Acuity: Journal of English Language Pedagogy, Literature and Culture

Responses to an EIL-oriented General English Course: Views of Internal and External Stakeholders

Şakire Erbay Çetinkaya, Prof. — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0700

Teaching English as an International Language (TEIL) refers to teaching English as a truly international medium via exposing learners to diversity, adopting a broad culture view, fostering sensitivity and responsibility, being sensitive to local culture of learning, and equipping learners with communication strategies. To put this lately popular paradigm into actual teaching practice, a 10-week EIL-oriented General English course was devised for 53 English-majoring preparatory programme students at a public Turkish university as a part of a PhD study. The current report, as the qualitative part of that quasi-experimental PhD study, intended to evaluate the course with all its possible strengths, weaknesses, and ways to improve it for better future use based on both insider and outsider responses. While the data from internal stakeholders (N=25) were drawn from individual retrospective interviews, weekly written self-reports and a final open-ended questionnaire, the data from external ones (N=2) were gathered from peer classroom observation. The course appears to be a valuable experience as it increased learners’ world knowledge, enhanced their oral production in English, and provided an enjoyable and motivating atmosphere yet with some limitations regarding course content, materials and instructional choices. It is hoped that drawing such a field-tested picture will inspire others to make instructional decisions in line with the changing sociolinguistic landscape of English.

Unraveling the Obstacles to English Learning Among EFL Junior High School Students in the Parongpong Region

Caroline Victorine Katemba — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0700

The study aimed to identify the primary obstacles encountered by junior high school students when learning English. Conducted as a cross-sectional survey, data were gathered from 102 9th-grade students in three public schools in Parongpong using a Likert questionnaire and analyzed through mean scores. Findings revealed that the key barriers included students' tendency to use their native language, grammar errors, limited speaking opportunities outside school, fear of making mistakes, and restricted vocabulary. Additionally, challenges arose from listening materials' speed and complexity, unfamiliar topics and words, as well as nervousness. Furthermore, hurdles in reading practice, complex text structures, idea generation, spelling, paragraph organization, grammar, teacher's limited use of learning media, and cognitive attitudes were observed. These findings are expected to aid teaching efforts, particularly in addressing barriers for EFL learners.

ChatGPT, the end of L2 academic writing or a blessing in disguise?

Abbas Hadizadeh — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0700

This paper provides an overview of the challenges and opportunities presented by ChatGPT and other AI-based technologies for writing skills, particularly academic writing in English as a second language. The paper includes a descriptive account of my interview with ChatGPT regarding the opportunities that it has presented and the challenges posed for L2 students and teachers. In addition, the paper offers some practical activities that can be implemented in L2 academic writing classes.

Examining EFL Pre-service Teachers’ Use of Classroom Discourse Moves and Factors Affecting Their Choices

Zeynep Gülşah Kani, Gökçe Nur Türkmen — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0700

There are many factors that affect a teacher's classroom behavior. What these effects depend on, where these effects come from, and how they affect the teacher vary from teacher to teacher. This mixed-method descriptive case study aimed to examine the classroom behaviors of twelve Turkish EFL pre-service teachers at a western state university and to understand their thoughts about what the classroom discourse moves that they use depend on. With this aim, the classroom behaviors of EFL pre-service teachers were examined through observation and interviews in complementary to each other. The frequencies of selected classroom discourse moves, which are “eliciting, extending, facilitating, clarifying, supporting and omitting” were observed, and the most frequently used moves were revealed. The pre-service teachers’ opinions evident in their extracts from interviews pointed out the effect of personal and social factors on their behaviors in the classroom and their views on the classroom discourse moves. As a result of the research study, it was found that the pre-service teachers frequently used the facilitating and clarifying discourse moves, and the factor that most affected them was their prior teachers and university education.

A Meta-Analysis of Word Walls' Effectiveness in Improving English Vocabulary Among Junior High School Students.

