English Students Research Articles

Iranian Middle School Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions of Emergency Remote English Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The impact of COVID-19 on education involved an abrupt switch from face-to-face instruction toward emergency remote teaching/learning. In public schools, teachers and students were required to undertake language education using virtual learning platforms. This shift created certain problems for both teachers and students. This qualitative research attempts to explore challenges encountered by English teachers and students in Iranian middle schools during the lockdown period. 47 participants were selected by stratified purposive sampling, providing qualitative data through semi-structured interviews and online focus groups. Thematic analysis illustrated economic, technological, and instructional concerns in addition to a set of psychological pressures. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic created certain affordances for language program which accelerated the process of online language education. The anticipation and effective management of educational problems arising from such catastrophes would help stakeholders enhance the quality of language education, prioritize teachers’ and students’ language needs at the middle level education of public schools, and facilitate learning/teaching process.

Drill Hall or Ball Hall? On Pedagogical Implications of the Old Age Motif in Katherine Mansfield’s Short Story “Her First Ball”

<p>This article uses the short story, “Her First Ball,” by Katherine Mansfield to demonstrate how fiction could be an effective tool in the process of deconstructing and transforming the master narrative of old age among secondary students of English as secondary language (ESL). The story not only offers some language points to focus on and some reading skills to develop, but it also provokes some pertinent questions about the image and meaning of old age. Aging themes in “Her First Ball” could serve as an excellent starting point for discussion among adolescent learners about old age. Moreover, such an open-ended approach to Mansfield’s story could potentially lead to a deepened awareness of the social impact of the semantics of old age as well as the transformation of students’ conceptualization of becoming mature and growing old. In addition, this article is devoted to rebuke such a purely didactic approach by presenting the literary text as a tool for complex pedagogical practices.</p>

Unleashing the Potential of TikTok: Exploring the Power of Mobile in Enhancing English Speaking Skills

The swift advancement of social media programs has facilitated their incorporation into language teaching. This study sought to examine the impact of the TikTok application on improving English language speaking abilities and learner independence in a cohort of 15 female English language students at the University of Jeddah, Khulais branch. A qualitative research methodology was employed to ascertain the students' perceptions regarding the efficacy of utilizing the TikTok application for enhancing their English language proficiency. This study utilized data collection and interviewing approaches to get information from a sample of pupils. An online survey was conducted utilizing a mixed method approach, which included both closed- and open-ended questions. The results demonstrated a beneficial effect of using the application for educational purposes on students' speaking abilities. Moreover, most participants indicated that their vocabulary range expanded and their pronunciation improved as a result of engaging with TikTok video content. Furthermore, it was observed that the application played a role in enhancing self-assurance in English communication.

The effect of motivation on self-efficacy of English department students with mediational effects of learning styles and learning strategies

This study aims to investigate the effect of motivation on self-efficacy among English department students with the mediating roles of learning styles and learning strategies. A 5-point Likert scale questionnaire has been adopted from the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB), the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) Version 7.0, the Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (PLSPQ) and the Academic Self-Efficacy Scales were employed, and 109 students(N=109) took part in the current study. The sampling procedure adopted is voluntary sampling. The questionnaire showed excellent alpha Cronbach's reliability and KMO validity. The regression and mediation analysis conducted on the collected data show a statistically significant positive impact of motivation on self-efficacy through a meditation of learning styles and learning strategies. Therefore, it is highly recommended for students, teachers, and administrators to focus on motivation to increase self-efficacy.

Common syntactic errors in the writing skills of the 3rd year students at Van Lang University

This study aimed to analyze common syntactic errors found in the argumentative essays of third-year English major students at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Van Lang University, Vietnam. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to obtain data in this study. The quantitative approach involved counting and calculating the frequency, percentage, and ranking of syntactic errors, while the qualitative method was adopted to explain these errors. The instrument for collecting data was argumentative essays written by 37 third-year English majors enrolling in Writing-5 at Van Lang University. Microsoft Word was used to collect and analyze syntactic errors and sentence structures, while Microsoft Excel was employed to calculate the frequency and rank of these errors and structures. The results found that the five most frequent errors in their essays were at the noun phrase and sentence levels. These errors included run-on sentences, preposition errors, article errors, sentence fragments, and pronoun errors. Through error analysis, it was indicated that the majority of errors made by students were due to the negative transfer from their first language and the literal translation. Based on the findings, language teachers and syllabus designers could use these results as guidance to design appropriate teaching methods and materials.

