Earticle

Various problems have been associated with the introduction of self assessment for evaluation purposes, and in particular students’ lack of accuracy. However, several research studies have demonstrated that students are able to assess themselves accurately and that there can be from moderate to high degrees of correlation between teacher and student assessments. In this article, we report on a study aimed at 1) comparing students’ oral self assessment with those of teachers’ and 2) inquiring as to students’ attitude toward self assessment. Data were collected from 94 students who were given training in self assessment. Students’ scores were correlated with teachers’ scores using the Pearson correlation coefficient. Students were also given a questionnaire which examined their feelings about self assessment. Results of the study showed from moderate to high correlations between teachers’ and students’ self evaluations and positive attitudes toward self assessment. The implications for the classroom are: 1) self assessment needs to be done on a continuous basis with constant guidance from the teacher, 2) cultural acceptance of self assessment needs to be raised, 3) students need to be provided with help on the use of self assessment as a means to identify cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies, and 4) teachers need to be trained for student autonomy.

The emergence of Critical Applied Linguistics as an accompaniment of, among others, the introduction of the Linguistic Imperialism hypothesis in the early 1990s has led to increasing demands for inquiry into the socio-political aspects of English language teaching. In light of such demands, this empirical survey looks into English teachers’ perceptions of their professional practice, the impact of their practice on the local language and culture, on their learners, and the global spread of English, from the Bangladeshi ELT context. Qualitative results show that teachers perceive these contentious issues in different ways, but there are discernible patterns which suggest that Linguistic Imperialism is, to a great extent, unrepresentative of these teachers’ views and is not a satisfactory way of capturing the current issues of English and ELT in Bangladesh. The study, however, affirms that the results can inform and alert practicing English teachers to the political and ethical character of their profession.

This paper reports how a teacher educator attempts to effect change in the practice of serving teachers through modelling process writing with a real class of ESL children aged at about ten. The process of teaching was observed by two in-service teachers. Three research questions were put forward: first, whether the teacher educator’s espoused theory will be modified by the theory in action gained through practice; second, the impact of modelling on the observer teachers and whether their theory in action will be modified by the modelling. Third, what impact does process writing have on the learning of the students? To answer these questions, the teacher educator employed qualitative research tools. It is found that the educator’s espoused theory on process writing is enhanced by the practice in a real class. The modelling process increases the observers’ motivation to try out the new practice through the successful demonstration of strategies in the same classroom context, which has eased the teacher’s concerns over student responses and constraints of classroom resources. Young learners have learnt metacognitive skills through process writing but they also exhibit some misunderstandings in the approach in their initial experience with this process.

The present study deals with collocations as a challenging feature of foreign language learning and as an integral component of communicative competence. It examines lexical collocations in Kuwait University EFL learners’ essay writing. The learner database consists of a 100 essays written as final examinations for ENG 208 (Essay Writing). Collocational errors are first examined in terms of head type and collocator vs. collocate orientation. Then they are discussed in light of their etiology, i.e. whether they are the output of L1 interference or creative construction.

This study examined the relationship between English teachers’ actual and ideal interpersonal behavior and students’ outcomes (attitudes toward learning English and achievement in English) in the 11th grade in Thailand. The researchers were trying to reveal what an “ideal” teacher was like. Using a sample drawn with the stratified random sampling method, 291 students were asked to assess their perceptions of teachers’ interpersonal behaviors on the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI), to rate their attitudes about English according to the Attitudes toward Learning English Questionnaire, and to take the Achievement Test from the National College Entrance Examination English Test. The results indicate that teachers’ actual interpersonal behavior (Strictness) was significantly related to student attitudes at the .05 level. No other teachers’ actual interpersonal behaviors (7 scales) were significantly related to students’ outcomes (attitudes and achievement). Also, teachers’ ideal interpersonal behaviors (8 scales) and students’ outcomes (attitudes and achievement) were not significantly related. Students agreed that the ideal English teacher should be a strong leader, more understanding, more helpful and friendly, and give more responsibility and freedom to the students, and the ideal teacher should be less uncertain, less admonishing, less dissatisfied and less strict.

This paper presents a longitudinal comprehensive study on engineering student’s use of English language learning strategies. The study aims to investigate student’s choices of strategy use, frequency of strategy use and deployment of learning strategies in practice. The survey consists of one close-ended questionnaire distributed in paper and one open-ended questionnaire distributed to a public mailbox accessible to targeted students. The findings of questionnaire one reveal that engineering students have a tendency to use more cognitive strategies than social/affective strategies, and surprisingly, metacognitive strategies are poorly employed. The investigation from questionnaire two shows that engineering students have strong belief on the positive impact of strategy use on English language learning. However, the effective application of English language learning strategy varies from students to students.

Distance language learners require new kinds of skills, motivation and commitment to work effectively in a learning setting that is largely new and unfamiliar to them, and which is likely to have a direct impact on their development and use of learning strategies (Oxford & Burry- Stock, 1995; White, 2004). This paper is based on a study of a group of Chinese students learning English at a distance at Shantou Radio and Television University, China, and investigates their use of language learning strategies. The study found that distance English learners in China are gradually shifting from dependence on teachers to a more autonomous approach to learning. In many cases they are beginning to deploy a variety of strategies to facilitate their learning, and at the same time taking more responsibility for their studies. This appears to challenge the traditional stereotype of the dependent, ‘spoon-fed’ Chinese language learner as portrayed in previous studies. The paper concludes that learner training should be integrated into the instructional design of the materials in order to enhance strategy awareness and emphasize the facilitative role of learning strategies in language study.