English Tutoring Research Articles

Refining English tutors' skills: Documentary films as pre-teaching reference

Training spoken English tutors requires a variety of resources, including audio-visual references. However, popular social media tutorials often focus on teaching specific English materials, neglecting broader teaching techniques. Ideal tutors need a positive and engaging personality, knowledge transfer strategies, adaptable approaches to classroom conditions, meticulous preparation, and effective wrap-up activities - elements that are missing from most tutorial videos. This study investigates the potential of short documentary films as a reference for teaching techniques for 13 prospective tutors in an intermediate English class. Through an integrated mentoring program for the production of short documentaries, the study explores, describes and addresses the challenges of teaching preparation through observation, interviews and literature review. It also analyzes the potential of documentaries to support teaching and formulates criteria for effective documentary content relevant to teacher preparation. The findings suggest that integrating documentary film production into the English language teaching curriculum can equip tutors with the necessary skills for successful micro-teaching experiences. This approach allows tutors to create personalized short documentaries that serve as a reference for teaching techniques tailored to their specific pre-teaching needs. Tutors gain a deeper understanding and ability to demonstrate not only teaching techniques, but also classroom management elements such as preparation, wrap-up activities, brainstorming and teaching approaches.

TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING: A STUDY OF ENGLISH TUTORS IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION, GHANA

TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING: A STUDY OF ENGLISH TUTORS IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION, GHANA

International Learning Program (ILP): The Analysis of Students Motivation in Speaking English

The lack of excitement for training students’ speaking abilities is at the root of the problem in this study. Researchers are curious about: 1) This English Tutor exercise provides an incentive for students to practice speaking English. 2) Students’ conduct or effort in practising speaking English through English Tutor activities, attitudes, interests, values, or desires The design of this study is descriptive-quantitative. Creswell (2012: 13) describes quantitative research as defining a research challenge based on trends in the field or the need to explain why something occurs. According to the study’s findings, 1) the learner’s effort in practising speaking English among ILP students is 63% or higher. 2) the students’ interest in practising speaking English is 37%. 3) 47% of learners have a positive attitude regarding English-speaking practice. 4) the student has a 50% motivation to practice speaking English. The following are the findings: 1) Having a variety of learning activities and subjects available is beneficial for increasing motivation and offering opportunities for concept exploration. 2) To avoid monotony, vary the tactics employed in the learning process. 3) Rewarding and encouraging.

Learned Helplessness of Secondary-School Students Learning English During Covid-19 Distance Education: a Research Report

Objectives of the research: This article presents a diagnosis of the learned helplessness experienced by secondary-school students learning English remotely during the 2021 lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The objectives are to (1) show the level of learned helplessness of secondary-school students learning English, (2) investigate the relationship between foreign language learning strategies and the learned helplessness of secondary-school students, and (3) determine the relationship between the level of learned helplessness and the use of private tutoring by secondary-school students.
 Research methods: The study was conducted via a written diagnostic survey. It also employed the School Helplessness Scale by B. Ciżkowicz (2009) and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) by R. Oxford (1990).
 A short description of the context of the issue: The aim of the text is to answer the following research questions: What is the level of learned helplessness of secondary-school students? Is there a relationship between foreign language learning strategies and the learned helplessness of secondary-school students? Does the use of private tutoring differentiate the level of learned helplessness of secondary-school students?
 Research findings: The results demonstrate a significant negative correlation between learned helplessness and the use of memory, cognitive, metacognitive, affective, and social strategies. The average score of learned helplessness was 2.54, which indicates that the respondents usually felt the symptoms of it. An analysis of the results for the three deficits revealed that the motivational deficit made the greatest contribution to learned helplessness. The students who had hired a private tutor in English had a lower level of learned helplessness and cognitive deficit.
 Conclusions and/or recommendations: The research findings lead to several recommendations for educational practice in the context of foreign language learning: using new, effective pedagogical approaches to keep learners motivated—including elements of strategy training or social and emotional learning (SEL)—arranging remedial teaching, and promoting teachers’ professional development.

