Purpose. Automated Corrective Feedback (ACF) is one of the techniques used in EFL writing instruc... more Purpose. Automated Corrective Feedback (ACF) is one of the techniques used in EFL writing instruction and assessment. This technique has been widely employed to improve students’ writing skills over the last few decades. Adopting a mixed-method design with data triangulation, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of utilizing WRITER, one of the ACF software, on critical writing aspects including use and mechanics, vocabulary, structural organization, and content. Methods and procedure. A pre-post quasi-experimental research design was arranged to collect data from 44 Arab EFL learners assigned to four groups: two peer and self-editing control groups and two automated peer and self-editing experimental groups. While the two control groups were required to perform conventional self- or peer-editing tasks, the two experimental groups used WRITER, an ACF software, to edit both their own essays and those written by peers. Statistical analysis was run to examine differences i...
Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning, May 2, 2023
PurposeCommunication apprehension (CA) is the fear or anxiety about communicating. In addition, s... more PurposeCommunication apprehension (CA) is the fear or anxiety about communicating. In addition, self-perceived communication competence (SPCC) refers to the learners' perception of their competence. CA hampers individuals' ability to communicate effectively in various communication contexts, which has an impact on their employability. Confident communicators with effective communication skills are important issues for graduation as well as desirable attributes for recruiting agencies. Given that employers value graduates who can communicate effectively in the workplace without any apprehension, this study was designed to determine the levels of CA and SPCC among final-year non-English major undergraduate students in Saudi Arabia and the extent to which SPCC could affect their CA when speaking in English with implications for their employability as the next generation of workers.Design/methodology/approachTwo survey questionnaires were administered to 70 non-English major undergraduate students in their final year employing probability random sampling to measure their CA level and to assess their SPCC in different English as foreign language (EFL) contexts. Pearson's correlation and linear regression analysis were used to investigate the relationship between CA and SPCC. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics in SPSS 21.FindingsThe findings indicated a medium level of SPCC and CA. Moreover, the correlation formula revealed that there was a moderately significant association between learners' SPCC and their CA (r (70) = −0.524, p < 0.01). Through regression analysis, it was found that their SPCC could predict 27% of the variance in their CA. The moderate effect of SPCC on CA implied that students could be prepared to cope and perform in the workplace.Originality/valueWithout communication, the establishment and evolution of the human community are unattainable. This aspect is more evident and crucial in the list of graduate objectives and needed outcomes for future career endeavors. The findings encourage instructors and course designers to provide many learning opportunities in pleasurable learning environments to raise students' perceptions of their competence, in turn enhancing their confidence to speak in English and ensuring a smooth transition from academia to the workplace. Based on the findings, several suggestions for future studies in the EFL context are presented.
The present study investigates the accuracy order and underlying processes of acquiring English a... more The present study investigates the accuracy order and underlying processes of acquiring English articles by 45 undergraduate Arab EFL learners drawn from three proficiency groups. The theoretical approach adopted here is Bickerton's (1981) semantic model that focuses on the features ±Specific Referent(±SR) and ±Assumed Known to the Hearer (±HK). The study aims to identify what the three measures, SOC (Supplied in Obligatory Contexts), TLU (Target-Like Use), and UOC (Used in Obligatory Contexts), reveal about the accuracy order of the acquisition of English articles in the written and oral production tasks. It also seeks to determine the semantic contexts in which the articles are overgeneralized and the most challenging context to acquire. The results show that the SOC measure reveals an accuracy order of a >the >Ø and the >a >Ø, whereas the TLU measure reveals an accuracy order of the>a>Ø across the groups. In addition, the UOC measure reveals that Ø goes thro...
This investigation aimed to examine the types and frequencies of grammatical errors of present an... more This investigation aimed to examine the types and frequencies of grammatical errors of present and past tense and agreement in the elicited written production task (EWPT) of Arab EFL learners. The sample of the study comprised 67 Arab EFL undergraduates selected through a simple random sampling method and subdivided into three proficiency levels. The data collection instrument was the EWPT, which consisted of two passages and a total of 46 test items. The EWPT was collected and the errors committed by the students were identified, classified, and analyzed in frequencies. Then, statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 21. The findings demonstrated two basic types of grammatical errors: error of misformation (EM) and error of omission (EO). Overall results revealed that incorrect use of inflectional morphemes was higher for the EM than for the EO of inflectional morphemes across the three groups of participants. The ungrammatical EM is characterized by the use of incorrect forms,...
