December 2012 Full issue

TAHER  BAHRANI

Other Languages (TESOL). His primary research interests concern EFL writing, second language acquisition, SL/FL language teaching methodology, and language syllabus design. He has published and edited a number of research articles and books. He is currently on the editorial board of some language journals in Iran. Nima Shakouri is currently a Ph.D. candidate of TEFL at Islamic Azad University, Science and Research, Tehran, Iran. He has taught English courses for over a decade at different universities. Moreover, he has published some articles in international journals and some English textbooks for GE and ESP courses. Abstract The notion of mental representation has been a core assumption led to the revolution in cognitive sciences. Whether this representation is symbolic or connectionist was always a source of contention. Also, there has been controversy whether the mind should be viewed as modular or a bundle of modules. The paper claims in psycholinguistic approaches there is less concern with the interface between syntactic form and pragmatic function. The shift from competence-oriented theory to performance-oriented theory was an impetus that motivates the authors to have a theoretical study on the tenets of models suggested.

This paper focuses on identifying the syntactic theory perception on acquiring first language. The paper highlights the role and function of language syntactic structure in childhood on acquiring first language from birth and using it in communicative situations in reality later. The paper, however, emphasizes the impact of grammatical development, focusing mainly on nativist and usage-based, on acquiring first language. The paper bases its hypotheses and assumptions on Chomsky"s universal grammar and transformation grammar theories. The study, moreover, exposes language as a symbolic system and how it is formed in mind from birth, focusing mainly on the difference between human language and animal sounds. A brief idea about linguistic and communicative competence is presented to associate them to first language acquisition. the study concludes that grammar, which is part of the syntactic theory, is concerned with discovering the principles and sets of rules used for governing the structures of utterances and sentences. These principles and sets of rules constitute what is called linguistic competence of language. This linguistic competence is what helps children acquire their first language.

The distinction between representations and processes is central to most models of the cognitive science of language. Linguistic theory informs the types of representations assumed, and these representations are what are taken to be the targets of second language acquisition. Epistemologically, this is often taken to be knowledge, or knowledge-that. Techniques such as Grammaticality Judgment tasks are paradigmatic as we seek to gain insight into what a learner’s grammar looks like. Learners behave as if certain phonological, morphological, or syntactic strings (which may or may not be target-like) were well-formed. It is the task of the researcher to understand the nature of the knowledge that governs those well-formedness beliefs.Traditional accounts of processing, on the other hand, look to the real-time use of language, either in production or perception, and invoke discussions of skill or knowledge-how. A range of experimental psycholinguistic techniques have been used to assess...

The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL BOARD Dr. A. Lystor Smith (Canada) Dr. Amin Marzban (Iran) Dr. Amrendra Kumar Singh (India) Dr. Anjali Verma (India) Dr. Anwar Mourssi (Oman) Dr. Bahman Gorjian (Iran) Dr. Eliza Tampson (Spain) Dr. Goodarz Alibakhshi (Iran) Dr. Hana’ Khalief Ghani (Iraq) Dr. Ilknur (PEKKANLI) SAVAŞKAN (Turkey) Dr. Monir Atta-Alla (USA) Dr. Md. Motiur Rahman (Saudi Arabia) Dr. Vahid Parvaresh (Iran) Dr. Seyed Jalal Abdolmanafi (Iran) Dr. Suleyman Davut Göker (Cyprus) Dr.Yuan Yuan (China) Hadi Hamidi (Iran) Seyed Foad Ebrahimi (University Putra Malaysia) Seyed Hossein Kashef (University Sains Malaysia) Taher Bahrani (University Malaya, Malaysia) Mahboobe Keihaniyan (Iran) Mohammad Javad Riasati (University Putra Malaysia) Mohammad Taghi Farvardin (Iran) Masoud Mahmoodzadeh (Iran) Nima Shakouri (Iran) Saeid Najafi Sarem (Iran) 2 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 TABLE OF CONTENTS Psycholinguistic Approach to Second Language Acquisition Parviz Maftoon & Nima Shakouri 4 Teaching Global English- a shift of focus on language skills Abraham Oommen 12 Exploring the Relationship Between Foreign Language Proficiency and Cultural Intelligence Ebrahim Khodadady & Shima Ghahari 22 On the Role of Vocabulary Instruction in Communicative Performance of Iranian EFL Learners: Tasks Revisited Amir Marzban & Amin Marzban 31 Increasing Objectivity of Student Teaching Evaluation in ESL/EFL Settings Monir Nazir Atta-Alla 47 Impacts of Learning Reading Strategy on Students’ Reading Comprehension Proficiency Mohammad Reza Ahmadi Gilani & Hairul Nizam Ismail & Abbas Pourhossein Gilakjani 72 Integrating E-Mail Summaries of Internet Radio into the Foreign Language Classroom: An Experiment with German William C. McDonald 88 The Impact of Reflection and Metalinguistic Feedback in SLA: A Qualitative Research in the Context of Post Graduates Anwar Mourssi 114 The Comparative Effect of Different Task Processing Conditions and L2 Decision 131 Making Oral Production Sepeedeh Hanifehzadeh & Sara Ebrahimi 3 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Psycholinguistic Approach to Second Language Acquisition Parviz Maftoon pmaftoon@srbiau.ac.ir Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Nima Shakouri Shakouri.ni@gmail.com Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Bio Data Parviz Maftoon is Associate Professor of teaching English at Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran. He received his Ph.D. degree from New York University in 1978 in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). His primary research interests concern EFL writing, second language acquisition, SL/FL language teaching methodology, and language syllabus design. He has published and edited a number of research articles and books. He is currently on the editorial board of some language journals in Iran. Nima Shakouri is currently a Ph.D. candidate of TEFL at Islamic Azad University, Science and Research, Tehran, Iran. He has taught English courses for over a decade at different universities. Moreover, he has published some articles in international journals and some English textbooks for GE and ESP courses. Abstract The notion of mental representation has been a core assumption led to the revolution in cognitive sciences. Whether this representation is symbolic or connectionist was always a source of contention. Also, there has been controversy whether the mind should be viewed as modular or a bundle of modules. The paper claims in psycholinguistic approaches there is less concern with the interface between syntactic form and pragmatic function. The shift from competence-oriented theory to performance-oriented theory was an impetus that motivates the authors to have a theoretical study on the tenets of models suggested. Key words: competition, psycholinguistics, interlanguage, cline Introduction The psycholinguistic approach to second language (L2) learning focuses upon what humans know when they talk and how they acquire that knowledge and how that knowledge is put to use. Matlin (1994) states that the central approach of psycholinguistic theory, in general, is that people, especially the young, are biologically predisposed to language learning and that what is learned is not so much a string of words but transformational rules that enable the language learner to understand the sentences heard. This means that developmentally appropriate instruction must be considered in second language learning. In this regard, Reichle (2010) argues that while psycholinguistics has set its sights on many morphosyntactic phenomena in the existing body of research, for the most part, it has ignored the intriguing area of information structure. He further continues that information structure can be described as the interface between syntactic form and pragmatic function, or in other words, the way in which a speaker uses cues from sentence structure to guide a hearer toward knowing what 4 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 is more or less important in a sentence. Henceforth, information structure lies at the intersection of semantics and syntax. In the present paper, the writers are going to elucidate the thought and language interaction from psycholinguistic perspectives. Literature review Psycholinguistics is simply defined as the study of the relationship between human language and human mind. Psycholinguistics is a branch of cognitive science that investigates how an individual uses (e.g., produce and comprehend) and acquire language (Treiman, Clifton, Meyer, & Wurm, 2003). In short, three important processes are investigated in psycholinguistics: (1) language production, (2) language comprehension, and (3) language acquisition. From many questions that psycholinguistics attempts to answer, it, specifically, addresses two questions (1) what knowledge of language is needed for us to use language? and (2) what cognitive processes are involved in the ordinary use of language? The notion of mental representation has been a core assumption led to the revolution in cognitive sciences. For this purpose the metaphor of network construction provided a tool to deal the mental representations (Zelewski, 2010). These networks might be either symbolic or connectionist in nature, though both share in the feature of computation, but what the nature of this computation is raises a question. To Garson (2010), computation may be considered symbolic manipulators or functional implementers. Symbolic manipulation holds due to the linear nature of such systems, it does not experience graceful degradation. If a rule is lost, the system cannot respond at all to any situation which would have employed that rule. In contrast, functional implementation denotes that there is interconnected processing units, each of which has an activation level. For computation to take place there are two conditions: they must represent vehicles of some kind, and the context of those vehicles must represent the probable causal processes (Garson, 2010). In such a network, if one rule is lost, its quality can be retained. In fact, connectionist approach, in contrast with symbolic approach to modeling cognition, is called subsymbolic; that is, it deconstructs symbols into smaller units called microfeatures (Rumelhart & McClleland, 1986); furthermore, as Zelewski (2010) maintains, they are not meaningful by themselves and their cumulative meaning depends on the larger pattern of connectivity within which they are being activated. The re-emergence, in the mid-1980s, of neural networks in the form of parallel distributed processing (PDP) networks (Rumelhart & McClelland, 1986) usually referred to as the connectionist theory of mind emanated from the early symbolic tradition of the 1970s. Among the early developments in symbolic traditions, Rumelhart‘s (1975) schema theory and Rosch‘s (1978) prototype theory are noticeable (cited in Zelewski, 2010, pp. 94-95). In a nutshell, as to Flower (1994, cited in Zelewski, 2010) asserts ―connectionism is not a theory of how knowledge is remembered but of how it is constructed out of memory‖ (p. 95). 5 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Psycholinguistic approach to production and comprehension Unlike socio-cultural approaches that see language and thought highly interwoven, psycholinguistic approaches view language and thought as related but completely independent phenomena (Claros, 2009, p. 142). In the same line, Lantolf (2000) says ―publicly derived speech completes privately initiated thought‖ (p. 7). Meanwhile, Lantolf holds the most fundamental concept of sociocultural theory is the mediated mind. As Lantolf further adds, human behavior is the result of the integration of mediation into human activity as a functional system. In fact, it is language that makes it possible for us to gain control over thought. From both approaches (i.e., psycholinguistic and sociocultural approaches), interaction plays a significant role in the process of L2 development. However, there are subtle distinctions; in a way, in the psycholinguistic approach the individual internal cognitive processes are activated so that activation allows the individual to access the comprehensible input needed to further advance in the acquisition of the L2 (Long, 1996 cited in Claros, 2009, p. 143); in socio-cultural approach, however, social interaction allows interlocutors, with the help of each other to organize their cognitive processes and along the same line to con-construct the knowledge about the L2 (Lantolf, 2000). Thus, for psycholinguistic theorists learning is viewed as a cognitive individual process happening within the individual and then takes a social aspect. What is vital for psycholinguistic theorists is that the exposure to comprehensible input and negative feedback leads to language learning (Long, 1996, cited in Claros, 2009, p. 143). To sum up, psycholinguistic approaches to language learning conceive language learning as a cognitive and individual process in which knowledge is constructed as the learner (1) exposed to comprehensible input (Krashen, 1985), (2) is given opportunities to both negotiate meaning (Long, 1997), and (3) receive negative feedback. These three features are well supported by Krashen‘s input hypothesis, and Long‘s interaction hypothesis. Krashen (1985) argues that to understand and learn language, s/he must be exposed to the linguistic input that is a little beyond his/her current level of competence. Krashen summarizes his view in his famous i+ 1 concept which indicates that the input the learner receives must contain some slight amount of new information in addition to what s/he already knows. To Krashen, comprehensible input is not just a necessary condition, but it is the sufficient condition. According to Long‘s (1997) interaction hypothesis, comprehensible input is the result of modified interaction. By modified interaction, Long means the various modifications that native speakers or other interlocutors create to render their input comprehensible to learners. For example, native speakers often slow down their speech to nonnative speakers, speaking more deliberately. According to Long (as cited in Claros, 2009), input comprehensibility increases as learners interact and use different types of interactional modifications (i.e., comprehension checks, confirmation checks and clarification requests) to overcome communication breakdowns. To many scholars, (Krashen, 1985; Vandegrifff, 1999; Van Patten, 1996), comprehension has cognitive, affective, and communicative advantages. Cognitively, they (Krashen, 1985: VanPatten, 1996, cited in Kumaravadivelu, 2006, p. 140) point out that it is better to concentrate on one skill at a time. Affectively, speaking in public frightens and embarrasses students. Thus, they have to speak only when they are ready. Communicatively, listening is inherently interactive in that listeners try to work out a message. In learning-centered approaches, pedagogists (Krashen, 1985) Prabhu, 1987) believe that comprehension helps learners firm up abstract linguistic structures needed for the establishment of mental representation of the L2 system. Prabhu (1987) (as cited in Kumaravadivelu, 2006, p. 140) lists four factors to explain the importance of comprehension over production: Unlike production, comprehension (1) causes a 6 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 sense of security, (2) allows the learners to be imprecise, (3) is readily adjustable, and (4) involves language features that are already present in the input addressed to the learner. Claros (2009) states what Long (1997) puts forward seems to sparkle interest among the so-called interactionists who turned their research agendas to examine how speakers modify their speech and interaction patterns to allow their interlocutors to participate, understand and keep the flow of conversation. Ferreira and Anes (1994) outline the difference between the spoken and written language. They argue during reading, the language learner can control the rate at which information is taken in; readers can slow down or speed up the input to suit their level of comprehension, as far as the segmentation of information available in the perceptual input varies. Furthermore, in the written language, word boundaries are marked by spaces, and sentence boundaries are marked by terminal punctuation marks. According to Ferreira and Anes, word and phrasal boundaries are not so clearly marked in the spoken language. Word boundaries are seldom acoustically indicated; often a pause will occur within a word and not between two adjacent words. With this background, research shows that reading has been studied more extensively than spoken language processing. The most accepted model of language production is that of Levelt (cited in Szito, 2006, p. 157). To his model, speech goes through three levels. For the first level, thoughts are formulated in a unit called Conceptualizer (1). This means that the message is generated here but has no linguistic form yet – it may appear in pictures. When it is ready, the message is sent to the next unit, the Formulator (2), where it will be grammatically and phonetically shaped. The Formulator is connected to the Lexicon, from where it takes the words and other units of expression. In the third step, the message goes to the Articulator for articulation (3), that is, for speech. This whole process takes place very fast. Psycholinguistic models of language acquisition Similar to the models of first language L1 acquisition, most models of L2 acquisition also emphasize the role of rules. In the same vein, such models, to date, have depended on a competence-based linguistic theory. To better appreciate such models of competence-based linguistic theory, two of the most influential models of this type are the interlanguage hypothesis and monitor theory. The former holds an L2 learner, at any time in the process of acquisition, develops an interim-stage grammar. This interim grammar or interlanguage changes in response to incoming data so that with continued exposure to sufficient and appropriate input, the interlanguage grammar , by a series of successive approximations, moves closer and closer to the standard grammar of the target language (Kilborn, 1994, p. 919). According to the monitor theory developed by Krashen (1985), there are two types of knowledge: acquired and learned. Acquired knowledge is used for communication, while learned knowledge is to edit the acquired knowledge. The learned knowledge becomes active when there is sufficient time to apply the rules, focus on form: the language user must be focused on correctness or the form of the output and knowledge of the rules. Accordingly, these two processes, acquisition and learning, jointly 7 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 contribute to developing competence in L2. Acquisition is responsible for the ability to know or feel that a sentence is grammatical or ungrammatical, without explicit reference to the rules of grammar. Learning, as to Krashen, is responsible for the explicit knowledge of grammatical rules and ability to state them. In sum, the role of learning is to edit or monitor the form of utterance based on the explicit knowledge base at the speaker‘s disposal. Thus, an adult‘s competence in L2 derives mainly from the unconscious internalization of rules; indeed, to Krashen acquisition is responsible for our fluency in L2. However, McLaughlin (1978) takes issue with the acquisition/learning distinction proposed by Krashen (1985). He proposes that ―it is impossible to know whether subjects are actually operating on the basis of rules or feel‖ (p. 317). In much the same way, Kilborn (1994) puts forth the notion of rule may be too rigid to capture a process as complex and dynamic as language acquisition. Rule-based models have two major shortcomings: (1) they tend to be all-or-nothing, either a rule is present or it is not, and (2) rule-based models derive from theoretical accounts of single linguistic systems, considered one at a time (Kilborn, 1994, pp. 920-921). In contrast with competence-oriented models, notably interlanguage theory and monitor theory, several models are posited in favor with performance-oriented theory. To better appreciate performance-oriented models, here we adapt the competition model to the study of language acquisition. In the competition model, the focus is attached not only to the linguistic forms that are acquired, but also to the cognitive constraints that govern learning and using forms for communication (Bates & MacWhinney, 1982, cited in Kilborn, 1994, p. 923). Accordingly, Kilborn (1994) adds that the competition model adheres to functionalist tenets in that formfunction mappings are made as directly as possible. However, the strong functionalist position which posits one form to one function is rejected in favor of a multiplicity of form-function mappings. In short, what the competition model holds is that the treatment of obligatory rules are quantitatively, rather than qualitatively, different. A basic concept from function-to-form mapping is that acquisition of both L1 and L2 involves a process of grammaticalization. Grammaticalization, as Hopper and Traugott (2003) refer to, occurs when a lexical item changes into one that serves a grammatical function, or a grammatical item develops into new grammatical form. Basic to work on grammaticalization is the concept of cline. Cline has both historical and synchronic implications: From a historical perspective, a cline is conceptualized as a natural ―pathway‖ along which forms evolve, a schema which models the development of forms. Synchronically, a cline can be thought of as a ―continuum‖: an arrangement of forms along an imaginary line at which is a fuller form of some kind, perhaps ―lexical,‖ and at the opposite a compacted and reduced form, perhaps ―grammatical‖. (Hopper & Traugott, 2003, p. 6) The term cline, according to Hopper and Traugott (2003, p. 6), is a metaphor for the empirical observation. From the point of view of change, forms do not shift abruptly from one category to another, but they go through a series of small transitions, transitions that tend to be similar in type across languages. Michel and Myles (2004) elucidates such shift in this way that a grammatical function (such as the expression of past time) is first conveyed by shared extralinguistic knowledge and inferencing based on the context of discourse, then by a lexical word (such as yesterday), and only later by a grammatical marker (such as the suffix -ed). For example, if you ask a beginning learner of English what he did the day before he might say I play soccer, relying on context to convey the meaning of past time; a somewhat more advanced learner might say Yesterday I play soccer, using an adverb to convey the meaning of past; and a still more advanced learner might say I played soccer, using the grammatical inflection -ed. 8 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 To delve into the theoretical background of the competition model, let us elaborate in this way that competition model of Bates and MacWhinney (1987) explores a position that views both L1 and L2 language acquisition as constructive that rely not on universals of linguistic structure, but on universals of cognitive structures. Hence, their views reap the benefits of functionalist and connectionist view of both L1 and L2 learning that attribute the development to learning and transfer rather than to the principles and parameters of Universal Grammar. Accordingly, MacWhinney (1997) maintains that his model can be best understood in terms of the commitments it makes to four major theoretical issues: (1) lexical functionalism, (2) connectionism, (3) input-driven learning, and (4) capacity. The basic claim of functionalism is that the forms of language are determined and shaped by the communicative functions to which they are placed. These forms are either standard lexical items (words) or more complex constructions (idiom). The pressure of communicative function is considered to be the primary determinant of language development. In order to model the interaction between lexical mappings, the competition model uses connectionist models. As MacWhinney (1997) claims, competition, gradience, emergence, and transfer are four properties of these neural network. Of these four, transfer is the most important for understanding L2 acquisition process. Moreover, in the debate between nativism and empiricism, MacWhinney (1997) emphasizes the role of input rather than principles or parameters. The capacity of short term memory must also be regarded, as this model relies on the underlying conceptual interpretation in determining the utilization of processing capacity. Miller (1956, cited in Yoshino, 1996, p. 171) pointed out that there are certain limits to the span of memory and the span of perception in short term memory. His discovery of the limited capacity of short-term memory is now a prominent landmark in the history of cognitive psychology. Regarding the capacity limitations on short-term memory, Oyama, Kikuchi, & Chihara (1981), refer to two levels. The first limitation is concerned with the transfer of information from iconic memory to short term memory, and the second relates to the saturation of the limited capacity of short-term store (2-8 sec stimulus duration). Like the competition model, the Autonomous Induction Theory proposed by Carroll (2002) also aims to account for the constrained nature of acquisition of linguistic knowledge by adopting a generative, symbolic approach to the representation of knowledge and by specifying the way in which linguistic information is proposed by parsers. Under this account, parsing procedures are revised overtime, making novel linguistic information available to the learner (Hulstijn, 2007). Although Autonomous Induction Theory puts some emphasis on universals, it gives important roles to induction in explaining L2 acquisition. Carroll (2002) argues against the claim of total access to universal grammar, especially when comparing L1 and L1 acquisition. A crucial component of Autonomous Induction theory is Induction Theory. As cited by Selinker, Kim and Bandi-Rao (2004), ―induction learning has a basic property, some components operating autonomously within the theory of modularity‖ (p. 83). Carroll took issues with classical induction theory in that it claims that feedback serves key roles guiding learners from one mental state to another. In line with the competition model, she adopts the notion of competition whereby analyzing a novel form involves competition among various information sources from different levels. To delve into the philosophy behind Autonomous Induction Theory, Carroll (2002) makes a distinction between inductive reasoning and inductive learning. Inductive learning takes place in 9 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 that part of the mind computing conceptual structures, and inductive reasoning affects representations within the autonomous systems of the language faculty. Inductive reasoning appears in the form of inferencing. Although no one denies the stance of inferencing in interpreting the input, little is stated how information encoded in one type representation (conceptual) is turned into an autonomous representational formats (phonetics). According to Carroll, inductive learning is not inductive reasoning. Even it is different from mechanistic responses to environmental changes in that the results of i-learning depend upon the content of symbolic representations in working memory and long-term memory. I-learning begins with the failure of current representations to fit active mental models in conjunction with specific stimuli or some other computation (Carroll, 2007, p. 168). When parsing system fails to detect such discrepancy, induction learning ends. Put similarly, when students fail to detect errors, fossilization occurs. Conclusion In a nutshell, Chomsky (1957), unanimous with many generative linguists (e.g., Fodor, 1987), makes the following claims concerning language and cognition: (1) modularity issue: that is, language is a component of cognition, separate from other components; (2) learnability issue: that is, children can learn the language of their environment by virtue of an inborn universal grammar (nativism) that restricts the power of their grammars; and (3) mental representational that connotes knowledge of language must be represented with symbolic architectures, i.e., systems of principles and rules operating on abstract categories. What makes a bone of contention is that how this knowledge of learner is going to be represented. Traditionally, this representation has been viewed as symbolic connectionism. What makes a connectionist framework distinct with symbolic one is the notion of frequency: the more frequently the system is exposed to the word CAT, the more readily this string will form a strong bond in contrast to strings which will never or seldom occur such as ACT or TAC. Thus, learning takes place when the individual discovers the difference between what s/he experiences and what the outside world represents. References Bates, E., & MacWhinney, B. (1987). Language universals, individual variation, and the competition model. In B. MacWhinney (Ed.), Mechanisms of language acquisition. Hillsdale. NJ: Erlbaum Carroll, S. E. (2002). Induction in a modular learner. Second Language Research, 18 (3), 224249. Carroll, S. E. ( 2007). Autonomous Induction Theory. In B. VanPatten & J. Williams, Theories in second language acquisition (pp. 155-173).London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic structures. Paris: Mouton. Claros, M. S. C. (2009). Psycho-linguistic and socio-cultural approaches to language learning: A never ending debatetitulo en espanol. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, 10(1), 142-154. Ferreira, F., & Anes. M. (1994). Why study spoken language? In M. A. Gernsbacher (Ed.), Handbook of psycholinguistics, (pp. 33-56). London: Academic Press. Fodor, J. A. (1983). The modularity of mind: An essay on faculty psychology. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Garson, J. (2010). Connectionism: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved in 2012 from http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2010/entries/connectionism/ Hopper, P., & Traugott, E. C. (2003). Grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Hulstijn, J. H. (2007). Fundamental issues in the study of second language acquisition. EUROSLA Yearbook, 7, 191-203. 10 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Kilborn, K. (1994). Learning a language late: second language acquisition in adults. In M. A. Gernsbacher, Handbooks of psycholinguistics (pp. 917-944). London: Academic Press. Krashen, S. D. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. London: Longman. Kumaravadivelu, B. (2006). Understanding language teaching from method to post-method. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. Lantolf, J. P. (2000). Introducing sociocultural theory. Sociocultural theory and second language learning, 1-26. Long, M. H. (1997). Construct Validity in SLA Research: A Response to Firth and Wagner. The Modern Language Journal, 81(3), 318-323. MacWhinney, B. (1997). Second language acquisition and the competition model. In A. M. B. de Groot & J. F. Kroll (Eds.), Tutorilism in bilingualism: Psycholinguistic perspectives (pp. 113-142). New Jersey: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates. Matlin, M. M. (1994). Cognition. New York: Ted Buchholz. McLaughlin, B. (1978). The monitor model: Some methodological considerations. 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Linguistic structure with processing in second language research: is a ‗unified theory‘ possible? Second Language Research, 20 (1), 7794. Szito, J. (2006). Speak your mind. Psycholinguistics. In B. Richter (Ed.), First steps in theoretical and applied linguistics (pp.149-160 ). Budapest: Bolcsesz Konzorcium. Treiman, R., Clifton, C., Jr, Meyer, A. S., & Wurm, L. H. (2003). Language comprehension and production. In A.F. Healy & R.W. Proctor (Eds.), Comprehensive handbook of psychology, Vol.4: Experimental Psychology (pp. 527-548). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Vandergrift, L. (1999). Facilitating second language comprehension: acquiring successful strategies. ELT Journal, 53 (3), 168-176. VanPatten, B. (1996). Input processing and grammar instruction. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Yoshino, R. (1993). Magical numbers of human short-term memory efficient designs of biological memory systems? Behaviormetrika, 20 (2), 171-186. Zelewski, J. (2010). A connectionist-enactivist perspective on learning to write. In J. Arabski & A. Wojtaszek (Eds.), Neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic perspective on SLA (pp. 96105). Toronto: Multilingual Matters. 11 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Teaching Global English- a shift of focus on language skills Abraham Oommen, M.A., B.Ed., TESOL (England), (Ph. D) Research Scholar, Singhania University, Pacheri Bari, (Raj), India Abstract The importance of English as a global language is unquestionable and to become a competent user of this language is demand of the time. English language learning in the simplest way can be defined as the development of the four language skills which enables the learners to integrate and use them through suitable strategies as the situation demands. This study investigates the tertiary level teachers‘ perceptions about the importance and use of English language skills for academic and career needs of the learners in the teaching of English as a global language. This study was conducted as a pilot study of a major study on ‗Teachers‘ perceptions about the teaching of English as a global language at the tertiary level education in Ethiopia‘. The participants of the study were twenty three (23) tertiary level teachers of English from five universities in Ethiopia. They were served with fourteen (14) Likert scale items as a questionnaire to investigate their perceptions about the importance of different English language skills and the frequency of the use of these language skills for different purposes in academic and career contexts by the learners. The result shows that the teaching of English as a global language is a mere shift of focus on the language skills-listening and reading since global English itself is a pragmatic (media dominated) pedagogy in the use of English globally. Key words: Global English, teachers‘ perceptions, integrated skills, segregated skills, comprehension skills, productive skills, Likert-scale Introduction According to Crystal (2010), bringing global English into the classroom is essential if the purpose of English language teaching is to empower students to encounter the English speaking world with confidence. With regard to language teaching, there are two aspects to be considered; teaching comprehension and teaching production. However, the main impact of global English is in the teaching of comprehension that is, teaching listening comprehension and teaching reading comprehension. This study aims at investigating the tertiary level teachers‘ perceptions about the importance of different language skills in academic and career pursuits of the learners and the frequency of use of these skills at various situations so as to enable them to face the global English speaking world with confidence. The result shows that teaching of English as a global language in the classroom is a shift of focus on comprehension skills which has long been neglected in many non-native settings, especially in Ethiopia. English has played a dominant and longstanding role as a medium of instruction in educational sector of Ethiopia. All universities in the country are supposed to use English as their working language; they ought to produce documents, hold meetings, write minutes and reports, etc. in English. The increasing use of English in most government and business sectors in Ethiopia, 12 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 hence, demands a strong English language competency and mastery of the skills of comprehension and expression from the students coming out of universities (Negash, 2006). In this context it is worthwhile to understand what the tertiary level teachers perceive about the importance of English language skills and their use for the learners in the context of English as a global language as teachers‘ perceptions have great impact on the classroom instruction. Studies have been done on teaching language skills by Nunan (1992), Robinson (1991), Hutchinson and Waters (1987), and Yalden (1987). But in the back ground of globalization and the status of English as a global language, what the teachers perceive about the importance and use of these language skills to the students in their academic and career pursuits has not been addressed specifically so as to teach the language in a perspective different from that of a second or foreign language, especially in Ethiopian tertiary level education. Literature Review This study investigates the perceptions of Ethiopian tertiary level teachers about the emphasis and focus of English language skills for the learners in the teaching of English as a global language. So this literature review is organized to discuss matters concerned with English language skills in terms of comprehension skills and productive skills, segregated and integrated skill approach and finally the shift of emphasis on the skills in the context of teaching English as a global language. By language skills, we mean, the way language is used (Richards, Platt & Platt, 1992), and are traditionally conceived as consisting of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Skills are the building blocks and effective elements of language teaching and learning process. For effective communication in any language, we need these four skills. The natural way of learning our first language begins with listening, then speaking, after that reading, and finally writing. Comprehension and Productive skills The four English language skills are grouped in: receptive skills (listening and reading) and productive skills (speaking and writing). These dyads are also termed as comprehension skills and production skills (Crystal, 2003).Investigations into the social, cultural, economic, and political contexts of English learning have provided much insight into populations of learners and their specific learning goals. While some may need to speak and write English for academic and professional purposes, others set out to develop conversational or reading skills. In certain context of English teaching and learning, preference was given to reading and writing while listening and speaking remain neglected. Thus it becomes essential to know about the fundamental factors such as the learner, the context and the resources in order to determine how particular skills are taught and learned (e.g., Breen, 2001; Breen & Littlejohn, 2000). 13 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Krashen (1982) proposed that in language teaching, more effort should be devoted to developing learners‘ comprehension competence than their productive competence. He claimed that learners‘ productive ability will arise naturally from comprehension abilities. In particular, Krashen stressed that meaningful comprehension rather than focused production is all that is needed to facilitate language learning. Recent researches on second language acquisition, however, do not fully assume that productive skills will arise naturally from comprehension skills. Segregated and Integrated Skills approach Traditional English language teaching often resorted to the teaching of the four language skills separately, and materials and activities designed usually focused on one specific skill and others were ignored (Jing, 2006). In the past, listening and reading skills in English as a second language were not considered as much important as speaking and writing, but it was in the 1960´s when secondary skills came into fashion (Anderson & Lynch, 1988). The segregation of the skills is not consistent with the nature of language development in the first language context. In the first language context all language skills are interrelated. The interrelatedness of the language skills can be deduced from observation of a child's development of oral and written language which follows the sequence of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In this connection, Strang (1972) noted: ‘Listening proceeds speaking and reading. Children acquire their native tongue through listening to and imitating the speech of their parents. Speaking is basic to both reading and writing.’ (p. 291) In segregated skills approach, the mastery of discrete skills, such as reading and writing or reading and speaking are considered as the key to successful language learning and language learning is typically separated from content learning (Mohan, 1986). However, research has shown that integrated skill approach is the natural way of learning a language. In real life, language skills are rarely used in isolation; it is a rare situation where one of the four skills occurs alone. For example, to engage in a conversation, one needs to be able to speak and comprehend at the same time. To make language learning as realistic as possible, instruction has to integrate language skills simultaneously which is a requisite in communication. ―Often one skill will reinforce another; we learn to speak, for example, in part by modeling what we hear, and we learn to write by examining what we can read‖ (Brown, 2001). For instance, teaching reading can be easily tied to instruction on writing and vocabulary, and oral skills readily lend themselves to teaching pronunciation, listening, and cross-cultural pragmatics (Hinkel, 2001; Lazaraton, 2001; McCarthy & O‘Keeffe, 2004). Shift of focus on skills in a global language context In an age of globalization, when English has become a global language for communication, pragmatic objectives of language learning place an increased value on integrated and dynamic multi-skill instructional models with a focus on meaningful communication and the development of learners‘ communicative competence (Hinkel, 2006, P:113). Moreover, most cross-cultural interactions take place between non-native speakers of English rather than between native and nonnative speakers (e.g., Canagarajah, 2005; Jenkins, 2000). 