Exploring Communication Strategies in English Speaking Skills: A Study of Students at the University of Danang-University of Foreign Language Studies, Vietnam

The study focuses on communication strategies, specifically examining how they are perceived and used in English-speaking activities, as well as the impacts of verbal communications strategies (VCSs) on the performances of second-year English students from the Faculty of Foreign Language Teacher Education and the Faculty of English at the University of Danang-University of Foreign Language Studies (hereafter called EFL students for brief) as well as to propose appropriate solutions to assist them to improve their communication skills. Data were collected from 280 questionnaires, and the analysis of the in-depth interviews was conducted with 10 student informants and observations of 40 students in total. The findings show that most students were familiar with the term “communication strategies”, though they did not know exactly what the term referred to. Additionally, EFL second-years employed all twelve studied VCSs at various frequencies. Both positive and negative influences were reported, and judgement about errors from surrounding people was chosen as the biggest obstacle when applying VCSs. Several solutions were discussed in the study to solve these problems.

Language Errors among Iranian EFL Students with High and Low Levels of Writing Anxiety

Writing is known as one of the major important language skills and it is the most difficult language skills for most EFL and ESL learners. In addition, anxiety is one of the factors that many language learners face with it in the writing process. This paper examines language errors among Iranian students of English with high and low levels of writing anxiety. For this purpose, 250 English language learners from universities of the south of Iran were participated in this research. This research used two tools to collect data: the Second Language Writing Anxiety Questionnaire (SLWAI), which was a pre-test containing 22 items and three subscales of physical anxiety, avoidance behavior, and cognition based on a Likert point scale. In addition, a language test in the form of essay writing was used to recognize their different categories and main errors in the writing performance. The results of this research showed that there is a negative relationship between students' anxiety and the number of errors in their writing performance. This study discusses the implications of this finding for English language learners and teachers.

Effectiveness of Blended IAET Model in Promoting Higher Vocational Students’ English Reading Comprehension: A Parallel Cluster-Randomized Controlled Study protocol

Background: Increasing efforts have been focused on improving higher vocational students’ English reading comprehension with blended teaching model. There is limited literature focused on improving higher vocational students’ reading comprehension through the typically designed teaching model. Intercultural awareness experiential teaching (IAET) model is designed for higher vocational English reading classes by integrating three levels of intercultural awareness reflected in the reading materials of the textbook into the blended teaching process. Aim: The main objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the IAET model and to assess the impact of this model on promoting higher vocational English learners’ reading comprehension. Method: This study examines the improvement of higher vocational students reading comprehension using the intercultural awareness experiential teaching (IAET) model as an intervention. The intervention has been implemented for two months with two hours per week designed to improve higher vocational students’ reading comprehension in one higher vocational college of Henan province in China. 52 Students has been randomly assigned to the intervention group that will receive the IAET model and the control group with traditional teaching model. The feasibility was determined based on the effectiveness level of IAET model as measured by reading comprehension tests and semi-structured interviews. Independent sample T test and Welch t-test in SPSS 27 were used to compare the pretest and posttest reading comprehension scores in the control group and the experimental group. Findings: The findings showed that the IAET model has a large impact on the improvements of reading comprehension scores obtained from pre-test and post-test of the control group and the experimental group. Discussion: IAET model teaching method that can promote higher vocational English learners’ English reading comprehension systematically. During the implementation of IAET model, higher vocational English students have actively immersed themselves in cultural knowledge of reading materials and strive to comprehend them thoroughly. Moreover, the implementation of the online provision and practice tasks has also promoted students’ reading comprehension by utilizing their fragment time after classes. Contribution: The findings of this study provided an effective method for higher vocational English teachers to improve students’ reading comprehension systematically which is the implementing of the IAET model in China.

