese to English is explored. As a result, this study can inform second language instructors of the distinctions between the two languages and offer resources for future instruction of ESL students.

Impact of Different Multimedia Modalities on Vocabulary Acquisition Among Second-Language English Learners: An Empirical Investigation

Impact of Different Multimedia Modalities on Vocabulary Acquisition Among Second-Language English Learners: An Empirical Investigation

Inner speech processes for overt language production—Comparison of native English speakers and different proficiency learners of English

Inner speech refers to an internal process as a tool for internalized thinking besides actual overt speech. It plays an important role in analyzing and planning tasks occurring outside the world. Asano (2015) found that second language learners of English used different inner speech depending on their proficiency level. The roles of inner speech by native speakers and language learners also differ (Fernyhough et al., 2004). In addition, all people do not commonly use representations in the internal process. The dominance, such as speech language, written language, and visual imagery (Nakayama et al., 2021), to prepare for overt activities depends on the person. This research aims to determine what kind of inner speech or other processes will be prepared for the overt language activities between native speakers and second-language learners of English. The subjects for both groups answered which dominant is used as the inner preparation processes for overt language production by answering the survey questionnaires. Knowing the native speakers' inner speech process before the overt production activities will help the second language learners' overt language activities and suggest ideas for their language proficiency improvement.

The effects of various combinations of form-focused instruction techniques on the acquisition of English articles by second language learners of English

The current study investigated the extent to which second language (L2) learners of English benefitted from various combinations of form-focused instruction (FFI) techniques on the acquisition of English articles. Forty-six participants were randomly assigned to four conditions: input enhancement only ( n = 12); input enhancement and metalinguistic explanations ( n = 11); input enhancement, metalinguistic explanations, and practice ( n = 11); and a control condition ( n = 12). They each received six hours of online instruction on English articles according to their condition. The participants’ knowledge of articles was measured by four tasks (i.e. grammaticality judgment task, metalinguistic knowledge task, elicited imitation task, and picture-description task) in a pretest, an immediate posttest, and a delayed posttest. Results showed that the group receiving input enhancement and metalinguistic explanations exhibited clear and durable gains in the metalinguistic knowledge task. Furthermore, a subset of participants who benefitted the most from the instructional treatment revealed two common factors: a first language (L1) without an article system and a high rate of engagement during the online instruction. The findings suggest that metalinguistic explanations clearly contribute to explicit knowledge of articles and that learners’ L1 backgrounds may affect the extent to which FFI on English articles benefits them. The present study contributes meaningfully to the current understanding of the effects of FFI as well as the L2 acquisition of English articles.

ANALYSIS OF THE MOST COMMON SPELLING ERRORS IN ENGLISH FOR SAUDI STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY OF FOUNDATION YEAR STUDENTS

Most second language learners of English, including Saudi learners at universities, face some challenges with English writing, especially in spelling. These difficulties are attributed to several causes, such as the differences between English and Arabic .The purpose of the present study is to investigate the most spelling errors made by the first year Saudi female students . Also, to define the main factors behind the weakness of students' spelling. Additionally, to suggest some effective teaching approaches to improve spelling instruction. This study adopted Cook's classification of errors, which categorized errors into four categories: substitution, insertion, omission, and transposition. Participants of this study are 80 female students and ten English language teachers. The data was collected through writing a task and a survey. The analysis of errors revealed that errors of omission were the highest proportion of errors with a percentage of (41.55%), whereas substitution spelling errors occur as the lowest frequency with a percentage of (24.65%). Followed by insertion errors with a percentage of (19.72%). The lowest percentage of errors were related to errors of transposition with the proportion of (14.08%). The major cause of the students' spelling errors was the linguistic differences between English and Arabic.

Initiation of Self and Other Repair in Classroom-Task Conversations Between University Students: An Interpretative Qualitative Study

The study aimed to reveal the repair actions in conversations between the second language learners of English at a private university. The method used in this study was Interpretative Qualitative Method. The participants were ten students of the English Education Study Program in the second semester. The result of the study shows that the students of the English Department, in their ongoing conversation, showed normality in speaking as a second language learner. They could produce repair initiations, self-repair and other repair to maintain their flow of conversation, even though the repair initiations were low in use since there were only a few repairs found from many possibilities of repair from the trouble sources in their conversations.