14 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Most of these non-native speakers ‗don‘t speak RP, don‘t speak General American but they speak accents tinged with Chinese and Japanese and French and German and all the varieties let alone Welsh and Scottish and Irish, Liverpool and Birmingham and Cockney and all of those‘(Crystal, 2012, in an interview). Since English truly is a global language (Crystal, 2003), all English language learners need to be prepared for future encounters with speakers of varieties of English that differ from their own (Jenkins, 2000, 2006). One way to prepare learners is to expose them to different varieties (Matsuda, 2003). Examples of different English varieties are available on the Internet, radio, television, and in different newspapers from around the world (Cook, 1999). Crystal (2010) also points out the need of focusing on the comprehension skills (Listening and Reading) in instruction in the context of teaching English as a global language enabling the learners to familiarize themselves with the range of variations in the spoken and written language of English. It does not mean that productive skills (speaking & writing) be neglected but it should go on as it is being taught at present in different context. In production, nothing changes. One cannot produce all the varieties of English in the world. Global English does not have much impact there and it does not insist everybody has to speak one accent and one dialect. In short, in terms of production, global English doesn‘t have much effect but in terms of comprehension it changes everything. Research Questions This study answers the following research questions:   What do the participant Ethiopian tertiary teachers feel about the importance of different language skills in the learners‘ academic career needs? What do the participant teachers perceive about the use of English language skills for different purposes by the learners? Significance of the study Ethiopia is in a phase of developmental transitions. As international trade, investment, and communication in Ethiopia increase, those who can effectively interact in English with the rest of the world will be best positioned to succeed. The urge for this has already been felt in the academic, career and social lives of the learners. In Ethiopia, university students have to do much academic reading in English. It is not only for university that students need mastery in English. They will also need the language for their career opportunities. In many professional environments, English skills and English proficiency are considered to be the essential requirements. For jobs in Education, the computer industry, journalism, film, public relations, English is no longer just a benefit but often a necessity. English is also playing a rather important role in the daily lives of the modern Ethiopian youths. For example; turn on the radio, TV, computer or surf the internet; English turns out to be a strong media language for communication. In this study learners‘ needs of different English language skills are approached on the basis of academic and career needs apart from the role they play in the lives of the learners. So this study 15 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 can reflect the actual needs of the learners in a globalised society and the necessity to shift the focus of language skills learning in the existing situation in Ethiopian tertiary education. Methodology This study is both qualitative and quantitative based on literature review and a questionnaire survey conducted on 23 tertiary level teachers of English from 5 universities in Ethiopia. The questionnaire survey contained 14 Likert- scale items, divided into two sections. Likert-type or frequency scales use fixed choice response formats and are designed to measure attitudes or opinions (McLeod, 2008). These ordinal scales measure levels of agreement/disagreement. So, in this study this valid measurement instrument is used. In the first section the shifting focus of the four skills in learners‘ academic and career needs is addressed. A five-point Likert- scale (5= very important, 4= important, 3= somewhat important, 2= not important, 1= unnecessary) was used. The second section contains 10 Likert-scale items requiring the frequency of learners‘ use of the skills in different context for both academic and career needs (5= always, 4= usually, 3= often, 2= sometimes, 1= rarely). The first two contexts are related to listening skills, next two are of speaking skills, and then three following contexts are related to reading skills and the last three represent writing skills. In both sections, the responses and their ‗Mean‘ are taken to comprehend the data and for clear analysis. The Participants This study was supported by 23 tertiary level teachers from 5 universities including the university where the researcher worked for two years. Most of the instructors were fresh graduates who got entry into university undergraduate teaching through a national competitive test. Of the 23 instructors, 18 held Bachelor of Arts degree and 5 held Master‘s Degree in Teaching of English as a Foreign Language and 3 had teaching diploma and were senior members. All of them taught English Language to undergraduate students in the first year of their study. Masters‘ degree holders also taught English main students other than English language general course to students with other subjects such as science, commerce, business studies and computer. The researcher‘s choice of this population for data collection proved to be very useful in this study because most of them were fresh graduate instructors who held the fervor of learners‘ expectations from teachers and their reflection on the questionnaire items were free from any pretence. Results The participants' responses to the questionnaire are presented below based on the importance and frequency of use of the skills in academic and career needs in tables 1 & 2 and figures 1 & 2. Table 1 and the bar diagram 1 present data about teachers‘ perceptions on the importance of different skills in academic and career needs of the learners. 16 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 Skills Listening Speaking Reading Writing ISSN: 2289-2737 Table 1: Teachers’ perceptions about the importance of different English language skills in academic and career needs of the learners Very important Important Somewhat Not Un Mean important important necessary Acad. Career Acad. career Acad. career Acad. Career Acad. Career Acad. Carr. 11 4 17 2 10 7 5 1 10 9 6 15 12 13 8 7 2 5 0 5 1 3 7 12 0 5 0 1 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.4 3.5 4.7 3.8 4.3 4.1 3.7 3.2 Fig 1: Teachers’ perceptions about the importance of different English language skills in academic and career needs of the learners The data in Table 1 and Figure 1 show that of the four language skills, listening skill (overall mean=4.3), followed by reading (overall mean=4.2) have been perceived to be the most important skill for both academic and career needs of the students. On the other hand, speaking skill (overall mean=3.8) viewed important in career and writing skill (overall mean=3.5) viewed important in academics, altogether have been viewed important but not as much as listening and reading by the participant teachers. Table 2 and bar diagram 2 present data about teachers‘ perceptions on the frequency of use of English language skills for different purposes in academic and career needs of the learners. 17 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Table 2: Teachers’ perceptions about the use of English language skills for different purposes by the learners Contexts Listening to lectures Watching television Speaking face-toface On the telephone Reading Books & journals Reading letters, faxes or email Reading News papers & reports Writing letters, faxes or email Writing notes & reports Writing papers for a journal etc. Always Usually Often Sometimes Rarely Mean Acad. Career Acad. career Acad. career Acad. Career Acad. Career Acad. Carr. 3 0 7 8 12 12 1 3 0 0 3.5 3.2 0 0 5 5 8 6 9 7 1 5 2.7 2.5 0 2 2 7 8 6 12 6 1 2 2.5 3.0 0 0 2 5 5 6 9 11 7 1 2.1 2.7 3 0 10 0 6 7 3 12 1 4 3.5 2.1 2 5 8 9 10 7 2 2 1 0 3.3 3.7 2 1 8 9 11 10 1 2 1 1 3.4 3.3 0 0 6 5 8 6 7 10 2 2 2.8 2.6 2 2 6 5 9 9 4 6 2 1 3.0 3.0 2 0 2 0 7 6 7 11 5 6 2.5 2.0 18 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Fig 2: Teachers’ perceptions about the use of English language skills for different purposes by the learners Findings with regard to the frequency and use of the language skills, the participant teachers perceive that listening and reading skills are used frequently by the students. Especially, listening to lectures (mean=3.5) and reading books, journals, letters, e-mails, newspapers (mean= 3.3) are the highest frequency contexts where the participants feel that their students use listening and reading skills for academic purposes. In these contexts, speaking and writing skills score a frequency of use (mean) = 2.5 and 2.7 respectively. Whereas, listening to lectures (mean=3.2) and reading letters, newspapers, reports, e-mail etc. (mean =3.3) are the peak contexts where the students use listening and reading skills for career needs. In career needs, the use of skills such as speaking (mean=3.0) and writing (3.0) also rank close to the comprehension skills in the contexts of speaking face to face and writing notes respectively. Discussion It is apparent from the data analysis that comprehension skills (listening & reading) are perceived to have a priority over productive skills such as speaking and writing. The result is in conformation with what Crystal (2010) points out that global English in classroom prepares the learners to face the English speaking world with confidence and that global English gives focus to the comprehension skills. So, it is evident from the analysis of the data that comprehension skills are more important than productive skills. It is also true that only when we comprehend well, we can produce meaningful output. Since the rapid spread of English as a global language gives rise to varieties of English as it is used by people with different first languages, it is the 19 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 demand of the time to make the students aware of these varieties by enabling to listen to and read a lot of English from different parts of the world. Interestingly enough, all the language skills have been perceived by the subjects to be important regardless of being used frequently or not. However, there was an agreement in perceiving listening and reading skills to be at the top in terms of both frequency of use and importance. The role of global English in classroom teaching and the shift of focus on language skills are conspicuous from this study. There is immense hue and cry over bringing a global English pedagogy for the classroom but it is obvious that global English in itself a practical pedagogy for global use of English and the point here is the shift of focus on the comprehension skills. Limitations of the study This study is limited in the sense that it takes into account only the perceptions of the tertiary teachers. If students‘ actual needs are considered, it will surely add depth to this study. Moreover, the population from whom the data was collected is quite small and could have been widened. Further, this study is hoped to give some insight into the teaching of English as a global language. In Ethiopia, English has a wide coverage of functionality as a sole medium (or side by side with Amharic) in education, business and trade interactions and transactions, media and communication, etc. However, despite such a wide spread and ‗multispectral‘ use of English, the appropriateness and accuracy of the English in use is low. So this study may pave way for further researches on students‘ needs in a globalised society and can add to the quality of English language education and training in Ethiopia. Conclusion To sum up, the current study explored teachers‘ perceptions about the importance and use of English language skills for the students‘ academic and career needs in the context of teaching English as a global language. The result shows that teaching global English doesn‘t require a new pedagogical approach but a shift of focus on the language skills as the time demands. The need of the hour is to prepare students competent enough to face the English speaking world for which they have to comprehend the world which entails the necessity of shifting the focus on comprehension skills in language pedagogy as well as to face the challenges of the globe which this language has conquered. References Anderson, A., & Lynch, T. (1988). Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Breen, M. (2001). Learner contributions to language learning: New directions in research. Harlow, England: Pearson. Breen, M., & Littlejohn, A. (2000). Classroom decision-making. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy 2nd Ed., New York: Pearson Education Cook, V. (1999). Going beyond the native-speaker in language teaching. TESOL Quarterly 33 (2): 185–209. Crystal, D. (2002). The English Language: A guided tour of the language. London: Penguin Books. 20 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Crystal, D. (2010). English as a 'global' language? www.macmillanglobal.com/blog/teachingtips/david-crystal-english-as-a-global-language. Published on 19th April, 2010 in Teaching Tips by Matt Kay. Crystal, D. (2003). English as a global language. 2nd ed.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press. Hinkel, E. (2001). Building awareness and practical skills for cross-cultural communication in ESL/EFL. In M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (3rd ed., pp. 443–458). Boston: Heinle & Heinle. Hinkel, E. (2006). Current Perspectives on Teaching the Four Skills: TESOL Quarterly 40 (1): 109-131. Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987): English for Specific Purposes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Jenkins, J. (2006). Current perspectives on teaching world Englishes and English as a lingua franca. TESOL Quarterly 40 (1): 157–81. Jing, W. U. (2006). Integrating skills for teaching EFL—Activity design for the communicative classroom. Sino-US English Teaching 3 (12). Lazaraton, A. (2001). Teaching oral skills. In M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (3rd ed., pp. 103–115). Boston: Heinle & Heinle. Lynch, T., & Anderson, A. (1988) Listening, Oxford University Press Matsuda, A. 2003.The ownership of English in Japanese secondary schools. World Englishes 22 (4): 483–96. McCarthy, M., & O‘Keeffe, A. (2004). Research in the teaching of speaking. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 24: 26–43. McLeod, S. A. (2008). Likert Scale. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/likertscale.html Mohan, B. (1986). Content-based language instruction, MA: Addison-Wesley. Negash, T. (2006). Education in Ethiopia: From crisis to the brink of collapse. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet - 33. Uppsala, Sweden: Nordiska Afrikainstitute. New Routes, Disal. (2009) Interview with David Crystal by Jack Scholes www.davidcrystal.com/ DC articles/Creative12.pdf Nunan, D. (1992): Collaborative Language Learning and Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Report on a Future Search Conference (2012): Enhancing the Quality of English Language Education in Ethiopia: Sponsored by the Embassy of the United States of America in collaboration with The Ministry of Education of the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Institute of International Education, and Ambo University © Copyright 2012 by the Institute of International Education Richards, J., Platt, J., & Platt, H. (1992). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. Harlow: Longman Robinson, P. (1991). ESP Today: A Practitioner’s Guide, Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall. Sifakis, N. C. (2004). Teaching "EIL"--Teaching "International" or "Intercultural" English? What Teachers Should Know. System: An International Journal of Educational Technology and Applied Linguistics 32 (2): 237-250. Yalden, J. (1987): The Communicative Syllabus, Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall. 21 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Exploring the Relationship Between Foreign Language Proficiency and Cultural Intelligence Ebrahim Khodadady and Shima Ghahari Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Abstract This study employed a Persian Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS) and a disclosed Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to explore the relationship between cultural intelligence (CQ) and English as a foreign language (EFL) proficiency. The administration of these two measures to one hundred forty five undergraduate university students majoring in various fields of knowledge in three Iranian universities showed that both the CQS and its Cognitive, Motivational, Behavioral, and Metacognitive factors are significantly but negatively related to the TOEFL and its structure subtest. However, when the EFL learners were divided into low, middle and high proficiency groups on the basis of their TOEFL scores, the scores of the middle proficiency group on the TOEFL and its structure subtest showed negatively significant correlations with the CQS and its Cognitive and Motivational factors indicating that only this group rate their own cultural intelligence higher in order to improve their low and developing EFL proficiency in general and its structure in particular. However, no significant relationships could be found between the reading subtest of the TOEFL and the CQS of low, middle (intermediate) and high proficiency groups. Neither did the four factors underlying the CQS correlate significantly with the reading subtest of the three groups. The implications are discussed and suggestions are made for future research. Keywords: Cultural intelligence, foreign language, structure knowledge, reading comprehension ability Introduction Theoretically cultural intelligence is defined as the ability to interact effectively in multiple cultures. The theory has been successfully operationalised into a Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS) by Van Dyne, Ang and Koh (2008) consisting of twenty items. Since its literature has already been adequately addressed by its designers, interested readers are referred to their study to save space. This study will focus on the Persian CQS translated and validated by Khodadady and Gahari (2011) [henceforth K&G] because it has been carried out in the same context, i.e., Iran. The CQS was administered along with the disclosed Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to 145 undergraduate university students who spoke Persian as their mother language in order to explore whether any significant relationship exists between test takers‘ cultural intelligence and their foreign language proficiency. Factors Underlying the Persian Cultural Intelligence Scale The Persian CQS employed in this study consists of four factors extracted by K and G (2011) , i.e., Cognitive, Motivational, Behavioral and Metacognitive. 22 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Cognitive Factor The Cognitive factor of CQS addresses a person‘s familiarity with the similarities and dissimilarities present in the economic, social norms, and religious orientations of different cultures. As the familiarity increases so does that person‘s cultural intelligence (Brislin, Worthley, & MacNab, 2006). Although an extensive discussion of this factor appears in many scholarly papers dealing with management and business (e.g., Muzychenko, 2008; Thomas et al., 2008), no significant relationships have been established so far between the cognitive factor of the CQS and abilities such as foreign language proficiency (FLP). Motivational Factor Motivational factor refers to the high capability, motivation, and interest of a person to learn and function confidently in cross-cultural situations (Bandura, 2002). Though Crowne (2008) asserted that ―individuals who have had multiple vacation experiences abroad, and who are therefore probably high in motivational CQ, would like to receive additional training on interacting effectively in other cultures‖ (p. 397), no relationships have been established between the Motivational factor of the CQS and abilities such as the FLP. Behavioral Factor Behavioral factor underlies a range of verbal and nonverbal behaviors such as employing appropriate words in various situations and employing a suitable tone accompanied by acceptable gestures and facial expressions (Gudykunst, Ting-Toomey, & Chua, 1988). Crowne (2008) found that the Behavioral factor of the CQS shows a negative relationship with part-time students‘ employment. She argued that these usually older students might have had experiences with students coming from different cultures and thus were well aware of the problems involved in social interactions and thus doubted their ability to interact effectively with others resulting in their ―lower behavioral CQ‖ (p. 398). Crowne did not, however, provide any correlation coefficients to reveal the size of the negative relationship. Nor are there any other studies documenting a significant relationship between the Behavioral factor and abilities such as the FLP. Metacognitive Factor Metacognitive factor comprises a given person‘s awareness of other peoples‘ culture and their constant appraisal of the accuracy of their knowledge in order to adjust their behavior to unfamiliar ones. Brislin, Worthley, and MacNab (2006) and Triandis (2006) believed that persons with high Metacognitive intelligence question their cultural assumptions and adjust them during and after interactions. Similar to Cognitive, Motivational, and Behavioral factors, no significant relationships have been established between the Metacognitive factor and abilities such as the FLP. 23 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Methodology Participants One hundred forty five undergraduate students, 107 female (75.9%) and 34 male (24.1%), took part in the research voluntarily. However, four of them were excluded from the study because they had not been able to get any items right on the TOEFL. The remaining 141 were studying Biology (n = 48, 34.0%), Chemistry (n = 1, .7%), English Language (n = 53, 37.6%), Geology (n = 1, .7%), Law (n = 30, 21.3%), and Physics (n = 8, 5.7%) at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (n = 115, 81.6%) and Tehran University (n = 26, 18.4%). One hundred twenty four (87.9%) were single and only 17 (12.1%) were married. The participants‘ age ranged from 17 to 47 (Mean = 20.44, SD = 3.98) and were born in Esfahan (n = 1, .7%), Kerman (n = 1, .7%), Khorasan (n = 111, 78.7%), Khuzestan (n = 2, 1.4%), Mazandaran (n = 3, 2.1%), Qom (n = 1, .7%), and Tehran (n = 22, 15.6%) provinces. They spoke Persian (n =137, 97.2%) and Turkish (n = 4, 2.8%) as their mother language. While the majority (n = 106, 75.2%) had not travelled abroad, 33 had visited the Asian countries of Afghanistan, Dubi, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Turkey (23.4%) and only two participants (1.4%) had been to the English speaking countries of America and Canada. Instruments Three instruments were administered in this study, i.e., a bio questionnaire, Persian CQS and the disclosed TOEFL consisting of two subtests. Bio Questionnaire The bio questionnaire consisted of twelve short answer and multiple choice items dealing with the participants‘ university name, their field and year of study, age, gender, marital status, education level, place of birth, place of living, language spoken at home, foreign languages known, travelling abroad, the countries visited and duration of visit. The Persian Cultural Intelligence Scale The Persian CQS validated by K and G (2011) was employed in this study. The CQS was verified by being administered to 854 undergraduate and graduate students at three universities in Iran. The obtained results are presented in Table 1. As the table shows, the 20-item CQS is a highly reliable measure of cultural intelligence, i.e., α = .86, as are its Cognitive, Motivational, Behavioral, and Metacognitive factors, i.e., α = .81, .82, .74, and .72, respectively. The four factors together explain 43.12% of variance in the CQS. Table 1: Descriptive statistics of the CQS and its factors CQS and its factors No of Std. Mean items Deviation Alpha Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings Eigenvalues % of Variance Cumulative % Cognitive 6 25.78 6.812 .81 2.588 12.941 12.941 Motivational 5 15.44 6.003 .82 2.368 11.839 24.780 Behavioral 5 15.32 5.520 .74 1.997 9.983 34.763 Metacognitive 4 12.29 4.282 .72 1.671 8.357 43.120 Cultural Intelligence 20 68.83 16.277 .86 - - - 24 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Disclosed Test of English as a Foreign Language The structure and reading sections of Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) disclosed by the ETS were used in this study. While the first section ―measures the ability to recognize grammatical structures and word usage of standard written English as used in colleges and universities in North America,‖ the second ―measures the ability to read and understand short passages that are similar in topic and style to those that students are likely to encounter in North American colleges and universities‖ (ETS, 2003, p. 11). These two subtests consist of 40 and 50 multiple choice items, respectively, and measure proficiency in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The alpha reliability coefficient of the TOEFL estimated in this study was 0.95. Procedure After having the Persian CQS and the TOEFL printed and copied, the researchers contacted general English instructors as well as those who offered specialized courses to undergraduate students majoring in various fields of science in person and were asked to encourage their students to take part in the project. Though the length of the TOELF and its administration along with the CQS necessitated spending one complete session of their classes, some teachers agreed when they talked to their students. They participated voluntarily because they were preparing themselves for the graduate programs part of which required English language proficiency. Upon arranging for an appropriate session, the researchers attended the classes in person and administered the bio questionnaire, CQS and the TOEFL under standard conditions in a single session. In order to establish high, middle and low proficiency groups, the participants‘ raw scores on the TOEFL were converted into Z-scores. While Z-scorers of +1 and higher were treated as highly proficient those falling at -1 and lower were classified as low in English proficiency. The participants whose Z-scores fell between -1 and +1 were considered as middle in English proficiency (this section should be removed to the procedure). Data analysis The internal consistency of the disclosed TOEFL and its two structure and reading subtests were estimated via Cronbach Alpha. In order to determine whether the items comprising the TOEFL had functioned well, their item facility (IF) index was calculated by dividing the number of correct answers by the total number of answers given. The discrimination power of items (ID) was obtained by correlating individual items by the total scores obtained on the test. The relationship between language proficiency and cultural intelligence was explored by employing the Pearson Product Moment correlation. The hypotheses below were formulated to be explored. H1. The participants‘ scores on the disclosed TOEFL will correlate significantly with the Persian CQS and its constituting factors. H2. The correlation coefficients between the TOEFL and the Persian CQS as well as its constituting factors will be higher for high proficiency EFL learners. 25 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Results and discussion Table 2 presents the descriptive statistics of the disclosed TOEFL and its structure and reading subtests. As the table indicates, the TOEFL itself is a highly reliable measure of English language proficiency, i.e., α = 0.95. The structure subtest is almost as reliable as the TOEFL, i.e., α = .94. The alpha reliability coefficients of reading subtest is relatively lower, i.e., 0.89, due to its being more difficult than the structure subtest, i.e., mean IF = 0.17 vs. 0.47. The very difficulty level of the reading subtest has lowered its mean discrimination index, i.e., 0.25. Table 2: Descriptive statistics of the TOEFL and its subtests Tests Structure Reading TOEFL Items Mean Standard deviation Mean IF 40 50 90 18.82 8.55 27.37 9.850 6.693 15.081 .4671 .1699 0.30 Mean ID Alpha .4946 .2476 0.36 .94 .89 .95 Table 3 presents the descriptive statistics and Scheffe post hoc test of high, middle and low proficiency groups established via Z-scores. As can be seen, the mean score of high proficiency group on the TOEFL, i.e., 52.6, is higher than that of middle and low proficiency groups, i.e., 24.3 and 8.3, respectively. The One Way ANOVA analysis of Z-scores obtained by the three groups show that they are significantly different (F = 218.058, df = 2, p <.0001) in their English language proficiency. The Scheffe post hoc test showed that the mean score of high prophecy group is significantly different from both middle and low proficiency groups. Table 3: descriptive statistics and Scheffe post hoc test of proficiency groups Groups Low proficiency Middle proficiency High proficiency Total / Sig. N Mean 19 8.53 96 24.27 26 52.58 141 27.37 Std. Deviation 3.389 8.559 4.420 15.081 Std. Error .777 .874 .867 1.270 Subset for alpha = 0.05 1 2 3 8.53 24.27 52.58 1.000 1.000 1.000 Table 4 presents the correlation coefficients obtained between the TOEFL, its subtests, CQS and its four factors for all proficiency groups. As can be seen, the TOEFL and CQS correlate significantly but negatively with each other (r = -.37, p <.01), explaining 13.69 percent of variance in each other. These findings confirm the first research question, i.e., the participants’ scores on the disclosed TOEFL will correlate significantly with the Persian CQS and its constituting factors. They also lend support in a reverse direction to philosophers such as de Saussure (1966), Dilthey (1989), Foucault (1994), Sapir (1921), Von Humboldt (1876), Whorf (1956) and Wittgenstein (1980) who argued for a mutual relationship between first language and culture. They show that the EFL learning and culture are significantly, though negatively, related to each other. 26 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Table 4: Correlations between the TOEFL and CQS as well as their subtests and factors for all proficiency groups Tests Cognitive Motivational Behavioral Metacognitive CQS TOEFL -.35** -.28** -.23** ** ** Structure -.37 -.31 -.24** Read -.25** -.17 -.16 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) -.21* -.22** -.16 -.37** -.39** -.25** The negative and significant relationships found between the EFL proficiency and cultural intelligence and its four factors, however, present a dilemma. They question the need for addressing culture in EFL classes as suggested by Genc and Bada (2005) and equipping learners with opportunities to go beyond what they already know and to learn to engage with unplanned and unpredictable aspects of language as suggested by Scarino and Liddicoat (2009) simply because the negative relationships found between the TOEFL, CQS, and its underlying factors for all proficiency groups imply that the more culturally intelligent the learners are, the less proficiency they will acquire in their EFL. Table 5: Correlations between the TOEFL and CQS as well as their subtests and factors for high, middle and low proficiency groups Groups Tests Cognitive Motivational Behavioral Metacognitive CQS TOEFL -.134 .288 High Structure -.154 .240 proficiency Reading -.068 .229 * TOEFL -.225 -.213* Middle Structure -.236* -.256* proficiency Reading -.067 -.016 TOEFL .058 -.215 Low Structure -.185 -.245 proficiency Reading .376 .017 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) .025 -.086 .113 -.106 -.142 .013 .020 -.027 .075 -.040 .120 -.166 -.130 -.159 -.004 -.058 .013 -.115 .049 .029 .049 -.235* -.274** -.029 -.078 -.203 .179 The conclusion reached on the basis of all proficiency learners‘ performance on the TOEFL is not, however, supported when they are divided into three distinct proficiency groups. As can be seen in Table 5, the scores of neither high nor low proficiency groups reveal any significant relationship between the TOEFL and CQS. Nor do the structure and reading subtests of the TOEFL correlate significantly with the CQS of these two groups and thus disconfirm the second hypothesis that the correlation coefficients between the TOEFL and the Persian CQS as well as its constituting factors will be higher for high proficiency EFL learners. 27 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 The lack of any significant relationship between the high and low EFL learners‘ proficiency and their cultural intelligence questions teaching English culture as advocated by Bakhtiarvand and Adinevand (2011), at least at beginning and advanced levels of EFL proficiency. They believe that culture is ―an inseparable part of the way in which we live our lives and the way we use language, [and] an important requirement for learning English is the acquisition of cultural knowledge‖ (p. 112). Their argument does not hold true even for middle proficiency learners whose TOEFL and CQS correlate significantly (r = -.24, p <.05) because its direction is negative, implying that the less culturally intelligent they become, the higher their language proficiency will be. The negatively significant relationship between EFL proficiency and cultural intelligence is further revealed when the structure subtest of the TOEFL is correlated with the CQS (r = -.27, p <.01). This result shows that while 5.76 percent of variance in language proficiency is explained by cultural intelligence, it increases to 7.29 percent for the structure subtest of the TOEFL alone. Surprisingly, however, the reading subtest of the TOEFL does not correlate significantly with the CQS, implying that what they read and understand in the EFL has little to do with English culture. Similarly, out of four, the Cognitive (r = -.24, p <.05) and Motivational (r = -.26, p <.05) factors underlying the CQS of middle proficiency participants show slightly higher but negative correlations with the structure subtest than with the TOEFL itself, i.e., r = -.23, p <.05 and r = .21, p <.05, respectively. These significant correlations emphasize the reverse culture relatedness of language structure when it involves the dissimilarities present in the economic, social norms, and religious orientations of Persian and English cultures as perceived by the middle proficiency Persian speaking EFL learners and their desire to have vacation experiences in English speaking countries. Conclusion English as a foreign language (EFL) proficiency relates significantly but negatively not only to cultural intelligence but also to its Cognitive, Motivational, Behavioral, and Metacognitive factors when all proficiency levels are taken into account. However, when the participants are divided into high, middle and low proficiency groups on the basis of their TOEFL scores, cultural intelligence and two of its factors, i.e., Cognitive and Motivational, correlate significantly and negatively with the EFL proficiency of middle group, indicating that the less they know of English culture, the more they can focus on and improve their EFL proficiency in general and its structure in particular both cognitively and motivationally. The presence of a negative relationship between the EFL proficiency and cultural intelligence is not unique because Khodadady, Fatemi and Etminan (2012) found a negatively significant relationship between the EFL proficiency and field independency cognitive style. When they administered an S-Test, a cloze multiple choice item test developed on authentic texts whose choices are related syntactically, semantically and discoursally not only to the key-response but also to the words comprising the texts (see Khodadady, 2012), as an EFL proficiency measure and the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) as a measure of cognitive styles, they found that although field independent (FI) English learners outperformed their field dependent (FD) counterparts on the S-Test, i.e., they were more EFL proficient, their performance showed relatively weaker and unexpectedly negative relationships with the GEFT (r = -.22, p <.05) than 28 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 that of the FD (r = .25, p <.01). In other words, the less analytical cognitive style the EFL learners adopt, the more proficiency they gain in the EFL. However, when Khodadady, Fatemi and Etminan (2012) divided their participants into low, middle and high proficiency groups on the basis of their S-Test scores, significant relationships could be established between cognitive styles and EFL proficiency neither for low nor for high proficiency groups (I was wondering if the author(s) could bring these details I previous sections to be discussed and compared with the present study in the conclusion). Similarly, no significant relationship could be found between cultural intelligence as measured by the CQS and language proficiency as measured by the TOEFL in this study either for low or for high proficiency EFL learners. The middle proficiency EFL learners‘ cultural intelligence and its Cognitive and Motivational factors, nonetheless, correlated significantly but negatively with their EFL proficiency and its structure, indicating that these learners rate their own CQ high in order to provide themselves with cultural cognition and motivation as significant latent variables contributing to their EFL learning. Although the TOEFL and its structure subtest scores of the middle proficiency EFL learners correlate significantly and negatively with the CQS and its Cognitive and Motivational factors, no significant relationship could be established between the reading subtest of the TOEFL and the CQS and its Cognitive, Motivational, Behavioral, and Metacognitive factors for the same group. The findings of this study, therefore, show that that reading EFL texts in order to comprehend their content has nothing to do with the cultural intelligence of not only middle but also low and high proficiency EFL learners, at least as it is measured by the CQS employed in this study. Future research is, however, required to find out whether similar results could be found if the present study is replicated with university students majoring in English language and literature. Employing other methods of EFL proficiency testing such as cloze tests, C-Tests and S-Tests and developing a different measure of CQ may also indicate whether there is any significant relationship between cultural intelligence and testing methods. References Bakhtiarvand, M., & Adinevand, S. (2011). Is listening comprehension influenced by the cultural knowledge of the learners? A case study of Iranian EFL pre-intermediate learners. RELC Journal, 42: 111-124. Bandura, A. (2002). Social cognitive theory in cultural context. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 51: 269–290. Brislin, R., Worthley, R., & MacNab, B. (2006). Cultural intelligence: Understanding behaviors that serve people‘s goals. Group and Organization Management, 31: 40–55. Crowne, K. A. (2008). What leads to cultural intelligence? Business Horizons, 51: 391-399. De Saussure, F. (1966). Course in general linguistics. New York: McGraw-Hill. Dilthey, W. (1989). Introduction to the human sciences: An attempt to lay a foundation for the study of society and history. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press. ETS (2003). TOEFL Test Preparation Kit (2nd ed.). Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. 29 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Foucault, M. (1994). The order of things: An archaeology of the human sciences. USA: Vintage Books. Genc, B., & Bada, E. (2005). Culture in language learning and teaching. The Reading Matrix, 5: 73-84. Gudykunst, W. B., Ting-Toomey, S., & Chua, E. (1988). Culture and interpersonal communication. Newbury Park, Calif: Sage. Khodadady, E. (2012). Validity and tests developed on reduced redundancy, language components and schema theory. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2(3), xxx-xxx. Khodadady, E., & Ghahari, S. (2011). Validation of the Persian cultural intelligence scale and exploring its relationship with gender, education, travelling abroad and place of living. Global Journal of Human Social Sciences, 11(7): 65-75. Khodadady, E., Fatemi, A. H., & Etminan, S. (2012). Cognitive styles and performance on schema-based cloze multiple choice item tests: A fairness issue. