Young English As A Foreign Language Learners Research Articles

Enhancing young EFL learners’ written skills: the role of repeated pre-task planning

Enhancing young EFL learners’ written skills: the role of repeated pre-task planning

Children and extensive reading motivation

Abstract Extensive reading (ER), which refers to reading a lot of often self-selected material for information, overall meaning, pleasure, and enjoyment, has been growing in popularity in Asia as an effective way for English as a foreign language (EFL) students to improve reading skills and has provided opportunities for comprehensible input (Nation & Waring, 2013). The focus of this action research (AR) project is on young EFL learners in a private language school setting without a grading system. Therefore, it is important that students be intrinsically motivated to read for the school’s ER program to be successful, specifically, the motivation to check out and read books from a school library. Furthermore, this AR project sought to find whether certain methods can increase students’ intrinsic motivation to read. The research methods include questionnaires, student voice recordings, and empirical data on book-borrowing behaviors. The findings show that indirect, rather than direct, teacher recommendation of books seems to be the most effective method to increase intrinsic motivation to do ER.

Classroom Activities and English Grammar Learning among students

The objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness of integrating games into grammar instruction for young learners, as perceived by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in primary schools. A questionnaire was distributed to collect opinions from a sample of English language teachers (n=15). The results of the research showed that EFL teachers have varied perspectives on the use of games in grammar teaching, consistent with existing literature. The study suggests that while EFL teachers recognize the effectiveness of incorporating games for grammar instruction, they do not incorporate games into their classrooms as frequently as expected. Additionally, the study delved into the factors influencing teachers' decisions regarding game integration. Analysis indicated that time constraints, curriculum demands, and perceived challenges in managing classroom dynamics were significant considerations. Despite recognizing the potential benefits of gamified grammar instruction, teachers faced practical obstacles in implementation. The study recommends targeted professional development to address these challenges, emphasizing practical strategies for seamlessly incorporating games into the curriculum. By bridging the gap between theoretical acknowledgment and practical application, educators can enhance the integration of games, fostering a more engaging and effective grammar learning environment for young EFL learners in primary schools. Further research could explore specific training interventions and their impact on teachers' game integration practices.

The Role of Task Types and Reading Proficiency on Young English as a Foreign Language Learners' Writing Performances

AbstractThis study examined the role of writing task types and L2 reading proficiency on young English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' writing performances. The participants were 185 students (Grades 7 and 8) from Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands. The students responded to a descriptive and an email writing tasks that assessed their writing ability. The written responses were scored holistically and analyzed for aspects of lexical sophistication, syntactic complexity, writing fluency, and idea development. The students were grouped into strong or emergent readers based on their performances on an English reading comprehension test. Results showed that the students' writing performances differed across task types and were associated with their reading proficiency. The students produced more unique and concrete words and more complex syntactic structures and wrote longer essays in the descriptive writing task. Strong readers outperformed the emergent readers in both tasks and in writing fluency and idea development. Findings corroborate previous research on the connection between reading and writing skills and highlight the importance of strengthening young EFL learners' reading skills to support their writing development.

The relationships between spoken and written input beyond the classroom and young EFL learners’ proficiency

The present mixed-methods study was an inductive investigation of 8-to-12-year-old English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) children’s English input received beyond the classroom (IBC) in Hong Kong. Individual interviews, with an inductive co-constructive approach, were conducted with the participating children’s parents/guardians ( n = 173) to elicit their IBC. The children completed four proficiency tests (listening, reading, speaking, and writing), the scores of which were analysed with their IBC. Medium to large effects were found in correlations between various aspects of IBC and proficiency. Spoken IBC (i.e. exposure to spoken English) generally showed stronger associations with proficiency than written IBC (i.e. exposure to written English) did. Regression analyses demonstrated that both types of IBC were significant predictors, explaining 25% of the variance in proficiency. There were large to very large differences in proficiency between children receiving abundant IBC and little/no IBC. Intriguingly, only specific types of IBC were found to relate to differences in proficiency. The article ends with a discussion of these findings.

Young EFL Learners Collaboratively Writing a Dialogue During a Regular Classroom Lesson

A growing body of research has explored collaborative writing (CW) among young learners. Nevertheless, studies have mainly focused on tasks such as the dictogloss, which is rather uncommon in regular classroom teaching and has neglected activities that are more common. In addition, research has focused on language-related episodes (LREs) without considering other important episodes including those that involve the teacher. Finally, only one study has explored to what extent the decisions made within LREs transfer into the written product. With these research gaps in mind, the present study examined CW of 12 pairs composed of 10 to 11-year-old learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) who jointly wrote a role-play. Drawing on audio recordings of pair work interactions and documentary analysis of students’ written work, the study has found that in addition to LREs, students frequently engaged in content-related and activity-related episodes with the teacher’s involvement being rather limited. Despite the teacher’s presence, a high proportion of LREs was resolved incorrectly or left unresolved. Nearly all correctly and incorrectly resolved LREs were also incorporated into the jointly written role-play. Students focused predominantly on the language targeted by the activity (lexical phrases) and attended to other language aspects minimally.

