Volume 52
Looking at a Learning Styles Research Paper: A Critical Evaluation
This report evaluates a major study of the learning styles of EFL students. This critical evaluation brings out some of the weaknesses and strengths of research in the area of learning strategies and shows how a technically correct methodology can still lead to somewhat bland results. The report makes recommendations for deeper probing and more precise questions when trying to learn about learning styles.
Hedging in College Research Papers: Implications for Language Instruction
Commitment and detachment in one’s claims are linguistically manifested in the use of hedging and boosting devices. How novice writers show their confidence in or detachment to their proposed ideas has been the focus of analysis in this study that used Kaplan’s contrastive rhetoric theory to examine 144 pages of introduction and conclusion sections in the randomly selected research articles of five different courses from both the arts and sciences disciplines investigated.
Using Improvisational Exercises for Increasing Speaking and Listening Skills
If language learners do not interact with the material they are learning, it is difficult for them to understand and integrate it. In classes where students are reluctant to speak, it is often helpful to integrate a stem or other structure to encourage this skill. Acting and Comedy improvisational exercises allow students of all abilities and interests to participate and make manifest grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation lessons in a fun and realistic way,right away.
The Impact of Phonetic Instruction on Iranian Students’ Listening Ability Enhancement
The purpose of this study was to see if phonetic instruction followed by the learners’ checking of their pronunciation by the use of phonemic transcription would enhance Iranian students’ listening ability. Since random assignment was not possible, the nonequivalent group, pretest-posttest design was employed to study two classes of third grade high school students as control and experimental groups.
Online and Face-to-face Peer Review: Measures of Implementation ESL Writing Classes
This paper is an attempt based on the author’s experience and feedback as an ESL teacher teaching Writing for Academic Purposes at Universiti Putra Malaysia. This paper reviews the theoretical background behind peer review in both Face-to-Face and Online formats. With the advent of the cutting-edge Internet technology,practitioners have presented intriguing techniques to improve efficacy of ESL learning.