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 3(3): xxx-xxx. Muzychenko, O. (2008). Cross-cultural entrepreneurial competence in identifying international business opportunities. European Management Journal, 26: 366– 377. Sapir, E. (1921). Language: An introduction to the study of speech. Harcouurt, Brace, Jovanovich. Scarino, A., & Liddicoat, A.J. (2009). Teaching and learning languages: A guide. Commonwealth of Australia: Curriculum Corporation. Thomas, D. C., et al. (2008). Development of the Cultural Intelligence Assessment. Technical Report: Center for Global Workforce Strategy Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University. Triandis, H. C. (2006). Cultural intelligence in organizations. Group and Organization Management, 31: 20–26. Van Dyne, L., Ang, S., & Koh, C. (2008). Development and validation of the CQS: The cultural intelligence scale. In S. Ang, & L. Van Dyne, (Eds.), Handbook on cultural intelligence: Theory, measurement and applications (pp. 16-38). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. Von Humboldt, K.W. (1876). The heterogeneity of language and its influence on the intellectual development of mankind. Über das vergleichende Sprachstudium in Beziehung auf die verschiedenen Epochen der Sprachentwicklung. Whorf, B.L. (1956). Language, thought, and reality: Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. John B. Carroll. Cambridge: MIT Press. Wittgenstein, L. (1980). Culture and value. Chicago: Chicago University Press. 30 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 On the Role of Vocabulary Instruction in Communicative Performance of Iranian EFL Learners: Tasks Revisited Amir Marzban Department of Foreign Languages, Sepidan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sepidan, Iran amir.marzbann@gmail.com Amin Marzban Department of Foreign Languages, Sepidan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sepidan, Iran amin.marzban@iausepidan.ac.ir / a_marzban_eng@yahoo.com Bio Data Amir Marzban received his MA in TEFL. He has been teaching TEFL and ESP courses at Islamic Azad University and other state universities over the past few years. His areas of interest include teaching methodology and syllabus design. Amin Marzban received his Ph.D. in applied linguistics from the University of Isfahan and is currently an assistant professor in TEFL at Islamic Azad University. He has been teaching major and non-major courses at state and azad universities over the past decade and has been continuously publishing in popular journals. His areas of interest include teaching methodology and psycholinguistics. Abstract The present study aimed to examine the effect of task-based vocabulary instruction on communicative ability of Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 100 learners of intermediate level at Iran Language Institute (ILI) in Shiraz, Iran were selected through Oxford Placement Test. Upon randomizing to form the experimental and control groups, each participant in the pre-test was interviewed with the expectation of recording simple answers using a movie camera, so that two raters could score them based on the standardized scale of IELTS speaking. The experimental group underwent the treatment afterwards i.e., learning new words via task-based instruction while the control group merely received definitions of vocabulary through memorization. Upon fulfilling the treatment, the participants of both groups in the post test were re-interviewed to compare the means of raters' scores for each student in their pre-post tests performances. The results of a series of t-tests indicated that the experimental group outperformed the control in terms of their communicative ability as affected by the vocabulary learning techniques. The results lay further proof on the practicality of task-based teaching in an EFL classroom. The study also approves of IELTS speaking test rating validity. 31 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Key terms: Communicative language ability, Task-based language teaching/ learning, Vocabulary instruction. Introduction and background of the study Task-based learning is an area which has grown in importance greatly during the last ten years, and can be discussed from a number of perspectives. Through tasks, teachers can have a number of options for enhancing attention to learn vocabulary. One of such options is to allow learners to work cooperatively to make sense of unfamiliar vocabulary via tasks. In addition, words used meaningfully by other members of the group would result in better recognition of words eventually. A motive behind any piece of research in this realm is, thus, the observation of students' attitudes upon facing unfamiliar vocabulary when using the target language in communication outside the classroom, either for work, travel or recreation (Newton, 2001). The notion of learning unprecedented vocabulary through efficient approaches and its simultaneous effects on communicative ability has long been of significance in the field of Teaching English as Foreign Language (TEFL) (e.g., Arnaud & Savignon, 1997; Bogaards, 2001). When learners meet new vocabulary, helpful and responsible techniques should be employed to fix the words in their long term memory so that they can be retrieved easily and used efficiently in the upcoming conversations. Should such techniques be used, learners can deal with unknown vocabulary more smoothly during communicative performance. As mastery of vocabulary is an essential component of second language acquisition (SLA), effective second language vocabulary learning proves important to English language learners (Hunt & Beglar, 2005, p.1). That is why language teachers and researchers have realized the significance of different pedagogical tasks in second language (L2) vocabulary learning that involves learning of a great load of lexicon. That is why a considerable number of researchers, syllabus designers, and educational innovators have long stressed the need for a move in language teaching towards task-based approaches to instruction (Prabhu, 1987; Nunan, 1989; Long & Crookes, 1991; Gass & Crookes, 1993, a,b). The issue of vocabulary learning has been discussed in numerous English teaching contexts and societies so far. But what all teaching methods and their psychological foundations such as faculty, behavioristic, cognitivistic, humanistic or psycholinguistic are concerned with, seem to be quite varied (Birjandi, Mossalanejad, & Bagheridoust, 2000, p. 83). Different concepts act as guidelines for the sequences and forms of language areas (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation…), skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing), culture (literature and fine arts, everyday life of target language speakers…), language learning, language teaching, interactions, and classroom authorities. However, no specific strategies (e.g., among various teaching methods) can be taken into account to make the above language areas, for instance, more effective. Among all language areas, vocabulary is of great significance; however, learning vocabulary (regardless of other language areas e.g., grammar, pronunciation…) is not commonly explained independently, and if ever explained, learners cannot determine a common acceptable strategy to learn words more quickly and efficiently in order to be able to trace them in future communications. Thus, the problem to address is to determine a suitable strategy or technique to fulfill vocabulary learning. In each particular vocabulary learning situation, it is initially necessary to identify the 32 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 learner, task, and context configuration, otherwise the learning strategy will not be fully analyzed. That is because some strategies are more learner-dependent, some are more task-dependent, and others are more context-based (Mohseni-Far, 2008). A learning strategy (technique) covers a series of activities and efforts one follows, which consequently completes a successful learning task. The learner continues to select, deploy, monitor, and assess the usefulness and effectiveness of these activities to see if any revisions are needed in the case of the plan and action. Vocabulary learning strategies have so far been studied as a subcategory of language learning strategies. Meanwhile, they are applicable to a wide variety of language learning tasks which would include task-based vocabulary instruction for instance, the core issue of the present study. Thus, this study is concerned with the effective techniques to learn vocabulary and the helpful strategies to learn new words which is likely to be noticed in learners` future communicative performances as well. The present work is to investigate if the answer to this question is classroom tasks. Rationale for the study The process of vocabulary learning through tasks can have various outcomes. The first assumed result is making better sense of words as to what application they imply, whether concrete or abstract. By getting some help of the focused task; meaning, form, and essence of words are eventually determined. The next outcome goes to memory enhancement concerns. In the socalled generation effect, what learners have generated before are more apt to be remembered than those which are just read and memorized (Kinjo & Snodgrass, 2000; Moshfeghi & Sharifian, 1998a, 1998b). A tendency to obtain such results would make the present piece of research even more essential to convey. A related influence of this study can also be seen in decoding versus encoding of the words. Having incorporated the environmental context in vocabulary learning, the learner can discover the meaning of information given in a complicated way by observing it in a simple or brief manner. Therefore, tasks are responsible for the improvement of perception and consequently learners' production in their future communicative conversations. The above-mentioned outcomes as the result of task-based vocabulary instruction require learner`s subconscious attention. This would suggest a more decisive role for learning vocabulary through tasks. This is predicted to undoubtedly influence him/her to exert new words in their subsequent dialogues and conversations to obtain a remarkable output. Previous research Theoretical Consideration It has been argued that task related issues are two fold. The first, is a number of definitions, distinctions, and features of a task among different types of tasks, e.g., unfocused versus focused ones. The other factor seems to examine tasks from the perspective of SLA research and language pedagogy. There are two core questions that remain important within the discussion of tasks. What is a task exactly? Are there any differences between a task and other language learning devices, for example, an activity, or an exercise? There is no complete agreement as to 33 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 what constitutes a task, making the definition problematic (Crookes, 1986, p.1). Task definitions address a number of dimensions, from among the scope, the perspective of a task, its authenticity, psychological processes, its outcome, and the linguistic skill to perform a task are important ones. A task is a structured plan for the provision of opportunities for the refinement of knowledge and capabilities entailed in a new language and its use during communication (Breen, 1989). But Long (1985) defines a task differently, as a piece of work undertaken for oneself or for others, freely or for some reward. Thus here, examples of tasks include painting a fence, dressing a child, filling out a form, buying a pair of gloves, making an airline reservation and so forth. A task can also be defined as an activity or action which is carried out as the result of processing and understanding language, i.e. as a response (Richards, Platt & Weber, 1985). For example, drawing a map while listening to a tape, or to an instruction and performing a command. As mentioned, not only tasks but also other language learning devices, such as activities, or exercises are available. But a task is not mainly the same as others in use. Tasks primarily call for meaning-focused language use. In contrast, exercises are activities that primarily ask for formfocused language use. However, it is necessary to mention that the overall purpose of tasks, learning a language, is the same as exercises (Ellis, 2003, p.3). Although a task requires the participants to act primarily as language users, an exercise requires them to act primarily as learners. Moreover, Widdowson (1998) argues that what distinguishes a task from an exercise is not 'form' as opposed to 'meaning', but rather the kind of meaning involved. Whereas a task is concerned with 'pragmatic meaning', i.e. the use of language in context, an exercise is concerned with 'semantic meaning', i.e. the systematic meanings that specific forms can convey irrespective of context. The above definition and the preceding discussion reflect a general view of what a task is. But what constitutes a task is partly variable and there is a need for a generalized definition. In order to get such a definition, some criterial features of a task should be identified here. The first feature is that a task is a work plan, a task is a plan for learner's activity. The second feature refers to primary focus of a task which is on meaning. Since a task seeks to develop second language proficiency through communicating, it requires a primary focus on meaning. Then, a task should involve real-world processes of language use. In fact, learners need to engage in a real-world language activity, for example, completing a form, or even to take part in a language activity that is artificial, for example, determining whether two pictures are the same or different. The fourth feature refers to four language skills. A task as a work plan may require learners to listen to or read a text, and may require them to employ a combination of both receptive and productive skills. The next feature, as mentioned before, refers to cognitive processes and what engages a task in them. Selecting, classifying, ordering, reasoning, and evaluating information in order to carry out the task are the main cognitive processes to employ. And the last feature is that a task has a clearly defined communicative outcome. The non-linguistic outcome of a task serves as the goal of the activity for learners, and the stated outcome of a task determines when participants have completed a task. As mentioned, the identification of criterial features of a task is helpful to constitute a generalized definition of a task. Thus, a task can be defined as a work plan that requires learners to process language pragmatically in order to achieve an outcome that will be evaluated in terms of whether the correct or appropriate content has been conveyed (Ellis, 2003, p. 16). Tasks in language pedagogy is another issue then. Like researchers, language teachers have not been slow to recognize the value of tasks. But they have differed mainly in the use of tasks, some teachers have incorporated tasks into traditional language-based approaches to teaching, while 34 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 others have put tasks as units of teaching in their own right and have designed all courses around them. These two ways of using tasks can be referred as task-supported language teaching and as task-based language teaching (Ellis, 2003, p. 27). Next considerations refer to vocabulary learning/ teaching and communicative language ability. When asking a non-language specialist about his/her common sense view of how languages are learned, his/her response would most probably be the substitution of words in one`s first language for the corresponding words in the second language. Thus words are perceived as the building blocks upon which a knowledge of the second language can be built (Carter, 1987). In recent years, a number of various linguists have considered basic questions regarding words: What is a word? What is an idiom? And how is a word best defined? (Lyons, 1977a). Regarding vocabulary teaching—that is, the teaching of vocabulary items that come up without warning in the course of a lesson. The second part deals with planned vocabulary teaching—that is, where the teacher goes into the classroom with an item or a set of vocabulary items that s/he has decided beforehand to be taught during the course of the lesson. Being able to deal with unanticipated vocabulary problems is a key skill in the art of second language teaching, although it is not a topic that has received much attention from teacher educators. There are two great dangers in unplanned vocabulary teaching. One is that the teacher may not go far enough in dealing with the new word, and after the teacher's efforts, the students still do not understand the meaning of the word. The other is that the teacher may go too far, devoting an excessive amount of time to the word and other related words (Celce-Murcia, 1991, p. 299). The last section is communicative language ability which is a basis for both the development and use of language tests, and language testing research. It determines the ability to use language communicatively, and involves both knowledge of or competence in the language, and the capacity for implementing or using this competence (Widdowson, 1983; Candlin, 1986). This framework is presented as a guide to chart directions for research and development in language testing. While this framework is based largely on research in linguistics and applied linguistics, it has evolved through empirical research in language testing (Bachman & Palmer, 1982a). So, the model is a result of refinement on the basis of empirical evidence, illustrating its utility for guiding and informing empirical research in language testing. Empirical review One way to see the overall task of vocabulary learning is through the distinction between knowing a word and using a word. In other words, the purpose of vocabulary learning should include both remembering words and the ability to use them automatically in a wide range of language contexts when the need arises (McCarthy, 1984). In fact, evidence suggests that the knowledge aspect (both breadth and depth) requires more conscious and explicit learning mechanisms whereas the skill aspect involves mostly implicit learning and memory (Ellis, 1994). Vocabulary learning strategies, therefore, should include strategies for "using" as well as "knowing" a word. Another way to view vocabulary learning is to consider it as a process of related sub-tasks. When learners first encounter a new word, they might guess its meaning and usage from available clues. 35 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Some learners might proceed to look it up in the dictionary. Others might take down notes along the margins, between the lines, or on separate vocabulary notebooks. Some learners will repeat the new word a number of times until they are comfortable with it. Others will go beyond simple rote repetition to commit the word to memory. Some would even try to use the word actively. Each of these task stages demands meta-cognitive judgment, choice, and deployment of cognitive strategies for vocabulary learning. And each strategy a learner uses will determine to a large extent how and how well a new word is learned. To date, most of the empirical research on vocabulary learning strategies in a second language have focused on different sub-tasks of vocabulary learning. Fewer studies can be found on person-related vocabulary learning strategies. Now, let's look at how authentic video accompanied by subtitles can help vocabulary learning in the foreign language class. A subtitled video clip, as a task, provides a triple connection between image, sound and text, sound and text being linked by translation when standard subtitles are used (Danan, 1992). This fact is relevant enough when we think about the importance of visual associations in memory for vocabulary learning, and how this type of connection generally encourages greater retention in lexical terms. This mnemonic power of images is here enhanced by the presence of sound and text together; when this text appears in the form of translation, the associations in memory are enhanced even further. Hence, the potential usefulness of authentic subtitled video clips in vocabulary learning should not be negated. However, it is generally acknowledged that L2 vocabulary learning happens in the course of reading for comprehension. As to the lexical processing strategies (i.e., ignoring, consulting, and inferring), research suggests that L2 learners who are left on their own generally ignore unfamiliar words, infer only when there is a specific need, and consult on a very selective basis (Bensoussan & Laufer, 1984). Because attention to an unknown word seems to be a prerequisite for any learning to occur (Ellis, 1994; Schmidt, 1994), high rates of ignoring would thus severely limit the learning potential. To be more successful in terms of lexical learning, L2 learners are encouraged to ignore and mark unfamiliar vocabulary while reading the text for the first time. The reasoning is that inferring word meanings is potentially a productive strategy for vocabulary learning. That is, through the use of lexical inference most L2 learners engage themselves in "considerable hypothesis and testing about word meaning" and, at the same time, "the rich psychological and linguistic context that text provides can act as a cognitive hook for the memory of new words" (Fraser, 1999). Future research can also examine how the other forms of contextual encoding (i.e., remembering new words with context, and using a new word in context) relate to other strategies and to learning results. And drawing on recent research, it shows how a vocabulary learning goal can be effectively designed into many speaking activities; and it shows how it is possible to plan what vocabulary is likely to be learned in particular activities. Speaking tasks such as mini-lectures, ranking activities, split information tasks, role plays, and problem solving discussion are not usually thought of as having vocabulary learning goals. One of the reasons for this is that it seems difficult to plan vocabulary learning as a part of a syllabus using activities that are largely productive, unpredictable, and subject to the whims of the people who happen to be in the discussion group. 36 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 Method ISSN: 2289-2737 The present study was concerned with the process of vocabulary learning through tasks and the impact of such a process on the final product (i.e., communicative ability) of Iranian EFL learners studying at Iran Language Institute. Also, it shared a number of characteristics with both quantitative and qualitative analysis, and was basically experimental in nature. The study, thus, investigated the following research question: -Does task-based vocabulary learning have any effect on communicative performance of Iranian EFL learners as tested by IELTS speaking module? Participants The participants of this study consisted of 100 intermediate male students at the Iran Language Institute (ILI) within the age range of 17 to 24 who were randomly selected and split into two groups of 50. The justification for choosing these participants (i.e., particular target population) was that during their 3 years of studying English they had been exposed to a sufficient corpus of formal and mildly informal L2 English at ILI and this was taken as the minimum requirement of being able to take part in the present researcher`s communicative interviews. To make sure of the homogeneity within the groups, Oxford Placement Test (OPT) was also administered. . Instruments In order to homogenize the proficiency level of students, the Oxford Placement Test 2 (OPT, Allen, 1992) was used. The test has long been reported to enjoy acceptable reliability for different nationalities across the globe (e.g., Hornby, 1989). The study was done in the language laboratory context since students' oral communicative ability was to be tested both before and after the instruction. This was done to seek any significant difference in the way new vocabulary was internalized. An interviewer was asked to convey a structured interview with the participants in both pre-instruction and post-instruction activities (i.e., dialogs). Two raters, too, were scoring each student in both interviews based on the standardized scale of IELTS speaking test which is designed to assess the speaking ability of EFL learners based on the four criteria of pronunciation, grammatical range and accuracy, fluency and coherence along with lexical resource. A camera was also used to film the participants during the interviews for the raters to be better able to score the interviewees based on their performance using the related scale. Stimuli Due to manageability concerns, the participants were placed in two groups of 50, for whom two different approaches of vocabulary learning were used. As for the first group, vocabulary were taught through tasks, but for the second group, vocabulary definitions and explanations were merely given. The main concern regarding the above research question was the type of tasks to use. Since target language tasks are aimed to fulfill communicative purposes and outcomes, a few collaborative tasks were applied to the present design. Such tasks included: Fill in forms, fill in charts, role-plays, and decision-making tasks. Furthermore, the suggested tasks were taught by 37 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 the instructor based on Willis (1996)'s task-based learning (TBL) framework; namely, consisting of a pre-task, task cycle and language focus (Harmer, 2001). For the experimental group, the pre-task included getting the students to familiarize with the topic and highlighted words and phrases. During the Task cycle, the students performed the task in pairs or small groups while the instructor monitored from a distance. And in the language focus stage, the students examined and discussed specific features of any listening or reading section in which they had looked for the intended task. As for the control group, students memorized a number of definitions of the same vocabulary used in the tasks proposed for the experimental group of the study. Regarding the type of interviews and their questions as pre- post tests, there was very little flexibility in the way questions were asked. In other words, the interviews were structured. This interview type followed a pre-prepared, elaborate schedule/guide which contained a list of questions covered closely with every interviewee. Thus, the researcher could frame questions that would yield only the needed answers, questions that were closely linked to the vocabulary tasks and their related words given in sequence to both experimental and control groups of learners during the period of instruction, and were asked by the same interviewer in the same way in both pre and post-test interviews. Finally, the scale by which raters could score participants' performance in both prepost tests interviews was the standard IELTS speaking module scale retrieved from Cambridge IELTS series. Procedure Each of the two groups learned the intended list of vocabulary using a different approach. The experimental group learned them through tasks by being exposed to new words through taskbased instruction while the control group used definitions of vocabulary and memorized them one by one. Upon randomly assigning intermediate students to two groups of thirty through Oxford Placement Test (OPT), each participant in both groups, as the pre-test, was interviewed by asking 5 questions and receiving 5 answers about 3 specific topics chosen from the tasks that would be given to the experimental group during the instruction. This was done with the expectation of receiving simple answers. Also, the interviews were filmed so that the 2 raters could score them based on the standardized scale of IELTS. The raters were chosen from among the few official IELTS examiners who were available in the city of Shiraz. The mean of raters' scores for each participant in the pre test to compare with later mean scores of learners in the post test was calculated. Afterwards, two different instruction methods were used for both groups of participants. For the first, vocabularies were taught through tasks while for the second group, through definitions and explanations. After one month of instruction for the experimental group (i.e., two weeks of Instruction followed by one week of practice and gap between tests and instruction period), the participants were re-interviewed on the same specific topics and questions related to instructed tasks, to find out if there was a significant difference between the two groups in using the learned vocabulary in their communicative performance. Once again, 2 raters scored the participants of both groups, as the post-test, by watching the recorded interviews based on the pre-designed standardized scale of IELTS. The mean scores were calculated one more time for each student in order to 38 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 compare the results in the pre and post-tests. In the end, a series of matched t-tests were administered. Inter-rater reliability As previously reiterated, learners were filmed while being interviewed, and two raters scored the participants of the two groups by watching the recorded interviews based on the pre-designed standardized scale of IELTS in both pre and post-tests. Since more than one rater was involved in the rating of all examinees, the consistency of ratings given by different raters should be determined. In order to do so, a type of reliability, inter-rater reliability, was delineated. In examining inter-rater consistency, the first step was calculation of correlation coefficient between two different raters in pre and post-tests for the two groups. Having gained the correlation coefficient of raters in each test for the two groups, the inter-rater reliability could be obtained. The results are shown in table 1. Table 1: Inter-rater reliability Epre Epost Cpre Cpost R 0.86 0.69 0.78 0.75 r 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.8 tt As the above table shows, almost all values are more than 0.7. Since any value less than 0.7 will be an indication of room for improvement in the briefing of raters or the system of scoring that has been used. Findings of the study Having obtained the results from the raw data, statistical analysis was carried out within the framework of "within type" and "between type" effects. The results of within group t-tests applied to both the experimental and control groups who learned vocabulary differently, one via tasks and the other through memorization, in both pre and post interviews are summarized in table 2. Figures 1 to 4 also illustrate the differences more clearly. 39 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Mean P1 P2 Epre Epost Cpre Cpost Table 2: Within group analysis N 5.9750 7.0833 5.8917 6.1333 50 50 50 50 S. Error Mean .19341 .16318 .20010 .20543 1.05934 .89378 1.09600 1.12521 df 29 29 Pair 1 Epre – Epost Pair 2 Cpre – Cpost SD Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 EPRE 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 4. 00 4. 50 4. 25 5. 00 4. 75 5. 50 5. 25 6. 00 5. 75 6. 75 6. 25 7. 25 7. 00 7. 75 EPRE Figure 1: Within group effects of the experimental group in pre-test EPOST 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 5. 50 5. 75 6. 25 6. 50 6. 75 7. 25 7. 50 7. 75 8. 00 8. 25 8. 50 EPOST Figure 2: Within group effects of the experimental group in post-test 40 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 CPRE 5 4 3 2 1 0 3. 75 4. 50 4. 25 5. 25 5. 00 5. 75 5. 50 6. 25 6. 00 6. 75 6. 50 7. 25 7. 00 7. 75 7. 50 CPRE Figure 3: Within group effects of the control group in pre-test CPOST 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 3. 75 4. 50 4. 25 5. 00 4. 75 5. 50 5. 25 6. 00 5. 75 6. 50 6. 25 7. 00 6. 75 8. 00 7. 75 CPOST Figure 4: Within group effects of the control group in post-test The results indicate a significant difference within each group before and after instruction. The mean score of the experimental group in post-test (7.08) was relatively higher than its mean score in pre-test (5.97). Also, the difference in mean score of the control group in pre-test (5.89) and post-test (6.13) was significant. A different battery of matched t-tests were also run to analyze the between-type effects. The results of between group t-tests presented for the experimental and control groups in both pre-post interviews are outlined in table 3. 41 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Table 3: Between group analysis Pair 1 Pair 2 Epre Cpre Epost Cpost Mean N SD 5.9750 5.8917 7.0833 6.1333 50 50 50 50 1.05934 1.09600 .89378 1.12521 Pair 1 Epre – Cpre Pair 2 Epost – Cpost df 29 29 S. Error Mean .19341 .20010 .16318 .20543 Sig. (2-tailed) .057 .000 As expected, the result indicates a significant difference between two groups in post-test after the instruction, while the difference between them in pre-test is not as strongly significant as the former. The mean score of the experimental group in post-test (7.08) is higher than the mean score of the control group in post-test (6.13). This way, the instruction has successfully made a change in participants` performance. However, the mean score of the experimental group in pretest (5.97) and the mean score of the control group in pre-test (5.89) are not distant enough from one another to make a significant difference. Discussion and conclusion This study was conducted to check for any significant effects of task-based vocabulary instruction on communicative ability of the participants as could be detected through IELTS speaking sub-test. The answer was eventually affirmative. Indeed, vocabulary learning via tasks proved to be influential in communicative ability of Iranian EFL learners. Tasks were found to have a significant effect on better understanding of instructed vocabulary and consequently on learners' communication as well. It was also found that different vocabulary learning options used for both groups during the period of instruction; namely, task-based approach for the first and definition based approach for the second, influenced learners` performance in communicative settings to different degrees. Since application of tasks rather than using vocabulary definitions and explanations would change sheer form into meaning plus form which would consequently help learners obtain a remarkable communicative ability and follow expression, interpretation, and negotiation of meaning instead of just questioning and answering, results of a series of matched t-tests carried out on within and between type effects, too, proved meaningful differences. Accurately speaking, the experimental group achieved significantly better results than the control group in the posttest. Finally, the results provided a fair amount of evidence for the rejection of the null hypothesis of the study. Therefore, task-based vocabulary instruction has had a significant positive effect on communicative ability of Iranian ILI EFL learners. The validity of IELTS speaking scoring scale is once again proved to work checking for fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy and pronunciation. The results of this study first indicated that communicative ability couldn't be presented and fully transferred by itself; rather, speakers of language were able to communicate using different forces and learning strategies among which task-based vocabulary learning can be thought of as one of the most updated and influential ones. In addition, the obtained results could prove the efficiency 42 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 of tasks and incidental learning conditions created by teachers in comparison with other activities and conditions. This means that: 1) Learners' communicative ability can be best influenced by vocabulary learning. That's why the question of learning vocabulary has been discussed in many previous language teaching contexts to determine the best strategy among all, to learn words more quickly and efficiently in order to be traced by learners in their future conversations and communications. 2) Tasks and their accompanying instructions have been found to affect vocabulary learning and ultimately learners' communicative ability. 3) Vocabulary intake using tasks is a psychological process and cannot be directly observed. As such, it is difficult to observe in naturalistic settings. 4) Vocabulary learning happens through tasks rather than exercises, while exercise is some formfocused language use on the part of language learner under intentional conditions, task is a meaning-focused language use on the part of language user under incidental conditions. Like the tasks used in the present study, that are administered under incidental conditions, this may not have precluded some of the participants from intentionally attempting to memorize or deduce rules from the input. 5) The results also support the notion of promoting more process-oriented syllabi in language teaching contexts. 6) At last, it is concluded that this very technique can be once more suggested to be used more seriously by teachers to reinforce new words. The results of this piece of research can act as a further proof to the reliability of task-based approach realized in a less commonly observed context of vocabulary instruction which is still neglected in many EFL educational settings in Iran. The issue of vocabulary learning remains one of the most problematic domains within the country of Iran as a part of Asian context of language learning and teaching. Nevertheless, the present study also suffered from a few limitations. First, the participants taking part in interviews were all of intermediate level of proficiency while incorporating other proficiency levels would have also yielded interesting results. Second, applying other scales of assessing speaking ability of learners instead of IELTS could lead to other generalizations regarding the communicative ability of participants. Finally, the tasks used in this piece of research were all of pedagogic type while using more real life ones could be also informative. References Allen, D. (1992). Oxford placement test 2 (New edition). Oxford University Press. 43 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Arnaud, P. J. L., & Savignon, S. J. (1997). Rare words, complex lexical units and the advanced learner in J. Coady & T. Huckin (Eds.), Second language vocabulary acquisition (pp. 157-173). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bachman, L. F., & Palmer, A. S. (1982a). The construct validation of some components of communicative proficiency. 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Boston, Mass.: Heinle & Heinle Publishers. Danan, M. (1992). Reversed subtitling and dual coding theory: New directions for foreign language instruction. Language Learning, 42(4), 497-527. doi:10.1111/j.14671770.1992.tb01042.x Ellis, N. (1994). Consciousness in second language learning: Psychological perspectives on the role of conscious processes in vocabulary acquisition. AILA Review, 11, 37-56. Ellis, N. (1994). Vocabulary acquisition: The implicit ins and outs of explicit cognitive mediation. In N. C. Ellis (Ed.), Implicit and explicit learning of languages (pp. 211-282). London: Adademic Press. [-20-] doi:10.2307/3587206 Ellis, R. (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Fraser, C. A. (1999). Lexical processing strategy use and vocabulary learning through reading. SSLA, 21, 225-241. doi:10.1017/S0272263199002041 Gass, S., Crookes, G. (1993a). Tasks in a pedagogical context: Integrating theory and practice. Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters. Gass, S., & Crookes, G. (1993b). Tasks and language learning: Integrating theory and practice. Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters. Harmer, J. (2001). The practice of English language teaching. Essex: Pearson Education Ltd. doi:10.1177/003368820103200109 Hornby, A. S. (ed.) (1989). Oxford Advanced Learner `s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 4th ed. Hunt, A., & Beglar, D. (2005). A framework for developing EFL reading vocabulary. Reading in a Foreign Language, 17, 1–31. Kinjo, H., & Snodgrass, J. G. (2000). Does the generation effect occur for Pictures? American Journal of Psychology, 113, 95-117. doi:10.2307/1423462 Long, M. (1985). 'A role for instruction in second language acquisition: task-based language teaching' in K. Hyltenstam and M. Pienemann (Eds.): Modelling and assessing second language acquisition. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Long, M., & Crookes, G. (1991). Three approaches to task-based syllabus design. TESOL Quarterly, 26(1), 27-55. doi:10.2307/3587103 Lyons, J. (1977a). Semantics (Vols. 1 & 2). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 44 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 McCarthy, M. J. (1984). A new look at vocabulary in EFL. Applied Linguistics, 5, 12-22. doi:10.1093/applin/5.1.12 Mohseni-Far, M. (2008). In search of the best technique for vocabulary acquisition. Estonian Papers in Applied Linguistics, 4, 121-138. doi:10.5128/ERYa4.08 Moshfeghi, F., & Sharifian, F. (1998a). Generation effect and associative learning. Journal of Education and Psychology Research, 1, 1-20 [-8-]. Moshfeghi, F., & Sharifian, F. (1998b). The effect of two different degrees of generation on memory. Paper presented at the 4th Conference on Linguistics, Allameh Tabatabaie University, Tehran, Iran. Newton, J. (2001). 