• Title/Summary/Keyword: EFL Learning

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Flipping EFL Classrooms: Impacts on Students' Achievement and Life Skills Learning

  • Alsamadani, Hashem A.
    • International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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    • v.22 no.4
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    • pp.229-236
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    • 2022
  • This study investigates the impact of flipped classroom strategy in developing students' achievement and acquisition of life skills. The study employed a quasi-experimental design where students were divided into two groups: an experimental (N=22) and a control (N=22). The randomly selected and assigned sample consisted of sixth-year elementary school students studying English as a basic course. The findings revealed statistically significant differences between the two group's means in both achievement and life skills tests in favor of the experimental group. Students of the experimental group who studied using the flipped classroom strategy outperformed the control group who studied in the standard way in achieving the English language and in the life situations test, where the effect size of the use of the strategy was large in both dependent variables. The study is concluded with some recommendations to facilitate the use of flipped classroom strategy for EFL teachers. This can be achieved by training teachers on using the strategy and providing technological resources at schools to implement the strategy efficiently.

Investigating EFL Learners' Reactions to Digital Competence using the DigComp Framework

  • So-Hee Kim
    • International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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    • v.11 no.3
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    • pp.149-155
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    • 2023
  • Since developing digital technology requires new skills in digital literacy, digital competence also has become a keystone in English classes. This study explores three aspects of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' digital confidence: information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, and digital content creation, based on the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens (DigComp). The participants were 150 Korean college students enrolled in two general English classes, and their English proficiency levels were from basic to advanced; each level consisted of 30 participants. In order to assess their digital confidence, I designed a Google survey form and collected data during two semesters. The survey results revealed that the participants had highest digital confidence in information and data literacy and overall, the female participants showed higher digital confidence than their male counterparts. It also showed that the learners' English proficiency and computer skills are important factors.

Comparing Perceptions of Evaluative Criteria in EFL Writing Between Learner and Instructor Group

  • Shin, You-Sun
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.191-208
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    • 2011
  • The quantitative study investigated perceptions of evaluative criteria in L2 writing between two groups - learners (N=212) and instructors (N=52) in Korea. Specifically, the purpose of the study is (1) to examine learners' and instructors' perceptions on evaluative criteria in L2 writing and to provide empirical evidence concerning how they respond to a list of them and (2) to ultimately devise appropriate rating criteria applicable to an EFL context like Korea. Analyses of evaluative criteria were conducted using factor analysis and yielded the following results: learner and instructor groups perceived the evaluative criteria differently and weighted them in a different way. For the learner group, the combined elements of grammar and language in use were identified as Factor 1 and mechanics as Factor 2. The results may infer that learners' response patterns are primarily linked to their instructors' writing practice in class, which may largely focus on grammatical knowledge based on lexical use and mechanical accuracy. Similarly, the instructor group acknowledged grammatical knowledge as Factor 1 and lexical use as Factor 2. The first two factors found in both learner and instructor groups indicate that in an EFL context like Korea, the form-then-content way of teaching and learning is still being considered more effective in L2 writing than any other method. Taking into consideration these perceptive similarities and differences between learners and instructors, the categories of evaluative criteria in writing include content and organization, grammar, mechanics, language in use, and flow of the essay, respectively.

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The Acquisition of the English Locative Alternation by Korean EFL Learners: What Makes L2 Learning Difficult?

  • Kim, Bo-Ram
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.12 no.4
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    • pp.31-68
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    • 2006
  • The present research investigates the acquisition of the English locative alternation by Korean EFL learners, which poses a learnability paradox, taking Pinker's framework of learnability theory as its basis. It addresses two questions (1) how lexical knowledge is represented initially and at different levels of interlanguage development and (2) what kinds of difficulty Korean learners find in the acquisition of English locative verbs and their constructions. Three groups of learners at different proficiency levels with a control group of English native speakers are examined by two instruments: elicited production task and grammaticality judgment task. According to different levels of proficiency, the learners exhibit gradual sensitivity to a change-of-state meaning and obtain complete perception of the meanings of locative verbs (manner-of-motion and change-of-state) and their constructions. Overgeneralization errors are observed in their performance. The errors are due to misinterpretations of particular lexical items in conjunction with the universal linking rules. More fundamental cause of difficulty is accounted for by partial use of learning mechanisms, caused by insufficient L2 input.

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The use of audio-visual aids and hyper-pronunciation method in teaching English consonants to Japanese college students

  • Todaka, Yuichi
    • Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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    • 1996.10a
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    • pp.149-154
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    • 1996
  • Since the 1980s, a number of professionals in the ESL/EFL field have investigated the role of pronunciation in the ESL/EFL curriculum. Applying the insights gained from the second language acquisition research, these efforts have focused on the integration of pronunciation teaching and learning into the communicative curriculum, with a shift towards overall intelligibility as the primary goal of pronunciation teaching and learning. The present study reports on the efficacy of audio-visual aids and hyper-pronunciation training method in teaching the productions of English consonants to Japanese college students. The talk will focus on the implications of the present study, and the presenter makes suggestions to teaching pronunciation to Japanese learners.