Nelson Balisar Panjaitan — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0700

Language plays a crucial role in interpersonal communication, especially in social situations. To communicate effectively, learners need to expand their vocabulary, as vocabulary is the foundation for the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Teaching English as a foreign language can be challenging, especially when it comes to teaching vocabulary, and thus, the teacher needs to find ways to make the learning process more engaging. This study is a meta-analysis that utilizes a literature review to examine the effectiveness of using the Word Wall in enhancing students' English vocabulary. The sample consists of English foreign language learners who used the Word Wall, predominantly from Junior High School levels. The researcher utilized effect size calculation, based on various journal articles and research studies, to determine the effectiveness of the Word Wall strategy. The results of this study, derived from the discussion and conclusion, suggest that the use of the Word Wall has a significant effect in improving English vocabulary, particularly among Junior High School students. Effect sizes, calculated from multiple studies across different regions such as Bandar Lampung, Purworejo, Jakarta, Bandung, Tarakan, and Jakarta, indicate substantial improvements in vocabulary outcomes. Specifically, the Word Wall strategy demonstrated effect sizes of 1.183 and 1.18 at Junior High School and High School levels respectively, with an overall effect size of 3.0 across various regions in Indonesia.

EFL instructors’ views on the use of phonetic symbols for teaching pronunciation

Dilek Durukan, Burcu Gokgoz-Kurt — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0700

As a bottom-up approach to pronunciation teaching, the use of phonetic symbols in language teaching classrooms has been controversial. Therefore, the present study aimed at investigating the views of Turkish instructors of English as a foreign language regarding their use of phonetic symbols for teaching pronunciation at tertiary-level institutions. To achieve this goal, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six instructors of English as a foreign language from the same institution. The qualitative findings indicate that while almost all instructors value the role of phonetic symbols they express various teacher-related and student-related concerns which lead to avoidance of using phonetic symbols and make recommendations. Participants also maintain that teacher training, technology integration, and student self-monitoring as a means of assessment are crucial for effective pronunciation instruction using phonetic symbols.

Implementing Task Based Approach in ESP Education: Business schools as a Case Study

Fatima Zahra EL ARBAOUI — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0700

It is asserted that task-based instruction improves the environment and makes it easier to teach English. Due to this, many EF language teachers and syllabus developers have recently turned their attention to task-based language education. With a focus on Business English instruction in Moroccan universities, this study examined ESP (English for Specific Purposes) teaching within the paradigm of task-based language teaching. To that purpose, information from a total of 234 students and 21 teachers was gathered using questionnaires. First, questionnaires were created to gather learners’ opinions on the impact of the given assignments on their language development, learning processes, and skill acquisition. This study also tried to investigate how instructors felt about using a task-based approach in ESP classes. The findings indicate that both students and instructors have positive opinions and attitudes concerning (TBLT). They believed that the inclusion of this method, specifically ESP, in language instruction creates favourable teaching and learning conditions because it engages students in tasks that are pertinent to their academic and professional needs. As a result, it is advised to use a task-based approach over an extended length of time and in a manner that is most appropriate while taking into account the talents of different students in a specific classroom.

Pre-Service English Teachers Ponder Over Asking Referential Questions to Increase Student Talking Time

Gülten Koşar Koşar — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0700

Teacher talk could be maintained to be a pivotal component of language classroom discourse. Language learner learning is substantially contingent upon teacher talk in that it can be regarded to be a valuable and reliable source of input for students. Teacher questions constitute a considerable proportion of teacher talk, and thus, could impinge upon student talking time. Encouraged by the lack of research into exploring the impact of using referential questions on student talking time and pre-service English teachers’ viewpoints on the functions of teacher talk, what student talk indicates, and what to do to increase student talking time, the researcher decided to conduct this research. The data was gathered from the audio recordings of the lessons taught by two Turkish pre-service teachers of English, post-lesson and end-of-the-study meetings, and field notes. The findings indicated asking referential questions helped increase student talking time. Moreover, the participants believed teacher talk performed various pedagogical functions and student talk carried many positive implications. The participants also offered suggestions for increasing student talking time while decreasing teacher talking time.