PurposeWeb-based language learning (WBLL) materials have long been favored by English language in... more PurposeWeb-based language learning (WBLL) materials have long been favored by English language instructors because they are plentiful, easily accessible, user-friendly and, most importantly, free. This research looks into the effects of learning the simple perfect tense translation in three different English translation classes that used three different teaching methods: traditional face-to-face, integrative and web-based learning. It also aims to investigate the impact of gender on every mode of instruction and to identify the most effective method for learning translation.Design/methodology/approachThe study is quantitative, with a pretest/posttest quasi-experimental research design. A total of 93 third-year undergraduate students (51 female and 42 male students) participated in the pretest/posttest design. Each group was exposed to one mode of instruction for nine weeks. All groups sat for a pretest in the first week of the treatment. After the treatment, the participants were pr...
Purpose This research shows how social media has affected learning at present during the COVID-19... more Purpose This research shows how social media has affected learning at present during the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has become the largest and most convenient area of communication. In the current scenario, it seems that social networking sites not only had a profound impact on our social structure and intra-social interaction, but also affected education in general and learning English language in particular. It has been proven that these various social media platforms have created a realm of digital environment in today's new-age learning. Social media platforms are social networking sites through which people interact and communicate with each other easily and conveniently. Undoubtedly and unquestionably, social networking has been proven to be a global phenomenon that has caused a vast paradigm shift in the world of Learning and education during the current pandemic. Therefore, the present study aims to reach the extent of the impact of the various social media platforms o...
The acquisition of functional categories has been a major topic of debate in L1 and L2 acquisitio... more The acquisition of functional categories has been a major topic of debate in L1 and L2 acquisition research within the generative grammar framework. Over the years, generative research has examined the question of whether L2 acquisition is similar to L1 acquisition by determining the availability of Universal Grammar (UG) to the L2 learner. Various assumptions as to the L2 learners’ access to UG as well as the function of L1 in the process of L2 acquisition have also been the focal points of investigation. As the learning of grammar is crucial to the acquisition of L2 and due to the increasing demands for the use of the English in education, communication and various other fields, it is important that English language learners be competent in the language. Therefore, the present book aims to test three hypotheses with respect to the characterization of L2 acquisition in post-critical period non-native Interlanguage (IL) to provide characterizations of UG availability in adult L2 acq...
This study investigates the acquisition of the verb movement parameter in English by adult Arabic... more This study investigates the acquisition of the verb movement parameter in English by adult Arabic-speaking learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) 1 . English and Arabic differ in the settings they adopt for the verb movement parameter. English is [-strong], while Arabic is [+strong]. Accordingly, the placement of the verb with respect to negation, adverbs and floating quantifiers (FQs) in English are considered difficult to acquire for adult Arabic ESL learners. In order to examine the nature of adult Arabic ESL learners’ interlanguage (IL) grammar at the L2 ultimate attainment level as well as the extent to which the adult Arabic ESL learners can reset the verb movement parameter and correctly place the verb with respect to negation, adverbs and FQs in finite and non-finite contexts with lexical and auxiliary verbs, an oral production task was conducted with 77 adult Arabic ESL learners who were subdivided into three proficiency levels (lower-intermediate, upper-intermediat...
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN EDUCATION METHODOLOGY, 2017
This study will investigate the internal as well as the external factors that influence the acqui... more This study will investigate the internal as well as the external factors that influence the acquisition of English language by Yemeni kindergartens (KG2) students. To achieve its objectives, some different activities have been used to find out new styles to teach English language to the children at the age of 4-6 years old at three different kindergartens instruction phases. Findings show that Age and Motivation are the most important factors that affect the learning of a second language in spite of the fact that there are some other important factors, either internal or external, that affect the learning process.
English past tense morphology is one of the most difficult but yet one of the most important area... more English past tense morphology is one of the most difficult but yet one of the most important areas in the acquisition of English language by L2 Learners. The objectives of this study were to: (a) determine the acquisition sequence of English regular and irregular past tense forms in adult Arab EFL learners; (b) identify whether English past tense forms are represented by a single mechanism or a dual mechanism, and (c) investigate types of errors that L2 learners produce in their acquisition of English past tense morphology. In total, 77 adult Arab EFL learners participated in an oral production task. The use of the verbal inflectional morphemes in obligatory contexts in each learners production is examined. The results show that L2 learners acquire the past tense morphology of the regular verbs before they acquire the past tense morphology of the irregular verbs and that there is frequency effect for the irregular verbs, but not for the regular verbs. This indicates that the dual sy...
