Journal of English Language Teaching and Linguistics
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Enhancing EFL Learning in Cameroon’s Language Centres through Content and Language Integrated Learning
Get PDFThis study seeks to determine how Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), already applied successfully in other parts of the world, could be adapted to teaching English as a foreign language in language centres in Cameroon. The problem identified was the fact that 43 out of 64 students leave language centres with a lot of general English but with little or no language abilities relevant to their fields of experience, whether academic or professional. The results revealed that the implementation of CLIL had a positive impact on learners’ development of diverse skills necessary for their success in academic and/or professional settings since there was a remarkable improvement in students’ performance in the experimental group (93%) as opposed to the limited (lower) performance of the control group (56.4%), providing therefore factual evidence of the effectiveness of the CLIL approach over other conventional approaches in meeting students’ needs and interests after training
Communicative Language Teaching in the Moroccan EFL Classroom
Get PDFToday, communities are increasingly facing rapid and profound changes and tensions that affect the social, economic, and political aspects of life. The role of education has also become questionable in the millennial era. A matter of fact, 21st century education requires a gradual shift in curriculum construction focusing on the transferable competencies that learners need to develop in instructional settings. In today’s knowledge-based, types of skills and competencies that students need to gain are different from in the past. Emphasizing the communicative competence is one of the most influential developments in language education. The implementation of communicative activities in EFL/ESL classroom prepares learners to use English in the world beyond based on their own needs, interests, and opportunities, and perform in an atmosphere of expression, interpretation, and negotiation of meaning from psycholinguistic and socio-cultural perspectives. Communicative language teaching (CLT) refers to both processes and goals in classroom learning. It is one of the most influential theoretical developments in language education as it helps redefine the objectives of foreign and/or second language instruction. This paper looks at the phenomenon of communicative language teaching (CLT) in the Moroccan EFL curriculum. It aims to study how CLT has been interpreted and implemented in various contexts examining teachers’ attitudes. The data is gathered using semi-structured interview with EFL secondary level teachers. Based on the findings, respondents reflected positive attitudes showing that the use of CLT approach does enhance oral competency among students as well as learner-autonomy. However, teachers confirm that the EFL curriculum is barely emphasizing communication skills, which requires a curriculum reform and redesign in order to represent the 21st century requirements and values
Why Only Focus on One Variety of English? A Problem in EIL Teaching in Vietnam
Get PDFAlthough research has proposed the urgent need of exposing learners to World Englishes for enhancing learners’ intercultural competence, Standard English, which is either British English or American English, still remains dominant in English language classrooms in the Vietnamese context. This qualitative-designed case study aims to explore Vietnamese higher-education teachers’ explanations for the reasons behind and their perspectives towards embracing World Englishes in English language classrooms. The study employed semi-structured interviews to collect data from five Vietnamese lecturers. The participants’ answers were recorded before being converted into an Excel sheet. A Coding Process of Inductive Analysis (Cresswell, 2002) was adapted to analyze data. The results indicated that the factors including fixed materials, limited classroom time, teachers’ previous training in Standard English (SE) for their degrees, and learners’ favor of SE accounted for the main use of Standard English in language classrooms. Interestingly, however, all of the participants agreed that increasing knowledge of World Englishes is substantially necessary for successful intercultural communications. Moreover, learners are supposed to keep their identity in international encounters through their own English accents while still ensuring mutual intelligibility. The study drew on an implication for teachers to take an active role as transformative intellectuals in classrooms to make the EFL teaching process meet Vietnamese learners’ goals and needs
Developing Higher Order Thinking Skills: Towards a Rethinking of EFL Coursebooks in Moroccan High Schools
Get PDFThe ever-growing realm of education underlines the need for a reconsideration of learning materials. The present study aimed to investigate the extent to which EFL textbooks in Morocco help learners build skills in accordance with the twenty first century learning expectations. It attempted to assess the effectiveness of Ticket to English textbook series in terms of how well they foster critical thinking and problem solving among learners. The study adopted content analysis as the primary research method for data analysis and interpretation. The analysis was undertaken to define the types and levels of questions addressed in reading comprehension tasks and to examine instances of higher order thinking skills. The case study evaluated the questions in the light of the Bloom's Revisited Taxonomy of learning objectives. Results from the content analysis of questions show that most of the questions targeted the three lower-level categories of the taxonomy. The results obtained testify that the examined textbooks do not effectively enable learners to be autonomous lifelong critical thinkers, hence the need for a reconsideration of EFL textbooks in Moroccan high schools. The paper eventually suggests some ways in which these skills could be promoted effectively in future textbooks with the aim of empowering students to thrive in an evolving world
Teaching Reading Comprehension through Focal Points on R2D2 Model
