Pilot Validation Study of “Students’ Attitudes, Motivation, and Anxiety Towards English Language Learning” Questionnaire to the Kuwaiti Context (Published)
Attitudes, motivation, and anxiety are three factors that can determine how successful a student is in learning a second language. This research is a pilot study to validate the survey questionnaire that is used by Shams (2008), which is originally taken from Gardner (1985), and see whether the survey items can be applied and are considered suitable for the Kuwaiti culture. The pilot study was practiced on 34 students that were randomly selected at PAAET, Kuwait, and consisted of both male and female students. Despite that some survey items were dropped due to them having low factor findings for not confirming with the criteria of component analysis, the rest of the survey items were found to be applicable to the Kuwaiti context and the analysis resulted in having three major components for achieving optimal English language learning. The three components are communication anxiety and confidence that talks about students’ nervousness and fear of being judged while speaking in English; perceived value and practicality of English that talks about how students perceive the English language and its practical benefits; and motivation drive for English fluency that talks about the motivation that students need to maintain their ambition in wanting to learn English. The current study concludes with believing that such three components are vital in every language learning environment, making the components applicable worldwide and not specific to one cultural context.
Keywords: Anxiety, Attitudes, English Language Learning, Kuwait, Motivation, PAAET
EFL Students’ Attitudes Towards the English Online Assessments (Published)
Technology has been used for many years to enhance the quality of language learning and instruction. However, the introduction of technology into many contexts for language acquisition was hastened by the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Education professionals encountered a variety of new issues as a result of the abrupt change to online learning (Ghanbari and Nowroozi,2021). This study investigated students’ opinions of an English online assessment in terms of affective, cognitive, and behavioral factors. It aims to gauge students’ perspectives of the English online assessment currently employed at their institution and to find out their difficulties when taking online exams so that practical solutions can be recommended to the institution. The study recruited 110 students who have been attending General English courses at a public university in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The participants responded to a questionnaire including 28 items asking mainly about the advantages and disadvantages of the English online assessment that they experienced in their last course. The results revealed that most of the students had positive attitudes toward the online assessment mode although they also experienced several shortcomings when taking the English online exams.
Citation: Nguyen Huynh Trang and Nguyen Phuong Chi (2022) EFL Students’ Attitudes Towards the English Online Assessments, International Journal of English Language Teaching, Vol.10, No.5, pp.,50-60
Keywords: Advantages, Attitudes, EFL students, English online assessment, disadvantages
Students’ Attitudes about Giving and Receiving Peer Review in L2 Writing Classes (Published)
This study aimed at investigating the attitudes of a Tunisian cohort of students toward peer review. A mixed methods research was adopted to elicit students’ views. Data collection instruments included two questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The pre-study questionnaire results showed that students were very doubtful of the effectiveness of this pedagogical practice. They were mostly concerned about their peers’ ability to provide valid feedback. A few students were equally adamant regarding the distribution of roles in the class and perceived their teacher as the most adequate person to assume that responsibility. The post questionnaire results, however, showed a swing in attitudes in favor of peer review. Interestingly, 85% of the participants reported more positive attitudes. It has been found that the systemic training helped to raise students’ awareness about the potential benefits of peer review. Similarly, the repeated practice has had a positive effect in enhancing students’ trust in their peers’ review. In accordance with the growingly positive attitudes, the study reported several benefits of peer review. The flexibility and convenience of the practice helped learners work actively and collaboratively to achieve shared aims. It also helped them to overcome the feelings of fear and apprehension about writing. The students equally confirmed gaining a better awareness about process writing and audience expectations. The received peer review was found to be very detailed and catered to specific learners’ needs.
