Pub Date : 2020-11-01DOI: 10.2478/jolace-2020-0015
Akram Faravani, Ensie Taleb
Abstract The current emphasis on questioning techniques has inspired many EFL teachers to explore the impact of applying different pedagogical teaching strategies on the enhancement of thinking skills. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the influence of using higher order questioning technique on the listening comprehension achievement and critical thinking ability of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To reach this end, 40 participants in 4 intact classes in Kish Air Language institute in Mashhad were selected and divided in two groups to be assigned into experimental and control group. The experimental group received higher order questions based on Bloom’s Taxonomy classification for 12 sessions. A pretest and a posttest of English listening comprehension test of TOEFL (TOEFL PBT) and California Critical Thinking Skill Test (CCTST) were administrated in both groups. 2 Independent sample t-tests were utilized to examine the data. Sample t-tests were run to compare the experimental and the control group means on the pretest and posttest of listening comprehension and critical thinking tests. The results surmised that there was a statistically significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores regarding listening comprehension and critical thinking in the experimental group. The results imply that using higher order questions as an instructional technique can enhance learners’ listening comprehension achievement and critical thinking ability.
{"title":"Teachers’ use of Bloom’s higher order questions in class to augment EFL learners’ listening comprehension and critical thinking ability","authors":"Akram Faravani, Ensie Taleb","doi":"10.2478/jolace-2020-0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0015","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The current emphasis on questioning techniques has inspired many EFL teachers to explore the impact of applying different pedagogical teaching strategies on the enhancement of thinking skills. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the influence of using higher order questioning technique on the listening comprehension achievement and critical thinking ability of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To reach this end, 40 participants in 4 intact classes in Kish Air Language institute in Mashhad were selected and divided in two groups to be assigned into experimental and control group. The experimental group received higher order questions based on Bloom’s Taxonomy classification for 12 sessions. A pretest and a posttest of English listening comprehension test of TOEFL (TOEFL PBT) and California Critical Thinking Skill Test (CCTST) were administrated in both groups. 2 Independent sample t-tests were utilized to examine the data. Sample t-tests were run to compare the experimental and the control group means on the pretest and posttest of listening comprehension and critical thinking tests. The results surmised that there was a statistically significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores regarding listening comprehension and critical thinking in the experimental group. The results imply that using higher order questions as an instructional technique can enhance learners’ listening comprehension achievement and critical thinking ability.","PeriodicalId":41689,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Cultural Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49104363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-11-01DOI: 10.2478/jolace-2020-0011
Christopher A. Smith
Abstract University English as a foreign language (EFL) programs in expanding circle communities often pressure instructors and students to use globally published EFL textbooks for reasons more socio-political than pedagogical. While some critical studies underscore multimodal discourse to be an under-appreciated source of dominant social narratives in EFL textbooks, few have investigated their live negotiation in classrooms. To address the challenges negotiating potentially harmful social narratives in EFL textbooks, the present study proposes a two-step model for achieving a zone of prioritized curricularivity (ZPC). The model informs reflexive teaching practice in EFL instruction because it necessitates an understanding of a) the curricular commonplaces of a particular EFL program and b) the power and ideologies in the multimodal discourse of their textbooks, to mitigate perceived social injustices in the textbook lessons as they are negotiated “in situ.” Demonstrated in vignettes, featuring two EFL courses at Chung-Buk National University in Cheong Ju city, Korea, two instructors used the ZPC framework to inform their reconstruction of multimodal discourses in their EFL textbooks to inculcate student involvement and participation. A novel, multimodal interactional analysis of video recordings looked at proxemics, gaze, spoken language, head movement, auditory emphasis, and gesture and discovered that each instructor recontextualized, neutralized, or skipped much of the multimodal discourse in the lessons. The findings suggest that a ZPC is achieved when the efforts by instructors to recontextualize textbook lessons in situ is met with positive feedback from students in the classroom – noted as heightened attentiveness, happy or cheerful participation, and enthusiastic discussion. The implications suggest a ZPC can help instructors and students and in EFL programs in any expanding circle culture because it can simultaneously improve student learning/acquisition in the classroom, diminish dominant, culturally marginalizing textbook content, while raising the value of student investment in EFL learning.
