Teaching EFL to Young Learners

Language plays a crucial role in the development of human society. It is the main means of communication between individuals, groups and countries. Nowadays, more and more people are learning English as a foreign or second language, and their key objective is to get expertise in English. The abrupt changes in the broad field of economy, business, science, technology and education have triggered the youth and coming generation to improve their communication skills. Language acquisition involves four modules of teaching that includes Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. The teachers have to be dynamic and updated to teach these language skills to the students. The researcher has interviewed the participants on various aspects involved in teaching-learning process to find out the root cause of the problems encountered by students studying at Jazan University to attain the speaking and the writing skills. The problems are further critically analysed, evaluated to derive at conclusi...

Teaching English to young learners has gained speed in the past twenty years. Many countries in Europe are offering English at the primary level as advised by the EU. The efforts to lower the age for foreign language learning have echoed in countries in Asia as well. Turkey as one of these countries has changed its educational policy in 2012 and launched the new English Language Teaching Program for grades 2-8 in 2013. Along with many changes, the new system offers EFL in the second grade. The present study not only aims to investigate the views of prospective ELT teachers towards this change, but also to compare their views with those of trainers, and English teachers who were investigated in the earlier phases of the study. The results indicate that although all three groups of participants favor an earlier start in foreign language education, there are significant differences between groups in terms of the appropriate starting time and teaching methodologies used. Teachers were i...

The purpose of this investigation is to design and evaluate new assessment tools for a communicatively oriented, digitally integrated elementary EFL course.  How can learners’ own needs be included, i.e. media use?  What standards might be more appropriate for young learners (YL) than the CEFR?  How can students’ feed-back be heard by teachers and course designers?

In foreign language learning the listening skill has proved to be extremely essential for carrying out coherent and effective oral communication with other people. Listening is a key skill and is better performed if there is an integration of all four skills and, especially, speaking. The present teaching proposal attempts to develop an original listening lesson focusing on the process of listening on the basis of modern pedagogical theories and methods. To this end, the paper discusses the proposal's rationale with reference to the listening input, class profile and lesson preparation as well as the procedure and listening tasks' efficiency providing a post-lesson evaluation of the teaching outcomes as well. Given that listening is the most underestimated skill in the Greek school context, this paper aims to encourage foreign language teachers to be independent course designers in order to assist their learners develop their listening competence overcoming listening comprehension problems.

The majority of children, in today’s developed world, are growing up in a connected world where media literacy and critical thinking are essential skills. Teachers need to provide opportunities and support to develop these skills. However, there are challenges facing teachers who wish to include technology tools in early years language teaching, including lack of research dealing with technology use with children learning a second language, lack of technology access in pre-primary settings, and resistance to technology. There are also concerns about the impact of digital devices on a child’s physical and mental development. Surveying both available research and classroom teachers, and considering both challenges and concerns, this chapter will attempt to suggest a best practices approach to early technology integration in language teaching, focusing on methods that support language development.

Needs analysis is a distinct and necessary phase in planning educational programs and curriculum development. It is used to collect information about learners’ needs, focusing on the study of learners’ perceived and present needs, as well as their potential and unrecognized needs. The purpose of this study was to develop, design and administer a needs analysis survey to a group of primary school learners in order to investigate their attitudes towards EFL learning, their actual foreign language needs and their learning preferences regarding activities, topics and modes of work in the EFL classroom. According to the survey findings derived from the questionnaire used as a research tool, learners’ actual EFL needs, learning styles and strategies are not satisfactorily consistent or compatible with the current teaching situation. As a result, implications which focus on: a more learner-centered teaching methodology and materials, a ‘process-based’ curriculum development and action research in the Greek school context, as well as teacher’s further training education and professional development will be discussed.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of watching English language animation movies on learning idioms by Iranian EFL intermediate learners. To conduct the study, 40 female learners were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group at English language Institutes in Sari. The experimental group in instruction period was exposed to idioms by using text-book plus English language animation movies which contained, the researchers’ intended idioms but control group just was exposed to text-book. The data were collected through two instruments: the pre-test and the post-test, which were both developed by the researcher. The data obtained from the administration of the pre-test and the post-test were analyzed using SPSS software. The findings were compared to examine the effect of watching English language animation movies on learning idioms by Iranian EFL intermediate learners. The result of this study showed that the implementation of English language animation movies used in the study had a significant effect on learning idioms by Iranian EFL intermediate learners.