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Appendix 1 Examples of the tasks applied to vocabulary instruction of the study a) Fill in forms Listen to the conversation and write the missing words for each student. Name: John Age: Country: Birth Date: Married: Single: Occupation: Hobbies: Jazz Name: Anna Age: 35 Country: Birth Date: Married: Single: Occupation: Hobbies: Name: Andrew Age: Country: Birth Date: Married: Single: Occupation: Hobbies: 45 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Appendix 2 The standardized scale based on which raters scored the examinees Student √: Acceptable *: Unacceptable °: Fair Assessment criteria (score) 1. Ability to communicate effectively (2) 2. Ability to use appropriate vocabulary structures (2) 3. Ability to ask/answer questions (1) 4. Ability to take initiative in a conversation (1) 5. General fluency (1) 6. Structural accuracy (1) 7. Intelligibility (1) 46 and Total score (0-9) The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Increasing Objectivity of Student Teaching Evaluation in ESL/EFL Settings Monir Nazir Atta-Alla, Ph. D Eastern University Pennsylvania, USA Abstract The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of using a student teacher performance assessment instrument (STPAI) on increasing the objectivity of assessing the performance of student teachers in English as a second or foreign language. The instrument consisted of four evaluation checklists which were developed by the writer to be used by student teachers, the cooperating teachers, university supervisors, and the school principals. To measure the effectiveness of the instrument, a closed questionnaire also developed by the writer was administered to the participants of the study. The findings of the study indicated that the scores obtained by the participants of the experimental group on the post administration of the questionnaire were higher than those on the pre- administration. The proposed instrument proved to be effective in increasing the objectivity of assessment and in providing the participants with a sense of security and easiness. Key Terms: Teacher Evaluation, Student Teaching, Self-Evaluation, Cooperating Teacher Evaluation, School Principal Evaluation, Evaluation Criteria Introduction Student teaching is the most important element of student teachers‘ professional training. Consequently, student teaching supervision and evaluation should gear towards enhancing student teachers‘ professional development. It should provide information about student teachers‘ current state of knowledge and skills, give them feedback on their performance, and help supervisors make informed decision on student teachers‘ professional development. For many teachers, teacher evaluation is an effective process necessary for professional development (Kelly, 2006; La Masa, 2005; Nordheim, 2006). Therefore, ―Newer approaches to teacher evaluation need to be ongoing, tied to professional development, and based on multiple sources of data‖ (Hughes, 2006, p.23). Theoretical Framework Teacher Evaluation Teacher evaluation has a multifaceted purpose for students, teachers, and administrators. For students, teacher evaluation helps to recognize and improve student achievement (Allen & Palaich, 2000; Astor, 2005; Diamond & Handi, 2002; La Masa, 2005; Ovando, 2005; Peterson & Peterson, 2006; Sinnema & Robinson, 2007; Webb & Norton, 2009). For teachers, it measures teaching outcomes (Goldrick, 2002), provides information on what is considered acceptable 47 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 performance (Collins, 2004; Koops & Winsor, 2006; Nolan & Hoover, 2008; Rockoff, 2004; Stronge, Richard, & Catano, 2008), monitors and encourages instructional improvement initiatives and innovative ideas (Peterson, 1995, Sullivan & Glanz, 2005), provides direction for professional growth or remediation (Beers, 2006; Collins, 2004; Glanz, Shulman, & Sullivan, 2007; Leithwood, Louis, Anderson, & Wahlstrom, 2004; Stronge, Richard, & Catano, 2008; Tang & Chow, 2007), and promotes excellence and celebrate success (Irvin, Meltzer & Dukes, 2007; Koops & Winsor, 2006; Peterson & Peterson, 2006). For administrators and policymakers, teacher evaluation promotes school improvement or reform (Leithwood, Louis, Anderson & Wahlstrom, 2004; Stronge, Richard & Catano, 2008) and serves as a mechanism of quality control (Al-Shammari & Yawkey, 2008; Beers, 2006; Kyriakides, Demetriou & Charalambous, 2006; Peterson & Peterson, 2006; Schmoker, 2006; Tang & Chow, 2007; Toch & Rothman, 2008). One of the key factors of the success and effectiveness of the teacher evaluation process is the consistency and quality of implementation (Kimball, 2002; Wang & Day, 2002). The second factor is the attitudes and perceptions of the evaluators and the teachers being evaluated (Astor, 2005; Barnett, 2006; Kimball, 2002; La Masa, 2005). Although the evaluation of student teachers should concentrate on the continuous professional development of student teachers, many supervisors focus on making judgments on student teachers‘ performance at the end of student teaching term. Cooper (2012) indicates that there are two types of teachers‘ evaluation decisions: formative evaluation decisions and summative evaluation decisions. However, many supervisors focus on the summative evaluations to make judgments about student teacher‘s performance. Many of them believe that they supervise student teachers only to form judgments, which in turn are to be used in decision making. In most, if not all, schools of education student teaching is evaluated according to the nature of the practicum course. Student teaching supervisors rely mainly on summative impressionistic evaluation. They observe student teachers, during their student teaching once or, at the most, twice and usually evaluate their performance subjectively depending on their written notes, if exist, and on their overall impression of the student teacher‘s performance. Such summative evaluation practices seldom improve teacher performance (Danielson, 2001). Therefore, many pre-service and inservice teachers have negative views on such teacher evaluation practices (Acheson & Gall, 2003, 2008; Collins, 2004; Robles, 2007). Moreover, this impressionistic evaluation of preservice and in-service teachers makes teacher experience some negative emotions. Breedlove (2011) cited some of these negative emotions such as: helplessness, frustration, confusion, embarrassment, stress, angst, defensiveness hostility, and resentment. Pre-service and in-service teacher evaluation must gear towards the improvement of teaching and learning (Acheson & Gall, 2003; Al-Shammari & Yawkey, 2008; Collins, 2004; Glanz, Shulman, & Sullivan, 2007; Glickman, Gordon, & Ross-Gordon, 2009 & 2010; Kelly, 2006; Kimball, 2002; Koops & Winsor, 2006; Marshall, 2005; Mooney & Mausbach, 2008; Nordheim, 2006; Oliva, Mathers, & Laine, 2009; Ovando, 2005; Sinnema & Robinson, 2007; Stronge, Richard, & Catano, 2008; Sullivan & Glanz, 2005; Teddlie et al., 2003; Tucker, Stronge, Gareis, & Beers, 2003; Weisberg, Sexton, Mulhern, & Keeling, 2009; Williamson & Blackburn, 2009). It should be formative, collaborative process that aims at enhancing teachers‘ professional development. Teacher evaluation should be an interactive process between the evaluators and the teacher that requires processes rather than instruments as well as continuous communication about what is learned through evaluation (Breedlove, 2011; Stronge, Richard & Catano, 2008). According to Trehearn (2010), ―When professional development programs are well designed and implemented, they lead to student achievement and ultimately all of society (p.25)‖. Donaldson (cited in 48 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Hughes, 2006) described teacher evaluation as a collaborative process, focusing on the teacher‘s selection of a course of professional growth designed to increase student success. When teacher evaluation focuses on the professional development of teachers, it improves the quality of instruction, supports teacher development, and enhances whole school improvement (Hughes, 2006; Sosanya-Tellez, 2010). Literature on teacher evaluation shows that collaborative formative evaluation leads to substantive teacher growth, improved instruction, enhanced student outcomes, and school improvement focused on student learning (Danielson, 2002; Danielson & McGreal, 2000; Isaacs, 2003; Nolan & Hoover, 2004; Peterson, 2000; Toch & Rothman,2008). Stages of pre-service and in-service teacher evaluation For many practitioners teacher evaluation practices that focus on professional development includes a few stages: 1) pre-observation conference (Acheson & Gall, 2003; Beers, 2006; McCann, Johannessen, & Rica, 2005; Williamson & Blackburn, 2009), 2) frequent observations (Acheson & Gall, 1997; Cotton, 2003; La Masa, 2005; Nordheim, 2006; Robles, 2007), and 3) post-observation conferences and feedback (Beers, 2006; Blasé & Blasé, 2001; Cotton, 2003; Goldrick, 2002; Gregoire, 2010; Howard & McColskey, 2001; Irvin, Meltzer & Dukes, 2007; Kelly, 2006; Kimball, 2002; La Masa, 2005; Lansman, 2006; McCann, Johannessen, & Rica, 2005; Ovando, 2005; Ponticell & Zepeda, 2004; Tellez, 2008; Tucker, 2001; Wang & Day, 2002). It should involve many stakeholders such as: teachers, supervisors, and administrators. The evaluators should use a variety of data sources and multiple criteria (Borman & Kimball, 2005; Ludwigsen, 2009; Ovando & Ramirez, 2007; Pizzi, 2009). Each evaluation session should have a few specific goals (Howard & McColskey, 2001; La Masa, 2005; Mooney & Mausbach, 2008; Tellez, 2008; Webb & Norton, 2009; Williamson & Blackburn, 2009) and only one focus (Sullivan & Glanz, 2005). Systematic Observation in Teacher Evaluation Literature on pre-service and in-service teacher evaluation shows that the use of systematic observations resulted in teaching evaluations that can determine specific strengths, weaknesses, and improvements of teachers‘ performance (Acheson & Gall, 1997; Cotton, 2003; Faire, 1994; Fisler & Newcorck, 1984; Koehler, 1984; La Masa, 2005; McIntyre, 1984; McLaughlin, 1992; Marzano, Waters & McNulty, 2005; Nordheim, 2006; Robles, 2007; Webster, 1994). Because frequent classroom observations are effective in indicating of what is occurring on a day-to-day basis and providing more opportunities for feedback, many teachers want more frequent observations (La Masa, 2005; Lansman, 2006; Robles, 2007). The number of observation can vary in light of the needs of the teacher being observed (Duke & Stiggins, 1986). Teacher Self-evaluation Many studies indicated that self-evaluation practices increase teachers‘ motivation (Barbour, 1989), enhance their empowerment (Lansman, 2006; Stronge & Tucker, 1999; Wang & Day, 2002), increase their confidence and reduces their fears (Kelly, 2006; Zepeda & Ponticell, 1998), 49 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 and enhance their professional growth (Costa & Kallick, 2000; Nunan, 1988), it is a systematic approach to the observation, evaluation, and management of one‘s own behavior (Armstrong & Frith, 1984). It is an approach to teacher evaluation that complements, rather than replaces, other forms of assessment, such as feedback from students, peers, or supervisors (Richard, 1990). It narrows the gap between teachers‘ imagined view of their own teaching and reality and helps student teachers to be more realistic about their own teaching and more concrete in the questions they ask of supervisors and improves teacher professional development (Williamson & Blackburn, 2009). It also enhances student outcomes (Henson, 2001; Muijs & Reynolds, 2002). The Role of Cooperating teacher in Pre-Service Teacher Evaluation The cooperating teacher plays a crucial role in the professional development of young professionals by providing a safe teaching setting, modeling ethical behaviors, and providing appropriate advice and feedback (Fritz & Mantooth, 2005; Kitchel & Torres, 2007; Rudney & Guillaume, 2003). Studies that investigated the role of the cooperating teacher indicated that the cooperating teachers have a profound influence on the professional development of the preservice teacher. They can be of a great help in the preparation of the young professionals as cosupervisors and co-evaluators. (Edwards & Briers, 2001; Koehler, 1986; Roberts, 2005; Zepeda & Ponticell, 1998; Thobega & Miller, 2007). The Role of School Principal in Teacher Evaluation School principals should play some key roles as mentors, inspirers, facilitators of learning, and evaluators. They should use teacher evaluation as professional development activity (Cooper, Ehrensal & Bromme; Barnett, 2006; Hazi & Rucinski, 2009; Nelson & Sassi, 2005). To do this, they should use teacher evaluation processes to encourage collegial trusting relationships (Ponticell & Zepeda,2004; Sullivan & Glanz, 2005) and reflective dialogue (Blasé & Blasé, 2001) in a safe and welcoming atmosphere (Astor, 2005; Glickman, Gordon, & Ross-Gordon, 2010; Gregoire, 2010; Hirsch, 2009b; McGrath, 2007; Oliva, Mathers & Laine, 2009; Ponticell & Zepeda, 2004; Stronge, Richard & Catano, 2008; Sullivan & Glanz, 2005; Tellez, 2008). Involving school principals in pre-service and in-service teacher evaluation contributes to the improvement of instructional practices (Lansman, 2006). Evaluation Criteria in Teacher Evaluation The absence of evaluation criteria creates a sense of insecurity and uneasiness among student teachers and their supervisors because of the lack of direction. Hyman (1986) points out that the absence of evaluation criteria creates the possibility that the teacher and supervisor are not communicating effectively when they speak about the meaning of data gathered from the various sources. To overcome the negative unintended consequences of the subjective impressionistic evaluation of student teachers‘ performance and to create a sense of security and easiness, objective instruments should be developed and used. The observation instrument can be the starting point for a collegial conversation about these expectations, beginning with the preobservation conference and lasting throughout the feedback process (Sullivan & Glanz, 2005; Tang & Chow, 2007). Literature on teacher evaluation assures the necessity of using established criteria in the evaluation. Some studies investigated and described the development of evaluation criteria which would promote growth and improve the interaction of the student teacher, the cooperating 50 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 teacher, and the university supervisor such as rating scales, check lists, open-ended interviews, journals, video recordings, and conferences (Acheson & Gall, 2003; Baily 1979; Gries, 1986; Marshall, 2005; Niemeyer & Moon, 1986; O‘Neal, 1983; Robles, 2007; Toch & Rothman, 2008; Tucker, 2001; Vollmer & Creek, 1993; Webb & Norton, 2009). Purpose of the Study Due to the immense number of student teachers and the limited number of training schools in Egypt, some schools of education send student teachers to student teaching placements in small groups. Each group is assigned one or two classes a week. And since each group includes 6-8 student teachers, each student teacher teaches only once or at the most twice a semester, if not throughout the whole school year. The student teaching university supervisors focus on assessing student teachers‘ performance not developing their teaching skills. Even though, they evaluate the student teachers‘ performance orally. They concentrate mainly on students‘ shortcomings. Their evaluation is both subjective and impressionistic. They do not use structured observation checklists by which student performance could be objectively evaluated. This view is confirmed in the literature on student teaching (El-Naggar, 1986; Gerlach & Millward, 1989; Abou Haggar & El-Naggar, 1995). Thus, the present study aims to outline a suggested approach for evaluating student teachers‘ performance during their student teaching. It is an attempt to increase the objectivity of assessing the performance of student teachers of English through using a proposed instrument that depends on the collaboration of four supervisory participants: student teachers, cooperating teachers, university supervisors, and school principals. Hypotheses of the study In light of reviewing the related literature, the present study was concerned with testing the following directional hypotheses: 1. There would be no significant differences between means of scores obtained by the participants of both the experimental and control groups on the pre-administration of the questionnaire. 2. There would be significant differences (favoring the experimental group) between means of scores obtained by the participants of both the experimental and control groups on the postadministration. 3. There would be no significant differences between means of scores obtained by the participants of control group on the questionnaire on a pre-administration, postadministration comparison. 4. There would be significant differences (favoring the post-administration) between means of scores obtained by the participants of the experimental group on the questionnaire, on a preadministration, post-administration comparison. Significance of the study The present study aims at developing an objective instrument for the assessment of student teachers‘ performance that would both provide student teacher development and improve the 51 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 interaction of all parties relating to appropriate and productive teaching behaviors. It was hoped that it will garner a clearer understanding of how judgments are made regarding the success or failure of student teachers and how assessment of student teachers can be used as a means of formative feedback for improving specific skills. Methodology Participants The participants for the study were 96 senior student teachers of English with approximately equal numbers of males and females (16 groups X 6 students). Their ages were between 21 and 24 years. They were assigned randomly to two matching groups: experimental (48 students: 24 males and 24 females) and control (48 students: 24 males and 24 females). Instruments Student Teacher Performance Assessment Instrument (STPAI) The writer believes that: 1) student teaching can be successful if the student teacher, the cooperating teacher, and the university supervisor share common goals; 2) student teachers have the right to an overall assessment of their performance that is frank, honest, and consistent; and 3) while the university supervisor has authority over the student teacher, the cooperating teacher and the school principal have authority over the teaching–learning environment and process. Therefore, the suggested evaluation system depends on the collaboration of four supervisory participants (the student teacher, the cooperating teacher, the university supervisor, and the school principal). Delmere (1986) has confirmed this collaborative evaluation. In order to make fair evaluation in a sound supervisory system and to achieve objectivity of assessing the student teachers‘ performance, the writer developed the STPAI. It included four evaluation checklists: student-teacher self-evaluation checklist, cooperating teacher evaluation checklist, university supervisor evaluation checklist, and school principal evaluation checklist. Each checklist has a rating scale for assessing the student teacher‘s performance (see Appendix 1). The suggested assessment technique was designed to discriminate between high and low skill acquisition. It depends on a large matrix of teaching competencies and identifies broad patterns of teaching behavior such as the ability to plan, to communicate and interact, to use a variety of learning activities, to use appropriate teaching aids, to assess students‘ language learning progress, to keep discipline, etc. They complement each other. They were designed to form an overall view of the student teacher‘s performance. In designing the proposed model (STPAI), the researcher kept in mind the following four questions: 1. What is the purpose of evaluation? 2. Who to evaluate? 3. What are the sources of the information needed in evaluation? 4. What criteria will be used in evaluating student teachers‘ performance? Thus, it was designed to assess the student teachers‘ performance objectively. The evaluation was intended to be collaborative and non-judgmental that takes into consideration: the collaboration of student teacher, cooperating teacher, supervisor, and school principal. It depended on observation sheets and reports as sources of the information needed in evaluation. The criteria that were used in determining the merit and worth of a student teacher were jointly developed by student teachers 52 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 and the researcher. They aimed to represent desirable and effective behaviors and were basic to the overall evaluation process. They also aimed to guide thinking of the evaluator and the person being evaluated. These criteria were: 5 = the behavior is very effective. 4 = the behavior is effective. 3 = the behavior is somewhat effective. 2 = the behavior is adequate 1 = the behavior is ineffective After designing the STPAI, it was examined by ten-experienced supervisor and the necessary modifications were made. Then, as indicated by Hyman (1986) and Gerlach and Millward (1989) training the four supervisory participants was a must. They were trained in how to observe and score student teachers‘ behaviors using the criteria or performance factors on which the assessment was based. Then, they were given the evaluation checklists and were asked to make at least four evaluations in the semester. The cooperating teachers and the university supervisors were asked to compare their scores with each other and to compare their scores with the scores which the student teachers have awarded themselves. They were also asked to provide each assessed student teacher with a written report of his or her overall strengths and weaknesses with feedback for improvement after each lesson. Student-Teachers Questionnaire To measure the effectiveness of the proposed model of student teacher performance assessment instrument (STPAI), the researcher used a closed response questionnaire (see Appendix 2). The questionnaire was constructed and administered to the participants of the present study to elicit the participants‘ opinions regarding the assessment of their performance during their student teaching. In its original form, the questionnaire comprised 38 statements. These statements were derived from studies mentioned in the review of related literature. The pilot version of the questionnaire was given to 24 student teachers of English, not involved in the sample, to complete. In light of the judges‘ comments and the results of the pilot study, the questionnaire was revised and additions, omissions, and modifications were made. The reliability of the questionnaire was measured by the split half reliability. The correlation coefficient of the score of the odd and even items for the total of 24 student teachers of the pilot study was computed as (0.82). This attests to the high reliability of the instrument used in the study. The questionnaire face validity was measured by subjecting it to a critical analysis by 10 experienced cooperating teachers, university supervisors, and school principals who omitted, added, and modified some of the statements. They indicated that the questionnaire statements were clearly stated and measure what they were intended to measure. The statistical validity of the questionnaire was also calculated by using the square root of its reliability. It was (0. 91) that means it was valid. The revised version of the questionnaire, which was used in the present investigation, consisted of 30 statements that asked for the student teachers‘ attitudes and opinions regarding the assessment of their performance during their student teaching. Twenty three statements focused on the assessment made by the university supervisor, the cooperating 53 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 teacher, and the school principal, and the student teachers themselves; and seven statements focused on the assessment of performance in general. Student teachers‘ attitudes and opinions were measured directly by their responses to each statement. The statements were worded to evoke responses that reflect attitudes and/or opinions. The participants were asked to indicate the extent to which they agree with each of the 30 items. A five point rating scale (5, 4, 3, 2, and 1) was used to indicate the participants‘ agreement: 5 for strongly agree, 4 for agree, 3 for undecided, 2 for disagree, and 1 for strongly disagree. The questionnaire was scored by awarding 5 points for the most favorable responses on the five semantic differential scales. Since there were 30 statements dealing with the student teachers‘ attitudes and opinions regarding the assessment of their teaching performance, a perfect score would be 150 (30 X 5). The questionnaire was administered twice. It was administered at the beginning of the second semester of the participants‘ student teaching as a pre-administration to elicit their attitudes and opinions regarding the assessment of their performance of the first semester of student teaching. The same questionnaire was administered at the very end of the second semester as a postadministration to elicit the participants‘ attitudes and opinions regarding the proposed model of assessment (STPAI). The respondents were asked to check () on any of the five possible choices corresponding to their degree of agreement to each statement. Instructions were simple, short, and easy to understand. Results and discussion In light of the hypotheses of the present study, the results are presented and discussed in the following section. Means and standard deviations of the participants' scores of both experimental and control groups on the questionnaire as a pre- administration are presented in Table 1. Table 1: Means, Standard Deviations and ‗t‘ value of Scores Obtained by the Participants of Both Control and Experimental Groups on the Pre Administration Group Control Experimental No. of Cases 48 48 Means 46.13 48.40 Standard Deviation 8.94 ―t‖ Value P 1.31 insignificant 7.78 Table (1) indicates that the means of the scores obtained by the participants of both control and experimental groups on the questionnaire as a pre-administration were low. For the control group, the mean was (46.13) with a standard deviation (8.94). For the experimental group, it was (48.40) with a standard deviation (7.78). To test the first hypothesis,―There would be no significant differences between means of scores obtained by the participants of both the experimental and control groups on the pre-administration of the questionnaire‖, ‗t-test ' was used. The t-value was (1.31). It is not significant even at the 0.05 level. These results showed that the participants of the study had negative attitudes towards the assessment of their performance. Thus the first hypothesis was supported. 54 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Means and standard deviations of the participants' scores obtained by the participants of both experimental and control groups on the achievement test as a post-test are presented in Table 2. Table 2: Means, Standard Deviations and ‗t‘ value of Scores Obtained by the Participants of Both the Control and Experimental Groups on the Post Administration Group Control No. of Cases 48 Means 44.73 Standard Deviation 6.65 48 120.08 16.93 Experimental ―t‖ Value P 28.43 < 0.01 The data presented in Table (2) indicate that while the mean of the scores obtained by the participants of the control group on the questionnaire as a post-administration was (44.73) with a standard deviation (6.65), the mean of the scores obtained by the participants of the experimental group was increased. It became (120.08) with a standard deviation (16.93). To test the second hypothesis, ―There would be significant differences (favoring the experimental group) between means of scores obtained by the participants of both the experimental and control groups on the post-administration, the ‗t-test ' was used. The t-value was (28.43). It was significant at the 0.01 level. These results show that the attitudes and opinions of the participants of the experimental group regarding the assessment of their performance has been changed owing to the use of the proposed model of evaluation. They also prove that the STPAI has been effective in increasing the objectivity of assessment. It is clear that the second hypothesis has been supported. Means and standard deviations of the scores obtained by the participants of the control group on the questionnaire on a pre-administration, post-administration comparison are presented in Table 3. Table 3: Means, Standard Deviations and ‗t‘ value of the Scores Obtained by the Participants of the Control Group on a Pre-Post Administration Comparison Test Means Pre No. of Cases 48 Post 48 44.73 46.13 Standard Deviation 8.94 ―t‖ Value -0.86 P Insignificant 6.65 Table (3) indicates that the means of the scores obtained by the participants of the control group on the pre-administration, post-administration comparison were almost the same. On the preadministration, the mean was (46.13) with a standard deviation (8.94). On the postadministration, it was (44.73) with a standard deviation (6.65). To test the third hypothesis, ―There would be no significant differences between means of scores obtained by the participants of control group on the questionnaire on a pre-administration, post–administration comparison‖, the 't-test' was used. The t-value was (0.86). It was not significant even at the 0.05 level. These 55 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 results show that the participants‘ attitudes and opinions regarding the assessment of their performance were not changed since they were evaluated by university supervisors who used the impressionistic approach in evaluation. The data presented in table (3) point out that the third hypothesis was supported. Means and standard deviations of the scores obtained by the participants of the experimental group on the questionnaire on a pre-administration, post-administration comparison are presented in Table 4. Table 4: Means, Standard Deviations and ‗t‘ value of the Scores Obtained by the Participants of the Experimental Group on a Pre-Post-Administration Comparison Test Pre Post No. of Cases 48 48 Means 48.40 Standard Deviation 7.78 120.08 ―t‖ Value P 26.35 < 0.01 16.93 Table (4) indicates that the mean of scores obtained by the participants of the experimental group on the post-administration of the questionnaire was higher than that on the pre-administration. On the pre-administration, the mean was (48.40) with a standard deviation (7.78). On the postadministration, it was (120.08) with a standard deviation (16.93). To test the fourth hypothesis, ―There would be significant differences (favoring the post -administration) between means of scores obtained by the participants of the experimental group on the questionnaire, on a preadministration, post-administration comparison‖, the 't-test ' was used. The t-value was (26.35). It is significant at the 0.01 level. This means that a significant improvement of the participants' attitudes and opinions regarding the assessment of their performance has occurred. These results imply that the proposed model was effective in increasing the objectivity of assessing the student teacher‘s performance. Thus, the fourth hypothesis has been supported. Limitations of the study The findings of this study should be considered in light of a few limitations. First, the participants were a group of student teachers of English owing to the nature of the proposed evaluation model. Second, senior student teachers of English were chosen because they were trained and assessed for a semester in the middle school. Third, the proposed and experienced model of assessment was designed to fit student teaching contexts that require two semesters student teaching. Conclusion The results of the present study indicated that the proposed evaluation model (STPAI) had a positive impact on increasing the objectivity of assessing EFL student teachers‘ performance during their student teaching. They also proved that cooperative work has given new life, new insights, and new enthusiasm to student teachers cooperating teachers, principals, and supervisors. Such results confirm the findings of Delmere‘s (1986). The results of the questionnaire were almost striking and completely substantiate the claims made for collaborative objective evaluation of pre-service and in-service teacher‘s performance. The findings of the 56 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 study showed that the experimental group student teachers showed very significantly more positive attitudes towards the suggested model of evaluation than the control group. The positive attitudes of the experimental group students were equal at all points of the questionnaire. The students who got low scores proved to have attitudes as positive as those who got high scores. The findings of the study proved that using the self-evaluation checklist was useful in helping the participants to realize the reality of their performance. It seems that the suggested model brought considerable gains and no losses. It was found that student teachers reacted very positively to having such an evaluation technique. They also reacted positively to being asked to make their own evaluation and to exchange their reactions and evaluations with those of the university supervisors, school principals, and cooperating teachers. Based on the findings and the conclusions of the present study, the researcher recommended the following: 1. New approaches to student teachers‘ evaluation should be utilized. 2. 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Retrieved from http://widgeteffect.org/downloads/ TheWidgetEffect.pdf Williamson, R., & Blackburn, B. (2009). One teacher at a time. Principal Leadership, 9(7), 4447. Zepeda, S. J., & Ponticell, J. A. (1998). At cross-purposes: What do teachers need, want, and get from supervision? Journal of Curriculum & Supervision, 14 (1), 68-87. Appendix 1 Student Teacher Performance Assessment Instrument (STPAI) A) Student Teacher Self-Evaluation Checklist Instructions: 1. Thoughtfully consider each statement. Evaluate your performance by checking () the appropriate response. 2. Rate your performance in the following way: 5 = the behavior is very effective. 4 = the behavior is effective. 3 = the behavior is somewhat effective. 2 = the behavior is adequate 1 = the behavior is ineffective 3. Use the scoring sheet and follow these steps to get the final score of your performance. a) Calculate the total score of each evaluation. b) Get the average of each time of evaluation by dividing the obtained total score by 6. c) Calculate the total of all averages. d) Get the final score by dividing the obtained total by the number of evaluations. 5. Give the scoring sheet to your supervisor. 63 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 For example, Type of Score Evaluation Times Evaluation 1 Evaluation 2 Evaluation 3 Evaluation 4 Total Score 48 51 48 57 Average 8 8.5 8 9 Total of Averages 34 Final Score 8.5/10 A) Student Teacher Self-Evaluation Checklist School: ……………………… Class: ………………. Date: … ………... Student-Teacher‘s Name: ………………………………………………….. Read the following statements and check () the appropriate response. Rating Scale # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Behaviors The lesson plan was in detail. The activities were varied and stimulating. Various teaching techniques were utilized. A variety of instructional aids was used functionally. Different evaluation techniques suitable for the lesson and the pupils‘ level were used. Students‘ participation was encouraged. The class climate was friendly and encouraging. The best use of class time was made. The language competence was satisfactory There was a good classroom control. The lesson objectives were achieved. In general, the lesson was successful 64 5 4 3 2 1 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 B) Cooperating Teacher’s Evaluation Checklist ISSN: 2289-2737 Instructions: 1. Thoughtfully consider each statement Evaluate the student teacher‘s performance by checking () the appropriate response 2. Rate his/her performance in the following way: 5 = the behavior is very effective. 4 = the behavior is effective. 3 = the behavior is somewhat effective. 2 = the behavior is adequate 1 = the behavior is ineffective 3. Use the scoring sheet and follow these steps to get the final score of the student teacher‘s performance. a) Calculate the total score of each evaluation. b) Get the average of each time of evaluation by dividing the obtained total score by 6. c) Calculate the total of all averages. d) Get the final score by dividing the obtained total by the number of evaluations. 4. Give the scoring sheet to the group supervisor. For example, Type of Score Evaluation Times Evaluation 1 Evaluation 2 Evaluation 3 Evaluation 4 Total Score 48 51 48 57 Average 8 8.5 8 9 Total of Averages 34 Final Score 8.5/10 B) Cooperating Teacher’s Evaluation Checklist School: ……………………… Class: ………………. Date: … ………... Student-Teacher‘s Name: …………………………………………… 65 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Read the following statements and check () the appropriate response. Rating Scale # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Behaviors 5 4 3 2 1 The student teacher: Was knowledgeable and current in subject content and learning process. Communicated so pupils understand. Had a sense of humor. Was self-confident. Created a stimulating, non-threatening learning atmosphere. Used a variety of communicative language learning activities Encouraged students‘ involvement. Had a mastery over his/her participants. Had a clear voice. Controlled physical aspects as far as possible (i.e. lights, ventilation, heat, etc.). Made a good use of the board. Made a good use of the textbook. C) University Supervisor’s Evaluative Criteria Instructions: 1. Thoughtfully consider each statement Evaluate the student teacher‘s performance by checking () the appropriate response. 2. Rate his/her performance in the following way: 5 = the behavior is very effective. 4 = the behavior is effective. 3 = the behavior is somewhat effective. 2 = the behavior is adequate 1 = the behavior is ineffective 3. Use the scoring sheet and follow these steps to get the final score of the student teacher‘s performance. a) Calculate the total score of each evaluation. b) Calculate the total of all evaluations. c) Get the final score by dividing the obtained total by the number of evaluations. 4. Add your final score to those obtained by the student teacher and the cooperating teacher. For example, 66 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 Type of Score ISSN: 2289-2737 Evaluation Times Evaluation 1 Evaluation 2 Evaluation 3 Evaluation 4 Total Score 48 48 Total of all Evaluations 204 Final Score 51/60 51 57 67 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 C) University Supervisor’s Evaluative Criteria School: ……………………… Class: ………………. Date: … ………... Student-Teacher‘s Name: ………………………………………………… Read the following statements and check () the appropriate response. Number 1 2 3 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 a) Rating Scale Behaviors 5 4 3 2 1 The student teacher: Planned and prepared his/her lesson well. Used a variety of materials and learning activities. Used a variety of teaching techniques and strategies. Used a variety of instructional aids. Used a variety of evaluation techniques. Made a good use of the class time. Made use of different techniques of correction and feedback: self-correction, peer correction, and teacher‘s correction Had a good rapport with students. Was able to interact and encourage genuine classroom interaction. Managed his/her classroom successfully. Had a satisfactory level of language competence. Was flexible and creative Achieved the objectives of the lesson. D) Principal’s Evaluation Checklist Instructions: 1. Thoughtfully consider each statement. Evaluate the student teacher‘s performance by checking () the appropriate response. 2. Rate his/her performance in the following way: 5 = the behavior is very effective. 4 = the behavior is effective. 3 = the behavior is somewhat effective. 2 = the behavior is adequate 1 = the behavior is ineffective 3. Follow these steps to get the final score of each student teacher: a) Calculate the total score of each evaluation. b) Get the average of each time of evaluation by dividing the obtained total score by 3. c) Get the total of all averages. d) Get the final score by dividing the obtained total by the number of evaluations. 68 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 For example, Type of Score Total Score Average Total of Averages Final Score Evaluation 1 48 16 68 17/20 Evaluation Times Evaluation 2 Evaluation 3 51 48 17 16 Evaluation 4 57 19 D) Principal’s Evaluation Checklist School: ……………………… Class: ………………. Date: … ………... Student-Teacher‘s Name: ………………………………………………… Read the following statements and check () the appropriate response. Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rating Scale Behaviors 5 4 3 2 1 The student teacher: Interprets and complies with the policies of the school and school system. Participates actively in school activities Makes a good use of school resources. Reflects admirable traits of appropriate personal conduct inside and outside the classroom. Is punctual. Is regular in attendance to class, and required assignments. Has an appropriate appearance Has a good classroom control. Encourages students‘ participation. Makes a good use of the audio-visual aids. Has a friendly classroom climate. Makes a good use of class time. 69 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Appendix 2 Student Teachers‘ Questionnaire Name: ……………………….………. School: ………………………………… Supervisor: ………………………….. Group No. : ………………………….… Read the following statements and check () the appropriate answer. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Used a given rating scale to score my performance. Compared his/her comments, remarks, and ideas to those of the supervisor‘s when possible. Compared his/her comments and /or remarks to mine. Provided me with constructive feedback through the observation sheet in the post-teaching conferences when possible. C) The school principal: Visited me in the class four times or more. Had an observation sheet with a rating scale while visiting my classes. 70 1 Strongly Disagree 9 Used a systematic observation sheet. Used a rating scale to score my performance. Held post-teaching conferences. Discussed his /her comments and /or remarks with me in the post-teaching conferences. Trained me in how to evaluate myself. Gave me a systematic self-evaluation sheet with a rating scale to score my teaching behaviors. Asked me to evaluate my performance orally during the post-teaching conferences. Collected the self-evaluation sheets and discussed them in the post-teaching conferences. Compared his/her written comments and / or remarks to mine. Provided me with constructive feedback through his/her observation sheet in the post-teaching conferences. Took the scores I gave to my performance into consideration. Took the cooperating teacher‘s scores given to my performance into consideration. B) The cooperating teacher : Attended most of, if not all, my classes. 