Learning writing in ESL and EFL classes is usually associated with teaching grammar, writing paragraphs, essays, etc. Although acquiring these skills help students develop their formal writing abilities, these activities are assumed dull and meaningless for many of them. Introducing more modern, meaningful, communicative activities to EFL contexts such as Iranian schools may yield multi –purpose results, among those, motivating students particularly the reluctant ones to write without having the fear to be judged or punished and developing students’ positive attitudes toward writing, can be mentioned as the most important aims. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of Dialogue Journals Writing (DJW) as an informal, communicative activity on writing proficiency of intermediate Iranian high school students and their attitudes toward writing .The participants were 42 Iranian female students. The students in the experimental group wrote dialogue journals daily in a period of two months while the students in the control group wrote weekly compositions. An attitudinal questionnaire was administered twice, before and at the end of the project and both groups took pre- and post-tests. The results revealed that DJW improved students’ writing although the amount of improvement was not very significant and they hold positive attitudes toward DJW as students believed that journals enhanced their motivation to write and increased their fluency.
Category: ELT Research Articles
Vol. 4 Issue 16 – Research Paper: ‘Regional Component In Foreign Languages Teaching To The Students Of Non-Linguistic Specialties’ by Mayur Agravat & Rita Dabhi
Kamala Das, in spite of her royal background, was a woman of spirit, a spirit which was like a sparrow, who can not be caged. It was the century when women of reputed families were not allowed to express publically their views or experiences related to ‘sex’, but Das wrote unflinchingly of her sexual encounters and that too in a period when women were treated not more than a pat animal. Kamala Das’s poetry can rightly be called her ‘poetic autobiography’ as it reveals all about her ideology, conception, psychology formation and her experiences. Her field gives immense knowledge about poetic genius.
ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue 15
ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue#15 | April 9, 2012 | ISSN 0975-3036 Webinar: The learner-centred classroom BBC TeachingEnglish Article: Global English and the teaching of pronunciation Video: Universality in Linguistics and Human Rights Webinar: Using social networks and media to support our continuing professional development Research Paper: ‘Evaluation of the English Language Teacher Education Program in Turkey’… Continue reading ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue 15
Vol. 4 Issue 15 – Research Article: ‘Is a Uniform Curriculum Possible? The Clash between the Needs-based and Means-based Curriculums and Ideal Language Courses’ by Manash Pratim Borah
In the present educational system of India the disparity between the needs-based and means-based language courses will be an obvious factor in practical field. Whether the curriculums prepared by states councils or central board in India which need to address and operate with a wide variety of cultures, ethnicities and languages of states and of the country as well can be reduced to any unified notion of compiling based on uniform standard and material or not is certainly a debatable issue. Specifically in North-East India, the institutes and colleges adopting the CBSE/NCERT course contents always have faced serious problems to meet up the needs of students coming from heterogeneous language background and remote areas. Even within a single territory or in colleges/institutions under an affiliated university, the curriculum that does well in some situations may not give expected results in another (Dudley-Evans and St. John 124). There should be provisions for compiling curriculums of language courses by mixing up both the needs and means analysis methods and every educational institute should be asked to compile the means-based part of own depending on the requirements of the students and the environment.
Vol. 4 Issue 15 – Research Paper: ‘Regional Component In Foreign Languages Teaching To The Students Of Non-Linguistic Specialties’ by D.K. Kurmanayeva
The higher education institutions of non-linguistic specialties are now facing a problem of students to be professionally trained and graduated from not only in their respective qualifications and specialties but also in the faculty of comprehensive thinking and acquiring knowledge along with multicultural issues. This requires providing such important arrangements to be made for the foreign languages teaching process as various kinds of intercourse related to a given social and cultural ambience, sociopolitical activity along with the main professionally (specialization) adjusted intercourse as the dominating one. It will comprehensively define and shape the professional terms of reference and lights of a given specialist in the course of the higher education process thus incorporating all personal lights what allows the specialist to properly employ and accomplish his/her professional activity by more efficient way, what in turn also provides for further mental development of individuals. In this aspect, the communication component shall be the key one.
Vol. 4 Issue 15 – BBC TeachingEnglish Article: Global English and the teaching of pronunciation
The emergence of so many different kinds (or ‘varieties’) of international English has caused a number of linguists to question the use of native speaker pronunciation models in the teaching of English. This article presents my research into the pronunciation of global English and gives some teaching implications.
Vol. 4 Issue 15 – Research Paper: ‘Evaluation of the English Language Teacher Education Program in Turkey’ by Ali Karakas
The article reports on an evaluative review of the current English Education Program in Turkey by focusing on both strengths and weaknesses identified through the analysis of the program based on the related theories, models and previous empirical research and comparison of the present program with the preceding English language teacher education program. The research paper shows that the program has more weaknesses than the strengths it does. It was seen that pedagogical and theory components are quite well covered. Yet, there are some weaknesses, as well, which can be summarized as being out-of-date, less practically-oriented, and lack of culture specific courses within the program. Consequently, a number of suggestions are offered to the stakeholders in the implications of the critical evaluation. In closing, the study stresses the importance of systematic evaluation for educating and training highly qualified English language teachers and successful foreign language education.
ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue 14
ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue#14 | April 2, 2012 | ISSN 0975-3036 Video: Using Google for Search and Research Book Of The Week: ‘Effective Reading’ by Amanda French, Chris Gough, Jackie McAvoy and Scott Miles ELTWO Research Paper: ‘Blended E-learning: The Way to Go?’ by Sujata S Kathpalia Video: 50 Years of Research on Writing: What Have… Continue reading ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue 14
Vol. 4 Issue 14 – Research Paper: ‘Online Forums: Forums for ESL Learner’s Academic Discussion and Collaboration’ by Amlanjyoti Sengupta
The influence of computer technology has permeated into all facets of our lives, including academic settings. In the field of language education, a great deal of emphasis has been paid on online learning. There are of course, sufficient compelling causes for incorporating the online platform for language study. The traditional English classroom provides a forum to the learners where English study is time-bound and where there is hardly any room for classroom discussion and collaborative activity. Online forums have made it possible for language learners to integrate independent language learning experiences with provisions for interaction and collaboration. The paper highlights the pedagogical importance of online forums which can be effectively used to maximize ESL learners’ language performance through academic discussions and collaboration.
Vol. 4 Issue 14 – Article: ‘Different Stages Of Learning English In The Tertiary Level’ by Dr. V.Vasanthi
Language learning process is not accurately traceable yet there is enough scope to trace the absorption of the same in a regular class room without any formal assessment. It is also important sometimes to check the progress or the capability of students before putting them to a common evaluation pattern which is considered to be a serious step in awarding the grades. Many classrooms deal with students who are basically of the same aptitude, knowledge and competency in the primary levels. Just like there are differences in the advancement of the athletes in a running race, there are fair chances of some students advancing without any hitch, some making an average progress and some lagging behind. Therefore, in the secondary level there are differences owing to the learning ability and conditioning of the children in the primary level. More so, in the tertiary level, the differences in the aptitude, knowledge, skills and competency vary to a larger extent owing to the differences in the background of the students. The streaming pattern in many institutions in the tertiary level solves these problems to some extent by picking students with similar knowledge and aptitude. Yet, the students start afresh and advance in the class room and reach different levels of progress. This research paper attempts to analyse the different stages and the gaps created among the students in terms of knowledge, skills and competency and contemplate different methods to bridge these gaps.