The present study analyses errors on present simple tense among adult Arab English language learn... more The present study analyses errors on present simple tense among adult Arab English language learners. It focuses on the error on 3sg-s (the third person singular present tense agreement morphemes). The learners are undergraduate adult Arabic speakers learning English as a foreign language. The study gathered data from two types of instruments: a grammaticality judgment task (GJT comprising both grammatical and ungrammatical items and an elicited written production task (EWPT). Both tasks were designed to test the learners' underlying knowledge of present simple tense morphology in the Interlanguage (ILG) of adult Arab English language learners. The GJT comprised 12 grammatically/correctly inflected items, 6 omission items (OI) and 6 wrongly/incorrectly inflected items (WI). The findings suggest that adult Arab English language learners seem to have difficulty mastering the use of the 3sg-s due to first language (L1) interference. The findings of this study have pedagogical implications for English as a foreign language classroom teaching practice as well as for second language teachers and researchers. The most frequent error types produced by the Learners are omission, phonological similarity, incorrect suffixation and substitution.
PurposeHow closely does the translation match the meaning of the reference has always been a key ... more PurposeHow closely does the translation match the meaning of the reference has always been a key aspect of any machine translation (MT) service. Therefore, the primary goal of this research is to assess and compare translation adequacy in machine vs human translation (HT) from Arabic to English. The study looks into whether the MT product is adequate and more reliable than the HT. It also seeks to determine whether MT poses a real threat to professional Arabic–English translators.Design/methodology/approachSix different texts were chosen and translated from Arabic to English by two nonexpert undergraduate translation students as well as MT services, including Google Translate and Babylon Translation. The first system is free, whereas the second system is a fee-based service. Additionally, two expert translators developed a reference translation (RT) against which human and machine translations were compared and analyzed. Furthermore, the Sketch Engine software was utilized to examin...
Purpose. Automated Corrective Feedback (ACF) is one of the techniques used in EFL writing instruc... more Purpose. Automated Corrective Feedback (ACF) is one of the techniques used in EFL writing instruction and assessment. This technique has been widely employed to improve students’ writing skills over the last few decades. Adopting a mixed-method design with data triangulation, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of utilizing WRITER, one of the ACF software, on critical writing aspects including use and mechanics, vocabulary, structural organization, and content. Methods and procedure. A pre-post quasi-experimental research design was arranged to collect data from 44 Arab EFL learners assigned to four groups: two peer and self-editing control groups and two automated peer and self-editing experimental groups. While the two control groups were required to perform conventional self- or peer-editing tasks, the two experimental groups used WRITER, an ACF software, to edit both their own essays and those written by peers. Statistical analysis was run to examine differences i...
Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning, May 2, 2023
PurposeCommunication apprehension (CA) is the fear or anxiety about communicating. In addition, s... more PurposeCommunication apprehension (CA) is the fear or anxiety about communicating. In addition, self-perceived communication competence (SPCC) refers to the learners' perception of their competence. CA hampers individuals' ability to communicate effectively in various communication contexts, which has an impact on their employability. Confident communicators with effective communication skills are important issues for graduation as well as desirable attributes for recruiting agencies. Given that employers value graduates who can communicate effectively in the workplace without any apprehension, this study was designed to determine the levels of CA and SPCC among final-year non-English major undergraduate students in Saudi Arabia and the extent to which SPCC could affect their CA when speaking in English with implications for their employability as the next generation of workers.Design/methodology/approachTwo survey questionnaires were administered to 70 non-English major undergraduate students in their final year employing probability random sampling to measure their CA level and to assess their SPCC in different English as foreign language (EFL) contexts. Pearson's correlation and linear regression analysis were used to investigate the relationship between CA and SPCC. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics in SPSS 21.FindingsThe findings indicated a medium level of SPCC and CA. Moreover, the correlation formula revealed that there was a moderately significant association between learners' SPCC and their CA (r (70) = −0.524, p < 0.01). Through regression analysis, it was found that their SPCC could predict 27% of the variance in their CA. The moderate effect of SPCC on CA implied that students could be prepared to cope and perform in the workplace.Originality/valueWithout communication, the establishment and evolution of the human community are unattainable. This aspect is more evident and crucial in the list of graduate objectives and needed outcomes for future career endeavors. The findings encourage instructors and course designers to provide many learning opportunities in pleasurable learning environments to raise students' perceptions of their competence, in turn enhancing their confidence to speak in English and ensuring a smooth transition from academia to the workplace. Based on the findings, several suggestions for future studies in the EFL context are presented.