{"title":"Establishing a zone of prioritized curricularivity: exploring a critical approach to negotiating multimodal discourses in EFL textbooks","authors":"Christopher A. Smith","doi":"10.2478/jolace-2020-0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0011","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract University English as a foreign language (EFL) programs in expanding circle communities often pressure instructors and students to use globally published EFL textbooks for reasons more socio-political than pedagogical. While some critical studies underscore multimodal discourse to be an under-appreciated source of dominant social narratives in EFL textbooks, few have investigated their live negotiation in classrooms. To address the challenges negotiating potentially harmful social narratives in EFL textbooks, the present study proposes a two-step model for achieving a zone of prioritized curricularivity (ZPC). The model informs reflexive teaching practice in EFL instruction because it necessitates an understanding of a) the curricular commonplaces of a particular EFL program and b) the power and ideologies in the multimodal discourse of their textbooks, to mitigate perceived social injustices in the textbook lessons as they are negotiated “in situ.” Demonstrated in vignettes, featuring two EFL courses at Chung-Buk National University in Cheong Ju city, Korea, two instructors used the ZPC framework to inform their reconstruction of multimodal discourses in their EFL textbooks to inculcate student involvement and participation. A novel, multimodal interactional analysis of video recordings looked at proxemics, gaze, spoken language, head movement, auditory emphasis, and gesture and discovered that each instructor recontextualized, neutralized, or skipped much of the multimodal discourse in the lessons. The findings suggest that a ZPC is achieved when the efforts by instructors to recontextualize textbook lessons in situ is met with positive feedback from students in the classroom – noted as heightened attentiveness, happy or cheerful participation, and enthusiastic discussion. The implications suggest a ZPC can help instructors and students and in EFL programs in any expanding circle culture because it can simultaneously improve student learning/acquisition in the classroom, diminish dominant, culturally marginalizing textbook content, while raising the value of student investment in EFL learning.","PeriodicalId":41689,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Cultural Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47081646","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-11-01DOI: 10.2478/jolace-2020-0014
J. Majerčíková, Beata Horníčková
Abstract This theoretical study analyses interpretation of quality in pre-school education with regard to the position of the children’s parents. This text is supported by research papers, mostly from the last two decades, and is based on three main sub-topics. The importance and benefits of systematic pre-school education for the child and the economic development of society is initially discussed. High-quality pre-school education for children gives them a strong start in their educational career and investment into effective education during the pre-school age provides a social and economic return to the whole of society. The following section defines the term quality and its interpretation in relation to education. Quality is interpreted through structure and process, the multi-dimensionality of quality and the objectiveness and subjectiveness of the interpretation of the quality of pre-school education are reflected. The interesting but undervalued position of parents, the perspectives of which are elaborated on in subsequent passages, appear in these concepts. This paper comes to two main conclusions. The first is that the quality of education is a multi-dimensional, variable and difficult to define concept. The second is that, although the status of parents in relation to pre-school education is strong, it is not adequately taken into consideration during definition of quality. When evaluating quality the perspective of the parents is only utilised to a limited degree, because it usually has different semantics to evaluation by experts.
{"title":"The perspectives of parents in relation to the concepts of the quality of pre-school education. Analysis of research discourse","authors":"J. Majerčíková, Beata Horníčková","doi":"10.2478/jolace-2020-0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0014","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This theoretical study analyses interpretation of quality in pre-school education with regard to the position of the children’s parents. This text is supported by research papers, mostly from the last two decades, and is based on three main sub-topics. The importance and benefits of systematic pre-school education for the child and the economic development of society is initially discussed. High-quality pre-school education for children gives them a strong start in their educational career and investment into effective education during the pre-school age provides a social and economic return to the whole of society. The following section defines the term quality and its interpretation in relation to education. Quality is interpreted through structure and process, the multi-dimensionality of quality and the objectiveness and subjectiveness of the interpretation of the quality of pre-school education are reflected. The interesting but undervalued position of parents, the perspectives of which are elaborated on in subsequent passages, appear in these concepts. This paper comes to two main conclusions. The first is that the quality of education is a multi-dimensional, variable and difficult to define concept. The second is that, although the status of parents in relation to pre-school education is strong, it is not adequately taken into consideration during definition of quality. When evaluating quality the perspective of the parents is only utilised to a limited degree, because it usually has different semantics to evaluation by experts.","PeriodicalId":41689,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Cultural Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44726121","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-11-01DOI: 10.2478/jolace-2020-0012
Merilyn Meristo
Abstract The aim of this paper is to shed light on promoting teaching and learning the French language and culture through the Olympiad, initiated by a group of practitioners in a community of practice. What makes this Olympiad rather unique is its main focus on cultural knowledge combining it with linguistic aspects. The Olympiad takes place in four different categories taking into account students’ age and prior experience in learning French (e.g. first or second foreign language). In addition, the regional round is organised in Moodle enabling more participants to take part and the national one in situ, at the University of Tallinn. Since the first Olympiad in 2014, the number of competitors has increased and both, private and municipality funded (public) schools participate. The paper provides a detailed overview of the olympiad process: how it was initiated and how it is annually run as well as a description of challenges faced by the organisers.