Students’ Perception Of Sleman Geschool Web-Based Learning Application In Junior High School

This study aimed to find out students’ perception of Sleman GeSchool Web-Based Learning Application in junior high school. This study was classified into qualitative research. This research study took place on one of the junior high schools in Sleman. The subjects of this study were the eighth graders students consisting of 5 boys and 5 girls. Observations, interviews and documentations were used to collect the data. The qualitative data were analysed using descriptive analysis.The result of the study showed that the Sleman GeSchool Web-Based Learning Application is supporting students in learning English because the material is interesting and easily accessible as well as good visualization of material explanations and practice questions that can make students learn easily. However, from the many things that support the students, students consider that there are still shortcomings in the Sleman GeSchool Web-Based Learning Application, for example, the lack of space to upload assignments in the form of essay and the difficulty of the platform to access when there is no internet network.

Politeness Principle Deviation during the Class Presentation on Literature and Language Teaching

ABSTRACT This research examined the deviation of maxims of politeness which produced by English lecturers and students of UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang in class presentation activity. Qualitative research used in this research to collect the data to explore the deviations produced during the activity. The researcher employed an observation to learn how the deviation occurred based on the fact and reality that happened during the activity. The data of the research were taken from three classes including History of English Literature, History of American Literature and English Language Teaching (ELT). The participants included in the research were three lecturers and 240 students of the fifth semester. The analysis of the data used the theory proposed by Leech (1983) that classified six maxims of politeness principles including Tact maxim, Generosity maxim, Approbation maxim, Modesty maxim, Agreement maxim and Sympathy maxim. This research found that there were 18 utterances produced by English lecturers and student of UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang in class presentation activity which deviated 3 maxims of politeness principles including: Tact maxim, Generosity maxim and Agreement maxim. It was expected that this research could give new insight for the readers to pay attention on the use of politeness principles. Thus, the deviation of maxims of politeness principles could be minimized and the conversation could run smoothly Keywords: Class presentation, Deviation, Politeness principles.

ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION TEXT-SHEET FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS IN READING COMPREHENSION

The research specifically examines the analytical exposition text sheets to improve reading comprehension among third-semester English education students. By using classroom action research, the study follows a cyclic process of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. Participants selected from a specific class undergo assessments through observation sheets, field notes, and reading comprehension tasks. The findings indicate that using analytical exposure text sheets significantly enhances students' reading comprehension, as evidenced by a notable increase in average grades. These text sheets, characterized by a clear structure for presenting arguments, logical reasoning, and supporting evidence, prove effective in fostering critical thinking skills. The success of this method underscores its potential as a valuable tool for educators, offering a structured yet flexible approach that accommodates diverse learning styles.

The influence of nonautonomous online collaborative writing on EFL learners

Web-based collaborative writing has received significant attention in the twenty-first century. This study aims to investigate students’ attitudes toward nonautonomous online collaborative writing. A mixed methods approach was employed in this study, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative aspect involved the administration of a questionnaire, while the qualitative component involved conducting interviews. The participants comprised 42 male Level 3 English language students from Qassim University in Saudi Arabia, aged 20 and 22. The findings indicated that nonautonomous online collaborative writing assisted students in efficiently completing written drafts and improved writing speed, fluency, and organization. It encouraged learners to write by guiding them through brainstorming ideas, generating an outline, and addressing spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. According to the interviews, online collaborative writing required the teacher’s supervision and support to provide comments, share drafts with peers, and receive feedback from others. The teacher’s guidance focused on how students create their essays, such as acquiring relevant ideas and organizing material, resulting in much-improved writing. The teacher provided students with clear directions and instructions, including what to do and what not to do at the start of the task. He also reviewed students’ assignments, wrote encouraging notes, and praised them for their accomplishments.