The present study investigates the accuracy order and underlying processes of acquiring English a... more The present study investigates the accuracy order and underlying processes of acquiring English articles by 45 undergraduate Arab EFL learners drawn from three proficiency groups. The theoretical approach adopted here is Bickerton's (1981) semantic model that focuses on the features ±Specific Referent(±SR) and ±Assumed Known to the Hearer (±HK). The study aims to identify what the three measures, SOC (Supplied in Obligatory Contexts), TLU (Target-Like Use), and UOC (Used in Obligatory Contexts), reveal about the accuracy order of the acquisition of English articles in the written and oral production tasks. It also seeks to determine the semantic contexts in which the articles are overgeneralized and the most challenging context to acquire. The results show that the SOC measure reveals an accuracy order of a >the >Ø and the >a >Ø, whereas the TLU measure reveals an accuracy order of the>a>Ø across the groups. In addition, the UOC measure reveals that Ø goes thro...
This investigation aimed to examine the types and frequencies of grammatical errors of present an... more This investigation aimed to examine the types and frequencies of grammatical errors of present and past tense and agreement in the elicited written production task (EWPT) of Arab EFL learners. The sample of the study comprised 67 Arab EFL undergraduates selected through a simple random sampling method and subdivided into three proficiency levels. The data collection instrument was the EWPT, which consisted of two passages and a total of 46 test items. The EWPT was collected and the errors committed by the students were identified, classified, and analyzed in frequencies. Then, statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 21. The findings demonstrated two basic types of grammatical errors: error of misformation (EM) and error of omission (EO). Overall results revealed that incorrect use of inflectional morphemes was higher for the EM than for the EO of inflectional morphemes across the three groups of participants. The ungrammatical EM is characterized by the use of incorrect forms,...
PurposeWeb-based language learning (WBLL) materials have long been favored by English language in... more PurposeWeb-based language learning (WBLL) materials have long been favored by English language instructors because they are plentiful, easily accessible, user-friendly and, most importantly, free. This research looks into the effects of learning the simple perfect tense translation in three different English translation classes that used three different teaching methods: traditional face-to-face, integrative and web-based learning. It also aims to investigate the impact of gender on every mode of instruction and to identify the most effective method for learning translation.Design/methodology/approachThe study is quantitative, with a pretest/posttest quasi-experimental research design. A total of 93 third-year undergraduate students (51 female and 42 male students) participated in the pretest/posttest design. Each group was exposed to one mode of instruction for nine weeks. All groups sat for a pretest in the first week of the treatment. After the treatment, the participants were pr...
Purpose This research shows how social media has affected learning at present during the COVID-19... more Purpose This research shows how social media has affected learning at present during the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has become the largest and most convenient area of communication. In the current scenario, it seems that social networking sites not only had a profound impact on our social structure and intra-social interaction, but also affected education in general and learning English language in particular. It has been proven that these various social media platforms have created a realm of digital environment in today's new-age learning. Social media platforms are social networking sites through which people interact and communicate with each other easily and conveniently. Undoubtedly and unquestionably, social networking has been proven to be a global phenomenon that has caused a vast paradigm shift in the world of Learning and education during the current pandemic. Therefore, the present study aims to reach the extent of the impact of the various social media platforms o...
The acquisition of functional categories has been a major topic of debate in L1 and L2 acquisitio... more The acquisition of functional categories has been a major topic of debate in L1 and L2 acquisition research within the generative grammar framework. Over the years, generative research has examined the question of whether L2 acquisition is similar to L1 acquisition by determining the availability of Universal Grammar (UG) to the L2 learner. Various assumptions as to the L2 learners’ access to UG as well as the function of L1 in the process of L2 acquisition have also been the focal points of investigation. As the learning of grammar is crucial to the acquisition of L2 and due to the increasing demands for the use of the English in education, communication and various other fields, it is important that English language learners be competent in the language. Therefore, the present book aims to test three hypotheses with respect to the characterization of L2 acquisition in post-critical period non-native Interlanguage (IL) to provide characterizations of UG availability in adult L2 acq...