Journal writing is believed to be a significant tool to promote reflection. Some studies have been carried out to test that, most of which have been solely concerned with the participants' perceptions, leaving the actual application of reflective practice in EFL teaching practice untouched. Hence, to fill this gap in the literature, the researchers initiated this study. The participants were 24 EFL teacher trainees at a teacher training center in Guilan province. A questionnaire, including closed-and open-ended items, and an observation checklist were utilized. The researchers conducted matched t tests to investigate the possible differences between the perceptions and application of reflective practice before and after treatment. The questionnaire and checklist data were analyzed quantitatively and descriptive analyses were run. A qualitative content analysis was also employed for the open-ended item of the questionnaire. The results indicated that journal writing had a significant effect on promoting reflective practice in teacher trainees. There was also a significant difference between participants' perceptions and application of reflective practice before and after treatment.

This study reports the methods, approaches, and assessment tools that teachers of preschool children apply in their classes. The teaching of English as a second language (ESL) for very young learners (VLY) has increased considerably during the past years, but there is still a lack of research about this subject. It expresses the importance to know what types of methods, approaches, and assessment tools that are applicable for this age, since the students have limitations on reading and writing. Data were collected through a questionnaire answered by 13 teachers via Google Forms and through 2 interviews. This research contributes for giving teachers options and suggestions of methods and assessment for students of 2-6 years of age. Although the research is a tip of the iceberg, it shows that teachers apply a variety of different approaches in the classes, use teaching resources to give classes that are different from the activities proposed to the students and, to evaluate them, use an informal process based on a table as an assessment tool to observe the students’ progress. It discusses the idea of using different methods and approaches with the concept of the Post Method Era and the Formative Assessment applied to these very young learners

(Obs.: This is an undergrad research, whose author is PALOMA CARDOSO ALVES. I was her advisor)

These are notes on English stress, rhythm and intonation.

Part A is for students and Part B is for teachers.

The treatment here is “technical”, as by a linguist, but in very plain language. Even with poor formal English, L2 speakers who “sound right” will gain social acceptance, and this in turn will greatly accelerate their learning.

Firstly the concept of “the music of a language” is introduced. It is noted that languages are on a scale of “syllable timed” to “stress timed” (though this is not a simple matter). English is a stress-timed language. Both word stress and sentence stress are essential in English. However, proper word liaison and elision marks native speakers from non-native speakers. Some advice is given on how to practice privately and in a classroom. The importance of teacher talk as a model is noted.

In a modern world full of challenges and needs, the proficiency of speaking skills is considered to be a priority for ELT learners as they evaluate their language competence based on the improvement of fluency and accuracy and the effectiveness of their communication in English language. Despite the fact that a lot of learners are fluent readers and writers of English, they have difficulties when they have to speak and communicate. This article is an attempt to design and evaluate the effectiveness of an original speaking lesson for young learners in the ELT Greek class, based on specific criteria and encouraging the teacher to implement innovative and creative methods and approaches .

Speaking is an important skill in language learning and EFL learners sometimes face difficulties when they want to speak. This study attempted to measure the effect of Kagan's cooperative structures on speaking skill of Iranian EFL learners. The participants were selected from EFL learners studying at Ideal Language Institute. The Cambridge English Language Assessment was administered in order to select homogenous participants. Forty eight adult female EFL learners were selected as intermediate learners based on their results of the language proficiency test. They were divided into two groups, 24 as the control group and 24 as the experimental group. A pre-test was administered to both groups at the beginning of the experiment then, the students participated in 90 minute classes two times a week for eight sessions. At the end of the experiment, a post-test was assigned to both groups to determine whether the Kagan's cooperative structures had positively affected the students' speaking skills. The normality of data was tested through Skewness, Kurtosis, and K-S. To make sure the participants were homogenous, the parametric statistical technique of independent-samples t-test was calculated between the pre-tests of both groups and they were homogenous. Independent-samples t-test between the post-tests of the experimental group and the control group was calculated and it showed that the participants of the experimental group outperformed the subjects of the control group. Moreover, paired-samples t-test between the pre-test and post-test of the experimental group was calculated and it was shown that the experimental participants progressed from the pre-test to the post-test. The study revealed that: (1) Kagan's cooperative structures had a positive effect on the students' speaking skills, (2) the experimental group obtained higher scores in the post-test than in the pre-test, making the difference between the pre-test and post-test scores statistically significant. Based upon the conclusion drawn from the study, Kagan's cooperative structures were recommended to English classes.