Facilitated Study Groups for Undergraduate Organic Chemistry: Experience from a Large Public Canadian University

Undergraduate organic chemistry courses have a reputation for being difficult among students in biological and physical sciences programs. Due to the extensive problem-solving, visualization, and depiction of chemical structures/reactions required, students may perceive learning such content as similar to learning a new language. Several interventions such as course-integrated tutorials or discussion sessions have aimed to assist students. Another effective approach that chemistry educators might consider is Supplemental Instruction (SI), a well-established program that emphasizes student-driven learning whereby student SI leaders facilitate discussions to help students arrive at solutions while also developing effective communication and study skills. A type of SI, Facilitated Study Groups (FSG), established by the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) in 2009, were introduced regularly into organic chemistry courses in 2012. This program provides semester-long optional small-group peer learning sessions, each of which corresponds to a course lecture. The aim of this paper is to provide comprehensive coverage detailing the structure of the organic chemistry FSG program, peer facilitation strategies employed, quantitative/qualitative synthesis of student outcomes indicating program uptake. We consistently find significantly higher grades and significantly lower attrition rates for students who regularly attend FSG sessions in comparison to those who do not (n=16 semesters). Given the growing diversity of undergraduate classes in terms of approaches to learning, language, and cultural barriers (international students, English second-language learners, learning and psychosocial disabilities), our FSG sessions seek to foster inclusion amongst our heterogeneous pool of attendees. Here, we describe strategies that tailored FSG sessions to a diverse group of undergraduate students as suggested by a sizable percentage of the class availing themselves of this resource and by a narrative synthesis of end-of-term surveys. Together, we demonstrate successful adoption of an SI-based model for organic chemistry and present a practical framework that includes pedagogically informed session strategies and cost estimates to guide design of similar programs for post-secondary students at other institutions.

OVERCOMING THE STUDENT’S SPEAKING ANXIETY DISORDERS THROUGH PLAYBACK THEATRE THERAPY

In India, English language teachers encounter numerous challenges while developing speaking skill of the learners in rural and semi-urban regions. There are many activities like role-play, theatre and drama to improve the oral competence of the second language learners of English. Playback theatre is an improvisational theatre technique where the participants will enact and perform the stories on the spot. Playback theatre therapy training may prove as a crucial factor in overcoming affective filters while speaking and learners may gain better development and awareness of language expressions in English. This process will aid in the development of their communication skills. Anxiety, motivation, and self-confidence are identified as factors that affect the speaking performance of students. Anxiety is a feeling defined by nervousness, perplexity, and fear. When students are anxious, they are often reluctant to speak and fear making mistakes. Anxiety disorder would prevent the oral performances from being consistent. Majority of the learners at the undergraduate level quite often encounter anxiety when they speak in English. So, playback theatre therapy training as a workshop was organized to identify the relevance of such activities to improve the speaking skills of the learners. The participants of the study are from Undergraduate programme in Vellore district. The sampling method employed in the study is purposive sampling method. 38 participants were selected as the samples for this study. The playback theatre activities like warm up, introducing myself with an adjective, taking someone’s place, becoming the object, fluid sculpt, tableau and metaphor was employed as the intervention to improve the speaking skills and alleviate the speaking anxiety among the learners. The study concludes that Playback theatre activities have a considerable impact on learners’ anxiety level, expressiveness and attentiveness, composure, and speech naturalness.

Investigating the Effects of ESL Learners’ Motivation and Anxiety on Task Based Language Teaching in Pakistan

Motivation and anxiety play a significant role in the teaching and learning process, either  it is second language learning or Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT). The current research aimed to investigate the motivation and anxiety faced by Pakistani English as Second Language (ESL) learners while learning English language. A quantitative research design was used to conduct this research. Moreover, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was subsequently applied to record the relationship between task motivation and second language (L2) motivation, as well as to configure the association between task anxiety and foreign language anxiety. From two public sector colleges of Sargodha, eighty ESL learners participated in the experiment. They were shown a cartoon video and then they were asked to narrate the video in English. Furthermore, they were inquired about their task anxiety and task motivation. The results showed that task motivation has three sides, that is, positive attitude towards the task, negative attitude towards the task, and task diagnostic tool. Task anxiety construct also shows three sides-setting namely anxiety, language related anxiety, and anxiety reliefs. The results also revealed that TBLT is greatly affected by motivation and anxiety. The current study would help the teachers to gain knowledge about the motivational strategies used by their students. Lastly, the research would be helpful for ESL teachers to motivate their students and understand their anxieties. This study was limited to the video narration task. Hence, it is recommended to extend future studies by including more than one task while using a large sample size.