Digital Tools for Teaching English An Effective and Innovative Way

The digitization of education has been being over the last decade, specifically with the invention of the tablet computer and the wide vacuity of high- speed internet. These developments have made it possible for every pupil to have a digital device and access to an array of digital tools. Indeed, utmost language classrooms include an Internet- enabled computer and a projector. Language acquisition is a complex process that involves the development of various skills such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The advent of digital technology has transformed the educational paradigm. Digital tools offer a dynamic and interactive approach to language instruction, catering to the diverse needs of students in the 21st century. The benefits of digital tools in language teaching are evident, their effective integration into the curriculum requires careful planning and implementation. A number of online English tutoring platforms for managing and running classes, utmost virtual preceptors use videotape conferencing software to communicate and hold meetings with scholars. While teleconferencing programs vary in the features they have, they should at least enable one can use their videotape camera, partake screen, and converse with the scholars. They should also be stable, stoner-friendly, and suitable to accommodate groups. This paper explores the myriad of digital tools available for teaching English, focusing on their effectiveness and impact on language learning.

EXPLORING TUTORS’ STRATEGIES IN TEACHING SPEAKING AT PPB IAIN SYEKH NURJATI CIREBON

This study, which includes an English tutor and 30 students in the third semester of the class PPB IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon, aims to portray tutors’ tactics in teaching speaking to PPB IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon and recognize the effects of strategies used by the English tutors. To determine the speaking instruction methodologies, interviews, and classroom observations were undertaken as part of the data collection. The outcome showed that the tutors’ methods included drills, role-plays, speaking lines, and discussions. As a result of the teacher's speaking techniques, pupils get more engaged in their studies, develop more optimistic outlooks, and become more motivated. Almost all of the students prefer the speaking lines as the method of teaching speaking among the three tactics used by the teacher because they believe it can enhance their speaking skills, increase their desire to talk and make the teaching-learning process more enjoyable.

Application of CLT in Chinese Out-School English Tutoring Classes-Taking Skyedu as an Example

This study is mainly discussing the significance of using Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), the reason for applying CLT in the out-school English tutoring classes in China, and the analysis of its effectiveness. Teacher-centered is still the mainstream of English teaching in China nowadays, which may decrease students’ language learning autonomy, willingness, and motivation. In this case, turning from teacher-centered to student-centered is necessary and unavoidable. From some important previous research, CLT might be more suitable for Chinese students acquiring a second language effectively. Though it may not work in public schools, it could be useful in certain educational organizations. Therefore, this study also illustrates the possibility and feasibility to apply CLT in Skyedu, an educational organization. The result of the study demonstrated that it would be possible and practical to invite students joining in a CLT classroom in Skyedu.

English Tutoring for Orphanage Children

This Community Service (CS) activity has the theme of introducing English learning for children at Naungan Kasih Orphanage of St. Elisabeth Ende. This is done with the aim of guiding children in this Orphanage so that they can have English skills and knowledge. The main problem faced by these children is for kindergarten and elementary school children, are not yet familiar with English, while high school level children already know and obtain English learning, but with limited media, time, etc. so they learn less English. This makes them have no motivation and no interest in learning English. This activity went well and they are enthusiastic. This activity uses several learning strategies made by the CS team so that children do not get bored learning English, and have the attraction of learning English. It is expected that the children in this orphanage are able to apply the use of English in schools and communities and overcome the difficulties that they face. Children learn well, full of enthusiasm and it is expected that there will be an improvement in their English learning.

Influence of Using CANVA Media on Learning Outcomes of ClassVII Students at MTSN 2 Sidenreng Rappang

The lack of excitement for training students' speaking abilities is at the root of the problem in this study. Researchers are curious about: 1) This English Tutor exercise provides an incentive for students to practice speaking English. 2) Students' conduct or effort in practicing speaking English through English Tutor activities, attitudes, interests, values, or desires The design of this study is descriptive-quantitative. Creswell (2012: 13) describes quantitative research as defining a research challenge based on trends in the field or the need to explain why something occurs. According to the study's findings, 1) the learner's effort in practicing speaking English among ILP students is 63% or higher, and 2) the students'' interest in practicing speaking English is 37%. 3) 47% of learners have a positive attitude regarding English-speaking practice. 4) The student has a 50% motivation to practice speaking English. The following are the findings: 1) Having a variety of learning activities and subjects available is beneficial for increasing motivation and offering opportunity for concept exploration. 2) To avoid monotony, vary the tactics employed in the learning process. 3) Rewarding and encouraging students who can successfully express themselves in English. 4) Making the classroom an inviting atmosphere.