Phonological Awareness and Word Reading Fluency Among Young Saudi Learners of English

The current study explored the relationship between phonological awareness and word reading fluency among young Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL)learners. Two tests were completed by thirty young Saudi EFL learners. The first test comprised 25 questions related to phonological awareness. In the second test, the learners were asked to read a list of English words in one minute, and each student was given a score based on how many words they read per minute. The students scored relatively low on both tests, indicatinga deficiency in phonological awareness and difficulty in word reading. The scores in both tests were significantly correlated, however, a regression analysis showed that only phonological awareness at the phonemic level was a significant predictor of the students’ performance in the word reading fluency test. The results clearly indicate that Saudi EFL learners could benefit from phonemic awareness training, and future studies should empirically examine its potentialfor improving Saudi EFL learners’ reading fluency.

Test-taking strategy use by Chinese young EFL learners in an authentic international standardized English test

The current study examined language test-taking strategies used by Chinese young learners of English as a foreign language (EFLs) in an authentic international standardized English test–Cambridge Young Learners English Test: Flyers Test. It adopted a mixed-methods approach: the quantitative part was a survey administered to 138 participants, and the qualitative part consisted of think-aloud sessions and retrospective interviews with six participants (three were high-achievers and three were low-achievers). The quantitative results show that in general, children adopted metacognitive test-taking strategies more frequently than cognitive test-taking strategies irrespective of language skills; and the high-achievers used test-taking strategies more frequently than their low-achievers. The two-way interaction effects between levels of test performance ☓ strategy type and between language skills ☓ strategy type were also significant. The qualitative results demonstrate that the high-achievers not only used a broader range of cognitive strategies than low-achievers, they also used the same metacognitive strategies at an in-depth level and in a more sophisticated way than low-achievers. The results of the study suggest that expanding Chinese young EFL learners’ repertoire of test-taking strategies and modeling desirable ways of using strategies may help them improve their test-taking strategy use.

Collaborative writing among young EFL learners in a school context: product and process

ABSTRACT The recent surge in studies on collaborative writing (CW) has provided valuable insights into the product and process of writing. When writing together, adults tend to produce better texts and generate and resolve a large number of language-related episodes (LREs). Also, analyses of the dialogues of collaborative writers show that learners are able to co-construct knowledge and mainly focus their attention on the generation of ideas. As for young learners (YLs), the very few studies comparing jointly and individually written texts have not identified any advantages in the use of collaboratively written drafts.Furthermore, while YLs also produce and resolve LREs in CW tasks, no study to date has provided a thorough analysis of their dialogues. To address these gaps, this study compares the products of primary school learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) aged 11–12 writing in pairs (n = 20) and individually (n = 19) and provides a thorough analysis of pair talk (process). Results suggest that collaborative writers produced more accurate texts and focused most of their efforts on the generation of ideas and on the discussion and successful resolution of LREs. In light of these results the implementation of CW with YLs is encouraged.

Exploring classroom-based assessment for young EFL learners in the Chinese context: Teachers’ beliefs and practices

Classroom-based assessment (CBA) is an approach for learning improvement that has been advocated as having strong potential in enhancing learner autonomy of young language learners (YLLs). This study investigated Chinese primary school English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' beliefs about CBA, their assessment practices, and the relationship between their CBA beliefs and practices. Drawing on data from a survey of 195 Chinese primary school EFL teachers, results showed that the teachers positively believed in the value of various CBA processes, including planning assessment, collecting learning evidence, making professional judgments and providing appropriate feedback, and they also attempted to enact these assessment practices; belief-practice alignment was also identified, showing that teachers' beliefs about CBA were significant predictors of their assessment practices. Implications are provided for promoting the implementation of CBA for YLLs in similar contexts.

A Genre Pedagogy for Teaching Young EFL Learners of English Village of Parit Baru

This case study aimed to find out the implementation of a genre pedagogy under systemic functional linguistics (SFL) framework or under Sydney School to teach the English language to young English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners of English Village of Parit Baru, Kubu Raya, West Kalimantan. Fifty-two young EFL learners were involved in this study. The data collection used two instruments, namely participant observations and documentation. The data analysis reveals that genre pedagogy elements could help the young EFL learners in constructing and communicating their texts independently. Also, the learners’ texts are following the schematic structures and linguistic features of the spoken genres the learners learned. To help the learners to cope with the teaching activities, songs and games activities were used to build their interest in the English language, new vocabulary, and practices to communicate their texts. This means that a genre pedagogy under the SFL framework could be integrated with joyful activities that not only provide guidance but also promote enjoyable learning in building the English language capacities of the young EFL learners in a non-formal educational context.