Get PDFThe purposes of this research are to find out (1) college students’ response during the learning process on Reading comprehension, (2) college students’ learning achievement during the learning process on Reading comprehension. The data are gained from questionnaires and test given to 31 college students in 12 meetings. From 12 meetings, there were two college students did not attend the learning process. And automatically, the researcher only gets 29 questionnaires and answer sheets. All data are analyzed by using descriptive quantitative study. The result shows that college students’ response is categorized high, that is 0,93 (93%) and the result of college student’s learning achievement can be categorized high, all students get more than 90.Keywords: Teaching, Learning, Reading, R2D2, Focal point
Covering Islam in Western Media: From Islamic to Islamophobic Discourses
Get PDFA fundamental role allocated to the media is the shaping of public opinion about topical issues, thus making the act of obtaining accurate and verified information a major challenge. In this context, Said (1997) argues that coverage of Islam by the media has always been lacking in subjectivity, and Arabs/Muslims have at best been obscured and at worst “othered” and demonized rather than revealed by the media. The 9/11 attacks have re-triggered an explosion of media coverage of Islam and Muslims with the terms "Muslim" and "Terrorist" becoming synonymous in many western countries. The attacks have been exploited to cause a social anxiety/panic toward Islam and Muslim cultures leading to Islamophobia which is being further reinforced in Trump’s America. Situated within the framework of Said’s Orientalism, which helps us understand the relationships between the West and the Muslim world and also framed by agenda-setting media theory, which explains how media manipulate public opinion, this paper argues that Islamophobia results from the way the news stories regarding Islam and Muslims are covered. In particular, these stories are media(ated) and thus distorted. The paper borrows tools from critical discourse analysis, particularly global meanings and lexicalization, to analyse selected examples of media(ted) coverage of Islam and Muslim stories from different media sources with the aim of offering a holistic review of the scope and nature of the coverage of Islam and Muslims. In light of the results, we suggest interfaith dialogue and intercultural education as measures that can bring about understanding and tolerance between different religious communities
The Roles and Symbolism of Mangupa in Sipirok Traditional Wedding Ceremony
Get PDFThis paper qualitatively examines the roles and symbolism of mangupa in Sipirok wedding ceremony. Results revealed that the presence of piramanuk na dihobolan ( boiling eggs), manuk (chicken), hambeng ( goat meat), and horbo (buffalo meat) in the Sipirok wedding ceremony bring a symbolic meaning for the hosts, bridegroom, their family and guests. Symbolizing of fertility, appreciation, sweet life to the bridegroom, blessing, creating strong bonding, good relationships between guests and marriage declaration are some of the significant on the present those mangupa in the Sipirok wedding. Hence, it is vital for Sipirok especially the young generation to appreciate and preserved these practices
Visual Discourse of Comics in English Language Teaching
Get PDFThis article discusses the findings of theoretical research on visual communication and comic book discourse that aimed to identify viable approaches for English language teaching based on comics. Comics are one type of creative text that can have the same complexities or intricacies as for example a novel. One problem identified in SLT is that while creative texts are used in teaching, the focus is on the written word - novels, short stories, poems. Few if any teaching approaches promote the use of comics in the classroom environment. If comics are suggested as teaching materials, the recommended approach is very similar to that used when dealing with non-visual texts. As a consequence, students tend to ignore the images and thus miss out a possible avenue that can help with meaning making. There is then a need for a better understanding of how visual communication works in comics and how meaning is created from the interplay of image and text. This article examines how visual communication happens, what are the elements of a visual narrative and then continues to identify the elements that form the comic book discourse. Using a framework based on the theories that identify and explain the workings of the structural elements of a panel as well as the social function of visual communication this researcher discusses how comics communicate to their readers. The findings suggest that in order to develop a methodology and to successfully use comics in teaching, the educator needs to rethink the current practices when dealing with comics or any other "image + word" texts. Image and text cannot be separated and must be treated as a whole; only then will comics reveal their full potential as viable, creative teaching materials
Whole Object Assumption and Mutual Exclusivity Assumption in 3-4-Year-Old Cebuano Preschoolers: A Qualitative Analysis
Get PDFThe whole object assumption (WOA) and mutual exclusivity (ME) assumption proposed by Markman (1990) are constraints children use in word learning. This small-scale psycholinguistic study investigates the constraints function in 14 preschoolers at ages 3 and 4 using WOA and ME in deciphering part labels. Using quasi-experimental method, children identified objects and animals. Findings show that while WOA is still used by the participants ME overrides. Further findings reveal no evidence of the claim that older participants used ME better than the younger ones. However, gender seems to play an important role in the participants’ performance for boys did much better than girls in the experiments. Thus, the result recommends further future research on the relation between the two constraints on word learning (WOA and ME) and age and gender. However, this study found two limitations: the drawings and the questions used in the study may fail to fully reveal the children’s ability since previous studies offer non-standard materials and procedure used in their experiments; and the study itself, is regarded as small-scale. Therefore, the research findings can hardly be generalized. Nevertheless, the research at least presents how the Cebuano speaking preschoolers learned new words via WOA and ME assumption