As was the case with many newly independent African nations, Somalia was beset by a language problem whose complexity had begun well before independence and the unification of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland in 1960. With three languages (English, Arabic, and Italian) used as media of communication in government offices and in schools, various Somali administrations struggled to contain the impasse but found no tangible solution. Barely three years after Mohamed Siad Barre seized power in October 1969, he had his military regime introduce the Somali orthography in the Latin alphabet. Based on this milestone, Siad Barre's military rule is highly commended for taking a remarkable step forward in what came to be known as the Somalization project. However, officials of the government and Somali scholarship failed to

English language teachers very often frustrated with coursebooks not aligning to their classroom reality or lacking efficiency in developing foreign language skills create their own lessons, that is 'original' lesson plans, either to enrich the existing coursebook material or to make lessons more interesting and motivating to satisfy their learners' actual needs and interests. This is especially the case with 'speaking instruction' in primary education on the grounds that school coursebooks are usually devoid of complete and well-structured speaking lessons to adequately develop primary learners' speaking skills; thus teachers are challenged to become creative and autonomous 'decision-makers' on teaching approaches and materials.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of watching English language animation movies on learning idioms by Iranian EFL intermediate learners. To conduct the study, 40 female learners were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group at English language Institutes in Sari. The experimental group in instruction period was exposed to idioms by using text-book plus English language animation movies which contained, the researchers’ intended idioms but control group just was exposed to text-book. The data were collected through two instruments: the pre-test and the post-test, which were both developed by the researcher. The data obtained from the administration of the pre-test and the post-test were analyzed using SPSS software. The findings were compared to examine the effect of watching English language animation movies on learning idioms by Iranian EFL intermediate learners. The result of this study showed that the implementation of English language ani...

Research has shown that context cue instruction can improve EFL learners’ ability to infer word meanings from context, improve their comprehension and enable them to read independently (Nash & Snowling, 2006; Yuen, 2009; Çetinavci, 2013; Dwaik et al., 2013; and Samiyan et al., 2014). However, this strategy has not been explicitly taught in the context of secondary schools in Vietnam, and language learners are assumed to learn the strategy on their own. Therefore, this study was conducted to find out the extent to which context cue instruction enhances learners’ ability to infer word meanings from context and to investigate learners’ perceptions towards this strategy. In this study, 26 English major eleventh graders in an upper-secondary school in Can Tho City, Vietnam, were instructed to guess meanings of unfamiliar words using the contextual guessing strategy in three three-hour sessions. Achievement tests and learners’ reflection done in class were employed as sources of quantitative and qualitative data. Data from the pre-tests and post-tests indicated a significant improvement in learners’ ability to guess meanings of unfamiliar words using the contextual guessing strategy. Results of twenty-six reflections also showed positive perceptions towards using this strategy. It could be implied that secondary school teachers should train and encourage learners to guess meanings of unknown words based on the contextual cues, and integrate context cue instruction into reading lesson plans to help strengthen learners’ ability to infer word meaning from context.

This assignment attempts to outline a parallel syllabus of six consecutive tutoring sessions of
English as a foreign language (EFL) to 10-11 year olds within the topic/theme-based
framework with a view to improving instruction as well as the learning conditions.

The technological progress of the 21st Century has meant a great shift from the traditional ways of interaction between people, granting the opportunity to share instantly whatever information they want by any means (i.e. voice, text, video, etc.). It is in this context that education needs to accommodate to the present age, moving forward nowadays traditional, print-based education and curriculum and incorporating these advancements into our teaching practices, allowing teachers to prepare their students to the world they live in.
This work aims to revisit the multimodal approach for EFL teaching and its influence over learners’ motivation and participation in the EFL classroom, tackling the belief that the use of different modes, making use of new technologies, would enhance students’ motivation and therefore, learners will learn better and participate more. In this research, students’ prior levels of participation and their motivation for learning English will be analyzed in order to compare this results it with those obtained after carrying out the implementation of an experimental, carefully designed teaching unit. To do so, this paper draws on insights from practical contexts, namely two set of questionnaires designed for students to measure the aforementioned issues before and after the implementation of the teaching unit, but also to find out students perspective towards using a multimodal approach in the EFL classroom, at the thorough understanding of any possible setback that might be experienced.

