International Journal of Research in English Education

This article focuses on the level of using creative teaching methodologies in second language classroom as studied by the researcher. A series of qualitative methods such as using newspaper, media, movies, interpreting advertisements, and creating Sandblot can be employed in the classroom in order to develop students’ second language learning ability. The article focuses on how teaching methodologies should be modified and used in the classroom appropriately by understanding the learning capacity of students and their learning interest in the classroom.

This study investigated the possible relationship between educational context and English Language Teaching (ELT) teachers’ corrective feedback preference. To this end, 42 Iranian EEFL teachers from some private language institutes and 39 Iranian EFL teachers from different schools in Shiraz, Iran participated in the study. The Questionnaire for Corrective Feedback Approaches (QCFAs) was used as the instrument in this study. The questionnaire consisted of five different approaches of error correction: repetition, recast, elicitation, explicit correction, clarification, and request. In order to compare the preferred corrective feedback perceived by the institute instructors and school teachers, the researchers ran the Mann-Whitney’s U test. The results revealed that the school teachers preferred the repetition approach most frequently, followed by clarification request, elicitation, explicit correction, and recast. On the other hand, the institute instructors chose the recast approach, clarification request approach, elicitation, explicit correction, and repetition in the order of their preference for error correction. The findings also showed that the school teachers significantly preferred the explicit correction and repetition more than private (institute) teachers.

This study examined the effects of humorous movie clips on better learning of English language vocabulary. Humor is an important human behavior that plays a vital role in communication and social interactions. This subject has been rarely investigated in Iranian English classes. The researchers used quantitative method. Because all of variables were not controllable, therefore quasi-experimental method was employed to conduct the study. To this end, a proficiency test was administered to 60 Iranian EFL learners. Then 48 intermediate language learners who were homogeneous based on their rank scores were chosen and randomly divided into two equal groups (i.e. 24 as experimental and 24 as control groups). To assess their vocabulary knowledge at the beginning of the study, both groups participated in a researcher-made, 30-items and multiple choice vocabulary test adapted from PET test and scored out of 30. Experimental group watched the humorous movie clips but the participants in control group taught in a conventional way. After 10 sessions of treatment, both groups were tested on the similar items covered in the pre-test. The effect of humorous movie clips on the groups’ vocabulary achievement was evaluated through Paired Samples t-test analysis. Results have shown that the experimental group outperformed the control group since humorous movie clips had a positive effect on developing vocabulary learning among intermediate EFL learners (p<05) in the experimental group. EFL teachers can use humorous movie clips to raise the learners’ motivation.

The present study explores the effect of providing different types of written corrective feedback (WCF) on 79 Iranian EFL learners’ writings over time through a pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test. In this way, the study first aims to investigate the extent to which different types of WCF result in improved accuracy in writing over a period of two months, and then maintains to see if there is a differential effect on accuracy when the students are required to revise their writings based on the feedback provided to them over this period. However, to narrow down the scope of the study, considering the level of the learners, and the type and complexity level of the expected writing tasks, it was decided to use the three linguistic errors (capitalization errors, the correct use of definite and indefinite articles, and simple present tense verb) which occurred mostly frequently during the participants' first writing tasks as the target linguistic structures of the work. After analyzing the collected data, it was found that providing WCF indeed contributes to the accuracy of the students’ writings because the results indicated each type of feedback employed in the treatment groups could clearly bring about writing improvement at varying degrees. In particular, the findings suggested that direct feedback might bring about greater effects on students’ writing accuracy, whereas different types of feedback are more likely to produce rather long term improvement and/or learning over time.

The present study was conducted to explore the effects of teaching reading strategies on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ reading anxiety. To fulfill the purpose of this study, 55 intermediate EFL learners were selected among a total number of 90 through their performance on a sample piloted Preliminary English Test (PET), and then randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups (27 in the control and 28 in the experimental groups). Subsequently, the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) was administered between the two groups to make sure that both groups were homogeneous in terms of their reading anxiety at the outset. Then both groups underwent the same amount of teaching time (14 sessions) by the same teacher using the same textbook. The students in the experimental group also received the instruction of the Super Six Comprehension Strategies (i.e. making connections, predicting, questioning, monitoring, visualizing, and summarizing). Finally, the FLRAS was administered again as the posttest to both groups and their mean scores on the test were compared through an independent samples t-test. The results (t = 2,718, p = 0.009 < 0.05) led to the rejection of the null hypothesis, thereby indicating that there was a significant difference between the experimental group and control group. In other words, the instruction of reading strategies significantly lowered EFL learners’ reading anxiety.

Pronunciation of English language is a very important sub-skill of speaking module in second language learning process. However, it is ignored, neglected, and even never gotten least attention by the teachers, administrators, and stakeholders especially in Pakistan. Grammar, vocabulary, and the other linguistic skills such as reading and writing are emphasized whereas pronunciation has never been focused in language classes. That is why, Pakistani learners have to face a lot of pronunciation problems and they are unable to speak English even after years of learning English. Computer technology provides its learners with a wide variety of different pedagogical tools for pronunciation learning and teaching. Computer augmented instructions have always been proved beneficial. Teachers and learners can use computer technology for the production and articulation of the sounds and they can be familiar with stress and intonation pattern resulting in the reduction of the pronunciation barriers. This article discusses the status of pronunciation and prevailed approach of pronunciation teaching in Pakistan. So, the purpose of this study is to highlight the importance of computer aided instructions for pronunciation teaching at the school level in Pakistan.

By the growing emphasis on communicative language skills, the attention toward using first language in second language classrooms has been raised. The primary aim of this study was to find out teachers’ and students’ perceptions toward the utilization of L1 in English classrooms in Institutes. In order to do this objective, the researcher used a mixed methods research design. Two groups of participants were used in this study. They were 56 EFL learners of elementary, intermediate, and advanced level and 11 EFL teachers who were selected through convenient sampling. The proficiency level of the students was determined using Nelson Proficiency Test (NPT). The quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire while the qualitative data were collected through teachers’ interviews. After the data collection and analysis, the results of this study revealed that students in all language levels in Institutes had positive perceptions toward utilizing L1 in L2 classes, teachers indicated their eagerness toward using L1 in their classes, and used L1 in high schools more than in Institutes. Furthermore, this study has some implications for EFL teachers.