Volume 10 Issue 2
Competition or Cooperation; War or Peace? Language and Education in Singapore
This paper examines Singapore’s response to its perceived geographical constraints by an analysis of the state discourses of its key leaders and through an examination of the current language textbooks used in its schools. It discusses the key metaphors of statehood, that is, war, sports and the marketplace and juxtaposes these with the predominant aim of the language syllabus which is to promote cooperative living and social harmony.
Do Academic Reviewers Readily Accept a First-Person Voice?
The international EFL teaching community has a variety of communication needs including the need to share unique experience with fellow professionals internationally. This paper will examine the last (March 2008) quarterly issue of AEJ to examine the extent to which our editorial process allows a first-person voice in accepted papers.
A Comparison of the Effects of two Vocabulary Teaching Techniques
The present study was conducted to compare the impacts of two vocabulary teaching techniques (a contextualizing technique and a decontextualizing technique) on vocabulary learning of a low proficiency group of Iranian learners of English as a foreign language (N=50), who were divided into an experimental group and a control group.
Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Writing:A Genre Approach to Teaching Narrative Writing
econd language (L2) writers often have an incomplete control of English and rely on teachers to help them develop the linguistic resources necessary for them to express themselves effectively. Genre-based pedagogies were developed to address the language needs by offering students explicit and systematic explanations of the way language functions in social context
Effectiveness of Recasts in the Teaching of EFL
The present study assessed the effectiveness of oral recasts in an EFL classroom. Thirty-eight college students and a female teacher participated in the study in a western state in Venezuela. Students were expected to learn the right use of the auxiliary verb ‘to have’, and the use of past participles in the present perfect tense. They were divided into two groups.
The Application of Learning Portfolio Assessment for Students in the Technological and Vocational Education System
The study intends to offer an alternative assessment method—learning portfolio assessment—for writing classes to enable students in the technological and vocational education system to complete English writing courses with comfort, ease, and confidence. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether students under portfolio assessment experience greater satisfaction in writing class than those under traditional test assessment.
How Does Context Contribute to EFL Learners Assessment of Vocabulary Gain
In this article, I describe the development and trial of three measurement techniques each of which will be providing varying degrees of context for the assessment of the subjects’ lexical knowledge. These are the word-definition matching task with a complete lack of context; the gap-filling task with reduced context at the sentence level; and the rational cloze which provides discoursal clues extending to the whole of the text.
Improving an EFL Class: Starting from Classroom Observations
This study was based on the belief that observing existing classroom practices could bring forth insights into improving a language teacher’s instruction. The main sources of data collection were videotaped classroom observations, a classroom observation protocol, a post-study open-ended questionnaire to the students and a post-study interview with the teacher.
Research on EFL Writing Strategy Using SRP: An Empirical Study in DUT
In the past 20 years, research in the field of ESL writing has made great progress. However, research on EFL writing strategies is still a latecomer, especially in China. A review of the previous studies at home shows that most of the research subjects are adults; research on local techniques outnumber those on global strategies and the researchers employed either qualitative or quantitative instrument in the research.
Creating Constructivist Learning Environment for Japanese EFL Students: A Digital Story Program
This study assesses the effectiveness of FM Magic, a web-based multimedia English program that teaches EFL in a Japanese university. It uses the Constructivist Multimedia Learning Environment Survey (CMLES) and a Student Open-ended Questionnaire. Results indicate that FM Magic creates a positive learning environment for these EFL students.