The present study, adopting a quasi-experimental pretest/posttest design, investigated the effect of instructional intervention in teaching polite/appropriate refusal strategies explicitly on Iranian EFL learners’ performance of the speech act of refusing. The participants consisted of 24 male Iranian elementary EFL learners, aged 12 to 18, who responded to a discourse completion task (DCT) prior to and after they had been exposed to explicit instruction in the polite performance of refusals in English. The learners’ responses showed that there existed a variety of impoliteness elements at pretest stage including lack of mitigation, directness, shortness of responses, etc. The instruction, lasting for 10 sessions, was directed at eliminating these impoliteness/inappropriacy elements and included the length of semantic formulas, using adjuncts to refusals, apologizing prior to refusing, use of honorifics, intensification of refusal semantic formulas, etc. The participants’ responses to the DCT in the posttest showed a high level of appropriacy in the semantic content of refusal utterances. Furthermore, paired-samples t-tests demonstrated a significant difference in the use of both refusal strategies and adjuncts to refusals between the pretest and posttest stages. In conclusion, the study revealed that pragmatics can accompany language teaching even when learners have not attained a high level of linguistic proficiency. More specifically, the results clearly demonstrated that the pragmatic as well as the linguistic components of language can go in hand in hand in the course of language teaching.

Introduction
This assignment attempts a reflection on how two consecutive writing sessions of English as a
foreign language (EFL) can develop young learners’ writing skills. Firstly, there is a brief
presentation of the teaching context. Secondly, there is an effort to design two original writing
lessons, described and justified in the light of the relevant literature. Finally, evaluation of the
suggested instruction is pursued.

It is a heavily debated issue: To define language, which one is the controlling authority between the Descriptive Grammar (DG) and Prescriptive Grammar (PG)?

Observing those debates, it seems like the debaters make it unnecessarily complex. I think the logic in favor of the DG is pretty straightforward. And the objective of this paper is to explain in simple manner the reason that the DG is the dominating authority.

The PG is just a guideline that is unrelated to or merely coincides with the time of use. And it is the DG that defines exactly what the language is. In other words, simple is that, to evaluate a linguistic item for its current validity, we must inquire how the native speakers naturally (meaning popularly and consistently) use it at the time of the inquiry.

Below, in the chart, is a division of the listening, reading and cognitive/vocabulary which I have divided based on cognitive, social, and emotional development of lower and upper primary.  I realize there are more but this is only an 8 week study. ***Please note the children are taught twice a week (45 minute classes). The lesson plans are labelled lesson ONE A:  for example, which refers to the number of the week (One, two, three) and whether it is the first class (A) or second (B) of the week. ****Another note: the lesson plans have been created in advance therefore vocabulary may change upon closer examination.

This assignment attempts a reflection on two consecutive tutoring sessions of English as a
foreign language (EFL) to young learners in terms of the teaching approaches employed.
Firstly, there is a brief presentation of the teaching context. Secondly, there is an endeavor to
identify and evaluate the teaching methods and techniques used in the light of relevant
literature. Finally, some suggestions on instruction improvement are pursued.

Theory-first approaches to language teaching research assume that teaching is directed by factors internal to the teachers, i.e., teacher cognition since they weed out contextual constraints as irrelevant. As a result, practitioners enter the profession with little or no knowledge of the culturally valued modes of thought and action. To uncover contextual constraints or context-sensitive parameters, this study collected and analysed interview data through grounded theory procedures. The results show that rather than being directed by generally accepted principles of language teaching, teachers' action is directed by teachers' awareness of parameters, "a set of culturally permissible, though theoretically unjustified acts specified through local exams and teacher evaluation and promotion schemes". To improve practice, teacher education programs should not only develop teachers' conceptual knowledge but also equip them with a critical awareness of contextual constraints, i.e., the parameters of teaching which account for the situated nature of teaching knowledge.