Effects of supplementary and mainstream education on the secondary–tertiary transitional challenges in English medium higher education

Despite the rapid growth of English medium instruction (EMI) in higher education, little research has been conducted to pinpoint the challenges faced by students. This quantitative study explored the challenges posed by the secondary–tertiary transition to first-year students with different English proficiency levels in EMI higher education institutions. In addition, we also investigated students’ perception of the usefulness of supplementary and mainstream education in preparing them for those challenges. 91 participants studying at two tertiary institutions in Hong Kong completed a 52-item questionnaire. The questionnaire included items in relation to three major aspects of challenges: ‘academic studies and skills’, ‘socialization’, and ‘college/university life adaptation’. It was found that students with low proficiency regarded all three aspects as significantly more challenging than the high proficiency ones in their first-year studies. However, despite the different proficiency levels, students similarly perceived mainstream education to be significantly more useful than supplementary education in preparing them for those transitional challenges. The findings together suggest that more English support is needed for low-proficiency students at the tertiary level and argue that mainstream education plays an essential role in assisting students in this secondary–tertiary transition. Implications are discussed in terms of the benefits of having a general English course as perquisite for low English proficiency students before they enroll in English for Academic Purposes courses, and the development of a variety of tasks with more emphasis on communication and collaboration at the secondary level to support them in this transition.

An Analysis of the Problems Encountering Libyan Pre-service Translators in the Faculty of Arts, the University of Benghazi, in Translating Arabic Texts into English

This paper aims to explore the deficiencies that translation students encounter when transferring texts from their L1, Arabic, into English, their L2. They make mistakes when they translate in terms of syntactic, non-equivalent lexical, and synonymy errors. Another aim of this study is to review the literature focusing on the interference of the translator’s L1 in the translation process and therefore its impact on the translation outputs. In order to investigate this interference, we have collected five Arabic sentences from the internet. Ten randomly students of English were chosen as a sample of this study from Semester four at the University of Benghazi (El-Marj Campus). They were asked to translate these sentences into English without consulting other people. Only Arabic-English dictionaries were allowed in order to see how they could deal with them. The results of this investigation showed that these students failed to provide good translations of these sentences due to the interference of their mother language, Arabic, to the translation process.

UTILIZING TRANSLANGUAGING IN TEACHING ESP TO CULINARY ART STUDENTS IN INDONESIA: CHALLENGES AND EFFORTS

Translanguaging is a pedagogical strategy that can be used to assist students in understanding the material in the classroom and this strategy plays an important role for teachers in conducting classes of English for specific purposes (ESP) in culinary art classrooms. The study was conducted to examine translanguaging utilization in teaching ESP for culinary art students and find out the challenges and effort that teachers have in the classroom. The research used a case study in a culinary art classroom of Almansyuriyah Vocational School at Tangerang and descriptive analysis was used to analyse data that has been collected through classroom observation and interview with a teacher and 20 students. The result explained that utilizing translanguaging in the classroom raises students’ understanding of the material given because students can use the home language (L1) to understand the context and elaborate on the target language. Finally, Translanguaging as a pedagogical strategy can be utilized to assist students in understanding English for specific purposes in culinary art classrooms in Indonesia.

Learning Strategies Used by ESL Students in Learning English at Capiz National High School, Philippines

Learning strategies encompass deliberate techniques and methods employed by individuals to optimize their acquisition and comprehension of information or skills. Among the categories of language learning strategies frequently utilized are memory, cognitive, compensatory, metacognitive, affective, and social strategies, all of which serve as valuable tools for enhancing language acquisition efficiency. Consequently, this study aims to assess the utilization level of language learning strategies, determining the extent to which students employ these strategies, and identifying the most and least utilized strategies in learning English. For data collection, this research adopted Oxford's Strategy Inventory Language Learning (SILL) questionnaire version 7.0. Employing quantitative descriptive methods, data were gathered from 42 Capiz National High School ESL students. The findings revealed a tendency among students to utilize strategies in their English learning endeavors, with cognitive strategies being the most frequently employed and affective strategies being the least used. These results underscore the importance for ESL teachers to tailor teaching methods, materials, and activities to align with students' preferred strategies, thereby supporting language learning effectively. Additionally, future studies are recommended to utilize larger and more diverse samples to further explore the relationships between learning strategies and other variables in greater depth.