2 Disagree 8 A) The supervisor: Attended most of, if not all, my classes. 3 Undecided 6 7 Strongly Agree Number 1 2 3 4 5 Statement 4 Agree 5 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 21 Used the rating scale to score my performance. ISSN: 2289-2737 22 discussed his/her comments and /or remarks with me 23 Compared his remarks and /or comments with mine. D) General Remarks: I participated in developing some observation sheets and evaluation criteria. The evaluation criteria used in assessing my performance were basic to the overall evaluation process The evaluation criteria used in assessing my performance represented desirable and effective teaching behaviors My performance was objectively evaluated. The evaluation of my performance gave me a sense of security and fairness. I was given a qualitative report by the end of the school year in which the supervisor has written down my advantages and disadvantages with suggestions for improvement in future. The way my performance was assessed was satisfactory. 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 General Comments: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………… Thank you for your cooperation 71 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Impacts of Learning Reading Strategy on Students’ Reading Comprehension Proficiency Mohammad Reza Ahmadi Gilani (PhD candidate, corresponding author) School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia 11800, Penang, Malaysia Tel: + 60-17-527-1870 E-mail: E-mail: mr.ahmadi2720@gmail.com Associate Prof. Dr. Hairul Nizam Ismail, PhD School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia 11800, Penang, Malaysia Tel (Off): (04) 653-3760-Tel (hp): 012-4122539,E-mail: hairul@usm.my Abbas Pourhossein Gilakjani Islamic Azad University of Lahijan, Iran. Email: abbas.pouhossein@yahoo.com Abstract In recent years, learning reading strategy has become an important factor in literacy education. Research has suggested that learning reading strategies can be taught to students whose foreign/second language is English. Although the study shows an improvement in the students‘ reading comprehension proficiency and a positive reaction to the benefits of learning reading strategy. Learning reading strategy is one of the most important skills, receives the special focus on reading comprehension proficiency in foreign language learning. This paper will discuss whether ―learning reading strategies‖ enhance students reading comprehension or not. This lack of good reading strategy skills is exacerbated by the central role of reading comprehension in education success. One solution to the problem of poor reading comprehension is the learning of reading strategy skills. This paper defines the key words, reading strategy process and reading comprehension proficiency, the relationship between learning reading strategies and reading comprehension. The findings indicated that reading strategies had a positive effect on the English reading comprehension proficiency. Keywords: Learning reading strategy, Reading comprehension proficiency, Reading strategies Introduction Reading comprehension is one of the main important elements in English language learning for all students because it provides the basis for a substantial amount of learning in education (Alvermann & Earle, 2003; Kirsch, de Jong, LaFontaine, McQueen, Mendelovits, and Monseur, 2002). Chang (2006) explained that English language teaching is one of the vital elements of international communication activities. So, students need to be trained to use language in different areas such as reading, writing, speaking, and listening to contribute their international communication. Moreover, in foreign language learning, one of the most important factors for the learners is the method which teachers use in their teaching to facilitate learning (Grabe & Stoller, 2002). 72 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Researchers indicated that learning reading strategies have a positive effect on students‘ reading comprehension proficiency (National Reading Panel, 2000). But as Guthrie, Wigfield, Barbosa, et al., (2004) stated that the evidence rests primarily on instructional research in which single cognitive strategies are taught in controlled experiments. As a matter of fact, little is known about the issue of how learning reading strategies might facilitate in reading comprehension proficiency. In learning reading strategies program, reading strategy practice is often supported by classmates/instructor learning arrangements (Palincsar & Brown, 1984). Moreover, a few studies have been conducted related to the identification of the effective elements of reading strategies in reading comprehension. According to Carrell, Gajdusek, and Wise, (1989), reading strategy is defined as a direct instruction in reading comprehension and has consistently produced positive results in comprehension. Reading strategy is one of the keys to make instruction explicit enough to facilitate learners‘ enhancement of meta-cognitive control of strategy use by providing clear and extensive explanations of the value of strategy use and information on when and how to use them (Palincsar & Brown, 1985). Reading strategies instruction has an important effect on reading comprehension and motivates students for reading (Druitt, 2002; National Reading Panel, 2000). Learners‘ motivation level affects their willingness of using reading comprehension strategy (Choochom, 1995). Resarchers believe that teaching productive reading strategies motivate students to read and facilitate reading comprehension (Anderson, 2003; Eskey, 2002; Grabe, 2004), Development of reading strategy skills of English language learning in young generation is an important element in their preparation for effective roles in the society. Despite the recognition of the value of English language learning in the world, there are some obstacles to achieving acceptable standards of teaching and learning in this area. But, reading strategies should be focused on this area and help students to improve their English language learning through reading (Chareonwongsak, 2002). Reading strategy can lead students to interest and motivate them to reading comprehension (Chandavimol, 1998). According to Koda (2004), learning reading strategy not only compensates for the learners‘ comprehension deficiency but also enhances their critical thinking. Similarly, Palincsar and Brown (1984), learning reading strategy helps students, especially low-achieving learners, ignore comprehension failure and develop their retention in the context. Pressley (2006) noted that English language students need to be taught strategic reading through reading strategies instruction. Reading strategy is a reading technique and study skill which makes reading more effective and facilitate learning (Oxford & Crookall, 1989). Oxford and Crookall (1989) elaborated that reading strategy is a process used by the learners to improve reading comprehension and overcome comprehension failures. It is a purposeful, cognitive action that students take when they are reading to help them construct and maintain meaning and is often categorized as those behaviours designed to help students before, during, and after they read (Oxford & Crookall, 73 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 1989). In this study, reading strategy refers to the technique that students would use in their activities and reading comprehension which is based on reciprocal teaching strategy. Janzen and Stoller (1998) argued that learning reading strategy instruction is rewarding for both English language students and their teachers. They contended that it activates students autonomy and self-awareness of the meaning constructing process and it also provides learners for academic reading comprehension proficiency. They also elaborated that learning reading strategy instruction prepares an efficient technique for instructors to motivate learners‘ participation in their studying and teach them how to read effectively. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of learning reading strategy on reading comprehension. Reading Strategy Mokhtari and Reichard (2002) explained that reading strategies are activities or actions that readers utilize to construct meaning and facilitate their reading. Reading strategies are techniques or styles that students choose in their reading comprehension (Cohen, 1986). Brantmeier (2005) defined reading strategies as techniques which learners use in the process of reading comprehension in order to read and figure out the context. Reading strategies allow students to evaluate their reading comprehension achievement (Kletzien, 1991). There are various definitions of reading strategies. Jimenez, Garcia, and Pearson (1996) explained reading strategies as deliberate actions that learners select to establish and improve their reading comprehension. According to Cohen (1986), reading strategies are the mental processes involved in the reading techniques chosen by the students while reading. Usually, these techniques are selected consciously to facilitate reading comprehension. Reading strategies are important as they help readers to reach their reading goals and achieve good results in reading (Block, 1986). As such, students or readers who do not use any strategies in reading usually face difficulties in reading comprehension. Mcnamara (2007) defined reading strategies as cognitive and behavioural activities which help learners in their reading. It is important for EFL instructors to be familiar with reading strategies and expose their students to the various kinds so that students know how and when to utilize them (Chamot, Barnhardt, El-Dinary, & Robbins, 1999). Component of Reading Strategies According to Oxford (1990), there are six components of reading strategies that are important and easy for learning. By learning these strategies, learners will be more motivated in their reading comprehension. The reading strategies are namely predicting, skimming, scanning, inferring, guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words, and self-monitoring. Prediction Prediction refers to the technique of using the readers‘ prior knowledge to guess the meaning or the message of the text from the topics, pictures, key words, or constructions. It is one of the most effective factors that motivates students to read and understand the meaning of the context (Oxford, 1990). Skimming 74 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Skimming refers to the technique of reading passages quickly in order to get its gist. In skimming, readers do not look for specific information but only for general information (Grellet, 1986). Scanning Scanning is quite similar to skimming in that both of them require a quick glance of a text. The difference is that in skimming, readers try to get the general or main information of the text but in scanning, the readers would like to obtain specific information. In scanning technique, readers are looking to find particular information – the answer to his/her questions. So, readers need to move their eyes quickly across the passages for particular words or phrases (Grellet, 1986). Inferring Inferring refers to activities of reading between the lines which means that readers need to know how to get the message from the words and sentences in a text. So, inferring is defined as the interaction between words in a sentence/phrases or between sentences or phrases (Kristin, Leah & Soro, 2009). There are seven types of inferring activities: A. Knowing what a pronoun in a sentence refers back to. B. Making assumption about the next sentence and guessing the content of the next passage. C. Predicting the definition of new words in the text. D. Making hypothesis across the text about the behaviours of a character in different locations. E. To be familiar with the connections of words and how they will be used in a specific text. F. Knowing the relationships as written at various times in contexts. G. While reading a text fill gaps related to background knowledge (if any). Guessing the meaning of new words Guessing the meaning of new words helps readers to read and understand text quickly because difficult words usually create problems for students and are obstacles in reading comprehension (Smith, 1994). Furthermore, the best way to find the meaning of new words is to draw inferences from the context rather than using a dictionary (Smith, 1994). Self-monitoring This strategy is one of the most important factors that allows readers to regulate their reading. Awareness of using this strategy helps learners to solve their problems in reading. Kern (1989) found that proficient readers use self-monitoring combined with other strategies in their reading comprehension. Importance of Reading Strategy Ben-David (2002) stated that readers often encounter problems in reading the text and have difficulties in understanding the meaning of the context but reading strategies help them in learning foreign language and reading comprehension. In fact, students will be able to relate newly acquired information to their prior knowledge in context areas which is an essential part of reading comprehension skill. 75 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Trabasso and Bouchard (2002) explained that reading strategies can be taught explicitly while students are learning subject-specific content through authentic reading tasks. According to Dehnad (2005), reading strategy provides learning opportunities, facilitates learning and recalling of information as well as strengthening the reading comprehension ability of language learners. Learners need to be explicitly taught how to properly use reading strategies to monitor their reading comprehension. Through the employment of reading strategy such as meta-cognitive instruction in English class, EFL learners will be able to improve their reading comprehension and experience a higher level of competency which will further motivate them to read on a regular basis (Block, 1992). Chamot (2005) stated that students have their own preference of strategy, but in order to become motivated and selective strategy users, EFL learners should selfmonitor their reading strategy. In other words, EFL learners need to consciously know what and when to apply appropriate reading strategy when comprehension fails. Studies on reading strategies training demonstrated that readers who struggled in reading comprehension showed significant improvement after receiving explicit instruction in metacognition (Baker, 2002; Cohen, 2003; Duffy, 2005; Grabe, 2004). Therefore, students should be exposed to multiple reading strategies as well as the appropriate use of those strategies for better results. In addition, readers should be taught to become more aware of their own reading behaviour and the processes involved in reading. Learning Reading Strategy Learning to read strategies refers to any sets of activities, stages, programs, or techniques that help students to keep, achieve, or evaluate information (Wenden & Rubin, 1987). Learning strategies are explained as a designed behaviour and belief that students utilize during studying to facilitate in recognizing, learning and understanding (Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1992). O‘Malley and Chamot (1990) defined learning strategy as an individual plan and beliefs that are used by the students in order to improve their reading comprehension, motivation, and the willingness to obtain more information. They added that learning strategies are particular styles of information processing that help students to keep the information after reading comprehension activity or learning. It was added that learning strategies in reading are the way of information processing that is consciously chosen by students to help them improve the learning of information in second or foreign language (Cohen, 1990). Similarly, Oxford (1990) defined learning strategies in reading as activities or any sets of actions that are chosen to facilitate learning by making learning enjoyable and easier so that the attainment of new information will be more effective. It was added that learning strategies in reading are specific actions which learners can take to ensure that information can be obtained more quickly and easily as well as be applied in new situations. Theories/ Models of Reading Strategies Oxford (1990) concluded that there are generally two kinds of reading strategies, i.e. cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies. Cognitive strategy refers to the mental activities involved during learning but meta-cognitive strategy refers to the students‘ awareness of their cognitive process in learning. For example, planning, setting goals, self-monitoring, self-management, and selfevaluation. O‘Malley, Chamot, Stewner-Manzanares, Kupper, and Russo (1985) suggested three models of reading strategies in reading, i.e. (1) Metacognitive Strategies, (2) Cognitive Strategies, and (3) Socio-affective Strategies. Each of the strategies is elaborated as follows: 76 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Metacognitive Strategies Metacognitive strategies are administrative actions taken in reading which include planning for learning, thinking about the process of learning, self-management, self-monitoring, directed attention, observing, correcting of one‘s comprehension or production, direct attention and evaluating at the different learning phases, for example, before, during, and after learning O‘Malley et al., (1985). Metacognitive strategy refers to supervise, control or self-direct language learning. They are as planning, prioritizing, setting goals, and self-management, Rubin (1987). Cognitive Strategies Brown (2007) elaborated that cognitive strategies are related to particular learning assignments and are based on direct manipulation of the learning material. Some of the main important cognitive strategies listed by Brown (2007) are as a deduction, inference, repetition, note taking, resourcing, translation, recombination, grouping, imagery, auditory representation, key word, contextualization, elaboration, and transfer. Cognitive strategies are the activities which are taken in learning or problem-solving that involves direct analysis, transformation, or synthesis of learning materials (Rubin, 1987). Socio-affective Strategies Brown (2007) stated that there is a strong relationship between socio-affective strategies as well as social-mediation activities and interacting with others. Cooperation and asking questions for clarification is the main factor of socio-affective strategies in learning. Socio-affective strategies are activities that students are exposed to the opportunities that can be a great help to practice their knowledge. Moreover, these strategies offer exposure to the foreign/second language learning and assist in learning indirectly (Rubin, 1987). Rubin (1987) stated that socio-affective strategies are strategies such as communication strategies, communication strategies which are not directly related to language learning because their attention is in the process of communication through conversation. Communication strategies are used by students while facing with some problems regarding their communication and conversation. The general communication strategy is to use one‘s communicative knowledge to remain in the conversation. Reading Comprehension Proficiency Reading comprehension proficiency is the constructing meaning and thinking before, during and after reading by integrating reader‘s background knowledge with the information presented by the author in the context (Meissner & Yun, 2008; Sweet & Snow, 2003). Reading comprehension is the constructing meaning which is acceptable and accurate by connecting what has been read to what the students already know and thinks about all of this information until it is recognized. The purpose and final goal of reading instruction is comprehension. However, one of the most important goals of skilled reading is decoded and understanding written text (Block & Pressley, 2002), it should be considered and emphasized on reading comprehension proficiency rather than an end in itself. A short list of examples of comprehension strategies includes comprehension monitoring, cooperative learning, using graphic and semantic organizers including story maps, 77 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 answering questions about what has been read, creating students‘ own questions about what they have read, using prior knowledge to connect what they read to what they already know, and summarizing what they have read (Learning Point Associates, 2004; http://www.learningpt.org). These proficient readers agree that using reading comprehension strategies would help them understand more of what they are reading and motivate them in their activities in reading. Readers need to know when and how to use these reading comprehension strategies and it is essential to understand various kinds of texts such as informative text, stories or poetry. Proficient readers utilize comprehension strategies without being directed to do so. They have become self-regulated in their use of comprehension strategies while reading. Reading comprehension proficiency is a combination of the reader‘s cognitive and metacognitive processes, which a reader has to make inferences on the passage of a text or at the end of a story by using information from different sources: the title, the pictures, or generally from the previous paragraphs. The reading comprehension processes occur when the reader understands the information in a text and meaningfully interprets it appropriately (Ahmadi & Hairul, 2012; Blair-Larsen & Vallance, 2004). Reading comprehension is the conclusion of recognition and understanding among readers and the context (Eskey, 2005). Accordingly, Rosenblatt (1978) stated that reading comprehension is related to the transaction among the text and reader. It is believed that readers establish and construct their own meanings in the context and can share those understandings and recognition with other students. One of the most important factors of the beginning stages of reading and reading comprehension development is decoding and the ability to recognize words in texts (Adams, 1990). However, comprehension relates to both vocabulary recognition skills and higher order thinking skills. Reading comprehension proficiency is a process to understand the message of written language and furthermore, that readers go through context; evaluate meaning and, finally arrive at a selfselected location (Duke, 2003). Van Den Broek and Kremer (2000) explained that readers in reading comprehension proficiency create an image and its definition toward the comprehension process in their mentality. On the other hand, Martin, Chang and Gould (2008) stated that reading comprehension is one of the most important factors in language learning. Their idea was supported by the fact that many researchers highlighted the point that reading will facilitate and enhance language learning. Reading also facilitates readers to develop themselves in various situations such as general knowledge, writing skills, and spelling (Ahmadi & Hairul, 2012; Harmer, 2007). According to Reid and Lienemann (2006), reading is a difficult process which involves the ability to read real words in isolation or in context with comprehension. Readers should be able to comprehend the context in many different content areas; they need the ability to construct meaning from written language by manipulating, constructing, and translating text. Accordingly, Erfani, Iranmehr, and Davari, (2010) and Farhady (2005) said that in Iranian university context, reading comprehension is the most important skill to be acquired by the students, and it is the most effective motivation factor for them to be successful in their study (cited in Ahmadi & Hairul, 2012). 78 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 Types of Reading ISSN: 2289-2737 In general, there are two types of reading namely Extensive and Intensive Reading. The following sections will explain these types of reading. Extensive Reading Hedge (2003) explained extensive reading as scanning and skimming activities and quantity of material. Extensive reading is reading in quantity in order to gain a general information about what is read, obtaining the gist to facilitate reading comprehension. Accordingly, Hafiz and Tudor (1989), Grabe and Stoller (2002) defined extensive reading as a large amounts of reading in contexts within their linguistic competence with the purpose of learning to read. Furthermore, it is considered a pedagogically efficient method to teach reading by having students read many materials in their linguistic process (Ahmadi & Hairul, 2012). According to Richards and Rodgers (2003), extensive reading is the reading book after book where the readers should focus on the meaning of the text, while it gives them a general information of the text. Field (1985) illustrated that extensive reading is a rapid and effective method of reading a text for a general meaning and all interested and pleasure reading is defined as extensive reading. Intensive Reading Reading in details to recognize and understand the meaning of the words and the definition of passage is called Intensive reading (Day & Bamford, 1998). This reading focuses on syntactic and semantic forms in the text, details in structure, with the aims of understanding literal meaning and implications. Day and Bamford (1998) explained that intensive reading is a close study of contexts, sentences or paragraphs and it will activate the shift from a first language to foreign language; hence it develops the readers‘ reading comprehension proficiency. According to Hedge (2003), in Intensive reading, students usually read a text to recognize the writer‘s message(s), it is as reading carefully and slowly for detailed recognizing. Hafiz and Tudor (1989) argued that intensive reading is generally at a slower speed and provides a higher degree of recognizing to improve and refine word study skills, enlarge passive vocabulary, reinforce skills related to sentence structure, increase active vocabulary. Models of Reading There are three models of reading: the bottom-up model which emphasizes on the contexts, the top-down model which emphasizes on the readers, and the interactive model which emphasizes that the reading process is guided by an interaction between the text information and the reader‘s previous knowledge (Ahmadi & Hairul, 2012; Tolstefl, 2007). The following sections discuss each of the models in more details. The Top–Down Model According to Eskey (2005), in top-down model, prior information, guessing, main idea, contextual prediction, scanning and skimming are provided; the prospects and previous information contribute readers to understand the meaning in their reading process. In this reading model, students begin to read a context and use their background knowledge to obtain new experiences and knowledge (Aebersold & Field, 1997). In top-down model, students utilize their previously learned knowledge to predict meaning (Goodman, 1976). Accordingly, active students translate the message of written language in their own language in a meaningful form (Smith, 79 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 2004). So, proficient readers do not need to read all of the words in a passage, but they will understand the message from the context by getting some important words and sentences (Cohen, 1990). In other words, the model of top-down emphasizes on reading proficiency and focuses on predicting the message by using the readers‘ background knowledge related to the passage. The Bottom-up Model In the bottom-up model readers focus on surface meaning, using a dictionary for translating new words for helping reading comprehension (Dubin & Bycina, 1991). This model of reading is usually used at the earlier level of learning (Hayashi, 1999). Reading process in the bottom-up model starts with the decoding of the smallest elements of linguistic especially phonemes and words, continued with creating meaning from the larger elements (Carrell, 1989). Gough (1972) stated that bottom-up model emphasizes on the print itself, whereas reading is the starting point to grasp recognizing in words description, letters information, linguistic elements and sentences before understanding the meaning of the whole text. Grabe and Stoller (2002) supported the idea by stating that the bottom-up model is a mechanical model, where readers translate the content mentally from smaller units; obviously, readers‘ previous information may not be considered too much in the process. Accordingly, Ahmadi and Hairul (2012) stated that the whole process of defining content through decoding of new words is called bottom-up reading process. The Interactive Model The combination of the two aforementioned models (bottom-up and top-down) is called Interactive model (Ahmadi & Hairul, 2012). This model of reading is based on information from various parts such as semantic information, lexical, schemata, orthographic and syntactic (Stanovich, 1980). Interactive model covers what top-down or bottom-up model uncovered in the whole reading process (Rumelhart, 1977). This model emphasizes on the relationship between the text and the readers. Anderson (1991) said that interactive model is the most effective approach to teach the first and second language speakers to read. Accordingly, Grabe (1991) stated that interactive model is efficiently to bridge between students with higher-level and lowerlevel of reading comprehension proficiency. Stanovich (1980) and Eskey (2005) claimed that because poor readers have limited the ability of bottom-up approach, they use top-down model more than proficient readers. Findings of Learning Reading Strategies and Reading Comprehension Proficiency An effective number of empirical researches have established a positive relationship between learning reading strategies and reading comprehension proficiency in students‘ EFL/ESL learning activities. For example, Brookbank, Grover, Kullberg, and Strawser (1999) have detected that the use of learning different reading strategies enhanced the learners‘ reading comprehension proficiency. Research in EFL/ESL contexts that have been done to explore the relationship between learning reading strategies and success in reading comprehension proficiency by nonnative speaker students have produced interesting results, and reading strategies facilitated their comprehension proficiency. According to Golinkoff (1975), poor readers peruse various of texts in the same manner (traditional manner) and do not follow to learn reading strategies in their reading process. According to Ahmadi and Pourhossein (2012), findings indicated that reading strategy has a significant positive impact on the English reading comprehension proficiency. Reading strategy improves the reading ability of both the proficient and less proficient readers. Readers use reading strategies and know what, when, how, and why to use these strategies in reading 80 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 comprehension process. Furthermore, students learn reading strategies to identify the main idea of a paragraph, to clarify unclear words, phrases, or sentences, and summarize their reading. The reading strategies help readers overcome difficulties when reading texts as they plan and monitor their comprehension, and evaluate their planning and its outcome. For these reasons, it can be concluded that reading strategy is a kind of reading instruction that facilitates the teaching of English reading comprehension proficiency Ahmadi and Pourhossein (2012). Accordingly, Cziko (1980) found that ESL/EFL learners with lower proficiency depend on orthographic features of the text words while advanced proficiency learners are more sensitive to syntactic, semantic, and discourse cues. However, with reference to Chinese EFL learners, only a few studies on their learning reading strategies have been reported, but serious attempts at investigating the effectiveness of explicit and overt strategy training of Chinese EFL readers on English reading comprehension proficiency have been lacking. Gu (1994) explained that his good and poor students were different in strategy use in reading comprehension. The correspondence between skill/strategy use and reading comprehension proficiency does not necessarily apply to students (Chu, 2000). Readers, regardless of their reading proficiency, want to use more local reading strategies than global strategies (Chia, 2000). Accordingly, Parry (1996) elaborated that her students‘ stronger tendency to use ‗bottom-up‘ strategies than ‗top-down‘ strategies since it was closely related to their traditional approach. As a result, in order to counterbalance the powerful effects from L1 reading experience, improving a deeper level of processing to assist readers understand the importance and function of global strategy use is emphasized. Su (2001) examined the influence of learning reading strategies about the English reading proficiency of students, and the conclusion show that readers feel that the reading strategies they learned are helpful to improve their reading ability. According to Song (1998), in a reading strategy training investigation which was modified from the procedure improve by Brown and Palincsar (1984) in an ongoing EFL university reading comprehension classroom. It was concluded that learning reading strategy is one of the effective factor in improving EFL reading comprehension proficiency. The finding suggested that foreign language reading pedagogy, especially for adult students in academic settings, should include explicit and direct strategy training. Conclusion This study generally detected a positive relationship between readers‘ language proficiency and reading skills/strategies. The ability to recognize a text is based not only on the student‘s linguistic knowledge, but also on general knowledge of the world and the extent to which that knowledge is activated during processing. The conclusion of all ESL/EFL investigations and the view of reading comprehension as an interactive process between the reader and the text lead to several implications for the teachers. If the unfamiliar content of a text has an effect on reading comprehension, then it must be considered as a criterion in the selection of reading materials and in the evaluation of reading comprehension. So, knowledge of reading strategies is of particular importance to teachers who have a responsibility towards presenting materials for reading 81 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 instruction. According to learning reading strategies, our background knowledge about strategies and its pertinence to the text determines the ease or complexity of understanding that text. In other words, no matter how well a reader may know a language, he or she cannot read in that language with good comprehension if the subject matter or the content of the text is one he or she knows absolutely nothing about.The following suggestions are recommended towards reading comprehension proficiency in the classrooms: 1. The reading comprehension teaching method should be really new and interesting and texts should be taught from these reading comprehension new strategies. And also teachers need to design various types of reading strategies activities to improve their students‘ understanding of these materials and motivate them in their activities. 2. Teachers should motivate their students in learning reading strategies and they should be sensitive to their students‘ hidden comprehension problems which can be facilitated through reading strategies. 3. Teachers should help their students change their attitudes towards traditional reading approach and help them to learn new reading strategies in reading comprehension proficiency and need to assist their students to become independent and proficient readers through learning reading strategies about when, where, and how to use the reading strategies while reading the text . And also students should have enough time to exercise their understandings of the reading strategies. 4. Learning to read strategies are recommended for foreign language reading instruction, especially for learners in university settings might benefit from the collaborative comprehension strategy instruction with the help from both their peers and teachers. Thus, it is important for EFL English language teachers to know the longitudinal nature of comprehension strategy instruction, encouraging students to become strategic is a long term process with learning reading strategies. Readers‘ effective use of reading strategies, particularly some of the top-down strategies such as predicting and making inferences requires teachers‘ thoughtful planning to help them conceptualize the nature of the reading process and raise their awareness of the necessity for a shift in reading behaviours. Improving readers‘ strategic reading is not simply a matter of introducing them to a number of reading strategies. Developing mastery of the comprehension strategies involves teachers‘ constant modelling and instant feedback for mastery of the comprehension strategies not only at the beginning but through the whole implementation of comprehension strategy instruction. Acknowledgement The researchers would like to thank Mr Abbas Pourhossein Gilakjani, Mrs sareh shaker haghighi for their extensive and insightful discussions and comments on the paper. References Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, M A: MIT Press. Ahmadi, M. R., & Hairul, N. I. (2012). Reciprocal teaching as an important factor of improving reading comprehension. Journal of studies in education, 2(4),153-173. Ahmadi, M. R., & pourhossein, A. G. (2012). 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Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, 8, 41-54. Stanovich, K. E. (1980). Toward an interactive- compensatory model of individual differences in the development of reading fluency. Reading Research Quarterly,16, 32-71. Su, C. (2001). Evaluation of reading skills applied in the first-year college English reading course. Papers presented at the Tenth International Symposium on English Teaching. Taipei: Crane. Sweet, E. P., & Snow, C. E. (2003). Rethinking reading comprehension. New York: The Guilford Press. Tolstefl, J. (2007). Miscue analysis in reading a second language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 86 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Trabasso, T., & Bouchard, E. (2002). Teaching readers how to comprehend text strategically. In C. C. Block & M. Pressley (Eds.), Comprehension instruction: Research-based best practices (176 -202). New York: Guilford. VanDen B. P., & Kremer, K. E. (2000). The mind in action: What it means to comprehend during reading. In B. M. Taylor, M. F. Graves, & P. VanDen Broek (Eds.), Reading for meaning: Fostering comprehension in the middle grades (pp. 1-31). New York: Teachers College Press. Wenden, A., & Rubin, J. (Eds.). (1987). Learner strategies in language learning. London, UK: Prentice Hall. 87 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Integrating E-Mail Summaries of Internet Radio into the Foreign Language Classroom: An Experiment with German William C. McDonald University of Virginia wcm@virginia.edu Abstract Traditionally, e-mail in the German composition classroom has been used for one-on-one, as well as classroom-to-classroom, intercultural exchanges with pen pals (keypals). This article argues for e-mails as written exchanges between student and teacher, on the basis of German Internet radio broadcasts, of the type transmitted by Deutsche Welle and Tagesschau. Beginning with a sketch of the background of e-mail use in the foreign language (FL) class, this article then describes the method, illustrating it with actual student summaries based on Internet radio. Once a week students e-mail the teacher a short summary of cultural and news stories from German online news radio. They select a story, take notes, compose a summary of the story in German, finally e-mailing it to the teacher for error correction and feedback. The teacher e-mails the summary back to the student via the return function. Benefits accrue to both teacher and student. The teacher, able to engage students using their favored mode of communication, has opened a venue for written interaction. S/he can provide immediate corrective feedback, intervening very quickly to highlight difficulties and to isolate persistent errors, at the same time inviting student rejoinder. Since e-mails can be easily archived, they offer a quick, panoramic view of student progress over the semester. Through learner interaction the student improves listening and writing skills, encountering new vocabulary and idioms, while choosing a favorite text from among a body of oral material in German. Students respond very positively to the element of choice. The e-mail summary then becomes very much their own story, one to which they react emotionally. No small benefits are an improved knowledge of geography and current events, including German holiday celebrations (for instance, Fasching). The article closes with a variation on my method, e-mail summaries of German Internet videos. Key Words: e-mail; computer-assisted learning via streaming media; second language acquisition; German; ESL instruction; authentic writing task (précis, summary), error correction, teacher-student feedback Background ―There is no single right approach to teaching writing…‖ Thus states the National Writing Project on its webpage ―About NWP‖ (www.nwp.org). Teachers of upper-level, undergraduate German composition courses at university know only too well the truth of this statement. Until two decades ago, the role of writing itself in second language acquisition was marginalized, a victim of the emphasis on the spoken language (Harklau). Only now is writing research coming into its own (See the special issue of the Journal of Second-Language Writing: Writing in Foreign Language Contexts; Research Insights, vol. 17.1, 2008). If we no longer debate the importance of writing German, we still struggle to find the way to get beyond the sort of writing exercise: ―What I did during my summer vacation.