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Effects of Cultural Teaching through Movies in English Classes on EFL College Students' Attitudes towards English Reading

  • Baek, Jiyeon
    • International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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    • v.8 no.4
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    • pp.177-182
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    • 2020
  • In the age of technology and information, communicating with people from different cultures is significantly important. Regarding this perspective, communicative competence has been the focus in the EFL educational context. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of using movies in a culture-integrated English reading course at the college level. In order to achieve this purpose, pre- and post-reading comprehension tests, pre- and post-surveys and in-depth interviews were conducted. The results of data analysis showed that using movies in the culture-integrated English reading class positively affected students' interest and confidence towards English reading as well as their reading achievement. In this respect, we suggest that cultural teaching through movies in English classes should be learner-centered so that learners can proactively analyze and understand different cultural backgrounds shown in the movies and build schemas which can be used in their learning process.

Novice Corpus Users' Gains and Views on Corpus-based Lexical Development: A Case Study of COVID-19-related Expressions

  • Chen, Mei-Hua
    • Asia Pacific Journal of Corpus Research
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.1-11
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    • 2021
  • Recently, corpus assisted vocabulary instruction has been attracting a lot of interest. Most studies have focused on understanding language learners' receptive vocabulary knowledge. Limited attention has been paid to learners' productive competence. To fill this gap, this study attended to learners' productive lexical development in terms of form, meaning and use respectively. This study introduced EFL learners to the corpus-based language pedagogy to learn COVID-19 theme-based vocabulary. To investigate the gains and views of 33 EFL first-year college students, a sentence completion task and a questionnaire were developed. Learners' productive performances in the three lexical knowledge aspects (i.e., form, meaning and use) were particularly targeted. The results revealed that the students achieved significant gains in all aspects regardless of their proficiency level. In particular, the less proficient students achieved greater knowledge retention compared with their highly proficient counterparts. Meanwhile, students showed positive attitudes towards the corpus-based approach to vocabulary learning.

A Lens on Idealism and Pragmatism Philosophies and their Learning Influences in EFL: Synthesis Literature Review

  • Alharthi, Noha Abdullah
    • International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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    • v.22 no.8
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    • pp.285-291
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    • 2022
  • The current paper discusses the two most widespread and contradictory educational philosophies of classic German Idealism and modern American pragmatism. Their perspectives of what is truth and what is the best way to distinguish the reasoning idealists from the experienced pragmatists. The implementations of Idealism and pragmatism have affected the education process for several ages and reflect various social changes. The role of schools, educators, environment, teachers, and learners are not the same in both philosophies. However, on reviewing the chronological transmission from Plato's Idealism to Dewey's pragmatism, the resemblances and differences are elaborated here with examples. Furthermore, how these philosophies helped founding advocators for perennialism, essentialism, progressivism, and reconstructionism.

A Study on the Effect of Conversing Action Learning in a Collaborative EFL Classroom (협력형 EFL 교실에서 실천학습 융합 효과에 관한 연구)

  • Shin, Myeong-Hee
    • Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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    • v.10 no.7
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    • pp.71-76
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    • 2019
  • The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of action learning methods and practices, which have a research focus on learner-centered teaching after training students to use collaborative learning practices from the viewpoint that the learners acquire English skills through peer correction activities based on sociocultural learning theory[1]. From March 1, 2018 to June 15, 2018, one control class and one experimental group were selected from the general freshman English courses. The experimental group attended classes centered on collaborative writing activities using action learning and cooperation techniques, and the control group attended classes lecture style and rote learning methods to teach writing. The result of study has shown that, for the experimental group, there have been statistically significant results in the production of writing, such as the number of words, the number of sentences, and sentence length. Learners could share the knowledge or ideas of others in their learning relationships with more regular basis.

Korean EFL learners' perception and the effects of structured input processing (구조화된 입력처리 문법지도에 대한 학습자의 인식과 효과)

  • Hwang, Seon-Yoo
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.12 no.3
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    • pp.267-286
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    • 2006
  • The purpose of the study was to investigate what kinds of learning strategies EFL learners use to learn English grammar and what is benefit from structured grammar input processing. Students of the study consisted of 48 college students who took Practical English Grammar at a university in Kyung-Gi area and were divided into two groups based on grammar scores. The students were asked to take two grammar tasks and grammar tests and complete a survey including questions on grammar strategy and input processing. The results of the study are as follows. First, learners' grammar level has an effect on use of grammar attack strategy including asking teachers, using grammar books and given contexts whereas there was no significant difference between groups in the planning strategies, Among memory strategies, using grammar exercise and linking with already known structure demonstrated a significant difference between groups. Second, with regard to input processing, high level students got higher score on how much they understood the structured grammar input compared with low level students. Third, explicit implicit instruction added to input processing seems more comprehensible and more available than structured input only, Finally, it showed that there is positive relationship between perception and score of input processing tasks and grammar tests. Especially, learners' perception of input processing correlated more with final tests and tasks. Therefore, it suggests that the more input processing task need to develop and utilize in order to facilitate learners' intake.

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