Development of English Picture Vocabulary Test as an Assessment Tool for Very Young EFL Learners’ Receptive and Expressive Language Skills

ABSTRACT Research Findings: The aim of this study was to construct and validate “English Picture Vocabulary Test (EPVT)” that aimed to assess the very young learners’ (VYLs) receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge for specific content areas in English as a foreign language (EFL). In this context, EPVT was created in several stages. One of them was initial construct identification with the literature review on various aspects of assessment in early year’s FL learning and development aspects of very young EFL learners. The other stages were “pre-piloting” with 4 experts and 20 VYLs to obtain their perspectives on the test construction and administration and “final piloting” implementation with 5–6 years old private pre-primary school children (251) to ensure reliability, validity, and test quality. After designing the process of the EPVT was clarified considering the ethical and effectiveness issues, the item analysis with Kuder-Richardson 20 and Point-Biserial Correlation was conducted. Besides, the distribution of the items among the ranges of difficulty and the discrimination index values were specified. Practice and Policy: The findings support that EPVT is child-friendly and effective in assessing preschoolers’ English vocabulary receptively and expressively. Furthermore, it could also serve to provide feedback for teaching and supporting for learning L2.

Assessing self-regulatory writing strategies and their predictive effects on young EFL learners’ writing performance

This paper reports findings from two empirical studies on students’ reported use of self-regulatory writing strategies and the relationships with their writing performance in a secondary school English as a foreign language (EFL) context. Study One adopted a factorial design using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to validate the inferences and uses of a Self-Regulatory Writing Strategy Questionnaire; Study Two explored learner individual differences in developing self-regulatory writing strategies and the predictive effects of these strategies on students’ writing performance. Participants were two convenience samples of 669 and 239 students, who were young EFL learners in junior secondary schools in China. Results provided evidence of the construct validity of responses to the questionnaire. Students in higher grade levels reported more frequent use of self-regulatory writing strategies than those in lower grade levels, and female students reported using self-regulatory writing strategies more than male students. The six strategy factors (i.e., writing planning, goal-oriented monitoring, goal-oriented evaluation, emotional control, memorization, and metacognitive judgment) each had significant predictive effects on secondary school students’ writing performance. These findings suggest the importance of self-regulatory writing strategies to young learners’ writing performance. • The study validates a questionnaire on self-regulatory writing strategies. • Students in higher grade levels reported more uses of writing strategies. • Female students reported more uses of writing strategies. • Self-regulatory writing strategies predict EFL young learners’ writing.

Implementing Classroom-Based Assessment for Young EFL Learners in the Chinese Context: A Case Study

While there is extensive literature on how classroom-based assessment (CBA) can be effectively put into practice, little is known about its implementation in L2 contexts, especially in the young English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learner context. This study endeavored to investigate teachers’ CBA practices and factors that might exert influences on them. A purposive sample of three EFL teachers from two primary schools participated in this case study. Our thematic analysis revealed that the potential of CBA in supporting young EFL learners’ learning had not been fulfilled. The teachers failed to clarify such objectives and success criteria to their students. Despite the use of multiple assessments, the teachers relied heavily on formal assessments, with student-involving assessments being less frequently used. Moreover, there was a heavy reliance on norm-referenced assessment and evaluative feedback. It was also found that teachers’ CBA practices faced complex challenges related to teacher, student, context and system factors. Practical implications for how CBA can be effectively implemented in similar EFL contexts are discussed.

Cohesion in the Narrative Writing of Young EFL Learners: Correct and Incorrect Use of Local Cohesive Ties

This study examines the correct and incorrect use of local cohesive ties and local cohesion errors in the written narratives of eleven- to twelve-year-old Spanish learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at different proficiency levels. The study was carried out with pairs who collaboratively wrote a narrative text in response to a picture prompt. The young learners’ written texts were examined to identify their correct and incorrect use of four categories: lexical, referential, conjunctive and temporal cohesion. The results show that higher and lower proficiency learners are significantly different in their use of the causal conjunction because, personal pronouns and noun phrases containing possessive, definite, indefinite and zero determiners. The two groups also differ in their incorrect use of pronouns, simple verb forms and noun phrases containing definite, indefinite and zero determiners. Attention is drawn to the need to explore the diversity in young learners’ use of cohesion and some pedagogical implications are drawn.