‖ To improve student writing, teachers use textbooks, exercise manuals, teacher-designed hand-outs, student-proposed topics after brainstorming sessions, free-writing, pre-and post-writing assignments, both teacher-correction 88 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 and peer-correction of written work, and more. But there is another tool that is so far underused in the writing classroom. It is basic e-mail, the ―mother of all Internet applications‖ (Warschauer, Shetzer, & Meloni, 2000, 3), which has been employed in English teaching since the early 1990s, can successfully support the writing process.1 Already in 1991 D‘Souza, in the first of several studies, argued for ―the use of Electronic Mail as an Instructional Aid‖ (title). She described an experiment requiring students in a School of Business class to send weekly messages to the instructor. These e-mail messages were brief and related to concerns about ―classroom discussions, lecture topics, assignments, etc.‖ (108). Her positive findings, using control groups, showed higher achievement among the student users of e-mail. D‘Sourza (1991) concluded: ―The findings suggest that e-mail is a viable communications and dissemination support tool in educational settings‖ (109). This paper describes one of those ―educational settings,‖ a weekly e-mail exchange between student and teacher in a 3rd-year college course, but it could just as well be used in high school Advanced Placement classes. It is by no means limited to German, having application in foreign language and English as a Second Language (ESL) setting. This writing exercise helps learners integrate language and content and helps instructors assess progress in writing more accurately. Language learning via e-mail has been broadly investigated. There are studies on electronic mail and language learning for German (St. John and Cash, 1995; Leahy, 1999; Van Handle, 2002), French (Lawrence, 2002; Slater and Carpenter, 1999; Bisaillon, 1999) Spanish (GonzalesBueno,1998; O‘Dowd, 2003), in the English classroom (Warschauer, 1995; Hawisher and Moran, 1993; Muehleisen, 1997; MacNeill;2000), and in the ESL writing class (Belisle,1996; Nabors and Swartley,1999). From the perspective of linguistics, Dieter Wolff (1998) has explored the use of e-mail in foreign language teaching. Electronic mail is asynchronous communication, which is characterized by delayed time, and this form of information sharing includes electronic bulletin boards, SMS (mobile e-mail), postings to e-mail lists, and the World Wide Web. Because e-mail does not require an immediate application in real time, but offers freedom of time and place for user response, it promotes reflection and mental concentration (Levy, 2007). Perhaps this is why asynchronous media ―such as e-mail lend themselves better to development of syntactic skills‖ and are better suited to grammatical development (Stockwell and Levy, 2006, 192; Sotillo, 2000). In addition, learners exchanging e-mails with instructors had gains in proficiency (Fotos, 2004).2 One way of employing e-mail is for a classroom discussion, where students write responses to an article or reading, sending these via electronic mail into a class discussion area (Hoffman and Scheidenhelm, 2000, 184; Bean, 2001, 112-113). Although there are many possible applications of e-mail in FL teaching (group e-mail exchanges, interaction within a class, pre-class activities, See, especially, the work of Warschauer, who enthusiastically observed in 1995; ―Time, Newsweek, and the New York Times have all hailed it: The electronic mail (e-mail) revolution is here‖ (1) 2 The accepted pedagogical benefits of electronic mail are: 1) it extends language learning time and place; 2) it provides a context for real-world communication and authentic interaction; 3) it expands topics beyond classroombased ones; 4) it promotes student-centered language learning; 5) it encourages equal opportunity participation; and 6) it connects speakers quickly and cheaply (Gonglewski, Meloni and Brant). See, also, Warschauer, Shetzer and Meloni, p.3; and Lever-Duffy and McDonald, pp.253-9. 1 89 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 post-class activities, e-mail reading circles, news journals, dialogue journals), my survey of the literature points to a narrowing of focus to a single application, e-mail for cross-cultural exchanges.3 This takes the form of one-on-one exchanges between individual FL learners, once known as pen pals, now called keypals and epals (www.epals.com), and classroom-to-classroom exchanges via electronic mail. (See, for instance, ―Das Transatlantische Klassenzimmer,‖ www.tak.schule.de) E-mail exchanges between keypals develop, through e-mail projects, into group exchanges under the direction of teachers.4 Partner classes, partner schools and Lerngruppen—all these use e-mail to communicate with one another on topics as varied as wildlife migration and the fears and hopes of adolescents (Andreas Müller-Hartmann, 2000). A variation on the e-mail exchange between America and Germany was a project between two intermediate level German classes at Mount Holyoke College and the Ohio State University. American learners of German participated in an e-mail discussion using a computer-mediated mailing list, both classes having read the same literary texts in order to promote intercultural communication (Van Handle and Carol, 2002). 5 The most recent research on the pedagogical implications of e-mail in the German classroom concerns sustaining an intercultural exchange, which is typical: 1) in focusing on e-mail as a communicative device, hardly distinguishable from conversation; and 2) in stressing the function of e-mail in furthering an ―intercultural communicative experience‖ (Schueller, 2007, 183; see, also, Stockwell and Levy, 2001). Language practice is, of course, a factor in e-mail exchanges. But the trend is to assess electronic mail as a vehicle to promote bilingual or monolingual tandem dialogue between American and German keypals, both in one-on-one e-mail exchanges and in classroom-to-classroom electronic communication. 6 For a typical assessment of e-mail as a tool to promote intercultural communication, see Littlemore and Oakey: ―Email is one of the easiest and most practical ways of enabling language students to get in contact with native speakers of the target language‖ (p.106). Cf. Robb and O‘Dowd (―The Use of Videoconfering and E-Mail‖), the latter of whom speaks of a networked exchange between German and American learners. 4 See, especially, Reinhard Donath who on his website defines e-mail projects in this way: ―Bei einem E-MailProjekt im Englischunterricht kommuniziert eine Lerngruppe schriftlich mit Gleichaltrigen z. B. in den USA, Kanada, Australien oder Großbritannien auf Englisch. Die Kommunikationssprache kann natürlich zusätzlich auch Deutsch sein, wenn z. B. die Partnerklasse Deutsch als Fremdsprache lernt. Die Kommunikation ist themengebunden und findet in einem vorher festgelegten Zeitrahmen mit einem inhaltlichen Schwerpunkt statt. Die Texte werden per Internet an die elektronische Partnerschule geschickt‖ (http://www.schule.de/englisch/email.htm). See, also, Donath‘s book E-Mail Projektive im Englischunterricht, p. 13. There he gives an example of an e-mail project: ―The Perfect School‖ (pp.40ff.). O‘Dowd (―Interncultural,‖ p. 164) and Littlemore and Oakey (p.107) cite further examples On learning culture through e-mail exchanges, see Smasal. 3 5 See Söntgens (1999), who comments on tandem e-mail exchanges between German and British university students. Illustrating this trend, the BBC German website Bitesize offers a fictional international e-mail exchange as part of a mock German exam in order to test writing facility. The examiner thinks of electronic mail as a tool for the student to correspond with a ―German fiend:‖ http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/german/mocks/writingmockh.pdf). The mock exam is composed of instructions to the examinee, a German e-mail from Hans, and the task of composing a letter to Hans in German about school-life: “You have received this e-mail from your German friend, Hans. He wants to know about your school and your life at school. Reply to his e-mail telling him about your school, school uniform and what you think about it, which subjects you do and your opinion of them, what you will do after the exams and what you did last summer. Also ask Hans a question about his school.” (The letter from Hans:) „Hallo. Über meine Schule habe ich dir schon alles gesagt, und ich habe schon seit einem Monat Ferien. Mich interessiert deine Schule. Musst du zum Beispiel eine Uniform tragen? Und wie findest dud as? Welche Fächer gefallen dir? Welche nicht? Warum? Was wirst dun ach den Prüfungen machen? Was hast du in den letzten Schulferien gemacht?‟ (Instructions to examinee:) Schreib einen Brief an Hans auf Deutsch. Beschreib: - Deine Schule - Deine Schuluniform und deine Meinung darüber.Schreib: - Welche Fächer Dir gefallen 6 90 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Adapting a Very Basic Technology for FL Classroom Use: Philosophy and Concerns I am certainly not denying the importance of intercultural e-mail exchanges.7 We all want to encourage intercultural communicative competence, especially when e-mail can enhance cultural awareness (Stockwell and Stockwell, 2003) and change cultural stereotypes (Itakura, 2004). Person-to-person and classroom-to-classroom exchanges are valuable, promoting a global world view, initiating friendships and teaching collaboration, at the same time they allow students to practice writing German (Fischer, 1996). However, I do want to argue that our view of electronic mail as a classroom tool threatens to be constricted, and restricted, to exchanges with native speakers. There are exceptions, of course, as when a Spanish intermediate class composed electronic dialogue journals (González-Bueno, 1998), or when an (unnamed) classroom wrote a cooperative e-mail story (Bitter and Legacy, 2008, 88). But the trend is clear. E-mail is mainly a medium for cross-cultural communication. Here I am arguing for another use of e-mail in the German writing curriculum: student-to-teacher e-mail exchanges in the target language, in which the student summarizes a text from German Internet radio, submitting the e-mail to the teacher for assessment, both of grammar and of content. The teacher then returns the corrected e-mail to the student via the electronic return function. The application of electronic mail described here is not well-researched: If my method is confirmed by subsequent studies, then a certain re-thinking is in order whether personal relationships are fundamental to language improvement via electronic mail. The hesitation to encourage one-on-one e-mails between teacher and student has three main explanations. First, teachers, already overworked, are not eager to receive random e-mails from writing students that must be answered and archived. Second, teachers want to encourage learner autonomy and fear that too close scrutiny of language learners will inhibit progress (Nowlan, 2008). Third, error correction itself is a topic of debate (Truscott and Hsu, 2008; Bloch, 2002; and Ferris, 2003). Teachers simply are unsure to which degree the highlighting of errors promotes writing competence and uncertain how much corrective feedback to give without inhibiting expression in the target language. Certainly the debate over teacher roles, especially when integrating technology into the classroom, has played a part in teacher insecurity. Technology has changed the very place of the teacher, as expressed by Doris M. Carey (1993): ―The change is often from a teacher-centered, teacher-controlled classroom to a classroom in which the teacher is more a facilitator than a director of learning‖ (105; see, also, O‘Dwyer, 2006). One response by teachers is not to correct errors at all. Accordingly, evaluative feedback is not meant to draw attention to, or to correct, language mistakes, but is restricted to content (McBride and Fägersten, 2008).Three investigations of e-mail, one in the ESL classroom, another during a Japanese-American university exchange, and the third in the German classroom, arrive at the same conclusion: ―The students were allowed to write about any topic they wanted, and they were told that their messages would not be graded for content or grammar‖ (Nabors and Swartley, 1999, 236). ―…It was stated at the beginning of the exchange that errors oder nicht.- Warum - Was du nach den Prüfungen machen wirst - Was du in den letzten Schulferien gemacht hast. Frag: - Hans über seine Schule ― 7 Uses of e-mail to promote understanding of other cultures are explored by Itakura and O‘Dowd (―Intercultural‖). 91 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 were not important‖ (Fotos, 2004, 121); and ―Students were informed that their contributions to the E-mail project would not be graded or corrected for linguistic accuracy because their primary focus was to be on communication with their peers‖ (Van Handle, 2002, 132). In my German Internet radio e-mail summaries, described below, I go against the grain, offering error correction on grammar and content. I ask students to keep a record of repetitive grammatical errors (even as I have an e-mail record of their mistakes), to review periodically the areas of weakness in grammar and sentence formation, and to strive to correct whole categories of errors (word order, grammatical case) by semester‘s end. By pointing out errors and prompting students to improve specific areas of written performance, I see measurable progress in their email writing samples during the term. There is no doubt that students perceive a difference in student-to-student interactions via e-mail, as opposed to student-to-teacher exchanges. Chi-Fen Emily Chen expresses it this way: ―While people can write e-mail to peers in any manner they like, writing e-mails to authority figures requires higher pragmatic competence and critical language awareness of how discourse shapes and reflects power asymmetry in an institutional context‖ (abstract). Besides the inhibitions students have in writing non-peer-related e-mails, there is the undeniable factor that the reader of their writing is the judge and grade giver. No matter what we say, students know we are the assessor with power to lower grades for mistakes. To lessen learner anxiety, the teacher needs to stress that e-mail feedback is intended to call attention to repetitive errors with the aim of eliminating these in future assignments. To reinforce the constructive side of written criticism, teachers emphasize the positive in student writing, complementing writers on their progress. The Methodology Participants The path to e-mail as a writing strategy was long for me, and, as so often happens with methodology, was inspired by a student. At the last minute, I was asked to critique a paragraph that a student had composed in German and sent to me via electronic mail. I discovered that I could easily make corrections— brackets [ ] seemed the best way to indicate changes—and return the e-mail document within the hour to the student sender. The paragraph (plus corrections) could be easily archived and printed out. What if, I asked myself, students in my writing class sent me German written work related to class assignments via electronic mail? Would the results be similarly satisfying to the learner and to me? My college composition class, usually numbering 15 students, is made up of undergraduates at the upper intermediate level. It is a third-year class, with students of varying backgrounds and experience. Some have never been to Germany. Participants are usually majors and minors, and all have had a formal grammar review. The aim of the class, which is taught as much as possible in German, is to guide students to authentic written communication, using the structures and idioms that promote facility in expression. With the guidance of students, I learned to appreciate the ability of the word processor to manipulate blocks of text, allowing students to cut-and-paste assignments from German Internet materials. I explored the e-mail function, too. I learned to add, delete, move text, and substitute at will—and to practice error correction. In contrast to the student writing exercises, I regularly handed back, e-mail corrections were much neater. The former often had my revised comments on them, written after a second read-through. In short, using the e-mail function, I was a much more effective editor. But it was still unclear to me how to integrate it into the writing 92 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 curriculum. E-mail essays were one answer, but I reasoned that it mattered little whether one wrote ―Denglisch‖ on the computer screen or on paper. If students were unable, for example, to master German ―topicalization‖ (subject-verb inversion in the Vorfeld) on paper, writing e-mails would not magically transform errors into correct syntax Next, I reviewed the goals that I had set for the writing class in general, to see what role e-mail could play. I wanted students to: --have as much opportunity as possible to write German, using technologies familiar to their daily lives; --stay within the German-to-German frame, to promote thinking in German without the step of English translation; --exercise choice in content and subject matter, so that the assignment reflected personal interest and active learning; --gain revising and adapting skills (synonyms, re-phrasing and summarizing content), with the aim of becoming autonomous learners; --expose themselves to contemporary global events, especially German- American relations; --feel free to communicate with me outside of class about assignments, or to share insights, hoping that these student-teacher exchanges would be conducted in written German. E-mail seemed like a slim reed, indeed, on which to attach so many expectations. But I had underestimated it, and my students, who eagerly transferred their daily means of communication into the German writing setting. Astoundingly, e-mail—in conjunction with other Internet applications—contributed to meeting all of the goals here listed. There were even unexpected bonuses. To borrow the words of Reinhard Donath (1996),, I found the same ―positive Haltung zum Unterricht‖(positive attitude toward instruction) that he describes with student-to-student email exchanges. He continues: ―Schülerinnen und Schüler…erleben durch die Arbeit mit E-Mail eine neue Unterrichtsform und haben Spaß daran, wodurch ihre Movationen gesteigert wird und sie mehr Bereitschaft zeigen, sich der Fremdsprache zu widmen‖ (Pupils…gain a new instructional-tool through their work with e-mail. They have fun with it, thus increasing their motivation, and they demonstrate a greater willingness to devote themselves to a foreign tongue, 14). However, let me hasten to emphasize that electronic mail itself is not a magic formula for writing German. In the final analysis, it is a tool which, like every such device, requires sensible, skilled operation. The breakthrough came when I decided to make e-mail writing not the main composition assignment of the week, 8 but an auxiliary, and complement, to the writing process. Each week 8 The main writing assignment also uses computer-mediated communication. The student adapts, and reacts in German writing to a current, short Internet text (IST) that is also in German,(see McDonald). IST are Web-articles of around 250 words concerning current events, business, culture, lifestyle, sport, geography, environmental issues, health and wellness, study abroad, weather conditions, etc. I have argued that IST are underused, both as prototypes for written discourse in German and as a bridge to free-writing. 93 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 students e-mailed me a summary of cultural and news stories from German online news radio, which I corrected and returned via e-mail. It is well known, as Marcoul and Pennington (1999) have stated in the context of developing composition skills for learners of French, that ―writing with a computer using a word processor facilitates production and revision of text to a greater extent than in pen-and-paper mode‖ (305). I sought to determine whether e-mail, like the word processor, could contribute to better FL writing. To personalize the assignment, I chose a one-onone e-mail interaction between me and the student, realizing that such exchanges with the teacher, and tutor, have had demonstrable success in FL environments (González-Bueno, 1998; Fotos, 2004).. To avoid an awkward, perhaps stilted e-mail exchange between student and teacher, I resolved to engage the learner in a purposeful task, using an electronic medium as another way to improve writing. Researchers have cautioned that concrete goals are necessary in student e-mail exchanges in order to keep learners motivated (Müller-Hartmann, 2000; and Levy, 2007). Data Collection Procedures The assignment, listening and summarizing German Internet radio stories, requires active learning, in this case, the sifting out of the main ideas and expressing these in German—where possible with synonyms. For best results, students remain in an ―Internet framework,‖ that is, they write German without books. For synonyms, they use www.woxikon.de, or www.woerterbuch.info; for lexical items, they consult www.dict.cc, or http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de; and for idioms they select www.redensarten-index.de . (I encourage students to discover other learning aids; from such a search came, for example, http://dictionary.reverso.net/englishgerman) Students minimize these sites on the computer, and thus work at the e-mail summary on the full screen. Note that within a set parameter—a ―safe‖ Internet site, like Deutsche Welle, that promotes an understanding of German culture and world affairs using German that is suitable for imitation—students choose their own stories to summarize. ―Freedom of topic‖ (see Pennington, 2004, 80) has proved successful in e-mail exchanges in second-language classrooms. In my experience, that same freedom of choice within a range of Internet radio stories that number in the dozens, grants the e-mail summary a personal flavor, at the same time it guarantees that students acquire a global perspective, a point of view expressed in authentic German. My results convince me that e-mail exchanges with students via summaries of German Internet radio are useful both to learner and teacher. For their part, students show significant improvement over a semester. With each week, given concrete e-mail feedback from me, they make less mistakes, improving command of case (the dative in particular), word order (Vorfeld and conjunctions), the uses of werden, tense, the auxiliaries haben/sein, double infinitives, the subjunctive—in fact, the entire palette of grammar.. In short, their work sounds more ―German,‖ as they productively imitate authentic language as transmitted by Internet radio. For my part, I can easily chart progress in vocabulary and grammatical structures, track comprehension, detect repetitive errors, and gauge whether the e-mail précis reinforces the larger, weekly writing exercise. I chose the summary (sometimes called the précis) because it is a fundamental technique of composition, underused in FL classrooms but with a history of success in the instruction of rhetoric and English (Bromley, 1985; Keck, 2006; MacNeill, 2000). . Summarizing is a learned skill requiring the ability to identify the main point(s) of an argument and then to present the substance of the point(s) presented in a condensed form. A summary improves comprehension and recall, encourages critical thinking, teaches students to abstract main ideas, and gives practice in concise expression. Two kinds of summary can be used in our e-mail exercise: 1) a student paraphrase of a radio broadcast without strict allegiance to the German word order of the 94 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 broadcast; and 2) a paraphrase closely following the original, for example, the placement of elements in sentence-initial position. Imitation is, of course, one of the oldest ways to learn writing, and paraphrase writing dates at least to English Renaissance schools (Stotsky, 1982, 334). 9 Each type of paraphrase has its advantages. The first gives students freedom to experiment writing German. Here the teacher‘s special task is to guide students away from syntax heavily influenced by English, and toward the sort of German syntax one hears in online broadcasts, that is, roughly half of the sentences don‘t start with the subject. The second allows students to model their writing closely on authentic Internet audio texts—to be sure, modifying their summaries with synonyms. Here the teacher takes care that students are not merely copying, but developing their own skills by virtue of productive imitation. The task I assigned involved multi-competence: in a German e-mail to summarize the contents of a contemporary, online Radiobericht. 10 As noted, each week my students listened to an Internet radio broadcast on Deutsche Welle (www.dw.de) or on Tagesschau (www.tagesschau.de), selected one news or cultural story to report on, took notes in German, then composed a 4- to-6 line summary (on the average 60 words), and e-mailed the summary to me on a set day for my feedback. 11 I reminded students to keep track of my corrections and to categorize their errors, for example, dative plural. Since student and teacher have a record of errors (the teacher can store these in various files), it is easily possible to chart progress during the semester. I encouraged students to imitate the language and syntax of the original broadcast, citing idioms, if these were necessary to compose the e-mail summary. Following a stylistic model is useful here, as learners adopt a standard for their own writing. Students are clear, however, that they are not merely to copy the model story, but to seek out creative ways to summarize it with suitable German synonyms. The summary should therefore resemble the original audio document, not repeat it verbatim. Some students model their e-mail summaries on ―Slow News‖ on Deutsche Welle (accessed as ―langsam gesprochene Nachrichten.‖). Those students with accelerated oral comprehension are encouraged to listen to the regular, online news/cultural broadcasts on Deutsche Welle (DWRadio live) and Tagesschau (Radio online hören: (www.ard.de/radio) , 12 as the basis for their On Casey Keck‘s scale of the paraphrase in summary writing, I usually ask for a version in between the categories: ―Near Copy‖ and ―Minimal Revision.‖ The teacher can, of course, adjust and adapt the assignment. In 1975, Michael Donley made a plea for the ―rehabilitation‖ of précis writing in schools. 10 For the use of German radio newscasts in another context, see Wipf. 11 The typical language classroom strives to develop both receptive skills (reading and listening) and productive language use (speaking and writing). Here we combine, in an admittedly exacting assignment, online listening and paraphrasing. On the challenges of attempting to integrate aural and communicative skills in the FL classroom, see Davies and Gabrielatos. 9 12 Further options for listening comprehension with subsequent e-mail summary are the Tagesschau livestream video broadcasts: www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/livestreams/index.html; and ―letzte Sendung‖ www.tagesschau.de/multimedia; http://mediathek.daserste.de; or www.dradio.de. Deutsche Welle also offers the option of learning with videos (http://mediacenter.dw.de/german/video). 95 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 summaries. Since the radio news and cultural reports on Deutsche Welle and Tagesschau are so expertly written, students can profitably imitate the original, repeating syntax and idioms, while making the necessary variations. As listening comprehension improves during the semester, I encourage students to explore other than Slow News. But Slow News has a clear benefit. It offers the option of verifying student comprehension by means of printed texts of the spoken news broadcasts on the website. Students can therefore first listen to the news story, then read it, then listen again—without the text as a prop. The typical online newscast on Slow News has ten stories (averaging ten lines of text). For example, on 30 November 2012 students could hear about: the observer status of the Palestinians in the United Nations, work on a new constitution in Egypt, the atomic conflict in Iran, Germany‘s aid to Greece, and the relationship of the Netherlands to the Euro-zone. Let it be clear that ―Slow News‖ is not so slow after all, but is close to native speed and employs authentic language. There follows a sample passage from Slow News: Mit überwältigender Mehrheit haben die Vereinten Nationen für eine Anerkennung Palästinas als Beobachterstaat gestimmt. 138 der 193 Staaten in der UN-Vollversammlung votierten für diesen Status Palästinas und damit für eine diplomatische Aufwertung der Palästinenser. Die USA und Israel werteten die Abstimmung als Rückschlag für die Friedensbemühungen im Nahen Osten. Insgesamt stimmten neun Staaten gegen die entsprechende UN-Resolution, 41 - unter ihnen Deutschland - enthielten sich. Palästinenserpräsident Mahmud Abbas hatte zuvor die Vollversammlung dazu aufgerufen, eine "Geburtsurkunde für Palästina" auszustellen. (http://www.dw.de/30112012-langsam-gesprochene-nachrichten/a-16417991) SAMPLES OF STUDENT E-MAIL SUMMARIES OF GERMAN INTERNET RADIO TEXTS I cite here seven uncorrected samples of student e-mail radio summaries. All are based on Deutsche Welle online radio. (For further examples, see Appendix 1). In these are to be found literal translations from English (Es nahm die Feuerwehr eine Stunde, die erste Zeit), grammatical horrors (waren schlafend), the expected adjective ending errors, as well as false agreement of noun and verb. But most mistakes involved the dative case. From this exercise I therefore learned—with shock—that high intermediate and advanced students were during that week experiening difficulty with the dative case. Beginning with errors like in 2006, in der USA, im Deutschland, and helfen/folgen with the accusative case, I present in a general classroom session the mistakes I have found in the summaries (without identifying the e-mail sender). Therefore, e-mail summaries not only provide me with a ―state-of-the class‖ that I might not otherwise have received, they offer a springboard for a discussion of grammar that benefits the whole class. A. Guten Morgen! Am Anfang des Besuchs von Chinas Präsident Hu Jintao in Moskau wurde einen Vertrag über Öl von China und Russland unterschrieben. Weil China das weltweit zweitgrösste Öl importiert und Russland das zweitgrösstete Öl exportiert, wollen die beide Länder zusammen arbeiten. Dieses Abkommen und andere, die es wahrscheinlich folgen werden, schliessen Unternehmen in China und Russland im Wert von mehr als eine Milliarde Dollar. B. In Berlin, hat die Europäische Union die Kanzlerin von Deutschland, Angela Merkel gestützt. Merkel hat in den Bundestag gesagt dass, die EU Weltereignis musst besser angepasst werden. Das Ziel von der EU ist die Entwicklung wieder vergrößern. 96 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Um das Ziel zu erreichen, die EU muss zeigen dass die Ökonomie und Ökologie kein Oxymoron ist. C.Vieles ist geschehen, besonders in Asien. Schanghai hatte einen erfolgreichen Tag in dem Aktienmarkt, der einen Boersencrash in 11. September 2001 hatte. Die Lage in Schanghai ist jetzt mehr stabilisiert. Nord- und Suedkorea haben sich mit dem Atomprogramm unterhalten. Es war die erste Zeit, dass die zwei Familien zusammen seit 1953 sind. Ein japanischer Schiff, die "Nisshin Maru", wurde in Feuer zerstoert und jetzt hat Japan die Walfangsaison beendet. D.Bald werden dreizehntausend Arbeitnehmer bei DaimlerChrysler arbeitslos sein. Weil Chrylser letztes Jahr unrentabler in der USA war, muss die Firma viele Jobs absetzen und eine Fabrik zumachen. Chrylser verlor 1,1 Milliarde Euros, aber Mercedes gab DaimlerChrysler einen gesamten Profit von 5,5 Milliarden Euro in 2006. E. Es handelt sich um die Filmen von Lubitch und der Journalist fahr ein Interview mit einigen Experten. Der Journalist wollte wissen, warum die Jugendliche die Filmen von Lubitch sehen sollte. Die Experten sagten, dass die Filmen Vorbilder der Fantasie und Spannung sind. Sie behaupteten, dass alle junge Leute von Fantasie träumen und sie wollen Spannung in seinem Leben haben. Die Jugendliche können verstehen und vielleicht verlangen nach einem Leben, das in Filmen von Lubitch dargestellt ist. F. Ich habe ein paar Themen verstanden. Im Deutschland beraten die Leitung, ob sie mehrere Truppen nach Afghanistan senden sollen. Mit einer Truppenverstärkung werden sie die Lage verbessern. Nord und Suedkorea diskutieren Humanität, und was sie machen sollen , um ihre Leute zu helfen. Es gibt leider noch Gewalt zwischen der radikalen Palästinenser-Gruppe und Israel. Ich hoffe, dass eines Tages die beiden eine Loesung finden werden. G. In Schweden hat ein Busfahrer einer verschleierten Frau die Mitnahme verweigert. Dass das Tragen der Burka ihre persönliche Wahl ist und dass es sie nicht bedrohlicher als jeden anderen macht, hat die Frau argumentiert. Dem Bericht zufolge stieg die Frau trotzdem in Malmö in den Bus ein, musste sich dafür aber von dem Fahrer verspotten lassen. Sie hat die Polizei eingeschaltet. Der Fahrer wurde vom Dienst suspendiert, bis der Vorfall untersucht ist, wie ein Sprecher der Busgesellschaft sagte. Allerdings schildere er den Vorfall anders. Sollten jedoch die Vorwürfe der Frau zutreffen, wäre das Verhalten des Fahrers inakzeptabel. H. Die Mehrheit der Deutschen besitzen eine Betriebsrente, aber 40 Prozent der Bürger können sich auf keine Altersversorgung verlassen. Eine Anwartschaft auf die Rente haben vor allem die Deutschen die im öffentlichen Dienst beschäftigt sind, da sie eine Zusatzsicherung bekommen. Die Deutschen die im Privatsektor arbeiten, zum Beispiel bei Banken oder Versicherungen, haben auch einen Betriebsrentenanspruch und sind durch ihre Arbeit Mitglieder eines Versorgungwerks. Auf der anderen Seite, nur 25 Prozent der Beschäftigten im Gastgewerbe verfügen über eine Betriebsrente. I. Romano Prodi, der italienische Ministerpräsident, ist mit dem Vorschlag der Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel für eine gemeinsame europäische Verfassung einverstanden. 97 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Italien und Deutschland sind dazu einig, mit eine neue und gestärkte Institution in die nächsten Wahlen zum Europa-Parlament 2009 zu gehen. Ihre Besprechung wird für die Vorbereitung des kommenden EU-Gipfels in Berlin hilfreich sein. J. Einer der bedeutesten Tenore Luciano Pavarotti ist tod. Der Italiener war 71 Jahre alt und hatte letztes Jahr eine Operation wegen Krebstumor gehabt. Seitdem trat er nicht mehr auf. Pavarotti, Carrera und Domingo waren in den 90ern Jahren zusammen 3 Tenoere genannt. Viele Leute haben die Operas wegen ihm gemocht. Erst am Dienstag war er wegen seinen Arbeiten bezeichnet worden. Reading these summaries, one must be struck by the range in countries (Russia, the North and South Korea, Palestine, China, Sweden, Japan,, Germany, the USA), in topics (world economics, energy, whale hunting, wearing the burka, German pension plans, the European Parlament), and in prominent persons (Merkel, Lubitsch, Pavarotti). The scope of current events is impressive, as is the extent to which students are willing to explore themes that are worth learning about. Certainly they have gained a global perspective in summarizing news and culture, not least in the manner in which American events are communicated to a world audience. I append the longest summary received during a given week, which came from an ambitious, top student: Der Klimaschutz ist ein wichtiges Thema in Deutschland. Die EU wird eine Schluesselrolle in den Verhandlungen in Nairobi spielen. Die aermesten der Armen zahlen die Rechnung des Klimawandels. In Afrika leiden viele Bauern. Die Bauern in Nairobi finden nicht genug Grass und Wasser fuer ihre Kuehe. "Die Folgen des Klimawandels treffen die aermsten Laender der Welt, vor allem in Afrika" sagt Kofi Annan. Anpassung an diese Veraenderung ist eine Ueberlebungsfrage. Deshalb muessen die reichen Laender mit Taten und Geld helfen. Geld spielt eine sehr grosse Rolle. Afrika muss Milliarden ausgeben um eine Veraenderung zu schaffen. Wie [sic] muessen Afrika Geld geben. Es ist eine moralische und praktische Herausforderung. Man muss nicht immer Grossprojekte anstellen. Ein Beispiel ist das Projekt"Rainwater Harvesting"-es gehlt um das sammeln von Regenwasser waehrend der Regenszeit. Jemand muss es aber finanzieren. I was surprised to see that most of these sentences are choppy and start with the subject—in imitation of English, not German word order. In the more formal, longer written exercises on paper that s/he had been handing in regularly, I had not detected these difficulties. Puzzled by the results, I recalled that the use of e-mail can blend features of speech and writing (Pennington, 2004, 83). Perhaps my student was using the ―natural voice‖ of e-mail, the approximation of speech that has led some to speak of a ―creole‖ form of communication (Baron, 1998). 13 Since researchers agree that composition in an electronic medium can alter written expression, thus causing a discrepancy between student writing in compositions on paper and via e-mail, the teacher needs to be aware that a synthetic language can arise. Note that the Internet radio texts of Deutsche Welle and Tagesschau are uniformly suitable to summarize as writing exercises. See, also, Littlemore and Oakey, who speak, in the context of e-mail exchange projects, of the ―relaxed style of writing…generally deemed appropriate for e-mails. This means that students may be more likely to focus on communicating their ideas, rather than worrying too much about the more rigid structure of traditional letters‖ (p.106). 13 98 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 It is instructive to look at two further student radio summaries. They illustrate the disparity of result in the first weekly e-mail assignment, even as they hint at the challenge facing the instructor. Both report on the same audio story on Deutsche Welle (Slow News), which I cite first: Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel setzt darauf, dass die Zusammenarbeit mit den USA unter dem neuen Präsidenten Barack Obama von mehr Gemeinsamkeit geprägt wird. Ein Land alleine könne die Probleme der Welt nicht lösen, sagte Merkel im ARD-Fernsehen. Als besondere gemeinsame Herausforderungen nannte sie die Bewältigung der Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise. Amerika müsse sich hierbei auf internationale Regeln für die Finanzmärkte einlassen. Die Kanzlerin rechnet damit, dass Obama Anfang April nach Deutschland kommen wird. Zu seiner Amtseinführung an diesem Dienstag als 44. Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten, werden in Washington bis zu zwei Millionen Menschen erwartet. Mehr als 40.000 Sicherheitskräfte sind im Einsatz. 1) In der Nachrichten des 20. Januar steht, dass die Deutsche Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel sich in bejahendem Sinne über die Beziehung zwischen Deutschland und den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika äußert. Sie sagte, dass die Zusammenarbeit mit den USA unter dem neuen Präsidenten Barack Obama besser sein wird. Sie unterstreichte , dass niemand allein alle die Probleme lösen kann. Als die größten Probleme sieht sie die Wirtschaftkrise. Ausserdem rechnet sie damit, dass Obama in April nach Deutschland kommen wird. 2) Die Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel sagte, die USA soll nicht allein auf die Finazmarkte Probleme arbeiten. Allein wird ein Land die Probleme nicht loesen. Die USA muss mit andere Lander arbeiten damit wir internationale Regeln machen koennen, die die USA einlassen muss. Im Fruehling wird Barack Obama nach Duetschland kommen. Barack Obama wird am Dienstag den 44. Presidenten der USA werden. Little needs to be said about the first example. In the second, there are many grammatical errors; but all are ―reparable.― Revealing to the teacher, the student forgot that the preposition mit is followed by the dative case. An elementary mistake thus appears in the context of a complex assignment. The teacher retains an e-mail record of the mistake, checking in future assignments to see whether the error is anomolous, or symptomatic of deeper confusion about grammatical case. Looking beyond grammar, one asks whether the student has profited from the German Internet radio assignment. S/he has, by knowing the name of the Federal Chancellor, and by expressing an awareness of a German perspective on current world challenges. STUDENT FEEDBACK IN THE E-MAIL EXCHANGE WITH THE TEACHER When I started assigning e-mail summaries of German Internet radio, I had high hopes for increased student-teacher interaction via the new medium. Surprisingly, I received very few grammatical questions. One student wrote at the conclusion of the summary: ―Can you help me think of some other ways to start off the sentence without starting with subject-verb?