The cost of changing language context: The language-dependent recall of fictional stories.

Language-dependent recall refers to the language-specific retrieval of memories in which the retrieval success depends on the match between the languages of encoding and retrieval. The present study investigated language-dependent recall in terms of memory accuracy, false memory, and episodic memory characteristics in the free recall of fictional stories. We also asked how language-dependent memories were influenced by language proficiency and visual imagery. One hundred and thirty-seven native Turkish (L1) speakers who were second-language learners of English (L2) were divided into four groups in which they read fictional stories and then recalled them: (1) Turkish reading-Turkish recall, (2) English reading-English recall, (3) English reading-Turkish recall, (4) Turkish reading-English recall. Regardless of the match between L1 or L2, accuracy was higher when participants read and recalled the stories in the same language than when they did it in different languages, showing the language-dependent recall effect. Notably, the effect of match or mismatch between encoding and retrieval languages on accuracy did not depend on L2 proficiency and visual imagery. In addition, false memories were salient, particularly for participants who read the stories in L2 but retrieved them in L1. Overall, our findings suggest that accuracy-oriented memory research provides a comprehensive investigation of language-dependent recall, addressing the links of language-dependent memories with accuracy, false memory, and episodic memory characteristics.

The acoustics of the alignment of focus prosody and lexical stress: A production study of native speakers and second language learners of English

In English, the tonal target of a pitch accent is aligned with lexical stress. Therefore, the phonetic realization of contrastive focus prosody, phonologically marked by a H*/L + H* pitch accent, is expected to vary depending on the stress pattern of the focused word. This study explored acoustic effects of the alignment of lexical stress and focus prosody and examined how it is learned by Korean learners of English, whose first language lacks lexical stress. Ten native English speakers (L1) and 19 Korean learners of English (L2) participated in a read-aloud task, in which they produced nine trisyllabic words with primary stress on one of the three syllables with contrastive focus (e.g., Animal, vaNILla, engiNEER). For each syllable, three acoustic measures were extracted: the height of pitch peak, periodic energy mass, and the direction of pitch movements (Albert et al., 2021; Cangemi et al., 2019). Results revealed that the height of pitch peak, a conventional measure of both lexical stress and contrastive focus, did not properly demonstrate their alignment. Instead, the stressed syllable of the focused words was marked by its overall prominence (mass) or the direction of pitch movements, depending on the stress pattern. The L2 speakers’ productions were similar to the L1 productions, but there were indications of an influence of their L1 prosody and English proficiency. [This work was supported by the Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2022S1A5A8052482).]

A Systemic Functional Analysis on Texts Written by ESL Learners, and A Text on Daily English Canada Newspaper, and Its Implication for English Teaching and Learning Improvement

This study aims to reveal characteristics of English language produced by English as Second Language (ESL) Learners in the form of written text. By using a theme and rheme analysis. Within the Systemic Functional Analysis Framework, the writer compared the features of English language utilized by ESL learners and those by native proficient writer of an English Newspaper called English Daily Cananda for their textual meaning. The Analysis comprises analysis of different aspects of language use in a written text which include the analysis of thematic structure, thematic development, and textual cohesion. The result of the analysis shows the distinctive characteristics amongst the three texts from which teachers of English as Second language classes can draw a conclusion in order to design a lesson plan which is more suitable for the students. It is expected that this analysis can provide a way of understanding the limitation of the resources available in students’ mind, and whether or not the students successfully utilize these resources for social purpose, thus gives contribution and implication towards the future direction of the English as Second Language teaching and learning.

Suitable ESL Classroom Size and Environment for Effective Learning at Tertiary Level in Bangladesh

Creating an effective learning environment in tertiary-level classrooms in Bangladesh can be challenging. The size of the classroom and the atmosphere within it can have a significant impact on the learning experience and outcomes of students. Classroom size is an important factor to consider when creating a space conducive to learning. The study sights on the consequence of ESL (English as Second Language) classroom size and environment at the tertiary level in Bangladesh. The study is qualitative in nature. It is consisted of a review of the extensive literature in the respective field, interviews with twenty English teachers from two renowned private universities in Bangladesh, and the observation of twenty classrooms from those universities. It has been found from the cross-checking of teachers’ interviews and classroom observation that most of the universities do not have suitable classroom size as well as the environment negatively impacted on ESL learners. A classroom that is too small or too large can make it difficult for students to learn effectively. Ideally, class size should be between 25-30 students for optimal learning outcomes. Besides, larger class sizes may require additional materials and resources to ensure that each student has access to the necessary materials. Furthermore, the classroom must be well-lit and ventilated so as to create a comfortable environment for learning. Finally, it is important for teachers to consider the physical layout of the classroom and ensure that it facilitates an atmosphere conducive to effective instruction. By taking these considerations into account, teachers are able to create an environment where students are able to learn effectively and reach their full potential.