The Correlation Between Students’ Habit in Watching English Movies and Students’ Listening Skills at English Education Study Program of Baturaja University

The aim of this study is to determine the correlation between students' habits of watching English movies and their listening skills within the English Education Study Program at Baturaja University. This research specifically targets the second-semester students of this program. Utilizing a quantitative approach, data was gathered through questionnaires and tests. The population consisted of all students in the English Education Study Program at Baturaja University, with a sample of 26 students selected through purposive sampling. To collect data on students' movie-watching habits, a questionnaire was employed, while listening skills were assessed using an English book by Jack C. Richards (2010). The Pearson Product Moment correlation was used to analyze the data. The findings revealed a positive correlation between students' habits of watching English movies and their listening skills, as evidenced by a correlation coefficient (rxy) of 0.801. This indicates a very strong relationship, leading to the acceptance of the alternative hypothesis (Ha) and the rejection of the null hypothesis (Ho). Therefore, it can be concluded that there is a significant and strong positive correlation between the students' habits of watching English movies and their listening skills. This study underscores the importance of integrating engaging activities such as movie-watching into language learning curriculums to enhance listening proficiency.

Online reading strategies to boost the students’ motivation

Students have a reason for reading a passage or a book. Fostering students' reading motivation is a difficult but necessary aspect. The sudden transition due to the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 has also driven the educational field to be online learning where the teacher still should advocate the best way to develop a student’s reading motivation which is a novel English learning environment. Teacher strategies are an attempt to attract students’ attention to learning and this study focuses on reading skills. This research aimed to find out the teacher strategies applied in teaching reading to foster students' reading motivation in online learning. The researchers used descriptive qualitative methods and the instruments of this research were classroom observation and semi-structured interviews. The subject of this research was English teachers and EFL students at MAN 2 Batam. This study revealed that the teacher applied three strategies: (1) read aloud, (2) scaffolding, and (3) reading outside class activity in teaching reading to foster reading motivation. Indeed, the teacher strategies applied in teaching reading through online learning at MAN 2 Batam foster students reading motivation as the advocate way of the teacher to promote reading skills.

Education for Sustainable Development: Mapping Socio-legal and Eco-cultural Sustainability Topics in English Learning

This research aimed to identify socio-legal and eco-cultural values through the participatory mapping (PM) of local wisdom in supporting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in higher education, which can potentially be applied to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning. The research involved 14 English students at a private university in Bali, Indonesia. The participants were selected to take part in participatory mapping (PM) with community members at a remote village. The results of this study are documented in two major findings. First, with their collective knowledge gained from PM, the English students were able to identify socio-legal and eco-cultural values and utilize them contextually in their report writing. Second, undertaking participatory mapping prior to completing writing tasks in their EFL course could help students to better express their ideas and strengthen their English writing skills. The insertion of two aspects of sustainability in the EFL tasks involved incorporating local values into EFL learning. Through English students experiencing PM prior to completing their writing task, EFL learning can be conducted more authentically with the students paying greater attention to the local culture and values. By exploring socio-legal and eco-cultural sustainability as the core activity of PM in this research, the study contributes to our understanding of the way in which the integration of local values into EFL activities in Indonesia makes a tangible contribution to ESD.

Learner Agency: Multiple Case Studies of English Speaking Learning of English Majors in China

Objectives This article delves into the ways in which three English major students, each possessing varying levels of proficiency in spoken English―high, moderate, and low―express their agency throughout the process of acquiring spoken language. This exploration encompasses their experiences both within and beyond the classroom, all situated within a broader contextual framework. Methods Qualitative research was conducted during one fall semester from September to December 2023. The researchers observed an English speaking course instructed by a Chinese female teacher. Data were collected through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, course documents and learners’ artifacts. Data analysis was conducted with three levels of coding (open coding, axial coding, and selective coding) and the credibility was ensured with data triangulation. Results The findings revealed that English major students, when encountering difficulties and challenges, such as pronunciation problems and limited vocabulary etc, exercised different forms of agency to address and overcome obstacles in the process of learning spoken English. Specifically, the agency forms of English major students in spoken English learning is manifested through action engagement, action adjustment, and action resistance. Conclusions The findings and the analysis of the current study revealed that learner agency had a significant role to play in English as a foreign language classroom in a Chinese college context. Based on the thematic data analysis, this study offered some pedagogical implications for educators and teachers both at Chinese universities and beyond.