The Journal of Language Teaching and Learning

1-23

Authors: Parviz Alavinia, Sahar Zarza

Once regarded as the author’s passive message produced to be decoded by the readers, the written text is now viewed as a dynamic entity through which the notion of interactivity between the writer and the readers is thought to be made feasible. Based on the argument that metadiscourse markers help transform a dry and tortuous piece of text into coherent and reader-friendly prose, the researchers in the current study attempted to investigate the effect different metadiscourse markers might have on Iranian EFL learners’ perception of written texts. To this end, 120 undergraduate English students were given three different texts chosen from the most common textbooks in BA (in TEFL), along with their doctored versions (all MD-removed, interactive-removed, and interactional-removed). Each text duo was then accompanied by an 8-item questionnaire adopted from Ifantido (2005). The statistical analysis of the data pointed toward the positive role of metadiscourse markers in bringing about ameliorated text perception on the part of EFL learners. Furthermore, the comparison of the results gained in each separate phase of the study, processed through the application of ANOVA and LSD tests, revealed that texts with both interactive and interactional resources had more effect on learners’ perception of written texts. Moreover, it was found that interactive and interactional resources had more or less the same effect on learners’ reactions to texts. To summarize, in line with the findings of the present study further evidence is gathered in favor of the argument holding that metadiscourse markers bring about an increased amount of coherence and reader-friendliness in texts. Keywords: Interactional markers, interactive markers, MD markers, perception

38-50

Authors: Kenan Dikilitaş, Savaş Geylanioğlu

Pronunciation of certain English words by Turkish English learners is a challenging task. The difficulty posed by pronunciation is closely related to little exposure to interaction with native speakers, distinctive phonological system of L1 as in Turkish, a shallow orthographic language. In the literature, it is claimed that most of the pronunciation problems stem not from physical articulatory but from cognitive causes. In other words, the problem is not that the person cannot physically make the individual sounds, but that they do not conceptualize the sounds appropriately or discriminate them, organize them in their minds and manipulate them as required for the sound system of English (Fraser, 2001). This study attempts to examine oft-cited sounds such as Schwa (Ə), Voiced and voiceless Th (/ð/-/θ/) and ng (/ŋ/) sound. The data were collected from 24 adult EFL students. Each student was given 10 words from schwa, th and ng sounds respectively. Their pronunciations were recorded and transcribed through IPA alphabet and compared with the phonetic transcription in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary 3rd Edition. It was found that Turkish foreign language learners of English have serious difficulties in pronouncing schwa, th and ng sounds. The study suggests that, in order to facilitate the pronunciation of these sounds, the students could be trained through conceptualization methodology, which helps learners to form an idea or principle about what is to be learnt. Keywords: Conceptualization, phonetic awareness, EFL pronunciation problems

75-88

Authors: Uğur Recep Çetinavcı, Birsen Tütüniş

This study was motivated by the fact that there is a tendency to see poetry as being remote from language teaching contexts. Thinking that this is partly because of the lack of training in teaching literature given to English language teacher trainees, an experimental group of 3rd year Uludag University English Language Teaching (ELT) Department students taking the “Poetry Analysis and Teaching” course were taught about new poetry-centered techniques and activities compiled from the related literature and they were asked to design a lesson using them. The control group continued to take the course without any changes. At the end of the term, both groups were given a questionnaire on their attitudes towards the use of poetry in EFL and statistically significant differences were found between the groups showing that the experimental group favored poetry more trongly as a multi-purpose and multi-functional tool to teach a foreign language. Key Words: poetry, language teaching, EFL, poetry analysis, teacher training, poems

1-14

Authors: Mohamed Ridha Ben Maad

Task-based research has eclipsed the role of individual differences (IDs) in the evaluation of task difficulty and task motivation for reasons related to pedagogically-driven quests to design task impervious to variation. The present article underscores the ID variable of goal orientation which may advance our understanding of some aspects of variation related to task engagement. After implementing one goal-elicitation questionnaire and another questionnaire to measure difficulty and motivation following the performance of assigned narrative tasks, psychometric results revealed two distinct goal orientation levels echoing two significantly different response types to task difficulty and motivation. Whereas one goal group responded positively to unfamiliar and taxing tasks, the other goal group did not. Overall, this article points to the need to rethink the reductionist research agenda that confines task variation to task sequencing conditions and task design features. Keywords: Individual differences, task, motivation, perceived difficulty, goal orientation.

33-44

Authors: Arif Sarıçoban, Arif Bakla

Learner autonomy and critical thinking skills seem to be essential learning attainments for foreign language learners. As an attempt to integrate these with the productive language skills, this study outlines a three-week project carried out to discover how class surveys designed by learners themselves contribute to the development of writing and speaking skills of a group of elementary EFL learners in a state school (n=24). In groups of six, the learners followed a number of steps ranging from group formation to task allocation and from peer correction to self-evaluation. These steps gradually helped each group build a survey on a chosen topic, administer it to peers, analyse and report the results, and evaluate the overall process and the video-recorded presentations, thereby giving the group the chance to account for a real-life problem. It was observed that learner-generated surveys significantly facilitated the development of writing and speaking skills. The process of preparing the questions, editing them and commenting on the results broadened the students’ horizons. Despite these valuable contributions, some problems pertaining to affective domain emerged. That is, during these task-based lessons, emergence of such restricting affective factors as the fear of being observed or the challenge to express oneself in front of others seemed to persist. In the light of these observations, this study not only provides the reader with strong points of such instruction, but also makes some suggestions for possible solutions to the aforementioned problems that may persist in prospective in-class practices. Keywords: Learner-generated surveys, productive language skills, project-based learning, learner autonomy

59-75

Authors: Ehsan Rassaei, Ahmad Moinzadeh, Manijeh Youhannaee

The current study explored the effects of recasts and metalinguistic feedback on the acquisition of implicit and explicit knowledge of English by Persian EFL learners. Three intact EFL classrooms were assigned to three groups: two experimental and one control group. Learners in one experimental group received recasts whenever they made an error during task-based interactions with their interlocutors while learners in the second experimental group received metalinguistic corrective feedback for their errors while performing the same tasks. Learners in the control group also performed the same tasks but received no corrective feedback for their errors. Learners’ achievements as a result of the treatments were investigated via timed and untimed grammaticality judgment tests and also via an elicited oral imitation test. The results indicated that metalinguistic corrective feedback is more effective than recasts in promoting the acquisition of both implicit and explicit L2 knowledge. Key words: Recasts, metalinguistic feedback, corrective feedback, implicit knowledge, explicit knowledge.