‖ Another framed a question based directly on his/her summary, which is first given here: Angeblich sei Deutschland in diesem Jahr in großer Terrorgefahr. Die Sicherheitsbehoerden und Bundesinnenministerium meinen, dass die islamistischen Terroristen durch Angriffe versuchen 99 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 wuerden, den Ausgang der Bundestagswahl zu beeinfluessen und damit den Abzug der Bundeswehr aus Afghanistan zu bewirken. Vor fuenf Jahren wurde auch eine aehnliche Drohung gegen Spanien ausgesprochen, in deren Folge mehrfache Anschlaege auf vier Pendlerzuege gemacht wurden. Dabei wurden „191 Menschen getoetet und mehr als 1800 verletzt". Das juengste, im Internet aufgetauchte Terrorvideo, in dem ein Deutsch sprechender Terrorist den Abzug der Bundeswehr aus Afghanistan fordert, erweist sich als authentisch. (The student writes:) I have a question about the phrase "in deren Folge": is it correct to put "deren" Folge, since it refers to "Drohung"? So if there was a masculine noun instead of "Drohung", it would be "in dessen Folge" right? Thank you! And, as might be expected, one student wrote me concerning the length of the summary: ― Ich hoffe, dass das genug ist. Ich habe es im Microsoft Word geschrieben, und es war 5 Linien. Danke!‖ While grammatical questions were rarer than I had anticipated, emotional reactions to the news stories being summarized were more common that expected. I assume this is a carry-over from normal e-mail communications among friends, in which the writer feels free to express his/her thoughts. Students openly communicated their ideas, and emotions upon hearing online radio, ranging from the comment: ―Das ist schade‖ after reporting that the CDU and the SPD could not find a way to cooperate, to the confession: ―Meiner Meinung nach würde ich niemals ein Selbstmordattentäter sein,‖ which followed a summary on a suicide-bomber. After writing about a quota on certain species of ocean fish, a student added the wish: ―Hoffentlich wird dieser Plan erfolgreich sein.‖ One student called unemployment in Germany ―ein interessantes Thema,‖ explaining, ―ich interessiere mich für dieses Thema, weil ich jetzt Economics an der Uni lerne, und wir sprechen oft darüber.‖ Another student expressed anxiety about the world economic situation, comparing America and Japan: ―Ich bin nervös über die amerikanische Autoindustrie und ich hoffe, dass wir nicht so viele Stellen wie Japan beseitigen müssen.‖ Finally, a student‘s discussion of the rebuilding of Dresden concluded with this personal remark: ―Die Dresdener Altstadt ist vielleicht meine Lieblingsstadt in Deutschland.‖ In these, and in the examples cited below, I noted the desire not only to report on radio news and culture, but to share with me their strong feelings on the material. Upon reflection, students‘ engagement with the subject matter was to be expected, since they had exercised choice in the Internet assignment, and obviously had decided to summarize a German story inspiring an emotional reaction. Nevertheless, I was struck by the level of passion here seen that is missing from many classroom lessons. There follow four student Internet radio summaries —again from Deutsche Welle- with critical commentaries on the events they are writing about (additional examples in Appendix 3): A. In Birma gibt es viele politsche Streite. Seit viele Jahren protestieren Mönche gegen das Militärregime. Obwohl ein Birma-Spezalist sagte, dass es die „Anfang von Ende― ist, bin ich nicht so sicher. 400.000 Mönche wohnen in Birma, und 15,000 von denen protestieren. Die Proteste gegen der militärische Situation Birmas wird immer grösser. Die letzten Nachrichten ist, dass 3.000 menschen gestorben sind. Diese Proteste sind oft sehr brutal. Es ist interessant, politische Streite zu studieren. Dazu sieht man, wie Religion, Politik, und Menschheit verwandt sind. Diese Situation finde ich sehr traurig; es scheint als ob es immer schlechter wird. Weil wir auch in Amerika politische und militärische Probleme mit Bezug auf Irak haben, können wir mit Birma mitfühlen. In den USA und auch in Birma sollen die Politiker die Bürger beachten. 100 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 B. Nach dem neuesten Bericht der Organisation fuer wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit (OECD) sinkt das deutsche Bildungssystem weiter. Trotz einiger Verbesserungen faellt Deutschland im Vergleich weltweit vom 10. auf den 22. Rang zurueck. In ihrem jaehrlichen Bericht kritisiert die OECD die niedrige Zahl von Abiturienten und Akademikern. Wo liegt die U.S.A. auf dieser Weltrangliste? Ich weiss das nicht, aber hoffentlich stehen wir im Rang hoeher als Deutschland. Aber leider haben wir auch wenigere Absolvente, die Wissenschaften als Hauptfach studieren. C. Der Taiphun „Wipha,― der in China war, zieht jetzt auf seinen Weg nach Norden. 300.000 Leute waren von China evakuiert. Nur ein Person ist in China gestorben, aber Japan und Taiwan waren auch vom Sturm getrieben. Früher war „Wipha― Katagorie fünf, der hochsten Katagorie, genannt. Jetzt ist es zurück auf eins. 2.000.000 Menschen waren in Sicherheit gebracht, aber 40.000 Schiffe sind auf den See geblieben. Meines Erachtens ist, dass dieser Sturm überwacht sein soll. Es ist leicht zu vergessen wie gefährlich Stürme sind, aber wir haben vor drei Jahren in Amerika Katrina gehabt. Viele Leute und auch andere Länder haben der Stadt New Orleans geholfen. Wir sollen auch China, Japan, und Taiwan helfen. Wenn wir in Amerika 2.000.000 Heimatlosen haben, werden wir etwas tun, um zu helfen. Es macht nichts, dass wir nicht in der Nähe Chinas sind. Das soll eine weltweite Leistung sein. D. In Pakistan hat die Polizei einen der wichtigsten Taliban Führer festgenommen. Es ist mir aufmunternd, dass er und ein paar weitere Mitglieder der Taliban nicht mehr frei sind. Sie sollen für die restlichen Jahre ihrer Leben im Gefängnis bleiben. Nach eine neue Abstimmung hat Barack Obama den ersten Platz der demokratischer Auseinandersetzung übergenommen. Ich bin nicht sicher, ob ich für Obama stimmen werde. Ich bin der Meinung, dass er einen guten Redner ist, aber ich stimme nicht zu, dass wir Irak lassen sollen. REGARDING CORRECTIONS In order to assess the general success of the radio summary, I read it through the first time for content, without making any corrections. Then, I follow each mistake with a bracket, providing the answer inside the bracket: Die aermesten [aermsten];14 14 There are, of course, other modes of e-mail correction, and I invite the reader to suggest others. One could, for example, mark each mistake with a bracket, leaving the student to furnish the answer in a subsequent, return e-mail: Es gehlt [ ] um. In addition, all teacher comments on the return e-mail might be in German. These variations hint at the flexibility of the medium. 101 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Next, I look for error patterns (word order, adjective endings, subjunctive, etc.) and list these at the bottom of the e-mail in English so that there can be no confusion about my meaning. Since students have had the basic grammar, I point out areas requiring review. Consequently, feedback is presented in telegraphic style, short and to the point. From my feedback students can assess their progress. If there are numerous errors, I both return the e-mail with corrections via the return function on the computer and print it out for discussion with the student in the next class period. Finally, the teacher appends a comment in German: Besprechen wir diesen grammatischen Punkt morgen in der Deutschstunde; viel besser; Wiederhole den Dativ; immer besser; Ich verstehe den Text nicht ganz. Kannst Du mir diesen Aspekt weiter erklären? Fange jeden Satz bitte nicht mit dem Subjekt an; Zeitbestimmungen sind immer noch ein Problem: treffen wir uns doch, um darüber zu reden; Diesmal überhaupt keine Fehler; Wenn Du noch Fragen hast, schreib mir noch einmal, etc. Rarely do students make content mistakes, so most corrections relate to grammar. When grammatical errors pile up, there is a danger that students grow discouraged. In class I stress that correction is not punitive, but that I am trying to make writers aware of their errors—especially persistent ones. There follow four sample radio e-mail summaries, with error-correction response to students: A. Die Nachricht lautet wie folgt: Der ehemalige Deutsche Post-Chef Klaus Zumwinkel, der einmal "ein Star am Himmel der deutschen Wirtschaftselite" gewesen sei, habe ein Verbrechen begangen, das nicht zu unterschaetzen sein muesse. Seit mehrere[n] Jahren habe er fast ein [eine] Millionen {Million] Euro Steuern mit Hilfe einer Stiftung aus Liechtenstein, ein [einem] Steuerparadies, hinterzogen. Nicht nur sei der Steuerhinterzieher "zu zwei Jahren Haft auf Bewaehrung" verurteilt worden, sondern auch zusaetzlich muesse er eine Million Euro Strafe zahlen. Aber nach die[den] Meinungen der Kritiker [see below] sei die Strafe zu niedrig fuer so eine beschaemende Tat. *eine Million Euro SEIT: always dative [seit mehreren Jahren] NACH: always dative NACH MEINUNG DER KRITIKER : this phrase is usually singular. * Please review the dative. Otherwise: Gut gemacht! B. Gegenwärtig gibt es viele Berichte in Europa in Bezug auf den Ex-Häftlingen [auf die ExHaeftlinge] aus Guantanamo. Letzte Woche haben [sich] die EU[-] Außenminister in Brüssel getroffen, um [über] das Problem zu diskutieren. Die Diplomaten der Europäischen Union erwarten von den USA eine Aufnahme von Häftlingen, obwohl es vermutlich eine Weile dauern wird. Mit dem Thema Guantanamo kommt ein Streit für den [die] Diplomaten, ob sie den USA Hilfe bieten sollen [sollten]. Es gibt noch keinen Entschluss, nur eine Debatte. *sich treffen IN BEZUG AUF: always accusative FüR: always accusative. * Please review the accusative. Good variety of sentence openers! Viel besser. 102 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 C. Genff [Genf]: Eine wichtige Anhörung zum Menschenrecht [zu Menschenrechten: normally use plural] in Deutschland begann am 2. Februar. Organizationen wie Amnesty International bereiteten sich für [auf] die Kritik vor. Die Organisation AI sagte, dass [verb to end of clause] Gleichstellung, Immigration, Armut, und Flüchlinge hätten [x] die gro[e]βte Bedeutung, und besonders Flüchtlinge, weil Ausweisungen sta[e]ndig bedroht[?] seien. Deutschland ist für dieses Jahr der erste Staat so kritisiert zu werden. Am Mitten Februar [Mitte Februar] wird Amnesty International ein[e] ausführliche Kritik über die Menschrechtsituation [den UN Mitgliedstaaten: WORD ORDER] machen. *die Kritik [usually with verb üben + an + dative: übt Kritik an der Menschenrechtssituation in einem Land] *sich vorbereiten auf *die grösste Bedeutung * Mitte Februar *review word order after: dass Put phrase: den UN Mitgliedstaaten before eine ausführliche Kritik. If dative and accusative are nouns, the dative goes first. Start more sentences with adverbs and prepositions. Otherwise: gute Zusammenfassung! D. Im Radio ging es heute ueber [um] die Nobelfirma Drettman und die Luxusschiffe, die sie produzieren. Der Reporter durfte eines der neuesten und luxorioesten Schiffe, die 2B[,] betreten. Jedoch musste er [sich] seine Schuhe zuvor ausziehen. Das Schiff war kolossal und mit vielen luxorioesen Sachen eingerichtet. Der Vertreter der Firma, Herr Schmidt, meinte, dass alles zu [nach] den Wuenschen der Kunden eingerichtet wird [subjunctive] und fast nichts unmoeglich waere. Das einzige{,] was in der 2B vielleicht anstrengend waere[,] ist das Treppen [die Treppe; pl. Treppen] auf[-] und absteigen, aber da koennte man auch einen Fahrstuhl einbauen. Als der Reporter fragte[,] ob es [noch] einen Wunsch gab, den Drettman nicht erfuellen haette [X] koennen, antwortete Schmidt, dass ein Herr statt eines Salons einen Operationsraum fuer die Schoenheitsoperationen seiner Frau verlangt haette. Der einzige Grund warum Drettman den Wunsch nicht haette erfuellen koennen [OKAY!], war weil der Chirurg einen still stehenden Raum braeuchte[,] um "sein Messer richtig ansetzen zu keonnen". [koennen] *es geht um or es handelt sich um: both with accusative *sich ausziehen for articles of clothing (Er zog sich das Hemd aus) *nach Wunsch der Kunden eingerichtet: according to the wish/wishes of the clients *den D. nicht hätte erfüllen können : in dependent clauses, hätte precedes the double infinitive. (In your summary you use this construction twice, once correctly.) Immer besser! INTERNET VIDEO-SUMMARIES: A VARIATION ON THE METHOD A variation on the method combines sound with pictures (See also Appendix 3). Students watch online video news and cultural reports, for instance, at www.br.de/mediathek/index.html, www.zoomin.tv, http://web.de/magazine/video/index.html, or www.rp-online.de , and report on these to the teacher via a weekly e-mail. Class members have avoided ―celebrity news,‖ concentrating on serious stories, such as the development of Google Ocean (3D ocean imagery), 103 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 ferocious winter storms in the US, piracy in the Gulf of Aden, and Pope Benedict XVI and the Holocaust. Note that, if students have difficulty in comprehension, online videos can be paused, and replayed at the discretion of the listener. There follow four sample student e-mail summaries of online videos : A. Es muss nicht immer Döner sein (www.dw.de) Ali Güngörmüs arbeitet in Hamburg, wo er als der einzige türkische Sterne-Koch bekannt ist. Seine Zutaten kauft er im türkischen Lebensmittelladen ein, weil er gesagt hat, dass die verschiedene Gewürze ihm gut schmeckten. Güngörmus will die weitverbreitete Annahme aufgeben, dass es nur ein türkisches Gericht gibt: Döner. Güngörmüs hat weiter erklärt, sein Essen lässt sich von seiner eigenen Mutter inspirieren. Eines Tages möchte er selbst einen Döner-Laden eröffnen, der sehr anders ist. Ich meine, das ist eine kluge Idee. Jeder liebt Essen! B. Vogelschlag gefilmt: Wenn Zugvögel in Flugzeuge greaten (www.spiegel.de/schulspiegel) Vögel geraten öfters in Flugzeugen während der Flug. Ein Passagier hat ein Film von einer Vogelschlag gemacht. Wegen einer Vogelschlag musste ein Flugzeug im Hudson River aus Not landen. C. Das Sandmännchen ist da! (www.hr-online.de) In das Frankfurter Museum für Kommunikation ist eine neue Ausstellung geöffnet, um das Sandmännchen zu beehren. Seit Dezember 1959 hat Deutschland eine kurze Fernsehserie, um die Kinder ins Bett zu bringen. Zuerst hat es ein Sandmännchen für den Westen und ein für den Osten gegeben, aber nach der Wiedervereinigung gibt es das selbes Sandmännchen für alle deutschen Kinder. Deutschland benutzt das Sandmännchen der Ost. In die Ausstellung gibt ein Sandmännchen Denkwürdigkeiten. D. Die Königin der Lüfte. (www.focus.de) Die Boeing 747 (auch bekannt als der Jumbojet) wurde am 9. Februar 40 Jahre alt! Die erste ist im Jahr 1969 von einem Militärflughafen in Washington D.C. geflogen. Der US Präsident fliegt in einer, die Airforce 1 heisst. Das neuste Model heisst Boeing 747-8 Airbus A380. In der Frühlingspause werde ich eigentlich nach Europa in einer Boeing 747 hinfliegen. We live in a decidedly visual age, one heavily influenced by video games and motion pictures that use animation techniques borrowed from such games. I notice a strongly positive response from students to Internet videos, many of which average under three minutes in running time. The short length, combined with immediately contemporary images, make videos an attractive medium for e-mail summaries in the writing class. 104 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 LIMITATIONS OF THE E-MAIL SUMMARY ISSN: 2289-2737 1) Not all students are content to summarize a single Internet radio story, but expand their reach to cover other news and cultural events. In an important sense, this is positive. Students listen to several stories, thereby broadening their knowledge. However, the writing task seems best served by focus, concentration on a single topic. Students need to be reminded to direct their attention to a single audio report. 2) The e-mail summary fails to alter basic student (human?) behavior. Some write the bare minimum (counting words and sentences) and must be reminded to do justice to the radio master text upon which the e-mail summary is based. 3) In theory I am assessing both for content and for grammar. In practice, however, since I do not have before me the radio master text, I evaluate sentence and vocabulary patterns and identify persistent errors. To refine the assignment, and thereby to assess writing and listening abilities with a control document, students might, for example, cut-and-paste in the e-mail that I receive a master text from Slow News. 4) One of the surprising findings was that those students who ordinarily hand in the best compositions made elementary mistakes in German when writing via electronic mail. The preliminary explanation is that e-mail, which, in addition to texting, is the most common form of student-to-student communication, is so familiar that the writer tends to ease up, becoming less restrained than in formal writing exercises that are turned in to the instructor on paper. While teachers want students to relax so that their writing is more fluid, the danger is that relaxation can lead to laxness. Repeatedly I exclaim while correcting student e-mail: ―I thought s/he already knew that!‖ . CLASSROOM IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS E-mail summaries of texts on German Internet radio are a useful supplement to German writing classes and should be more widely assigned. They give students an additional opportunity to write (with teacher feedback), using a mode of communication that is familiar to their daily lives. In their e-mail summaries, students enjoy the freedom of topic mentioned above, a freedom that, within the given online radio parameters, sharpens their ability to choose from a number of alternatives—all of which are topical, newsworthy, and in the German language. By basing their summaries on German Internet radio, learners are exposed to German culture, while deepening their appreciation for global concerns and their understanding of how others view the United States. It is obvious from the summaries that students, besides improving their written skills, are exploring a wide palette of offerings that expand their cultural awareness and knowledge of geography. This semester, for example, after barely 3 weeks they have learned, through the medium of German Internet radio, the name Steinmeier, and have become acquainted with the German health system and railroad strikes. Even German weather is a topic some choose to write about. To say it again, I conceive of e-mail as a resource, and not as the chief medium, for developing facility in written German. Functioning in a supporting capacity with a clear pedagogical mission—here summarizing Internet radio content— it is a tool that can improve 105 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 writing fluency, enhance proficiency, and build vocabulary. Learners, wrestling with authentic language embedded in culturally authentic texts, develop writing (and editing) skills at the same time they encounter language in content. This is active learning at its best. My results, gathered during some seven years, are favorable. Over the course of a semester I observe a growing degree of skill in choosing German synonyms, as well as an increase in syntactically complex sentences. Crucial areas, for example, the extent of teacher interventions in the correction of e-mails need study. It is time for a systematic investigation, with control groups, taking the same subject matter and comparing student writing progress with e-mail versus non-electronic media. During the control, teacher corrections can be assessed for effectiveness. I can state already that, based on my own writing classroom, e-mail exchanges between student and teacher on the basis of German Internet radio texts enhance composing skills. Thus, for me the place of the e-mail summary in the curriculum is secure. Bibliography Baron, N. S. (2000). Alphabet to E-Mail. How Written English Evolved and Where It’s Heading. London: Routledge. Bean, J. C. (2001). Engaging Ideas. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Belisle, R. (1996). ―E-Mail Activities in the ESL Writing Class.‖ The Internet TESL Journal, 2.12. Bisaillon, J. (1999). ―Effects of the teaching of revision strategies in a computer-based environment.‖ In M.C. Pennington (Ed.), Writing in an Electronic Medium: Research with Language Learners (pp. 131-58). 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(2002). ―A New Model for Teaching Intermediate German at the CollegeLevel.‖ Die Unterrichtspraxis.Teaching German, 35.2, pp.123-8. 108 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Van Handle, D. C., & Corl, K. A. (1998). ―Extending the Dialogue. Using Electronic Mail and the Internet to Promote Conversation and Writin in Intermediate Level German Language Courses.‖ CALICO Journal, 15.1-3, pp. 129-43. Warschauer, M. (1995). E-Mail for English Teaching. Bringing the Internet and Computer Learning Networks into the Language Classroom. Alexandria, VA: TESOL. Warschauer, M., Shetzer, H., & Meloni, C. (2000). Internet for English Teaching. Alexandria, VA: TESOL. Wipf, J. (2004). ―Extended Attribute Constructions in German Radio Newscasts. Analysis and Implications.‖ Die Unterrichtspraxis. Teaching German, 37.2, pp.143-7. Wolff, D. (1998). ―The Use of E-Mail in Foreign Language Teaching.‖ In Darleguy, V., Ding, A., and Svensson, M. (Eds.), Les Nouvelles Technologies Educatives dans L’Apprentissage des Langues Vivantes: Refléxion Théorique et Applications Pratiques. Villeurbanne: INSA Lyon, pp. 1-12. Appendix 1: Student e-mail summaries: A. In Katar haben sich UN-Abgeordnete bei einer Klimakonferenz getroffen. Sie arbeiten an einem Plan für den 2020 in mehr als 190 Ländern zum Tragen kommenden Vertrag. Ab dieses Jahr endet der Klimaschutz, dem 1997 im Kyoto-Abkommen zugestimmt wurde. Die EU und zehn andere Staaten haben vor, die Bestimmungen von dem alten Abkommen für acht mehr Jahre fortzusetzen. Bislang haben die USA und China an diesen Klima-Diskussionen nicht teilgenommen, obwohl sie viel Verschmutzung herstellen. B. Obwohl es ein internationales Moratorium zum Walfang gibt, jagen die Japaner seit 1986 illegal die Wale. Aber weil das Schiff ‚Nisshin Maru‘ vor zwei Wochen brannte, schliesst Japan einen Monat früher als normal die Walfangsaison ab. Die Mannschaft besserte das Schiff aus aber die Fischereibehörde befahl, kein mehr Wahlfang in der Antarktis zu unternehmen. C. Am Mittwoch gab es einen grossen Börsencrash in China. In Singapur sank die Börse vornehmlich, und es verursachte die Aktienmärkte in Europa und die USA auch zu fallen. Natürlich hatte Leute um die Welt durchgedreht und ziemlich viele verkauften ihre Aktien. Dieses ist der größte Kursverlust seit dem 11. September 2001. D. . Es gab ein Feuer in einem Altenheim im Süden Russlands. Die Einwohner waren schlafend, als das Feuer kam, und mindestens 63 starben. Aber fast Hälfte von ihnen könnte überlebt haben! Jedoch gab es am Haus zahlreiche gebrochene Feuersicherheitsvorschriften. Leider lebten die Leute auch in einem entfernten Dorf, und es nahm die Feuerwehr eine Stunde, um dort einzutreffen. Die Ursache des Feuers ist noch nicht bekannt. E. Nordkorea und Südkorea haben sich entschieden, die humanitären Projekte wieder einzusetzen. Die Wiedervereining von dem Krieg getrennten Familien gehört auch dazu. Südkorea erwähnte nochmals, dass Nordkorea den Atomprogramm beenden sollte. Nordkorea wird ein Gespräch auch mit Japan in der folgenden Woche führen. 109 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 F. Als Antwort auf steigenden Konflikt zwischen Israel und Palästina warnt UN Generalsekretär Ban vor Israels geplannter Invasion des Gaza-Streifens. Diese Warnung kommt nach Tagen von Streit im Gaza-Streifen. Wegen des Gefechts sind viele Palästinenser ums Leben gekommen. Trotzdem ist die Weltgemeinschaft unentschlossen. Viele Länder verurteilen Israel als ein Terrorist-Staat. Andere Länder wie Deutschland geben Israel dennoch ihre Unterstützung. Um den Konflikt schneller zu lösen, bittet Ban um Ägyptens Eingriff, weil Ägypten so einen groβen Einfluss in der Gegend hat. G. In Berlin hat der Außenminister Frank-Walter Steinmeier mit anderen Außenministern von fünf anderen Staaten getroffen. Steinmeier ist nach Kasachstan gegangen, um einen Entwurf für engere Beziehungen der EU zu reden, und über die Energie in die verschieden Staaten zu reichen. Die fünf Staaten, Kasachstan, Turkmenistan, Usbekistan, Tadschikistan und Kirgisien repräsentiert fünf Prozent von den Energiereserven in der Welt. H. Am Mittwoch fand eine veröffentlichte Studie der Medizinischen Fakultät der Yale Universität, dass das Nikotin in Zigaretten bei Kindern die Entwicklung der Seh- und Hörfähigkeit schädigt. Demnach zeigen minderjährige Raucher, deren Mütter während der Schwangerschaft geraucht haben, eine dramatische Verringerung der Wahrnehmung. Besonders schlecht schnitten dabei Mädchen bei Seh- und Hörtests ab. Bei Buben wurden dagegen vor allem Defizite im Hörbereich festgestellt. Die Forscher vermuten dahinter eine unterschiedliche Entwicklung und Hormonsteuerung im Zusammenspiel mit Nikotin. I. Europäische Länder wollen mehr mit asiatischen Ländern arbeiten. Außenminister Guido Westerwelle war bei einem Treffen in Laos, worauf er sprach über ähnliche Wirtschaftsziele für Länder in beiden Kontinenten. Er sagte auch, dass außer Indien und China werden die kleine asiatische Länder immer wichtiger. Ihm ist Freihandel zwischen Europa und Asien etwas sehr wichtig. Eigentlich findet Westerwelle diese Freihandelabkommen nötig. Heute ist der letzer Tag des ASEM-Treffens, wo es 51 Abgeordneten aus Europa und Asien gab. J. Vor zwei Jahren hat die Niederlande gegen die EU-Verfassung gestimmt. Nun am Mittwoch wurde eine Empfehlung von dem Staatsrat abgegeben. In der Schweiz am 21. Oktober wird ein neues Parlament gewählt werden. Die SVP oder Schweizer Volkspartei änderte ihr Programm, damit sie gewinnen dürfen. Normalerweise sehen die Deutsche die schweizerischen Wahlen als langweilig an, aber dieses Mal machen sie etwas Neues. Allerdings sind diese neue Themen kontrovers. Manche von diesen Streitfragen sind rassistisch oder haben etwas mit dem Religion zu tun. Appendix 2: Individual student improvement over the course of a semester. Student 1. First summary: Am 7. Oktober, 2006 war einen russische Journalistin, die oft ihre Regierung kritisiert hat, erschossen worden. Anna Politkowskaja war 48 Jahre alt. Heute haben die Polizei endlich zehn Verdächtige festgenommen. Bald werden diese Leute unter Anklage stehen. Für die ganze Welt war Politkowskajas Tod traurig, aber andere Kritiker der Regierung sagen, dass der Justiz nicht wirklich nach den Mörder gesucht hat. Final summary: Guo Feixiong, ein chinesischer Dissident, wird fünf Jahre im Gefängnis abgehalten werden und muss eine hohe Geldstrafe zahlen. Ein Gericht in Guangzhou, eine Stadt im Süden, hat Guo verurteilt, weil er ein Buch, das Korruption in der Regierung von den 110 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 nordöstlichen Stadt Shenyang kritisiert, ohne Erlaubnis der Behörden herausgegeben hat. Dieses Buch wurde im Jahr 2001 veröffentlicht. Guo will Landenteignungen von Bauern bekämpfen. Student 2. First summary: In zwei Woche gibt es eine Stichwahl in Serbien fuer einen Praesident. Am Sonntag hat Tomislav Nikolic, der Chef der ultra-nationalistischen Serbischen Radikalen Partei, 39 Prozent der Stimmen gewonnen waehrend des ersten Durchgangs der Wahl. Im zweiten Platz kam Boris Tadic, der obliegende Staatspräsident, mit ungefaehr 35 Prozent. Die Wahlbeteiligung war mehr als 60 Prozent. Die Kandidaten hatten andere Visionen fuer Serbien. Der radikale Kandidat Nikolic moechte ein engerer Verhältnis mit Russland haben. Im Gegensatz zu Nikolic Tadic tritt fuer Mitgliederschaft in der Europäischen Union. Final summary:: Zwei Wochen nach der Kaperung einer französischen Luxusjacht vor der Küste Somalias haben Piraten dort einen spanischen Dampfer mit 26 Menschen an Bord in ihre Gewalt gebracht. Die Piraten nahmen mit dem gekaperten Schiff Kurs auf das afrikanische Festland. Die spanische Regierung schickte eine Kriegsfregatte in das Seegebiet. Somalia befindet sich im Bürgerkrieg. Bei neuen Kämpfen zwischen islamistischen Rebellen und Regierungssoldaten starben in Somalias Hauptstadt Mogadischu mindestens 40 Menschen. Student 3. First summary: Deutschländer. In diesem Bericht gab es ein Interview mit einer Afghanin, die in Deutschland wohnt. Obwohl sie ihre Ausbildung in einer Gymnasium gemacht hat, kann sie nicht an einer deutsche Uni studieren. Fast 200.000 Menschen sind in Deutschland geboren oder aufgewachsen, die nicht weiterbilden können. Aber diese junge Frau sagt, dass sie sich "deutsch" füllt und sie glaubt, dass sie die gleiche Chance als andere Deutschen haben soll. Tatsächlich sind diese Migranten in der Schwebe, weil sie nicht zurück nach der Heimat gehen wollen. Final summary: Die ganze Welt interessiert sich für amerikanische Politik, besonders wenn wir einen neuen Präsidenten wählen. Aber diese Wahl ist ziemlich anders. Erstaunlich ist es das erste Mal, dass die USA eine Frau als Präsidentschaftskandidatin haben. Vielleicht ist dieses Land unzeitgemäß; zurzeit hat Deutschland eine Kanzlerin und vor zwanzig Jahren hat Großbritannien Margaret Thatcher als Premierministerin. Im Wahlkampf müssen Frauen Männern ähnlich sein. Sie sollen Anzüge statt Kleider und Röcke tragen sonst gehen sie eine Gefahr ein, dass andere sie als schwach ansehen werden. Appendix 3: Student e-mail summaries with personal reactions to the story A.Vor 6 Jahren war der Skandel des World Trade Centers. Gestern in New York sind mehr als 3000 Personen durch die einsturzigen tomb gekommen, um diesen Tag zu errinern. Obwohl es jetzt sechs Jahre später ist, sind viele leute betrüben, physicalisch und psychisch beide. Viele Leute sind noch krank, weil am 9/11 haben viele Rettungskräfte 16 Stunde lang ohne Maske in der unreine Luft gearbeitet. Hilary Clinton hat über 9/11 gesprochen. Als ihr hochste Prioritat sagte sie „Ich will die Retter retten,― ob sie Senator oder Präsident ist. 111 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Ich glaube, man kann mit Sicherheit sagen, dass wir nie 9/11 vergessen wird. Sowie ich das sehe, ist es tröstlich, dass andere Länder im Allegemeinem und Deutschland insbesondere auch uns nicht vergessen haben. the story. B. Im Radiobericht handelt die interessanteste Thema von einer neuen Bombe in Russland. Obwohl diese neue Vakuum-Bombe so explosiv als eine Atombombe ist, ist die Vakuum-Bombe sauberer für die Umwelt. Leider gibt es einen negativen Aspekt mit dieser Bombe. Wenn sie explodiert, kann sie viel Schaden durch eine Druckwelle machen. So wie ich das sehe, soll die Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika und andere Länder um diese Vakuum-Bombe Sorgen machen. Gibt es einen guten Grund, Russland diese neue Bombe zu haben? C. Es gab gestern ein Erdberben der Stärke 6,4 in Indonesien, und darauf haben die Leitung eine erneute Tsunami-Warnung ausgegeben. Mindestens neun Leute sind ums Leben gekommen. Im Britische fernsehen sagte Mahmoud Ahmadinijad, dass seinen Land keine Lust nach Atomwaffen hat. Er erklärte, dass Iran nur friedliche Vorhaben hat. Ich bin anderer meinung, weil er auf [auch]gesagt hat, dass Israel soll kaputtmachen werden. D. .Obwohl viele Nachrichten immer so schlecht und traurig sind, gibt es heute einen besseren Nachricht in Shanghai. Früher hat der Wetteransager gedacht, dass der Taifun ―Wipha‖ sehr gefährlich wäre. Glückerweise zieht der Sturm weg von der Wirtschaftsmetropole um. Soviel ich weiss, ist nur ein Person gestorben, und er ist durch einen Stromschlag gestorben. Ich glaube, man kann mit Sicherheit sagen, dass diese Situation viel schlechter sein könnte. E. Im Radiobericht geht es um verrückte Mönche. Augenscheinlich sind die Mönche besonders böse mit der Militärjunta in Birma, weil die Mönche gegen die Junta demonstrierte. Leider gibt es einen Mönch, der schon getötet worden ist. Soweit ich das beurteilen kann, sind die Junta sehr gemein. Sind die Mönche wirklich so gewalttätig, damit die Junta einen Mönch töten müssen? Aber vielleicht bin ich nicht genug informiert. Appendix 4: Other forms of the e-mail online summary Note: Assignments are almost infinitely variable. The teacher, with student input, can easily expand the number of websites and modify the length of the summary, raising or lowering the number of German sentences. Anonymous, student e-mail summaries of radio broadcasts can be circulated in class, and the class can discuss these in German, and then correct them. Because email tasks are so open-ended, they can be adapted to advanced high school classes Examples of models for the e-mail summary are: 1) Students select a short Internet text from Deutsche Welle or Tagesschau, editing this down to a length that the teacher prescribes. They retain the basic grammatical structure of the sentences, i.e., keep the Vorfeld intact, at the same time they search out synonyms for adverbs, nouns, etc. The finished summary is then e-mailed to the instructor for feedback. 112 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 2) Students select one of the daily news/sports/culture stories that are sent free via e-mail by Deutsche Welle (newsletter@nl-de.dw.de). They again edit and e-mail it to the instructor for feedback. There follows a sample text from 18 January 2009:UN warnen vor Katastrophe in Simbabwe.HARARE: ―Die Vereinten Nationen haben nochmals auf das Elend der Bevölkerung in Simbabwe hingewiesen. Die Cholera-Epidemie, an der bereits mehr als 2.200 Menschen starben und knapp 43.000 erkrankten, sei nur die Spitze des Eisbergs, sagte UNICEF-Direktorin Ann Veneman in Harare. Nach einem Gespräch mit Staatschef Robert Mugabe wies sie darauf hin, die Hälfte der Bevölkerung sei auf Lebensmittelhilfe angewiesen, Gesundheitszentren würden geschlossen, und auch der Schulbetrieb drohe vollends zusammenzubrechen. Die UN kündigten an, für die Löhne der Mitarbeiter im Gesundheitswesen fünf Millionen Dollar bereitzustellen. Viele staatliche Krankenhäuser haben die Arbeit eingestellt, da die exorbitante Inflationsrate den Beschäftigten nichts vom Lohn übrig ließ.‖ 3) Students express a personal opinion—agreement, disagreement, astonishment—about an Internet story on Deutsche Welle or Tagesschau, and e-mail it to the instructor for feedback. A portion of the exercise might look like this student e-mail: ― Nach einer Waffenruhe in Gaza, hat das Kämpfen wieder angefangen. Wirklich erstaunt es mir nicht im mindestens, dass sie kämpfen. Aber finde ich, dass Waffenruhe ein sehr schönes Wort ist—viel besser als „ceasefire.― .Grammar errors aside, the student has benefited from the assignment. S/he seems to have learned a new German word (Waffenruhe) and is being confronted with global concerns. Americans are notorious for a poor sense of geography; this is a way to learn where Gaza is located. Appendix 5: Students comment on the method. A)…One of the most effective didactic tactics I had had the pleasure of learning…[Such] use of the Internet is both interactive and educational….I have greatly improved my reading, writing and comprehension skills. …Most importantly, the Internet is available 24/7 and students have access to learning material around the clock. B) One of the features of the approach is that it can cater to each person‘s skill level… What better way to learn…than to use the boundless resources provided by the Internet? B) Vielen Dank fuer alles dieses Semester. Es hat wirklich Spass gemacht und ich habe viel gelernt. Acknowledgements I am grateful to Professors James Pfrehm and Jozef Colpaert for advice and counsel. 113 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 The Impact of Reflection and Metalinguistic Feedback in SLA: A Qualitative Research in the Context of Post Graduates Anwar Mourssi Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries and Education, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK Correspondence: Dr Anwar Mohammed Abdou Mourssi, Higher College of Technology, Muscat, the Sultanate of Oman, P.O. Box 546, P.C. 115. E-mails: anwarmohd1967@yahoo.com, anwar.mourssi@hct.edu.om Abstract Some studies have examined the effectiveness of direct and indirect feedback in improving levels of accuracy and their impact on the development of writing skills among second language (L2) learners (Lalande, 1982; Ferris, 1995b; Lee, 1997; Ferris and Roberts, 2001; Chandler, 2003; Bitchener, 2005; Miceli, 2006). It is concluded that the positive impact of direct/indirect feedback on the ability of foreign language learners to edit their own texts and improve their accuracy in writing. The present study hopes to build on these studies by investigating the role of metalinguistic feedback in encouraging and preparing L2 learners to improve their level of accuracy and fluency in SLA. At the end of the experiment, the results seem to indicate that metalinguistic feedback in the form of error/contrastive analyses is the most effective way to help ALEs improve their accuracy and fluency as well. Key words: reflection, metalinguistic feedback, SLA, IWP, negotiation of form and meaning, revising and redrafting Introduction Varying opinions on ―reflection‖ are expressed in the academic literature. Little (2002) considers reflection as an important language learning step for, without it, learners cannot accept responsibility for their own learning. Pennington (1997) made a similar observation but focused further on the ways that language learners could benefit from their conscious attempts to improve their effectiveness. On the other hand, Murphy (2001) noted the difficulties students could face when they engage in reflective activities in solitude. The teacher plays a key role in explaining the purpose and benefits of reflecting on performance. According to Miceli (2006) there are two types of feedback, direct and indirect. The former (direct feedback) is defined as an action which occurs when the teacher provides the target-like form to the student, while the latter (indirect feedback) is a form of correction when the teacher implies in some way that an error exists but does not provide the correction (recast). Literature Review According to Miceli (2006), the following factors: reflection, correction (teacher‘s correction or self-correction), feedback (direct or indirect), redrafting (peers or groups) and thinking-aloud (pairs or groups) are all integrated sub-processes that cannot be taught independently or 114 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 separately. Therefore, it is the role of the teacher to attract the attention of the learners and focus on cultivating the skills and sub-skills needing development. This can be achieved by creating the ideal atmosphere that would facilitate the acquisition of all the sub-processes involved in proper and effective writing. Miceli (2006) conducted a study on the perceptions of foreign language students concerning the reflective approach to textual correction. In this study, a group of second year Italian students were persuaded to reflect on their writing process and to treat the correction of errors as an active source of learning. This experiment showed that a majority of those who concurred were encouraged to draw from the teacher‘s indirect feedback, enabling most of them to accept and self-correct their own errors. It was noted also that they developed the ability to incorporate this feedback mechanism into their own redrafting and reflective efforts. However, the effectiveness of form-focused feedback on learners' written errors has been questioned by Truscott (1996, 1999) and, corrective feedback has been judged to be not only unhelpful but also detrimental (Chandler, 2003, 2004). Russell and Spada (2006) asserted that error correction is better and more useful than no correction at all. Others (Lalande, 1982; Ferris, 1999; Ferris & Roberts, 2001) have suggested that, if corrective feedback is given appropriately, it may have an important impact on learners‘ writing accuracy. The goal of this study is to investigate the role of metalinguistic feedback in improving foreign language learners‘ writing as well as speaking. The researcher believes that reflection and metalinguistic feedback are important stages in the writing processes that each learner will be involved in and a key component of a learner‘s development. Furthermore, a teacher‘s metalinguistic feedback on grammatical errors serves as a means of encouraging students to critically study their own written performance. In addition, engaging students in problem solving could further lead to greater cognitive and reflective engagement with linguistic forms that in turn promote effective language acquisition. In the following, I will present another important variable which has its own impact on preparing L2 learners in the Experiment to revise and redraft their written work. This variable is ―metalinguistic feedback‖. Metalinguistic feedback Metalinguistic feedback in the current study is defined as explaining the nature of the L2 learners‘ non-target-like forms without providing the target-like forms. In other words, in the current study metalinguistic refers to a process which is the result of error/contrastive analysis on the part of the teacher, who hints at the type of error the student may have made but does not provide explicit correction. The relationship between feedback and redrafting is that a stimulus would elicit a reaction. According to Ferris (1995a), the relationship between feedback and redrafting is illustrated when students are motivated to redraft their works upon receiving feedback, whether directly or indirectly. It helps students, particularly those in the advanced English levels, correct their own errors and become more efficient editors. 