{"title":"The French Language Olympiad: Promoting language and culture learning","authors":"Merilyn Meristo","doi":"10.2478/jolace-2020-0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0012","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The aim of this paper is to shed light on promoting teaching and learning the French language and culture through the Olympiad, initiated by a group of practitioners in a community of practice. What makes this Olympiad rather unique is its main focus on cultural knowledge combining it with linguistic aspects. The Olympiad takes place in four different categories taking into account students’ age and prior experience in learning French (e.g. first or second foreign language). In addition, the regional round is organised in Moodle enabling more participants to take part and the national one in situ, at the University of Tallinn. Since the first Olympiad in 2014, the number of competitors has increased and both, private and municipality funded (public) schools participate. The paper provides a detailed overview of the olympiad process: how it was initiated and how it is annually run as well as a description of challenges faced by the organisers.","PeriodicalId":41689,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Cultural Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42141238","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-11-01DOI: 10.2478/jolace-2020-0010
Z. Straková
Abstract Teaching foreign languages has adopted various approaches over the history. The last decades of dominance of the Communicative language teaching brought the tendency to insist on the target language use in the classroom in order to allow the immersion into the language. The European Union, however, started to support linguistic diversity more than two decades ago and it has left an imprint on the way foreign language teaching is approached today. Inclusion of plurilingualism in traditional school context requires the readiness of language teachers to use other languages as well as encourage learners to use their prior language experience. The present study presents the results of a questionnaire survey among student teachers measuring their attitudes and readiness to implement more than one additional language in their practice. The participants of the study (n = 118) are all future teachers of English language at both undergraduate and graduate level. The results of the survey indicate a generally positive attitude towards plurilingualism and at the same time ability of the students to rely on more than one language while teaching. The results, however, raise quite a few questions and imperatives for the content of teacher training programmes as well as for the organisation of language education in general.
{"title":"Implementation of plurilingual approach into the foreign language teaching","authors":"Z. Straková","doi":"10.2478/jolace-2020-0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0010","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Teaching foreign languages has adopted various approaches over the history. The last decades of dominance of the Communicative language teaching brought the tendency to insist on the target language use in the classroom in order to allow the immersion into the language. The European Union, however, started to support linguistic diversity more than two decades ago and it has left an imprint on the way foreign language teaching is approached today. Inclusion of plurilingualism in traditional school context requires the readiness of language teachers to use other languages as well as encourage learners to use their prior language experience. The present study presents the results of a questionnaire survey among student teachers measuring their attitudes and readiness to implement more than one additional language in their practice. The participants of the study (n = 118) are all future teachers of English language at both undergraduate and graduate level. The results of the survey indicate a generally positive attitude towards plurilingualism and at the same time ability of the students to rely on more than one language while teaching. The results, however, raise quite a few questions and imperatives for the content of teacher training programmes as well as for the organisation of language education in general.","PeriodicalId":41689,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Cultural Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47409781","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-11-01DOI: 10.2478/jolace-2020-0017
A. Arshad, Syed Kazim Shah, Muhammad Ahmad
Abstract The shift in the status of English as a lingua franca has challenged native-speaker culture in English language teaching and learning. That is why it is not enough to expose language learners through monoculture language teaching. Rather being communicatively competent, learners may require inter-cultural understanding. Therefore, the aim of this research is to investigate the representation of cultures through different senses in Oxford Progressive English (OPE), Level-10 (Rachel Redford, 2016). As OPE caters the needs of Pakistani language learners, it is hypothesized that learners’ source culture prevails more than other two cultures (i.e. international, and target). To confirm this hypothesis, a detailed content analysis of cultural senses (prevailed in OPE) is carried out through Adaskou, Britten and Fahsi (1990). The results show that the frequency of reading texts in OPE is highly imbued with learners’ target culture that is followed by the international culture, and least by learners’ source culture. Moreover, culturally neutral texts lack in inter-cultural understanding, and appear to be disseminated to marginalize L2 learners from target and international cultures.