This assignment attempts to examine the importance of the tutoring context in which
Greek youngsters learn English as a foreign language (EFL). Firstly, effort is made to
profile the current teaching situation on the basis of relevant literature. Secondly,
there is an endeavor to investigate whether the particular context fosters language
learning in the light of learners’ needs, attitudes and the teacher’s role. Finally, some
suggestions on how to improve instruction are pursued.

This qualitative evaluation study aims to investigate the implementation process of a current educational reform on teaching English to young learners in Turkey, the Intensive English Language Program in the Fifth Grade, from English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' viewpoints. Seven EFL teachers at pilot schools in the city-center of Erzincan were interviewed twice. The results of the first round of interviews indicated that despite the challenges arising from the pilot program, the teachers had positive attitudes regarding the potential advantages of the program. However, the final interview results painted a different picture in that although the main principles of the policy were seen as beneficial for young learners, the teachers faced a variety of challenges, such as a heavy compulsory curriculum in terms of content, lack of professional development support on the new program and scarcity of suitable language teaching materials. Based on both these problems and the benefits of the program, the teachers offered several suggestions for improving the quality of the program; these targeted elements including poor design of the program and unsatisfying professional development support. This study takes a snapshot of the implementation of the current EFL reform and presents suggestions for policymakers and teachers.
Keywords: intensive English language program, young learners, language policy, EFL teachers' viewpoints.

This study explores one novice learner's development of interactional competence in English as a foreign language based on data collected over a 4-year period at an after-school English program in Japan. Using conversation analysis (CA), the study focuses on how the learner develops methods to participate in the multiparty classroom interaction in order to achieve and co-construct a specific recurrent communicative activity led by the teacher. The participants in this study are an experienced English instructor and 9 students who attend the class once a week. Naturally occurring classroom interactions were analyzed focusing on how the novice learner engaged in the recurrent communicative event. By comparing data from four different time periods, the analyses reveal changes in how the learner engaged in the recurrent interactional routines and how the learner's competencies evolved. The utilization of appropriate language choice, turn-taking strategies, and taking on different social roles and patterns of participation, demonstrated his increasing L2 interactional competence. These findings echo the results of previous studies that show how learners diversify methods to accomplish particular interactional activity as they advance their L2 competence. The study contributes to the literature on interactional routines as a resource in classroom interaction and their effect on the development of L2 interactional competence. Özet: Bu çalışma, Japonya'da bir okul-sonrası İngilizce programında 4 yıllık bir dönem boyunca toplanan veriye dayanarak eğitime yeni başlayan bir öğrencinin yabancı dil olarak İngilizce kapsamında etkileşimsel yetisinin gelişimini incelemektedir. Bu çalışma, konuşma çözümlemesini kullanarak, öğrencinin çok katılımcılı sınıf içi etkileşimine katılmak için nasıl yöntemler geliştirdiği üzerine odaklanmaktadır. Bu çalışmanın katılımcılarını haftada bir kere dersleri olan tecrübeli bir İngilizce okutmanı ve 9 öğrenci oluşturmaktadır. Doğal gelişen sınıf içi etkileşimleri yeni başlayan öğrencinin tekrarlanan iletişimsel olaylara nasıl katıldığına odaklanarak analiz edilmiştir. Dört farklı dönemden verileri karşılaştıran analiz, öğrencinin tekrarlanan etkileşimsel rutinlere nasıl katıldığını ve öğrencinin dil yeterliğinin nasıl geliştiğini açıklığa kavuşturmaktadır. Uygun dil seçimi, söz sırası alma stratejileri ve farklı sosyal roller alma öğrencinin ikinci dilde artan etkileşimsel yeterliğini göstermektedir. Bu bulgular, öğrencilerin ikinci dilde etkileşimsel yeterliklerini geliştirirlerken etkileşimsel aktiviteleri tamamlamak için yöntemleri nasıl çeşitlendirdiklerini gösteren önceki çalışmaların sonuçlarını tekrarlamaktadır. Bu çalışma sınıf içi etkileşimde etkileşimsel rutinlerin birer kaynak olarak kullanılması ve onların ikinci dilde etkileşimsel yeterliğin gelişimine etkisi ile ilgili alanyazına katkı sağlamaktadır. Anahtar sözcükler: konuşma çözümlemesi, ikinci dilde etkileşimsel yeterlik, etkileşimsel rutinler, küçük yaştaki öğrenciler

