Language Choice in EFL Classrooms: A Case Study on Students’ Perspective (Published)
This study examines students’ comprehension of lecturers’ English (L2) and their preference as well as perception on the use of Vietnamese (L1) in EFL classes. Data was collected from questionnaires and focus-group interview with students. Data analysis revealed that students’ English comprehension level was relatively low while the majority of them had a positive attitude toward lecturers’ classroom English speaking. Meanwhile, findings show that a majority of students were motivated to listen to lecturers’ English, which was found to be contradicted to the general belief about non-English major students’ English learning motivation. The students perceived two main factors which influenced their comprehension of lecturers’ English speaking and their learning motivation. Those factors are divided into lecturer-related and student-related. Among those, student-related factors including students’ English vocabulary, strategies in listening to English, and listening practice were believed to be the most influential.
Keywords: EFL classes, English learning motivation, L1, L2, comprehension of lecturers’ English, lecturers’ English speaking
INVESTIGATING FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ ENGLISH-SPEAKING SKILLS AT PAAET, KUWAIT (Published)
The study aims to identify the difficulties encountered by EFL undergraduate students with their English-speaking skills in the English department at the College of Basic Education, Public Authority of Applied Education and Training (PAAET). The study was conducted using the descriptive approach which contained a questionnaire comprising 27 items applied to a sample of 420 female students. The results found that students encountered moderate difficulties among the five factors. Students ranked the factors according to which contributed to the development of their English-speaking skills the most in the following order: preference of native speakers as teachers, followed by English language proficiency, teaching methodologies, environmental influences, and emotional influences. The results also indicated that there is a significant relationship between the factors that influence the development of English-speaking skills and demographic variables such as year of study, major GPA, and grade in conversation class.
Keywords: Code Switching, Code-Mixing, L1, L2, Mother Tongue Interference