Online Game-Based Learning Enhance ESL Learners’ Vocabulary Learning: Benefits and Challenges

Vocabulary is an essential element in learning language for English Second Language (ESL) learners, it plays important roles in language learning and it is challenging in learning the vocabulary. Not only how the words are spelled but the knowledge on the meaning of the words are important too. Therefore, in learning vocabulary, there are multiple ways, strategies and techniques used by the educators to help ESL learners master the vocabulary. Online game-based learning is one of the techniques that is recently mainly used by educators. As some games are integrating with the use of technology, it not only brings fun in language learning but also changes the old style of vocabulary learning and makes the learning more meaningful. There are a lot of benefits and also challenges of online game-based learning in learning vocabulary. Hence, this paper reviews the benefits and the challenges of using online game-based learning as one of the ways to enhance ESL learners’ vocabulary learning. This paper could be a source of reference by educators who might use online game-based learning in their language lessons especially in vocabulary. Future researches can be done by looking into some innovations that using online game-based learning that helps the other language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing

Bottom-up Processing (BUP) for Decoding in Teaching Listening Skills: Analysis, Issues and Suggested Activities

This conceptual study focuses on the importance of bottom-up processing (BUP) for enhancing EFL / ESL learners’ decoding ability in listening skills. As observed by the researcher and reviewed in the literature, bottom-up processing for decoding is found to be an often-neglected area in the teaching of listening skills in the field of ELT.   As a result of this, the foreign or second language learners of English are at risk in their competency in comprehending proficient speakers of English especially when they are exposed to ungraded realife spoken English outside their regular lessons. To address this issue effectively, learners and teachers of English should be made aware of the significance of BUP in terms of different listening issues faced by learners.  Moreover, the stake holders (planners, teachers, and students) should have a clear plan of action to address these issues to the benefit of learners.  Sufficient awareness of the concept of bottom-up processing for decoding in listening skills, issues faced by learners due to lack of it, and a well thought out action to deal with the issues, therefore, can help learners of English to improve their listening skills and comprehension contributing to their enhanced language proficiency.  The paper, therefore, incorporates the methodology of reviewing relevant literarature based on the researcher’s belief on the significance of bottom-up processing for teaching listening skills.  Besides the analysis of the concept of BUP, the paper includes some learner issues, and it suggests some listening activities to remedy the issues.   

Cognitive Predictors of Coherence in Adult ESL Learners’ Writing

Background. Coherence is considered one of the most important qualities of written discourse. Despite its fundamental importance, it is still considered a fuzzy and abstract concept in most English Second Language (ESL) contexts. Consequently, many ESL learners struggle to produce a coherent text. Morphological, phonological, orthographic awareness, vocabulary knowledge, and grammatical competence have been identified as predictors of writing quality in novice writers. There is, however, a lack of data to assess whether such linguistic skills also predict coherence in adult ESL learners’ writing.
 Purpose. The purpose of the study was to find out the relationships among a set of linguistic skills measures which included morphological, phonological, orthographic awareness, vocabulary knowledge and grammatical competence and coherence in adult ESL learners’ writing.  
 Methods. To testify to the potential predictors of coherence in ESL writing, adult university students (126) were assessed by the measures of the linguistic skills mentioned above in addition to four measures of coherence: two relatively reader-based measures (ILETS and the Holistic Coherence Scale) and two relatively text-based measures (Topical Structure Analysis and Topic Based Analysis). All measures of the study were proved valid and reliable.
 Results. The findings revealed that vocabulary knowledge, morphological awareness, and grammatical competence were related to the coherence measures, particularly the reader-based measures. In contrast, measures of phonological and orthographic awareness generally did not correlate with the coherence measures.
 Implication. Reasons for the associations among the variables of the study were discussed and areas for future research were offered.