Contrastive Analysis of Concord in Arabic, English, and Indonesian

Recognizing the differences in concord among languages will be very important to avoid mistakes in using these languages because concord errors are the most common errors in language use. This article was a contrastive study of concord in Arabic, English, and Indonesian, and the implication of teaching the languages. Through contrastive analysis, the grammatical concord system of the languages was compared to determine the similarities, differences, and teaching implications. Library research was used through a qualitative method. The data was taken mainly from Arabic, English, and Indonesian grammar books. The results showed that the concord in Arabic and English was grammatical, while in Indonesian, it was notional. The element of concord in Arabic was more complex, comprising phrases and clauses, and consisting of five features: person, number, gender, definiteness, and case markers. Meanwhile, the English concord occured on the clause domain of person and number, differing from that of Indonesian which was based on meaning. This study provided an incentive to foreign language tutors, especially, Arabic and English tutors, to develop strategies in helping students master concord and avoid grammatical errors.

Pemberdayaan Anak-Anak Usia Dini Melalui Program Bimbingan Les Belajar Bahasa Inggris di Kampung Baru RT 01 di Desa Bantarsari

This English tutoring programme is one form of community service programme (KKN-12 USA) in 2023 which aims to foster the ability of early childhood in learning English at Paud Insan Madani. In addition, there are other objectives, namely from the implementation of this programme, students can apply the knowledge and theories that have been obtained from the world of lectures, besides that the campus can show the community that students are able to reinforce the existence of universities that are able to create or give birth to the nation's successor cadres who are able to bring better changes to society. The target of this service is early childhood in Bantarsari Village RT 01 Rancabungur District, Bogor Regency. And this programme has the main objective, namely through the English tutoring programme, early childhood can get basic knowledge of English such as how to pronounce well and correctly, be it words or sentences used in daily activities related to their lives and ages. This tutoring programme lasts about 4 weeks with 2 meetings each on Friday and Saturday. From this programme it can be seen that before this activity the children did not understand anything about English and after this activity the children have a change in English language skills at a basic level.

A comparative study on the development of Chinese and English abilities of Chinese primary school students through two bilingual reading modes: human-AI robot interaction and paper books.

To address the challenges encountered by Chinese primary school students, particularly left-behind and migrant children, who exhibit a preference for animations, video games, and short videos over reading books and struggle with Chinese-English bilingual skills, this study introduces an educational robot AI-assisted method for simultaneous bilingual reading. To assess the effectiveness of this method, a 6-month Chinese-English bilingual extracurricular reading comparative experiment was conducted involving 85 grade 5 students from two classes in a primary school in Hangzhou, China. The AI-assisted class freely read 100 bilingual/English electronic picture books and 200 Chinese electronic classic serial picture books by employing the AI-assisted human-computer interactive electronic reading mode of the "Educational Robot+Audio Electronic Picture Book+Character-play Based Reading." In contrast, the paper book group read the same content presented in the traditional paper book format, following the "regular independent reading" mode. Post-experimental analyses were conducted employing t-tests and MANCOVA and the results revealed that: the primary factors influencing reading effectiveness are the choice of reading materials, reading tools, and reading mode, while reading time does not emerge as the principal influencing factor. Furthermore, students in the AI class demonstrated significant enhancements in bilingual reading motivation, reading amount, reading comprehension, independent learning ability, pronunciation proficiency, and test scores compared to their peers in the paper book class. The AI-assisted reading mode utilizing educational robots garnered positive feedback from teachers, parents, and students. It offers the potential to effectively substitute parental involvement in parent-child reading and English tutoring, while also enabling the simultaneous acquisition of bilingual proficiency in both Chinese and English. This approach proves to be highly effective, cost-efficient, and convenient, particularly for enhancing children's foreign language abilities. Moreover, it fosters positive reading habits and independent learning skills among primary school students, contributes to the establishment of lofty aspirations, and enhances bilingual performance. Overall, this innovative mode offers an effective means of facilitating children's acquisition of bilingualism and foreign language skills, as well as promoting reading education.

