Anahita Sheikhipour; Mahmood Hashemian; Ali Roohani
Abstract
The flipped teaching has nowadays become a new movement in teaching and is getting pervasive in the educational system. The goal of this study was to explore if there was any significant difference between L2 learners’ oral complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) in flipped and traditional classes. ...
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The flipped teaching has nowadays become a new movement in teaching and is getting pervasive in the educational system. The goal of this study was to explore if there was any significant difference between L2 learners’ oral complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) in flipped and traditional classes. To do so, both traditional and filpped classes were resorted to in order to see which class matched the students’ needs. Moreover, this study was done to find out if it had any significant effect on the learners’ motivation, self-efficacy, engagement, self-confidence, and autonomy. Via an OPT, 40 homogenous, lower-intermediate students were chosen from a language school in Isfahan, Iran. Then, they were randomly assigned to experimental 1 and 1 control groups. Initially, all the students attended an interview session and their responses were audio-recorded; then, 2 teachers scored their responses to make certain the interviews enjoyed reliability. Afterward, the students took a pretest with 2 questions relevant to their actual life and the grammar they would acquire in the course of the treatment. After taking 4 treatment sessions, the students received a posttest to see how much they had progressed during the 4 treatment sessions. Also, a questionnaire was adapted from another study to figure out the students’ satisfaction regarding this type of teaching. The results revealed that the flipped class increased the students’ motivation, self-efficacy, engagement, self-confidence, and autonomy. However, no significant difference was seen between the learners in the flipped class and those in the traditional class, as far as oral CAF was concerend. Based on the students’ answers to the questionnaire, most were satisfied with the flipped model. To conclude, materials developers and syllabus designers should modify instructional materials and books taught in language schools and add some parts to them in line witth technology to satisfy digital natives.
Ali Roohani; Raheleh Sabzeali,; Azizullah Mirzaei
Abstract
Research has showed a positive relationship between metacognitive knowledge and success in reading comprehension. Thus, it is important to be aware of metacognitive strategy use in reading comprehension. This study was intended to explore metacognitive strategies in reading academic texts among more ...
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Research has showed a positive relationship between metacognitive knowledge and success in reading comprehension. Thus, it is important to be aware of metacognitive strategy use in reading comprehension. This study was intended to explore metacognitive strategies in reading academic texts among more and less proficient English university student readers. To this end, 75 English as a foreign language (EFL) students (including 45 more proficient and 30 less proficient students), who were selected nonrandomly from two universities, participated in this mixed-methods study. To collect data, the Survey of Reading Strategies and the Test of English as Foreign Language were administered to them. Also, to elicit how they utilize the metacognitive strategies, five more proficient and five less proficient EFL readers were asked to undertake think-aloud tasks. Results of quantitative (t-tests) and qualitative data analysis showed that there were significant differences between the metacognitive strategies used by more and less proficient readers. More proficient readers reported using the strategies at a high frequency level overall, but less proficient readers reported using them at a moderate frequency level. More proficient readers preferred to use problem-solving strategies followed by global strategies, whereas less proficient ones preferred to use problem solving strategies followed by support strategies. In addition, the results of think-aloud indicated that the more and less proficient readers’ methods of employing metacognitive strategies differed, to some extent, from each other in quality of use. The findings provide implications for low proficiency EFL readers who intend to improve their reading comprehension and learning autonomy.
Ali Roohani; Somayeh Akbarpour
Volume 3, Issue 3 , September 2016, , Pages 82-59
Abstract
Abstract
Knowledge can be reflected in vocabulary repertoire; it is thus important to find out effective methods of vocabulary teaching which can assist language learners in the process of vocabulary learning. This study investigated the effectiveness of teaching English vocabulary through song and ...
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Abstract
Knowledge can be reflected in vocabulary repertoire; it is thus important to find out effective methods of vocabulary teaching which can assist language learners in the process of vocabulary learning. This study investigated the effectiveness of teaching English vocabulary through song and non-song methods to elementary Iranian EFL learners. Additionally, it examined the role of EFL learners’ gender in their success in English vocabulary learning. To these ends, 100 EFL learners, aged 9-12, were selected and were randomly assigned into two experimental (song) and two control (non-song) groups, each with 25 male and 25 female EFL participants. The experimental and control groups had song and non-song instructions, respectively, for English vocabulary learning. To collect data, a 40-item vocabulary test was developed and administered as the pretest and posttest. Results from analysis of covariance revealed that both song and non-song instructions had a statistically significant and positive effect on the EFL learners’ vocabulary learning. Furthermore, the female learners benefited more from the song method whereas the males benefited more from the non-song method of instruction. The findings imply that using songs should not be taken a panacea for both male and female EFL learners; rather, it should serve as a supplementary method to teaching vocabulary, particularly to young female learners in EFL classrooms.