skipper
skipper's Latest Posts
Becoming a Counsellor: Between Belief and Behaviour
The preparation of out-of-class learning not only focuses on advice to learners about how to take
responsibility for their own language learning, but also involves helping teachers to become
aware of their roles in guiding learners towards autonomy. Self-access centre use represents one
means for students to engage in out-of-class learning.
An Analysis of a Hypothesized Model of EFL Students’ Motivation Based on Self-Determination Theory
The present study focuses explicitly on how the three psychological needs of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) autonomy, relatedness and competence were determinants of the intrinsic motivation of two groups of students: 203 English majors and 82 business majors. Since intrinsic motivation is an independent pole in which all three psychological needs have strong relationships, and demonstrates the most autonomous conditions on the intrinsic/extrinsic motivation continuum in SDT, this study explicitly focused on intrinsic motivation.
Motivation and EFL University Students in North-East Asia
How can instructors motivate Asian university students in their EFL classrooms? One way is to ask the students directly about their preferences and other motivational factors through survey questionnaires and follow up assessments by the students. Is there a difference in motivation between the cultures of North-East Asia? Does the motivation vary when other group factors are considered? To answer these questions, a survey questionnaire was given to university EFL students in Korea, China, and Japan (669 questionnaires in total).
Investigating the Use of Cohesive Devices by Chinese EFL Learners
This study investigated cohesive errors in expository compositions of People Republic of China (PRC) students, who were learning English as a foreign language in a university in Singapore. It was based upon an error analysis paradigm and Halliday and Hasan‘s (1976) cohesion framework and taxonomy. The purpose was to illuminate the students‘ difficulties in using cohesion by examining the cohesive errors quantitatively and qualitatively.
Using Oral and Written Feedback to Improve Student Writing: An Investigation from Cambodian University Students’ Perspectives
This study examines the perceptions about the effectiveness of oral (OF) and written (WF) feedback on the writing of thirty-seven Cambodian English-major students at the National University of Management (NUM). Questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and student paragraphs were used to collect data from the OF group (N=19) and the WF group (N=18) before and after the two-month treatment.
Using Transitivity as a Framework in a Stylistic Analysis of Virginia Woolf’s Old Mrs.Grey
This paper shows how the use of some language resources can unravel to the reader the world view of the persona or the writer in a literary work. Drawing on Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG), it attempts to make transitivity framework accessible to teachers of English as a second language (ESL). It aims to raise one‟s awareness on the confluence of language structures in a prose written in the stream of consciousness (SOC) technique.
Second-language Literacy Instruction: Five Principles for Effective Fluency Development
Reading fluency development has played a critical role in English L1 settings for the last 30 years, yet despite its success it has attracted limited attention in L2 and foreign language contexts, presumably because it is thought to grow naturally as other reading skills develop. Therefore, many L2 teachers give little, if any, recognition to reading fluency development as an essential curriculum goal.
Creating a Corpus-Based Daily Life Vocabulary for TEYL
The purpose of this study has been to create a list of children‟s everyday vocabulary in English which will provide a foundation for daily life vocabulary for Japanese elementary school students and which will complement and augment existing English vocabulary currently taught in Japanese junior and senior high schools. Vocabulary words were taken from the CHILDES spoken corpus and picture dictionaries, and were ranked statistically with an outstanding-ness score based on a log likelihood keyword analysis and a selection probability score based on an adapted form of range.
E-learning Constructive Role Plays for EFL Learners in China‟s Tertiary Education
Recently, speaking has played an increasingly important role in second/foreign language settings. However, in many Chinese universities, EFL students rarely communicate in English with other people effectively. The existing behavioristic role plays on New Horizon College English (NHCE) e-learning do not function successfully in supplementing EFL speaking classes.
An Investigation into the Use of a Blog as a Tool to Improve Writing in the Second Language Classroom
Several research studies concur that the use of a blog can positively enhance writing skills. Research has confirmed positive uses of the blog which include writing for an audience and peer review, the development of a student’s analytical skills and the development of a sense of community in a class through a collaborative learning environment.