{"title":"Investigating cultural contents in English language teaching materials through textbook evaluation","authors":"A. Arshad, Syed Kazim Shah, Muhammad Ahmad","doi":"10.2478/jolace-2020-0017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0017","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The shift in the status of English as a lingua franca has challenged native-speaker culture in English language teaching and learning. That is why it is not enough to expose language learners through monoculture language teaching. Rather being communicatively competent, learners may require inter-cultural understanding. Therefore, the aim of this research is to investigate the representation of cultures through different senses in Oxford Progressive English (OPE), Level-10 (Rachel Redford, 2016). As OPE caters the needs of Pakistani language learners, it is hypothesized that learners’ source culture prevails more than other two cultures (i.e. international, and target). To confirm this hypothesis, a detailed content analysis of cultural senses (prevailed in OPE) is carried out through Adaskou, Britten and Fahsi (1990). The results show that the frequency of reading texts in OPE is highly imbued with learners’ target culture that is followed by the international culture, and least by learners’ source culture. Moreover, culturally neutral texts lack in inter-cultural understanding, and appear to be disseminated to marginalize L2 learners from target and international cultures.","PeriodicalId":41689,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Cultural Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44524168","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-01DOI: 10.2478/jolace-2020-0005
Zeenat Abdul-Haq Daha, Muhammad Imran
Abstract This study highlights the imperative fact that students are the personification of a teacher’s persona. The professional persona of the teachers is the reflection of personal and emotional traits that helps their students in the development of a nation. This is a quantitative study of 40 teachers and 153 students from Sahiwal district, Pakistan based on Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. For questionnaires, the study gyrates around the conceptual framework of teachers’ personal traits independent variables: empathy, resourcefulness, wittiness, acknowledgment, determination, and creativeness are aimed to analyze their reflection in students’ performance as a dependent variable. For data collection, the purposive sampling technique is used and SPSS software for calculations. This study traces that it is a need the hour to improve the society through training of a teacher to develop a paradigm of ‘Teacher’s persona’ that ultimately, influences the students en masse.
{"title":"Teachers’ persona reflects in students’ personality: A case study of primary school level in the Sahiwal District, Pakistan","authors":"Zeenat Abdul-Haq Daha, Muhammad Imran","doi":"10.2478/jolace-2020-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study highlights the imperative fact that students are the personification of a teacher’s persona. The professional persona of the teachers is the reflection of personal and emotional traits that helps their students in the development of a nation. This is a quantitative study of 40 teachers and 153 students from Sahiwal district, Pakistan based on Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. For questionnaires, the study gyrates around the conceptual framework of teachers’ personal traits independent variables: empathy, resourcefulness, wittiness, acknowledgment, determination, and creativeness are aimed to analyze their reflection in students’ performance as a dependent variable. For data collection, the purposive sampling technique is used and SPSS software for calculations. This study traces that it is a need the hour to improve the society through training of a teacher to develop a paradigm of ‘Teacher’s persona’ that ultimately, influences the students en masse.","PeriodicalId":41689,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Cultural Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45004785","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-01DOI: 10.2478/jolace-2020-0007
R. Kasperaviciene, J. Horbačauskienė
Abstract There are no doubts that the interconnections between translation competence and revision competence are constantly increasing and contribute to better coherence of the translated product. Other-revision may be developed and made use of as a competence on its own. Self-revision is always part of translation competence. The study is based on students’ attitudes towards self-revision and other-revision. Before starting the revision training in practical translation courses, a survey was conducted to determine students’ attitudes towards the process of revision, the benefits of self- and other-revision training and the forms of such training thereof. The study also followed a research design where a semi-structured interview protocol was employed to find out the students’ attitudes to self-revision and other revision competences including possible modifications to be made in the translated text and skills required. The findings reveal students’ opinions and experiences acquired in translation courses at a higher education institution in terms of the revision process and student attitudes prevailing. Studying these questions may provide helpful theoretical and practical implications about the use and benefit of revision-related activities in translation classes.