This study investigates the acquisition of the verb movement parameter in English by adult Arabic... more This study investigates the acquisition of the verb movement parameter in English by adult Arabic-speaking learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) 1 . English and Arabic differ in the settings they adopt for the verb movement parameter. English is [-strong], while Arabic is [+strong]. Accordingly, the placement of the verb with respect to negation, adverbs and floating quantifiers (FQs) in English are considered difficult to acquire for adult Arabic ESL learners. In order to examine the nature of adult Arabic ESL learners’ interlanguage (IL) grammar at the L2 ultimate attainment level as well as the extent to which the adult Arabic ESL learners can reset the verb movement parameter and correctly place the verb with respect to negation, adverbs and FQs in finite and non-finite contexts with lexical and auxiliary verbs, an oral production task was conducted with 77 adult Arabic ESL learners who were subdivided into three proficiency levels (lower-intermediate, upper-intermediat...
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN EDUCATION METHODOLOGY, 2017
This study will investigate the internal as well as the external factors that influence the acqui... more This study will investigate the internal as well as the external factors that influence the acquisition of English language by Yemeni kindergartens (KG2) students. To achieve its objectives, some different activities have been used to find out new styles to teach English language to the children at the age of 4-6 years old at three different kindergartens instruction phases. Findings show that Age and Motivation are the most important factors that affect the learning of a second language in spite of the fact that there are some other important factors, either internal or external, that affect the learning process.
English past tense morphology is one of the most difficult but yet one of the most important area... more English past tense morphology is one of the most difficult but yet one of the most important areas in the acquisition of English language by L2 Learners. The objectives of this study were to: (a) determine the acquisition sequence of English regular and irregular past tense forms in adult Arab EFL learners; (b) identify whether English past tense forms are represented by a single mechanism or a dual mechanism, and (c) investigate types of errors that L2 learners produce in their acquisition of English past tense morphology. In total, 77 adult Arab EFL learners participated in an oral production task. The use of the verbal inflectional morphemes in obligatory contexts in each learners production is examined. The results show that L2 learners acquire the past tense morphology of the regular verbs before they acquire the past tense morphology of the irregular verbs and that there is frequency effect for the irregular verbs, but not for the regular verbs. This indicates that the dual sy...
The present study analyses errors on present simple tense among adult Arab English language learn... more The present study analyses errors on present simple tense among adult Arab English language learners. It focuses on the error on 3sg-s (the third person singular present tense agreement morphemes). The learners are undergraduate adult Arabic speakers learning English as a foreign language. The study gathered data from two types of instruments: a grammaticality judgment task (GJT comprising both grammatical and ungrammatical items and an elicited written production task (EWPT). Both tasks were designed to test the learners' underlying knowledge of present simple tense morphology in the Interlanguage (ILG) of adult Arab English language learners. The GJT comprised 12 grammatically/correctly inflected items, 6 omission items (OI) and 6 wrongly/incorrectly inflected items (WI). The findings suggest that adult Arab English language learners seem to have difficulty mastering the use of the 3sg-s due to first language (L1) interference. The findings of this study have pedagogical implications for English as a foreign language classroom teaching practice as well as for second language teachers and researchers. The most frequent error types produced by the Learners are omission, phonological similarity, incorrect suffixation and substitution.
PurposeHow closely does the translation match the meaning of the reference has always been a key ... more PurposeHow closely does the translation match the meaning of the reference has always been a key aspect of any machine translation (MT) service. Therefore, the primary goal of this research is to assess and compare translation adequacy in machine vs human translation (HT) from Arabic to English. The study looks into whether the MT product is adequate and more reliable than the HT. It also seeks to determine whether MT poses a real threat to professional Arabic–English translators.Design/methodology/approachSix different texts were chosen and translated from Arabic to English by two nonexpert undergraduate translation students as well as MT services, including Google Translate and Babylon Translation. The first system is free, whereas the second system is a fee-based service. Additionally, two expert translators developed a reference translation (RT) against which human and machine translations were compared and analyzed. Furthermore, the Sketch Engine software was utilized to examin...
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