The Comparative Effects of Using Synchronous and Asynchronous Social Networks in Teaching Vocabulary on Improving EFL Learners’ Reading Comprehension (Published)
This study aimed to examine the comparative effects of using synchronous and asynchronous social networks in teaching vocabulary on improving EFL learners’ reading comprehension. For the aim of this study, 61 EFL learners were chosen by employing convenience sampling method. The researcher randomly assigned the participants randomly into two groups; the experimental group one (EG1) (n=31) and the experimental group two (EG2) (n=30). The researcher as the teacher explained the procedure of the work to students of both groups. The strategies of teaching vocabulary were the same in both groups. The researcher employed WhatsApp for EG1 and Instagram for EG2. The participants of the EG1 had to be online at a specific time but the students of EG2 had two days to see the posts. After finishing the treatment, the researcher administered a reading test as a posttest. The results of independent samples t-test showed that there is a significant difference in reading comprehension measures for the experimental group one who experienced vocabulary instruction through “WhatsApp” application and the experimental group two who received vocabulary instruction through Instagram. It was shown that students in the asynchronous group had far more advances from the pretest to the posttest in comparison with that of their counterparts in the synchronous group. Through use of synchronous and asynchronous social networks, language learners have this chance to use online instructional materials that increase the rate of their learning.
Keywords: EFL Learners’, Reading Comprehension, Synchronous social networks, Vocabulary, asynchronous social networks
Teaching Speaking Skill to EFL College Students through Task-based Approach: Problems and Improvement (Published)
This study aimed at exploring Yemeni EFL students’ perceived problems of speaking and enhancing their speaking performance using task-based instruction strategy. It followed a quasi-experimental research design to check the degree of enhancement in the students’ speaking skills, and a qualitative design to check students’ problems in speaking. To ensure effective use of strategic teaching, the researchers considered students’ needs and motivation by involving them in an interview about the problems they face when communicating in English. Non-probabilistic convenience sampling was used in the present study. The sample consisted of 20 first-year college students at Socotra Faculty of Education, Hadhramout University, Yemen, in the academic year of 2018-2019. The findings revealed that students face many speaking problems pertaining to knowledge of phonology, vocabulary, grammar and problems of sustaining the oral interaction, as well as psychology -related problems. The analysis of data collected, using paired sample t-test, indicates a significant improvement has taken place in students’ speaking skill compared to the pre-test and the post-test performance with t-value of 5.349 and p. value =.000,<. 0.005, with effect size of (ES = .53). Based on the findings, the study recommends that EFL teachers focus on the problems reported by students whenever they want to develop their students’ communicative competence.
Keywords: Communicative Competence, EFL Learners’, learners' expectations, speaking problems, task-based instruction, teaching speaking
Genderlect and Thanking (Published)
Thanking is one of the best ways to maintain harmony between people. As face is so fragile, thanking is of the effective ways to saves face of the interlocutors. This being said, thanking is an indispensable part of language. This study deals, not only with thanking as it is, it studies another topic and that is ‘gender’. Some studies showed that some linguistic items are used in different percentages among speakers when it comes to gender; say, females are more polite to some extent. Iraqi EFL learners are the sample of this study. This type of study, i.e. to know the differences between males and females concerning a specific area in linguistics is new and exciting. The aims of this study are the following:
- Finding out the strategies Iraqi EFL learners use concerning the speech act of thanking.
- Concluding whether female learners thank more than the males overall.
To fulfill these aims, it is hypothesized that:
- Iraqi EFL learners use the direct (or explicit) strategies to thank more than the indirect (or implicit) ones.
- Female learners use more thanking strategies than the male ones.
After presenting the literature, the researcher conducts a test to a random sample of Iraqi EFL fourth year students at the Department of English/ College of Education for Human Sciences.
University of Babylon (2016-2017) The results of the test are analysed as well. After applying the test to the sample, he researcher concluded that the students used the direct strategies to thank almost all the time and they even left some of the strategies (especially the indirect one) unused. This emphasized the first hypothesis of this study. As for gender; females used thanking strategies a bit less than the males and this conclusion rejects the second hypothesis of the study.
Keywords: EFL Learners’, Gender, Implicit, Speech Acts., Strategies., explicit, felicity conditions, thanking
Acquisition of Wh-Questions in English by Saudi English Majors in Najran University (Published)
This study analyzes question formation errors in English made by EFL majors in Najran University – KSA. The aim of the study is to find out the types and causes behind making such errors. For this purpose, the researcher has designed a wh-question generating instrument. After identifying the categories of errors, the data analysis has shown agreement with similar previous studies. The most common error types in forming wh-questions in English are: auxiliary omission, wrong question word, aux.-subject inversion, Wrong auxiliary and many others.Our study has also revealed that some of the errors are due to grammar incompetence required for question formation, while others can be attributed to structure dissimilarities of the two languages.
Keywords: EFL Learners’, Grammar, L 1 Interference, Question Formation, Saudi Arabia
Future Digital Touch-Based Curricula: Touch Screen-Based Interaction and Its Educational Impact on Developing EFL Learners’ Linguistic Competence (Published)
Mobile aided language learning and have replaced the traditional teaching and learning and began to become a unique tool that give students a chance to take place in the educational process. This paper tries to show the impacts of Ipod touch-Based screen interaction on developing learners’ linguistic competence. 48 undergraduate students were randomly selected from at Al-alBayt University in the summer semester during the academic year 2014-2015. Those students were divided into control and experimental groups. The grammar test showed that two groups were identical in terms of their linguistic aspects at the entry level before starting the experiment. While both groups had the same instructor, material, and conditions during 24 lectures. The difference was in the teaching way when the experimental group received the materials by using touch-based screen. The performance of the experimental group on grammar test held at the end of the course showed that the mean score of this group was significantly higher than the control group. Hence, the students’ linguistic performance based on touch screen was increased and interest of learning via Ipod among the learners have a deep impact on the students’ learning.
Keywords: EFL Learners’, Linguistic aspects of language, Touch screen