Beyond Words (Journal)
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Genre-based analysis of English and Persian Research Article Abstracts in Mining Engineering Journals
Get PDFThe current research aimed to explore the rhetorical moves in abstracts of English and Persian Mining Engineering research articles. For this purpose, 60 abstracts written by native speakers of English and Persian were analyzed based on Hyland’s (2000) model of five rhetorical moves to explore the pattern of moves in abstract sections. Findings suggested that there were four conventional moves in abstracts in the English corpus (PMPrC), while there were five conventional moves in abstracts in the Persian corpus (IPMPrC). Results of statistical analyses show that there was a statistically significant difference in Purpose move in the two dataset. However, there were not any significance differences in the use of other moves such as product, method, and conclusion moves in the corpora.
Keyword: Abstract, Genre, Move pattern, Mining Engineerin
Learning Objectives in ESP Books Based on Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy
Get PDFUniversity English books as the chief source of learning English are remarkably important and investigating their content quality can lead to English learning improvement. This study investigates learning objectives in ESP books for students of medicine, dentistry, and pharmacology in IUMS. Using Bloom’s taxonomy, learning objectives reflected in ESP books for students of medicine, dentistry, and pharmacology in IUMS were investigated in this library research. The frequency of each learning level used was determined. Descriptive statistics was used to depict the findings. of all the activities following each lesson in ESP books, only %8, %23, and %14 were aiming at improving higher cognitive levels of learning. There was no balance between applications of different learning levels throughout the books. Further studies are recommended to shed light on the issue.
Key Words: Learning Objectives, Bloom's Revised Taxonomy, Textboo
Teaching Vocabulary at the Upper Primary Levels with the Vocabulary Self-Selection Strategy
Get PDFIn this paper, the authors describe a classroom inquiry by a newly graduated English language teacher on the explicit teaching of vocabulary with one class of 40 pupils at the upper primary levels through the Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy (VSS) (Haggard, 1982, 1986; Ruddell, 2008a). Findings from this inquiry reveal that the VSS strategy designed primarily for the development of vocabulary in academic or content areas in learners was also suitable for the learning of thematically-related words in fiction texts as well. In addition, it is argued that since the strategy was new to this class of pupils, prioritising word study skills over the identification of key words in a text is a useful primer to the use of the strategy. The article ends with the implications of the strategy implementation on the pupils, the teacher and her own classroom practice as an English language teacher
Challenging Existing Perspectives of “Ideal” Characteristics of Teachers of English
Get PDFAddressing their concern about status inequalities among teachers of English, in this viewpoint paper, the authors argue that characteristics related to association with an Inner Circle country, Caucasian appearance, middle and upper class socio-economic status and university education seem to be related to the image of the “ideal” teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). This image, in turn, affects job prospects, salary and recognition by students and peers. By reflecting on their experiences in relation to how well they fit the “ideal”, the authors show that the construct is highly flawed and potentially destructive and divisive. To redress the inequities brought about by perceptions of the “ideal” language teacher, strategies pertaining to providing role models, raising awareness, providing tools and techniques for improving proficiency, and discussing status and identity issues are suggested for assigning competence to people who do not fit the idealized image. The article aims to offer a fairly new perspective from the unique experiences of three established language teachers, one from each of Kachru’s (1992) circles, and to also raise awareness about the need to accept greater diversity among language teaching professionals.