Bu çalışma temel olarak, birinci sınıf öğrencilerinin WhatsApp aracılığıyla algılarında önemli bir değişiklik ve EFL kelime öğrenmelerinde önemli bir iyileşme olup olmadığını tespit etmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bu amaçla, öğrencilere bu uygulama aracılığıyla 8 hafta süren kelime öğrenme uygulanmıştır. Bir devlet üniversitesinden 79 öğrenci çalışmaya katılmıştır. Mevcut araştırmaya cevap bulmak için, öğrencilerin EFL kelimelerini öğrenmedeki performanslarını belirlemek amacıyla bir ön-ve son-kelime bilgisi testi ve algılarını incelemeye yönelik bir anket doldurdular. Bulgular, ortalama puanlar arasında öğrenci lehine anlamlı fark olduğunu göstermiştir. Dahası, sonuçlar EFL kelime öğrenme performansındaki bu gelişmenin büyük ölçüde WhatsApp uygulamasına atfedilebileceğini göstermiştir. Öğrencilerin bu uygulamaya yönelik algılarının olumlu olduğu kanıtlanmıştır.

Abstract
EFL curriculum construction is a process usually carried out by educational authorities. In this paper, attempt has been done to describe the experience of building a local curriculum for early English language learning in public schools in Brazil, with the participation of school teachers, university professors and educational authorities. Both, the resulting curriculum guide and the process that led to its final format are discussed, along with consideration on its implementation in a context that lacks clear educational policies toward the teaching of a foreign language to young learners. A sociocultural approach to learning was adopted as the theoretical framework, translated into several principles that guided the suggested syllabus: playful and meaningful learning, interdisciplinary knowledge construction, interactive tasks, intercultural awareness, spiral syllabus, whole person and whole language perspectives. The document, jointly constructed, was validated by the community of practitioners, thus presenting ideas that resonate with their practical experience. This “grassroots” approach to curriculum design addresses the emerging need to introduce English at early stages of schooling, due to the global pressure for access to the world that functions through that language.

Key Words: Brazilian Experience, EFL Curriculum, Young Learners,  Local curriculum Sociocultural Approach

V príspevku sa zameriavame na cudzojazyčné vzdelávanie v primárnej škole s hlavným dôrazom na osvojovanie si gramatických štruktúr a ich efektívne využívanie v komunikácii. Tradičný prístup vo vyučovaní gramatiky má mnohé úskalia, ako poukazuje pedagogická prax, ktoré mnohokrát vedú až k averzii a odmietaniu osvojovania si cudzieho jazyka. Autorka v príspevku zameriava pozornosť na induktívny prístup v cudzojazyčnej výučbe, poukazuje na tzv. humanistické či alternatívne metódy, ktoré by mohli viesť k efektívnejšiemu osvojovaniu si cudzojazyčných poznatkov, konkrétne gramatických javov, v období mladšieho školského veku.
Kľúčové slová: alternatívne metódy, anglický jazyk, cudzojazyčné vyučovanie, gramatické štruktúry, mladší školský vek, súčasné trendy.

The paper discusses teaching foreign languages in primary school in Slovakia and is primarily focused on grammar acquisition and  presentation. Traditional approaches to teaching grammar to young learners, as the pedagogical practice shows, seem to be less efficient in children of this age group. It could actually lead to children refusing to learn a foreign language at all. The author of the paper draws attention to inductive approaches, specifically to so called humanistic or alternative methods that could benefit teaching-learning process, and could help and improve a process of grammar acquisition in young learners.

Key words: alternative methods, current trends, English language, grammatical structures, teaching foreign languages, young learners.

The use of podcasts is growing in the instructions of listening comprehension. However, the success of computer technology generally depends on learners positive attitudes towards it. The present study explored attitudes of Saudi EFL undergraduates toward the use of video-podcasts integration in listening comprehension. Moreover, the study also examined students’ attitude from the perspective of the number of video-podcasts they received in their instructions. Samples included 90 English major male undergraduates divided into three groups. The three groups received five (5), ten (10) and 15 video-podcasts in their listening classes before they answered an attitude questionnaire. ANOVA results revealed that the students had positive attitudes towards the use of video-podcasts in listening. However, no significant difference was found between the attitudes of the three experimental groups who received varied number of video-podcasts in their instructions.  Article visualizations:

Writing should be treated as a skill in its own right taking into account a triangle of components involved in the writing process, namely the text, the writer and the reader which have resulted into three main approaches to writing instruction the so-called text-based, writer-based and reader-based approaches ). These approaches have raised an extended discussion on notions like contextualization, guidance, control and teacher intervention so far providing a unifying framework to deal with writing pedagogy. In the light of the above, the aim of this article is to practise and reflect on the theory and application of criteria for the effective teaching of writing by preparing and teaching an original writing lesson based on specific writing criteria.