Strategies and Challenges in Teaching Speaking by English Tutors: A Study in Madani Super Camp English Classes

Speaking is an important skill needed in communication and requires good training as well as professional and experienced English tutors. The speaking tutors will encounter various difficulties and need to employ effective teaching strategies to overcome them. This study aimed to find out the types of challenges faced by the English tutors in the Madani Super Camp (MSC) Course Narmada in teaching speaking and the types of learning strategies applied by the tutors to overcome the challenges in teaching speaking. This qualitative descriptive research involved eight English teachers in the MSC Course Narmada as respondents. The data were obtained by using closed-ended questions and semi-structured interviews, which were transcribed descriptively. In addition, the data analysis used is data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. The results of the research showed that the tutors faced five challenges in teaching English, including a lack of student discipline, additional work, a lack of self-confidence, a lack of technical teaching, and controlling the classroom and class management. The researcher reveals the research findings related to the learning strategies applied by the tutors to overcome the challenges in teaching speaking ability, including discussion and classroom interaction, storytelling, classroom practice, games, and picture descriptions.
 
 Keywords: Tutors’ Challenges; Tutors’ Strategies; Teaching Speaking.

Attitudes of Turkish EFL Teachers and Native English Tutors towards Posters: The UK and Turkey Contexts

Since espousing posters as essential teaching materials to leverage learning is one of the mainstreams in the research paradigm, the great majority of studies on their effectiveness in language education are directly conducted on learners. However, approaching them through the lens of teachers in terms of their consideration as language teaching tools is underrepresented in research. Thus, this qualitative research was conducted in Turkey and the UK using semi-structured interviews, a survey and non-participant classroom observations to explore the attitudes of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers towards using posters as a strategy for reading comprehension of learners. Besides demographic features, syllogistic inference through inductive high-level data coding was employed to ascertain teachers’ attitudes. In addition, some classroom practices were observed to test whether they overlap with teacher attitudes. Particular reading strategies the teachers employed throughout their instructions were also investigated to identify the role of visuals in their teaching. The findings indicate that although teachers in both countries exhibit positive attitudes towards using posters as a strategy, they do not in fact employ them properly in classes. Accordingly, some suggestions for further research considerations are also provided.

Adapt, acquire, defuse, learn: Filipino online English tutors as intercultural bricoleurs

Since 2010, the Philippines has been one of the largest contributors of workers to the increasingly global industry of remote English language tutoring. In this nascent and growing industry, Filipino online English tutors are employed by online platforms as independent contractors where they instruct students on a piece-meal basis. This article draws on interviews with 11 Filipino online tutors to discuss the various strategies that Filipino online English tutors deploy to successfully navigate their encounters with students whose cultural backgrounds differ from their own. We suggest the notion of intercultural bricolage to make sense of online tutors' self-acquired strategies for retaining students and succeeding as online tutors despite the various difficulties encountered with this type of remote work. While the notion of intercultural bricolage applies to the practices of many offline language teachers as well, we highlight how elements unique to online teaching—including lesson-by-lesson contracts—make intercultural bricolage an indispensable component of tutors’ success on online language teaching platforms.