{"title":"Self-revision and other-revision as part of translation competence in translator training","authors":"R. Kasperaviciene, J. Horbačauskienė","doi":"10.2478/jolace-2020-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0007","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract There are no doubts that the interconnections between translation competence and revision competence are constantly increasing and contribute to better coherence of the translated product. Other-revision may be developed and made use of as a competence on its own. Self-revision is always part of translation competence. The study is based on students’ attitudes towards self-revision and other-revision. Before starting the revision training in practical translation courses, a survey was conducted to determine students’ attitudes towards the process of revision, the benefits of self- and other-revision training and the forms of such training thereof. The study also followed a research design where a semi-structured interview protocol was employed to find out the students’ attitudes to self-revision and other revision competences including possible modifications to be made in the translated text and skills required. The findings reveal students’ opinions and experiences acquired in translation courses at a higher education institution in terms of the revision process and student attitudes prevailing. Studying these questions may provide helpful theoretical and practical implications about the use and benefit of revision-related activities in translation classes.","PeriodicalId":41689,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Cultural Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41538744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-01DOI: 10.2478/jolace-2020-0001
P. Gavora
Abstract The study concentrated on mothers’ reading to their preschool children. Three broad questions were posed about how the mother’s educational level is associated with: (1) the mother’s reasons to read to the child, (2) frequency and duration of this reading, (3) mother-child literacy interaction with the child. The sample of low education mothers (n=55) and high education mothers (n=213) was recruited to fill in a questionnaire of 46 items. Higher education mothers outperformed low education mothers in these variables: reading to the child in order to enhance cognitive development, appreciate the time they are with the child in reading sessions, reading to child frequency, and the number of books the child possesses. On the other hand, low education mothers more frequently than high education mothers ask children about book characters and explain reasons for reading.
{"title":"Czech mothers read books to their young children: association with mothers’ education","authors":"P. Gavora","doi":"10.2478/jolace-2020-0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0001","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The study concentrated on mothers’ reading to their preschool children. Three broad questions were posed about how the mother’s educational level is associated with: (1) the mother’s reasons to read to the child, (2) frequency and duration of this reading, (3) mother-child literacy interaction with the child. The sample of low education mothers (n=55) and high education mothers (n=213) was recruited to fill in a questionnaire of 46 items. Higher education mothers outperformed low education mothers in these variables: reading to the child in order to enhance cognitive development, appreciate the time they are with the child in reading sessions, reading to child frequency, and the number of books the child possesses. On the other hand, low education mothers more frequently than high education mothers ask children about book characters and explain reasons for reading.","PeriodicalId":41689,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Cultural Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47284008","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-01DOI: 10.2478/jolace-2020-0002
Ali Alsaawi
Abstract The idea of teaching a target language via a monolingual medium of instruction in the classroom has long predominated in the pedagogical context. In Saudi Arabia, excluding the students’ mother tongue (Arabic) in the foreign language classroom has been seen as a tool that accelerates the acquisition of the target language (English). This is widely viewed as the most practical and effective method of language learning, especially in the Gulf region, where English is a foreign language employed in the fields of economics and business. The recent academic argument that exploiting the students’ linguistic repertoire, including the mother tongue, in the target language classroom boosts and fosters the students’ learning cycle is still encountering huge resistance, especially among second/foreign language teachers. To explore this dispute from the perspective of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in intermediate and secondary schools, a case study was conducted with 34 teachers in the Qassim region, Saudi Arabia, through questionnaires and a focus group interview. The study found that most teachers believe that the policy of using the target language (English) only is the most effective method of language learning. They employed the students’ mother tongue (Arabic) on an ad hoc basis to ensure complete comprehension, organize classroom tasks or convey personal remarks. In addition, the study revealed that teachers’ understanding of plurilingualism was unclear and limited to the verbal use of two languages, and that EFL teachers need more clarification on its application in the classroom.
{"title":"Plurilingualism and monolingualism in foreign language classrooms: The perspective of EFL teachers in Saudi Arabia","authors":"Ali Alsaawi","doi":"10.2478/jolace-2020-0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2020-0002","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The idea of teaching a target language via a monolingual medium of instruction in the classroom has long predominated in the pedagogical context. In Saudi Arabia, excluding the students’ mother tongue (Arabic) in the foreign language classroom has been seen as a tool that accelerates the acquisition of the target language (English). This is widely viewed as the most practical and effective method of language learning, especially in the Gulf region, where English is a foreign language employed in the fields of economics and business. The recent academic argument that exploiting the students’ linguistic repertoire, including the mother tongue, in the target language classroom boosts and fosters the students’ learning cycle is still encountering huge resistance, especially among second/foreign language teachers. To explore this dispute from the perspective of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in intermediate and secondary schools, a case study was conducted with 34 teachers in the Qassim region, Saudi Arabia, through questionnaires and a focus group interview. The study found that most teachers believe that the policy of using the target language (English) only is the most effective method of language learning. They employed the students’ mother tongue (Arabic) on an ad hoc basis to ensure complete comprehension, organize classroom tasks or convey personal remarks. In addition, the study revealed that teachers’ understanding of plurilingualism was unclear and limited to the verbal use of two languages, and that EFL teachers need more clarification on its application in the classroom.","PeriodicalId":41689,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Language and Cultural Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47732151","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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