Keywords: Attitudes, L2 writing, Receiver, giver, peer review
Investigating EFL Student Teachers’ Learning Performance, Attitudes and Peer Interaction in Flipped Classroom (Published)
This mixed–method research design examined the influence of Flipped Classroom Intervention (FCI) on the learning performance of pre-service EFL female teachers, along with their related attitudes and peer interaction. The study sample consisted of thirty-eight pre-service EFL females in Saudi Arabia. The research design was a one-group pre-posttest, with data collected by means of twenty items gathered pre- and post-test to measure learning performance. In addition, the attitudes and peer interaction of the participants were explored through the use of two Likert-scale questionnaires and their reflections were examined by means of semi-structured focus-group interviews. The results of the paired-samples t-test revealed a statistically significant improvement in participants’ learning performance (t=-7.459, p<.0005) in favor of the post-test. The results also revealed that the participants held positive attitudes towards FCI for all items within the three dimensions, giving highly confident responses regarding their views on peer interaction during FCI. Similarly, the findings of the semi-structured focus-group interviews revealed that FCI proved effective in raising the levels of: (1) the teacher’s performance; (2) the classroom environment; (3) teamwork; and (4) the students’ learning skills.
Keywords: Attitudes, Flipped classroom, Pre-Service EFL Teachers, learning performance, peer-interaction
English Prospective Teachers’ Attitudes towards the Profession of Teaching: An Explorative Study in Yemen (Published)
This study attempts to obtain empirical evidence on pre-service student-teachers’ attitudes towards the teaching profession in the faculties of Education at Hodeidah University, Yemen. Also, it investigates the effect of the participants’ gender, place of study and their selection of English as a major on their attitudes. 300 fourth-year student-teachers, undergoing B.Ed. courses in the English Departments of the different Faculties of Education affiliated to Hodeidah University, are surveyed. The Attitude Scale Towards Teaching Profession is used to identify the participants’ attitudes. To analyze data, mean, standard deviation, t-test and Pearson correlation are calculated. The results indicate that the participants tend to hold fairly positive attitudes towards the teaching profession, their attitudes are affected by their gender and place of study while there is no correlation found between the students’ attitudes and their selection of English as a major. Some recommendations are made in order to enhance these attitudes .
Keywords: Attitudes, Faculties of Education, Profession, Prospective, Student Teachers
Using Explicit Pronunciation Instructions to Develop Students’ English Speaking Competencies: A Quasi-Experimental Study (Published)
This article aims to find out the effect of explicit pronunciation instructions of English on developing students’ speaking skills and attitudes towards the offered pronunciation training. A quasi-experimental design was employed to conduct the current study with pre and post-tests. Sixty university students were involved in the study and those participants were subjected to a treatment for 14 weeks of instruction on English pronunciation. Data were collected using speaking tests, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The collected data were analysed and mean values, standard deviations and paired sample t-tests results were obtained to answer the pertinent questions of the research. The findings reveal that the method of explicit pronunciation instruction is an effective one in improving the students’ speaking skill as well as their attitudes towards the pronunciation training in particular and the learning of the target language as a whole. Finally, some pedagogical implications are presented to address a few crucial issues for teachers to be taken into their considerations for better teaching practices within the Yemeni EFL context
Keywords: Attitudes, Explicit Instruction, Pronunciation, Speaking Competence
Does Mind Mapping Enhance Learning (Published)
In a setting whereby, students of the English Department at the College of Basic Education are exposed to course materials across a number of courses, in a language other than their mother tongue, requiring them to read, comprehend and analyse, note taking gets extremely complicated. The current study focuses on such a complex dilemma, with its objective to find out whether mind mapping may successfully be used by our students in order to overcome their linguistic problems. For the purpose, fifty third/fourth year English language students were used as the study’s sample. The students were divided into two groups and trained to use two different note taking techniques. Later they were given a 10 MSCs, each followed by subjective response question: know, remember, guess. In addition, students were asked to write about their experience to obtain qualitative data. Findings of the study suggest a higher level of performance when the students learn their study material using MM as opposed to SNT. More positive attitudes in favour of MM were also elicited from their selection between the three responses (Know, Remember & Guess)
Keywords: Attitudes, EFL, Higher Education, Long-Term Memory, Mind Map (MM), Performance, Short-Term Memory, Standard Note Technique (SNT)