“English Speaking Club” Pendampingan Untuk Meningkatkan Kepercayaan Diri Dan Kualitas Speaking Mahasiswa Program Studi Tadris Bahasa Inggris Fakultas Tarbiyah Dan Keguruan Iai Darussalam Blokagung

The underlying of this community service is the TBIG students’ inability to speak English well. This is due to their lack of self-confidence, lack of vocabulary and practice. It is necessary to overcome through English Speaking Club program. The mentoring method used is Asset-based Community Development (ABCD) which views the community as potential people. The results show that students' speaking ability improves. This improvement is shown by positive changes in terms of vocabulary and pronunciation. Their Vocabularies are increasingly varied and the pronunciation is also precise. Meanwhile, Students' self-confidence also improves. As their vocabularies increase, students feel more confidence to communicate and speak English in public. The fear and lack of confidence toward their ability slowly disappears. Furthermore, the English tutor's ability improves. This improvement can be seen from the micro teaching which was followed after the workshop activities. They shared their experiences with each other on how to open and animate the class atmosphere and close the class

Challenges Faced by English Tutors in Teaching EYL through Online

The government urged people to study and work from home at the beginning of March 2020 due to Covid-19 spreading in Indonesia; however, online learning has become very popular today. It is proven by many English courses in Pare provide online classes. One program that people are interested in is English for Kids. The previous study found that online teaching to English Young Learners (EYL) is not that easy; therefore, it has not been found a study to explore the challenges English tutors face in teaching online to EYL. The participants of this study were seventy-five tutors who teach EYL encountered online English courses in Pare. The researchers employed a descriptive quantitative approach. The data was collected through a questionnaire that consisted of 21 items and three open-ended questions. The data were analyzed by using the Likert scale. The findings of this research show that electricity failure and poor internet connectivity become crucial challenges. The students that are assisted by their parents also make tutors seem challenged in teaching EYL. Irregularly, the students feel bored in learning English through online. Although some tutors never join any workshop on Teaching English for Young Learners, they are good at giving guidance to teach young learners.

Exploring the Impact of Using Instagram to Develop Saudi EFL Learners' Vocabulary

The current paper aims to investigate the impact of using Instagram to develop vocabulary among Saudi EFL learners. With a descriptive research design, this paper filled a gap in the literature by examining the role of Instagram in building vocabulary among Saudi EFL learners. Therefore, quantitative and qualitative methods were employed. To collect data, the researcher used an online questionnaire and two different types of interviews. The online questionnaire included both closed-ended and open-ended questions, involving 217 Saudi EFL learners. Regarding the interviews, structured interviews were carried out with six Saudi EFL learners to collect detailed information. Additionally, to acquire more information, semi-structured interviews involved four English tutors on Instagram. As a result, the findings revealed that Instagram plays a key role in developing EFL learners' English vocabulary and can be used as a tool to expand their vocabulary. The findings of this study add to prior research in related fields and serve as a resource for researchers studying English language instruction and acquisition as well as EFL learners.

Different subjects, different incentives: Private tutoring and perceived instructional quality in Czech lower-secondary schools

Whether education systems can stimulate or attenuate the demand for private supplementary tutoring by acting on the quality of provided school instruction is a complex and relatively unexplored issue. This study aims to reduce this knowledge gap by analysing the relationships between private tutoring attendance and instructional quality perceived at individual and classroom levels. Regression analyses are performed on a representative sample of 1280 pupils in the senior grade of lower secondary Czech schools. In mathematics and national language, students who find the school instruction interesting, who learn a lot, whose teachers can motivate them and explain the subject well, are less likely to use private tutoring in this subject. By increasing the quality of teaching in these subjects, schools and teachers may indirectly reduce the demand for private tutoring. However, perceived quality of school instruction in English language does not affect English tutoring, which is procured by affluent families irrespective of the perceived quality of school instructions.

EFS Program to Enhance Students' Speaking Skills For Daily Conversation

This study aims to investigate implementing the "English for School" program at M.A.N. 1 Bandar Lampung. The method used in this research washe descriptive qualitative method. The data source was students, tutors, and teachers in M.A.N. 1, the Bandarlampung academic year 2022/2023, through direct observation, interviews, and documentation of learning outcomes. The discussion and the observation aimed to gather information from the students, English teachers, and English tutors. The consultation with teachers, tutors, and students shows that the "English for School" program is well used to improve students' speaking skills, including the vocabulary and expressions related to daily conversation. Besides, the observation result found that student's confidence in speaking skills improved because of more practicing in English Area, especially with the tutors, and presenting something in English in front of the class during the program. The program could motivate and stimulate the students to use English in daily activities with anyone, anywhere.