Teaching and Learning Writing in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) School Education Contexts: A Thematic Review

ABSTRACT While abundant research has investigated the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language (EFL) writing in college contexts, there has been little examination of writing in primary and secondary school settings. It is important to understand the writing literacy development of young EFL learners and to explore instruction that supports their growth as writers. For research and pedagogical purposes, we conducted a review of 136 studies of EFL writing in primary and secondary school contexts from 2012 to 2019 concerning three themes: (1) contexts and participants, (2) research foci and theoretical orientations, and (3) research methodology and data sources. The findings offer a broad picture of the scholarship on EFL writing in school contexts over the last eight years and suggest future directions for researching and teaching EFL writing in primary and secondary school contexts.

Music as a Mnemonic Device for Foreign Vocabulary Learning

This study aims to explore the relationship between music and language learning—both processed in parts of the brain within proximity of each other. It is of value to determine whether it is beneficial to incorporate music when young EFL (English as a foreign language) learners acquire new vocabulary. Utilizing three age-appropriate songs from familiar cartoon movies, the groups of students underwent different music exposures: “chanting,” “singing,” “music video without caption,” and “music video with caption.” The research attempted to determine whether music can help young EFL learners with vocabulary acquisition and if so, which pedagogical practice leads to the optimal gains. Results found in this study proved that the better acquisition of novel vocabulary in EFL learning could be achieved with the help of familiar melodies, with “chanting” and “music video with caption” methods being the most effective and lead to immediate and prolonged learning. Based on the findings, optimal music teaching methods are discussed.

L2 willingness to read English story books amongst young EFL learners: social economic background, linguistic competence and gender as predictors

Even though previous research have shown that reading improves one’s language proficiency and a lot of research have been done to examine how young learners learn a second or foreign language, our knowledge on their willingness to read second (L2) or English as a foreign language (EFL) materials remain inadequate and limited. The current study aims to explore young EFL learners’ willingness to read English materials and if it can be predicted based on their social-economic background, English language proficiency and gender. Ninety-five young EFL learners from two elementary schools in a monolingual community participated in a reading program called Ace Your English: Read for Life. All participants completed a survey questionnaire on their willingness to read English materials/books before the start of the reading program. The study revealed that young EFL learners’ willingness to read English books/materials is not necessarily influenced by their Social Economic Status (SES). However, linguistic competence and gender are strong predictors of their willingness to read. Based on the findings of this study, almost all young EFL learners are willing to read English books either voluntarily or through persuasion from the teachers or parents.

Young Korean EFL Learners’ Reading and Test-Taking Strategies in a Paper and a Computer-Based Reading Comprehension Tests

ABSTRACT This study investigated whether young Korean students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) engage in similar processes when responding to reading comprehension questions delivered in two different test-presentation modes: paper and computer. It examined the relationship between the two modes and test-takers’ reading comprehension strategies, as well as the degree to which the test-takers’ reading proficiency moderates this relationship. Eighty-four Korean middle school EFL learners took both paper-based and computer-based reading comprehension tests and filled out a questionnaire of reading and test-taking strategies as well as a background questionnaire and a posttest survey. Results revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between the participants’ scores on the reading tests delivered on paper and computer, and there were very few statistically significant differences in strategy use between the two modes. On the other hand, there were clear differences in the strategies used by learners with different levels of English reading proficiency. Despite the similarities in test performance and strategy use between the two modes, the majority of participants preferred taking the test on paper and reported difficulties with the computer mode – a finding that might be due to the participants’ lack of familiarity with reading English on a computer screen.

The Role of the iPad as Instructional Tool in Optimizing Young Learners' Achievement in EFL Classes in the Saudi Context

The iPad tablets have been introduced into various educational sectors to facilitate learning and engage students in the classroom. However, little is known about the empirical evidence with regard to iPad usage in enhancing language achievement. This study set out to examine the effects of integrating iPad tablets as an instructional tool into the second language (L2) curricula to enhance young learner’s academic achievement in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. It further endeavored to uncover the limitations that affect the utilization of the iPad in the classroom. To this end, forty Arabic first language (L1) young EFL learners enrolled in a middle school, were assigned as either an experimental group where they were exposed to study via iPad or a control group where they were taught in a traditional printed text across five weeks period. Language achievements were assessed through reading and vocabulary tests which were administered before the intervention and immediately after the intervention. To gauge the students’ engagements during the intended task, their behaviors were assessed in both scenarios. Findings from quantitative and qualitative data revealed that the students who were exposed to iPad were found much engaged and significantly outscored their counterparts in language achievements in the post-tests. Furthermore, technical problems were found to be predominant impediments to the integration of the iPad usage followed by unfamiliarity with the application, and student distraction. These findings provide EFL teachers and policy makers with insight on how to better integrate the iPad into the EFL environment. Further pedagogical recommendations and research directions are also highlighted at the end of the article.