Keywords: teacher identity, teacher characteristics, teacher employment, NNESTs, non-native teachers of English, assigning competence, narrative enquir
Relationships among Non-English Majors’ EFL Listening Practice Time, Listening Proficiency, and Proficiency Change
Get PDFThis study aimed to explore the amount of time EFL learners spent practicing listening and to assess the relationships among time, proficiency, and proficiency change. The participants consisted of 142 Taiwanese non-English majors. For 15 weeks, a daily time log was used as the instrument to measure the time spent listening. The results revealed that most students spent little time on listening materials. There were significant proficiency changes for the whole sample and the three proficiency levels. In regards to the whole sample, the total time spent on all materials did not significantly correlate with either proficiency or growth. However, significant relationships were found among time, proficiency, and gains in terms of the types of materials and proficiency levels. The daily time log with a larger sample size is recommended for further studies for a clearer understanding of the role of practice time in EFL listening acquisition
A Demonstrative Analysis of News Articles Using Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis Framework
Get PDFThis paper attempts to demonstrate Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework by conducting internal and external level analyses on two online news articles that report on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) submission of its findings on the “Mamasapano Incident” that happened in the Philippines in 2015. In performing analyses using this framework, the social context and background for these texts, as well as the relationship between the internal discourse features and the external social practices and structures in which the texts were produced are thoroughly examined. As a result, it can be noted that from the texts’ internal discourse features, the news articles portray ideological and social distinctions among social actors such as the Philippine Senate, the SAF troopers, the MILF, the MILF fighters, and the civilians. Moreover, from the viewpoint of the texts as being external social practices, the texts maintain institutional identities as news reports, but they also reveal some evaluative stance as exemplified by the adjectival phrases that the writers employed. Having both the internal and external features examined, it can be said that the way these texts were written seems to portray power relations that exist between the Philippine government and the MILF.
Key words: Critical Discourse Analysis, discourse analysis, news articles, social practices, social structures, power relation
Thinking Skills in the 12th Grade English Course book in Timor Leste
Get PDFThis study aims to analyze the English course book of (Manual do Aluno INGLÊS 12.o ano de escolaridade/Students’ English Manual for 12th Year Schooling) in Timor Leste. The activities in the reading and listening sections of the course book were performed to determine whether they emphasized on lower or higher levels of cognitive process. The study attempted to answer the following question: Do the cognitive levels of the activities that relate to the focus on reading and listening in the 12th grade English course book sufficiently represent all the six levels of the New Bloom Taxonomy of thinking skills? The objective of this analysis was to discover the reading and listening activities that can sufficiently promote the levels of cognitive process. The activities determined as the criteria for analysis were: Wh-questions, true/false question, yes/no question, multiple choice question, complete the sentence phrase, a chart, matching questions, statement question, and a key word request question. The activities of the questions were gathered, listed with the total numbers of 161 questions and analyzed according to the six levels of New Bloom’s Taxonomy. The results showed that 98 activities emphasized mostly on lower levels cognitive order while only 63 activities emphasized the higher levels of thinking skills. So, the course book mentioned above targeted as a resource for students to learn the language, not as a resource for students to develop thinking skills because it fails to equip learners with the activities requiring higher levels of thinking order. By implication, for the teacher/syllabus designer can be aware to modify their own learning material by integrating more higher-order questions to achieve higher levels of thinking skills.
Keywords: Course book Activities Analysis, and New Bloom’s Taxonom
Integrating Service-Learning into the English as a Foreign Language Class
Get PDFThis paper is based on an explorative action research to find out how to integrate service-learning into the Written English IV class of the English Department and its possible impacts. It reveals the step by step procedure in implementing the service-learning, the activities carried out, and the challenges faced. The impacts viewed from the students’ sharing, the lecturer’s observation, and particularly the students’ written reflection, indicated that participating in the service-learning brought some positive impacts on the students. Service-learning is, thus, worth-considering in different contexts of EFL settings
Ten Strengths of How Teachers Do Cooperative Learning
Get PDFCooperative learning involves students in working together with peers to learn, to develop learn-ing skills and to enjoy the learning process. This paper examines ten areas in which the author be-lieves he and other teachers do cooperative learning well. These areas are: (1) keeping group size small, usually four or fewer; (2) encouraging students to form heterogeneous groups; (3) monitoring groups as they cooperate and encouraging groups to rely on themselves; (4) creating tasks that the groups find challenging, but not too challenging; (5) encouraging group members to do their fair share in their groups; (6) facilitating a feeling of positive interdependence among group members; (7) being willing to try new ideas in their implementation of cooperative learning; (8) learning from their ex-periences in using cooperative learning; (9) looking for opportunities to share with colleagues about their use of cooperative learning; (10) being cooperative in their lives outside the classroo