GTM (Grammar Translation Method) is still the commonly utilized method in EFL classes in Turkish Education System. Based on a phenomenographic research design, this paper inquires the personal constructs of EFL state school teachers (n= 15) on the related issue. There in lies the major result in that non-native EFL teachers, who have learnt English totally via GTM, teaches it via GTM as well. Implications are provided to overcome this vicious circle.

Dynamic Assessment, referred to in this paper as DA, is one of the various methods of adopting a particular evaluation procedure in order to identify possessed language skills of individual learners in addition to their learning perspective. The dynamic assessment procedure in other words accentuates individuals’ learning potential before and during a systematic curriculum. This would help examiners to conduct the most fitted criteria for future sessions.  DA, derived from Lev Vygotsky’s (1989) Socio-cultural Theory (SCT) and his concept of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), is based on the view that observing individuals’ independent performance discloses the results of their past development, while the purpose of most assessments is prediction of learners’ future performance. The present study thus reviewed the Iranian literature on DA due to the significance of the topic. To this aim, the theoretical background of DA will be first explained. What follows next is the section on the approaches to DA that are fully examined. Finally, recent related studies conducted on DA in Iran will be addressed and reviewed.

Background: Previous studies indicate that the impact of direct instruction in phonemic awareness on the acquisition by children of phonemic awareness is large and significant. 

Aims: This investigation attempts to extend previous research by focusing exclusively on the effect of direct phonemic awareness instruction for children whom English is a foreign language. 

Sample: A large sample (n = 1032) of Year 1 pupils in rural Malaysian schools were enrolled into either a 6-week treatment group receiving direct phonemic awareness instruction, or a control group which did not receive treatment. 

Method. Pre- and post-tests measured student progress in letter recognition, sound recognition, reading aloud of numerals, reading monosyllabic “nonsense” words, and recognition of examiner-produced letter sounds.

Results. While both treatment and control groups showed significant improvements on every question and total test scores, students in the treatment group improved (on every question and test totals) significantly more than those in the control group. Further, Linear Regression Analysis suggests direct phonemic awareness instruction was an important factor in improving students’ test results.  An additional interesting finding, perhaps adding to the ongoing debate about the role of foreign expertise in educational development, was that students who were taught by their regular classroom teacher did significantly better than those who were taught by the foreign trainer.  This may lend support to the practice of the “cascade” approach to teacher training in cross-cultural contexts, where it is suggested that the best results are achieved by trainers training the teachers and teachers teaching the students.

Conclusions. An early focus on direct phonemic awareness instruction can significantly improve phonemic awareness acquisition among children learning English as a foreign language.

This paper reports a descriptive study which explored how teacher beliefs influence their decision-making in teaching critical reading strategies at three different institutions in the Mekong Delta. Using a descriptive mixed method, questionnaires and interviews were undertaken with English as foreign language (EFL) teachers. The findings of this study indicate that these participating teachers believed critical reading strategy instruction plays an important role in enhancing their students’ comprehension of reading texts. Findings also reveal that of the four factors influencing teachers’ decision-making of utilizing these skills, student-related factors were found to be highest. This propensity for involving students in critical reading strategies gives rise to some pedagogical implications for teachers while designing appropriate tasks and lesson plans.

In recent decades, scholars' attention has been focused on how the target and source cultures can be integrated to EFL materials. Despite significant progress in this respect, the source culture is still considered as the predominant culture in a classroom, even in countries where immigration is reaching unprecedented numbers (Suárez Orozco, 2001; McKay, 2003). This poses some challenges for selecting the vocabulary input for EFL materials and promoting cultural diversity in the classroom. For this reason, since semantic prototypes are anchored in the categorisation of mental lexicon (Taylor, 1989; Aitchison, 2003), they may shed light on what cultural words are being and should be integrated to EFL textbooks to foster