115 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 In implementing writing processes based on a classroom-oriented approach, Ferris (1995a; 1995b) has reiterated that, in order to facilitate effective correction, teachers should pay attention to three pedagogical factors inside the classroom: first, learners should be made aware of the significance of correction in the writing process, second, correction should be selective – focusing on the most frequent error patterns rather than single errors and third, feedback should be provided on initial drafts rather than on final drafts. The author suggests that to improve writing as well as speaking, teachers should focus on error patterns by creating specific time for effective communicative teaching through pair or group interaction and students-teacher interaction; and on changing methods of teaching inside the classroom in line with learners' needs. This study addresses the gaps learners face while writing and the goal is to help Arab Learners of English (ALEs) as foreign language learners at foundation/post foundation courses (in the organizations of the Higher Education) improve not only their writing and speaking skills, but the other language skills as well. Errors Feedback in Post Graduate Context In evaluating error feedback, Bitchener (2005), Ferris (1995b), and Lee (1997) have all made the similar observation that the majority of available literature on error feedback in writing refers to L2 learners, while the least available are those on post-intermediate language courses. As Miceli (2006) has stressed, the need to improve the writing skills of post-intermediate students must exceed beginning and intermediate levels because both the academic and non-academic communities expect both teachers and students to produce a higher standard of writing. However, Foreign Language Learners (FLLs) are exposed to different learning environments and evaluations are made on case by case bases. Therefore, some FLLs may not experience the same situational imperative as others, since there is no need for them to use their target language in the wider community. However, this may not be the case in Oman. Unable to communicate properly in written and spoken English, Omani young men have difficulties in acquiring a good job in their own country, since most employers require a good level of spoken and written English from their employees. Thus, English is essential to survival for young Omani men. The teacher plays a crucial role in the methods and approaches of teaching in general and in developing writing skills in particular. The importance of the role of the teacher inside and outside the classroom was highlighted in my MA dissertation (Mourssi, 2006). Research questions The main objective of the current study is to answer the following questions: 1- Can we develop a methodology Communicative Grammar Language Teaching Approach (CGLTA) which integrates focus-on-form in a communicative approach, presenting metalinguistic feedback? 2- What is the impact of implementing the Metalinguistic feedback in SLA in post graduate context? 116 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 Methodology ISSN: 2289-2737 The researcher adopted qualitative analysis in which he investigates the impact of reflection and metalinguistic feedback through implementing the Communicative Grammar Language Teaching Approach CGLTA and the Innovated Writing Process (IWP) (Mourssi, 2012a). The participants stayed under the case study for a full semester entitled (Technical Writing 2). They receive four hours a week as contact hours. For question two, to identify to what extent metalinguistic feedback respond to current theories of SLA and applied linguistics, samples of students‘ mistakes in their written work were qualitatively analyzed in detail. In the following, the reasons behind adopting qualitative analysis will be presented. Qualitative Research Dörnyei (2007, p. 37) mentioned that qualitative analysis works with a wide range of data one of which is various types of written texts, adding that in qualitative research, it is indispensable that the data should capture rich and complex details. In contrast with quantitative research, qualitative research is very labour-intensive and use much smaller samples of participants than quantitative ones. Miles and Huberman (1994) and Haverkamp (2005) agreed that the researcher is essentially the main ―measurement device‖ in the qualitative study, and his/her own values, personality, and position become integral part of the inquiry. Punch (2005) asserted that it is fundamental qualitative principle that human behaviour is based upon meanings which people attribute to bring to situations, and added that it is only the actual participants themselves who are able to reveal the meanings and the interpretations of their experiences and actions. In addition, Dornyei (2007, p. 38) mentioned that qualitative researchers strive to view social phenomena from the perspectives of the ―insiders‖ and the term ―insider perspective‘ has a special place in the qualitative credo. Another reason behind adopting the qualitative analysis in the current study is the flexible and emergent nature of a qualitative study which allows the researcher conducts further research straight forward away. In contrast, quantitative researches include at the end of the research report the well-known statement ―further researcher is needed to understand….‖. Dornyei (2007, p. 41) assured that qualitative research accounts that use of the words and categories of the participants make it much easier to produce a convincing and vivid case for a wide range of audiences, adding that the rich data obtained from the participants can participate in broadening our understanding. In the following, the research subjects will be presented. The Research Subjects One group was selected from a total of 4 groups are taught by the researcher. The target location is one of the Omani government Higher Education Organization. This group consists of 30 Arab Learners of English (ALEs), with ages ranging between 18 and 20. This group is selected due to their level which varies between pre-intermediate, intermediate to upper-intermediate level of proficiency in English. The subjects are all Arabic speakers and had been learning English as a 117 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 foreign language for 12 years, enrolled in Higher College of Technology. They study Technical Writing 2 as compulsory subject - each student must pass Technical Writing 2 to get the credits which qualify him/her to the next tem - for all the departments which include Information Technology, Applied Sciences, Business, and Mechanical Engineering. In the following, I will present the teaching methods followed in the study. Teaching Methods Rationale for the design of the IWP As the author analyzed interlanguage writing and interlanguage grammar in L2 as well and contrasted the errors which appear to originate in L1 and L2 linguistic items, he discovered that this contrastive analysis sheds considerable light on errors related to forming target-like sentences in English. He thought that there should be a method which could be implemented to narrow the gap between the L1 and the L2 learners' internalized grammar system and which takes into consideration the big differences between Arabic and English language. The researcher thought that this might be achieved by increasing the role of the teacher‘s interactions and instructions while concentrating on analyzing L2 learners‘ interlanguage grammar. The explanation and analysis of the learners‘ non-target-like forms should be performed using Ex-implicit grammar learning following Meaning negotiation and Form negotiation – including explicit and implicit grammar teaching (Mourssi 2012a) - when it is needed and using corrective feedback. Implementing these stages might motivate L2 learners and give them the opportunity to revise and redraft their writing - most of them feel that writing activity is a boring task and they do not have desire to revise and redraft as well - to develop their internalized grammar which will be reflected in their writing. After implementing the IWP (Mourssi, 2012a), see the model in Appendix A, the researcher concluded that explicit grammar learning with teacher‘s instructions and interactions alongside metalinguistic feedback and L2 learners‘ communication with each other and with the teacher might be more effective and more useful for forming academic targetlike sentences in English, which would result in improving the second language learners‘ internalized grammatical system (Mourssi, 2012b). The design of the IWP method is primarily based on the definition of method as it is essentially the level at which theory is put into practice and at which choices are made about particular skills, content and the order in which the content is presented. Therefore the IWP method is defined as a suggested method of teaching writing which involves both speaking and writing processes based on the learners‘ level. It aims at improving learners‘ accuracy as well as fluency. One of the assumptions was that the implementation of the IWP method with ALEs would help learners improve their writing and speaking skills. What distinguishes the IWP method from others are the procedures and tasks involved while teaching writing. These procedures include: the processes of contrastive analysis and error analysis (metalinguistic feedback) based on the learners' mistakes; explicit grammar teaching; negotiation of meaning and form based on the learners‘ level of interlanguage grammar; interaction between teacher-students and studentsstudents in a form of communicative grammar language teaching approach; and finally, feedback which is either direct or indirect, see Appendix A. The relationship between CGLTA and IWP The CGLTA (Mourssi, 2012a) is based on three applied linguistic frameworks: Form-Focused Instruction, the Feedback and Noticing Hypothesis, which, in turn, leads to a stage of Negotiation. The negotiation is based on negotiation of form as well as of meaning. When Arab learners of English are able to achieve this stage of interlanguage development (negotiation), they 118 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 will not feel shy interacting or feel embarrassed when they produce non-target-like forms, they will be encouraged to revise and redraft their writing and be ready to implement the stages of the IWP. The stages adopted in the IWP respond to current Applied Linguistic theories. Interaction can create opportunities for learning inside the classroom as the teacher focuses on input and output following negotiation for forms where language learners work together towards the target-like form in a context where meaning is understood. When the teacher is involved in the interaction, he/she seeks to guide students to find the target-like form instead of providing the forms. Data analysis Following up the mistakes committed by the participants in writing a 300 word essay about classifying the books, the following, table 1 illustrates the non-target-like forms produced by the subjects in their first draft, and the target-like forms that participants could produce after receiving metalinguistic feedback, besides the type of mistake. The subjects‘ mistakes are classified into three main types mentioned in Mourssi (2012a) which are: interlingual mistakes which originated to L1, intralingual mistakes which originated to L2, and in between mistakes which originated to L1 and L2 at the same time. It is worth mentioning that higher level learners could produce the target-like forms after explaining the nature of their mistakes implicitly, the lower level learners need to be exposed to contrastive/error analysis explicitly, which in turn, leads learners to the target-like forms, while the learners who face more difficulties in forming target-like sentences received explicit grammar teaching and face to face interaction. These activities followed with the participants are integrated together in the model of IWP presented in Appendix A. the following table 1 shows the target-like form, the non-target-like form, and the type of the mistake whether it is interlingual, intralingual, or in between. Table 1: non-target-like forms and target-like forms produced by the participants Example Non-target-like forms 1 *can any person read in there free time *Story ea so ethi g’s happened *I can fined story book’s *You can teach what was happen *He win the war and who was with him help him *What are the books you loving to read? *We read this books for fany *The second classify type of book is *every one on the world need free time to relax or interest *Book very important 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Target-like forms produced by participants can everyone read in their free time Story means events/incidents happened I can find story books you can learn/know about what happened He won the battles with the help of his people What are the books you like to read? We read these books for fun The second type of books is Type of mistake Everyone in the world needs enough time to relax Book s are very important In between Interlingual Intralingual Interlingual In between Interlingual Intralingual Intralingual Interlingual Interlingual 119 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 nowadays *The book is a best way to know many information *I read since book on my freetime *I advice all people read *Every one have time and try to useful this time *From this book I know how happy my friend *These are includes useful informations *We can divided into some specific types. *This are some few example *I read many books from child until now *Edu atio al ooks’ are o e kind of books. It aim are to educate the reader. nowadays. The book is the best way to know much information I read science book in my free time In between Intralingual I advise all people to read Everyone has try to use their time Interlingual Intralingual From reading these books, I knew how to make my friends happy. This includes useful information interlingual We can divide/can be divided into some specific types. these are some few examples I read many books from childhood until now Educational books us one type of books which aims at educating students. Interlingual In between Interlingual Intralingual Intralingual The table above categorizes the types of mistakes committed by the participants. Reflection and metalinguistic feedback were followed as it is defined as explaining the nature of the mistakes following both implicit and explicit grammar teaching which termed as Ex-implicit grammar teaching in CGLTA presented by Mourssi (2012a). It is worth mentioning that most of the participants produce the same types of mistakes which vary among interlingual, intralingual and in between mistakes. The researcher followed CGLTA in explaining the nature of these mistakes for all the participants, giving enough opportunities to interact and ask without being shy of committing mistakes in speaking at the front of their classmates. What is noticed in the experiment is that some participants - higher level learners- could realize their mistakes implicitly, while others -low level learners- were in a need of explaining explicitly. It was noticed that giving the chance for the learners to think about their mistakes and how to reproduce their sentences in a target-like form was better than giving them the answer directly (direct feedback). This, in turn, helps learners to get the time to interact, negotiate, and reach at the end to the target-like forms themselves. In the following part, negotiation of meaning and form in the Communicative Grammar Language Teaching Approach (CGLTA) as a form of metalinguistic feedback in the IWP will be presented. Discussion Negotiation of meaning and form in the Communicative Grammar Language Teaching Approach (CGLTA) as a form of Metalinguistic Feedback in the IWP Gass and Selinker (2008, p. 317) claim that the interaction approach has three main stages: through input (exposure to language), production of language (output), and feedback that comes as a result of interaction. They add that negotiation, recasts and feedback are activities that involve interaction. Gass and Selinker (2008, p. 326) also mention in their study that the best way to test learners' knowledge is to have them use their knowledge in a productive way. They add that there are two traditional roles of output: the first is that output is a way of using or practising knowledge that has already been learnt, the second role is that the output is a way to elicit additional input. They comment that comprehensible input pushes learners to use the language, 120 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 and that in language production learners might use new forms that they have never used before or that they might modify or correct a previous utterance. In addition, Gass and Selinker (2008, p. 331) declare that negotiation serves as a catalyst for change because of its focus on non-targetlike forms. By providing learners with information about the nature of their non-target-like forms, negotiation enables learners to search for additional confirmatory evidence. In the current study, the researcher applied metalinguistic feedback which includes comments on the students' error with no explicit provision of the correct form. Similarly, Lightbown and Spada (2006, p. 126-127) state that "metalinguistic comments generally indicate that there is an error somewhere". Pica (1994, 1996) and Gass (1997) presented arguments for the benefits of negotiation. They pointed out that through processes of repetition, segmentation, and rewording, interaction can serve to draw learners' attention to form - meaning relationships and provide them with additional time to focus on encoding meaning. They also proposed that negotiation can help learners to notice mismatches between the input and their own interlanguage. In addition, Mackey (2007, p. 14) mentioned that negotiation for meaning might be helpful in helping learners to focus on input and output. This indicates the positive role of integrating negotiation and presenting metalinguistic feedback in the IWP. Applying the CGLTA with the subjects provided learners with the space to be consciously aware of linguistic inputs. This degree of awareness helped learners notice their mistakes, acquire the target-like forms and store them in their internalized grammatical system which they could use at a later time when needed. In differentiating between higher and lower levels of awareness, Schmidt (2001) claims that awareness at lower levels of proficiency, which he calls noticing, is necessary for language learning. He added that awareness at the higher level on the other hand, which he associated with understanding, may be facilitative but is not necessary for SLA. In the current study, it could be observed that higher level students - different from lower levels of awareness - get as much benefit from being aware of linguistic input as the lower level students. Adams (2007 in Mackey 2007, p. 29) mentions that for classroom language learners, the majority of their second language interactions may occur with other learners especially those in a foreign language context. She adds that little research has examined the benefits of interactions between learners for promoting language development. Similarly, a number of studies carried out by Gass and Varonis (1994); Swain (1995); Pica, Lincoln-Porter, Paninos and Linnell (1996); and Oliver (1998) have indicated that in learner-learner interaction, learners receive comprehensible input, acquire opportunities to negotiate for meaning and receive others' feedback and opportunities to produce modified output. In the current study, students got the space for interaction during speaking stage. Then, before writing their first draft, they got another space for interacting in groups after receiving metalinguistic feedback. Another goal behind implementing the CGLTA was to increase learner-learner interaction and learner-teacher interaction. Adams (2007, in Mackey 2007, p. 30) also mentions that research on learners' interaction has indicated that the learner-learner interaction provides a context for learners to receive feedback on the correctness of their output. Similarly, Williams (1999) examined learner-learner interaction and their attention to form. She found that learners who 121 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 engaged in task-based, dyadic interactions tend to discuss form, but the occurrence of languagerelated episodes was influenced by both the learners' proficiency level and the activity they were engaged in. She concluded that higher proficiency learners produced twice as many languagerelated episodes as lower proficiency learners. She also found that learners were more likely to attend to form when engaged in activities such as correcting grammar homework than when conversing freely with one another. In the following, the impact of metalinguistic feedback on improving Arab Learners of English ALEs‘ writing following the IWP The Impact of Metalinguistic Feedback on Improving ALEs’ Writing in the IWP The reader should be reminded that in the current study, metalinguistic feedback refers to the process of error/contrastive analysis presented in the IWP. It is worth mentioning that this feedback is presented to the L2 learners by explaining the nature of their mistakes/errors without giving the target-like forms. Current theoretical and empirical works have suggested that feedback which comes in the form of reactive information that learners receive regarding the linguistic and communicative success or failure of their utterances is very beneficial. Mackey (2007, p. 14) adds that research has recently shifted to a focus on understanding the specific contributions of not only the types, but also the components of feedback, that may also consist of more explicit corrections and metalinguistic explanation. There is a particular characteristic of the ALEs taught in Oman that is worth mentioning. It was observed from the experiments that some students are careless about learning. They generally lacked the required degree of awareness, and some of them are unmotivated. Some of them are obliged to attend classes for the purposes of obtaining a certificate, while some are aware of the importance of learning and the benefits of being a well-educated person. Therefore, one of the responsibilities of the teacher in the Arab context is to persuade students to learn and participate in the learning process and increase their awareness. All of these factors were kept in consideration when the model of the IWP was designed, Mourssi (2012a). It is worth mentioning that providing L2 learners with metalinguistic feedback had a positive impact on encouraging and preparing learners to revise and redraft their written work to produce academic target-like sentences in their writing. Adams (2007, in Mackey 2007, p. 30) asserts that in learner-learner interactions, as in native speaker-learner interactions, feedback can take many forms, from implicit feedback such as recasts or negotiation for meaning signals to relatively explicit feedback moves such as overt focus on form. She adds that the use of feedback has been documented in learner-learner interactions between adults as well as children. Similarly, Oliver (1995) and Mackey et al. (2003) provide empirical evidence that learners are able to provide and respond to feedback moves from other learners. Gass and Varonis (1994) describe multiple incidents of learners calling other learners' attention to their errors. They also found that learners have very rarely replaced their interlocutors' target-like forms with non-target-like forms. Based on these observations, which occur, too, with ALEs, there was a need to create an approach which persuaded them to interact, ask, get feedback and cooperate actively with the teacher inside the classroom. This approach referred to in the CGLTA occurs when the teacher attracts the learners' attention and motivates them to be aware of their mistakes/errors. In turn, this approach leads to an increased degree of awareness as a result of noticing the forms they use. Consequently, students interact when they receive the intake from the teacher -metalinguistic feedback - related to the target-like forms they 122 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 use in their oral or written answer to the target question. Furthermore, this tends to promote their accuracy and to help add more fixed rules to students' internalized grammatical system and be transferred to long-term memory. Schmidt (2001) mentions that learners must be consciously aware of linguistic input. In order for it to be internalized, learning should not be dissociated from awareness. Metalinguistic feedback in the form of implicit and explicit feedback Explicit and implicit are the two types of corrective feedback. Ellis et al. (2008, p. 339) states that implicit feedback provides no obvious indicator that an error has been committed, but explicit feedback does indicate that an error has been committed. Explicit feedback takes several forms based on the source of the problem indicated. Ellis et al. (2008, p. 339) talks of a number of studies that have investigated the effects of implicit and explicit feedback on SLA. He adds that both types of corrective feedback are effective in promoting acquisition of the grammatical structures. For example, Carroll and Swain (1993); Nagata (1993); Carroll (2001), Rosa and Leow (2004), demonstrate that explicit feedback was more effective than implicit feedback. Similarly, Ellis, Loewen, and Erlam's (2006) study of the effects of recasts and metalinguistic feedback on the acquisition of English past tense –ed also found that explicit feedback is more effective than implicit feedback. On the contrary, Leeman (2003) found out that implicit feedback is more effective than explicit feedback. From the point of view of pre-intermediate and intermediate ALEs, I think that it is better to employ both types in the classroom context, where explicit feedback can be more effective with low level language learners, while implicit feedback can be more effective with higher level language learners. However, the findings of the current study reveal that metalinguistic feedback explaining the nature of the learners‘ mistakes/errors without giving them the target-like forms seems to be the effective type of corrective feedback with both low and high level second language learners. There are two very important factors which have to be taken into consideration in implementing a certain type of corrective feedback whether it is implicit or explicit or integrates both. These are: the nature of the target structure - simple or complex - and the level of the language learners, taking individual differences into consideration. Based on the findings of the current study, using both explicit and implicit feedback is more effective with simple rules with lower level of learners, and using implicit feedback can be more effective with complex rules with higher level of learners. While Ellis (2009) concluded that the most effective feedback in promoting the acquisition of the –ed simple past form is explicit feedback, Doughty and Varela (1998) and Han (2002, p. 357) did not find a positive effect for recasts on the acquisition of grammar. In the case of both Doughty and Varela and Han, the recast treatment was provided over several weeks and the recasts were repeated for the same error. Thus, the recasts became salient to the learners, and it was extremely brief - consisting of a single word. It seems that recasts will have only a limited effect on the acquisition of grammatical structure. It may be that the combination of focus on form, recasts, elicitation of the correct form and a combination of both speaking and writing helps reinforce the target-like forms. 123 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Limitations of the Study When a new method is added to the field and implemented in real-life pedagogical settings, drawbacks and limitations appear. Anecdotal feedback from the L2 learners in the Experiment in the current study after practising the IWP during the whole semester indicated that most of them were satisfied with their level. Most of them felt that they achieved progress in how to form and use academic sentences without being shy or afraid of committing mistakes. Other students commented that not all the teachers would do all these explanations of their mistakes. Others mentioned that teachers do not have time to comment on their written work as was the case during the experiment. From the researcher‘s point of view, a possible drawback is that implementing metalinguistic feedback following the IWP requires more time. Implementing the IWP takes up a great deal more time than that usually spent on preparing for writing. The time spent in the IWP represents one of the drawbacks of the suggested teaching method. Conclusion In conclusion, after the second language learners have been exposed to the different stages of the CGLTA, following metalinguistic feedback, they are ready to revise and redraft their written work to produce academic target-like sentences in their essays. The researcher finally suggests that learners retain the forms discussed communicatively with their teacher more than when target-like forms are given to the learners without any type of feedback, a practice normally adopted in writing classes where correction is provided but without providing discussion in the form of metalinguistic feedback. This assumption matches the study by Williams (2001), where she found that learners retained many of forms they had discussed with each other and with their teachers. She also found that forms discussed with the teacher were more often remembered than those discussed among learners. References Adams, R. (2007). 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System, 29/3: 325-40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0346-251X(01)00022-7 127 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Appendix A Innovated Writing Process Model Interlanguage n+ Motivated to perform the writing task Interlanguage ILn+1 - - - -ILn+2 - - - - ILn+3 - - - ILn+4 - - - Number of IL stages based on learners' level of proficiency and language development ERRORS Interlingual Error (L1) Intralingual Error (L2) In between Error (L1+L2) Contrastive Analysis Error Analysis Explicit Grammar Teaching Consciousness Noticing Raising Transfer Universal L A Writing 1st draft Interaction Communicative Grammar Language Teaching Approach S+S Ss+T T+Ss S+T Focus- on-Form 2nd draft writing Feedback Negotiation of Meaning & Form Revise and Redraft Writing Final Draft Writing Improved proficiency level in the target language ILn + 1, 2, 3 …n 128 Input - - - - Output - - - - Intake - - - - Output - - - - Intake - - - - Output Comprehensive Intakes based on learners' level of proficiency & language development Innovated Writing Process Speaking (first draft) The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Appendix B Non-target-like forms produced by the participants in their first draft 1- There are many types of Books can any person read in there free time. 2- Story mean something‘s hapend in the past. 3- I can fined many things in the story book‘s. 4- You can teach what was happen. 5- He win the war and who was with him help him. 6- What are the books you loving to read? 7- We read this books for fany. 8- The second classify of type of book is non science book. 9- every one on the world need free time to relax or interest. 10- Book very important nowadays. 11- The book is a best way to know many information. 12- I read since book on my freetime. 13- All in all I advice all people read books. 14- Every one have free time and try to useful this time. 15- From this book I know how happy my friend. 16- These are includes useful informations. 17- Art books another type of books we can divided into some specifice types. 18- This are some few example. 19- I read many books from child until now. 20- Educational books‘ are one kind of books. It aim are to educate the reader. 21- People hwo read this books‘ learn more usefull things‘. 22- We can found it in the library, in the home and internet. 23- There are many binifits in different way‘s from books‘. 24- I read thos books in arabic or English. 25- It give you a knowleg in many things. 26- Some people read a books in there free time. 27- Books are use for different porpuses. 28- In addition this kinds of is explane things for us. It is most useful for children. 29- The time is never come back. 30- I get information about how I can take care about my self. 31- We read the books that we love it. 32- In my essay will discuse about type of books like to reading in my free time. 33- We can reading for example history books. 30- It‘s talk about many and many important subject. 31- You can‘t found it any where. There is three types of books. The ferst type is Al Quran. 129 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 32- Every muslims like and love and read this book. 34- We can laern alot of things from it. 35- History books talked about every things has done in the past. 36- I read also about machen and how be divelope it. 37- I like to rade it. We be came haelthy. As you have seen the above minshend. 38- The books it‘s vey important. Books it‘s help you for any thing. 39- It‘s help your barin befour old. 40- This book very interesting and sekseful. It is have many new word. 41- Scund thing book about tecnologia. This book very very good. Should any one read this book 42- The book wich I read contain many useful infromaton about our bodies. 43- Most of people like reads the books. There are three beast most important books for me. 44- The socndmost importan beast book for me is animal book, espetialy hourses and camels. 45- Medical books that talks about helth or some diseses and how to cure them. 46- In my free time I like read hestory books and stores books. It is injoy our time. 47- Book are classified into three types. Which is ……………. This type of book talk about.. 48- This books provides us with information. 49- Books has been writtien since ages. Social book teach the person how to live now. 50- Reading is one of the most important in our life. 51- We know how they are live. It learn people own values. They prefer to spend there free time read 52- There is no books better than Al qurann Al kareem. 53- Any one can read this books in free time. 54- We can find any thing need in the books. 55- Books divide into three types. Thos types are very good in our live. 56- We in need to reading to know who people think. 57- Reading book make you relax and interesting to complet it to the final. 58- We can classified these book to many type. The most best type is romantic book. 59- Scientific books and non scientific books both are good. 60- I read book from child until now. 130 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 The Comparative Effect of Different Task Processing Conditions and L2 Decision Making Oral Production Sepeedeh Hanifehzadeh Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Sara Ebrahimi Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, Central Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran Bio Data Sepeedeh Hanifehzadehis a PhD candidate of TEFL at Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch and she is a lecturer at Avicenna Research Institute in Iran. Email: s.hanifehzadeh@avicenna.ac.ir / sepeed1999@yahoo.com Sara Ebrahimi is an MA graduate from Islamic Azad University at Tehran Central Branch and presently an instructor in Shokuh Language School in Mashhad City in Iran. Email: ebrahimi_sara62@yahoo.com Abstract This paper examined the effects of post task activity on L2 learners' task-based performance. The article investigated the effect of choosing one type of task, as well as, different implementation conditions, on fluency, accuracy and complexity of the language which is produced when the task is carried out. Subjects were three groups of EFL learners (ninety in total) performing a decision making task. The two experimental groups and the control group had four minutes of planning time available since according to previous researchers, planning had clear effects on almost all measures of speaking (Foster &Skehan, 1997; Mehnert, 1998). Two post-task conditions (plus or minus knowledge of a post-task) were implemented as well. Performance was assessed through the number of pauses (as a measure of fluency), the percentage of error-free clauses (as a measure of accuracy) and the level of subordination (as a measure of complexity). The second experimental group who had the foreknowledge of a post-task activity performed better in the measure of accuracy in their speaking posttest. But the study revealed no significant differences for the effect of post task activity on fluency and complexity of the task. Key words: speaking ability, decision making task, fluency, accuracy, complexity. 131 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Introduction Recent years have seen an enormous growth of interest in task-based language learning and teaching (Skehan, 1998; Willis, 1996; Bygate, Skehan, & Swain, 2000). This interest has been motivated to a considerable extent by the fact that ‗task‘ is seen as a construct of equal importance to second language acquisition (SLA) researchers and to language teachers (Pica, 1997). A task is described as a goal-oriented activity involving a meaningful, real-world process of language use, and engages four language skills as well as cognitive processes (Ellis, 2003). The main objective in research about language tasks has been to identify a set of task characteristics based on the assumption that learner‘s performance varies according to task characteristics. Defining “task” As Bygate, Skehan and Swain (2000) pointed out, definitions of tasks are generally ‗context-free‘ and for that reason alone run into problems. As Ellis (2003) clarified, a task is a work plan which takes the form of teaching materials or of ad hoc plans for activities that arise in the course of teaching. It also involves a primary focus on meaning, since it seeks to develop second language (L2) proficiency through communicating. This work plan does not specify what language the task participants should use but rather allows them to choose the language needed to achieve the outcome of the task. As Kumaravadivelu (1991) puts it, tasks indicate the content, but the actual language to be negotiated in the classroom is left to the teacher and the learner. The task also involves the real processes of language use that reflect those which are occurred in real world communication. A task can involve any of the four language skills. The work plan may require learners to listen, or read and display their understanding or produce an oral or written text or even employ a combination of receptive and productive skills. According to Ellis (2003), a task engages cognitive processes such as selecting, classifying, ordering, reasoning, and evaluating information in order to be carried out. Finally, it obtains a clearly-defined communicative outcome which serves as the goal of the activity for the learners. Analyzing task properties A number of researchers have made proposals concerning task properties and the ways some tasks are more useful for interaction than others. Long (1989) proposes that closed tasks are more effective than open tasks, and that two-way information gap tasks are more effective than oneway tasks, with the superiority established by means of negotiation for meaning measures. One perspective is to try to develop a framework for task analysis which is linked to information processing perspectives. Skehan (1992, 1996), to accomplish the work developed by Candlin (1987) and Nunan (1989), proposes that one can distinguish between tasks on the basis of the language demands they make; their cognitive demands; and the communicative pressure that they entail. By using this framework, Foster and Skehan (1996) in their study focused on three different kinds of tasks: a personal task, a narrative and a decision-making task. The conclusion of their research revealed that the personal task generated less complexity (as measured by a subordination measure) than the narrative and decision-making tasks. The narrative generated the lowest level of accuracy (with on average 61% of clauses error-free), with the other two task types generating language at very similar levels (on average 69% of clauses were error-free). The personal task produced the greatest amount of fluency, with the other two tasks being broadly similar in this respect. In another study conducted by Foster and Skehan (1997), three tasks went 132 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 through investigations which were a personal information exchange, a narrative task and a decision task. A 2-by-2 research design was used, with two planning conditions and two post-task conditions. As performance was assessed, it was shown that for more cognitively demanding tasks (narrative and decision making) higher values were obtained. Accuracy was relatively high in decision making task when planned but complexity in narrative task, while the personal task did not reach any significant impact on fluency, accuracy, and complexity. In the second part of the same study, it was made clear that post task requirements had no effect on measures of fluency and complexity in three tasks but had caused greater accuracy in the most demanding cognitive task, decision making task. So the hypothesis that foreknowledge of a post-task activity would selectively influence accuracy received confirmation, but for fluency and complexity in all three tasks only partial confirmation was obtained. Research on task implementation: factors that influence the outcome It is also instructive to investigate factors associated with the conditions under which a task is done, such as task familiarity, task repetition (Bygate, 1996) and interlocutor experience (Yule, Powers, & Macdonald, 1992). Perhaps the most researched influence in this regard is that of pretask planning. Mehnert (1998) investigating the effects of different length of time for planning, made clear that fluency and lexical density of speech increase as a function of planning time. Accuracy of speech improved with only one minute planning but did not increase with more planning time. Complexity of speech was significantly higher for the ten minute planning condition only. But no significant differences were found for the effect of planning on the different tasks. Foster and Skehan (1997) showed that there are indications that task characteristics interact with planning time and lead to selective improvements in particular areas. Tasks which contain clearer inherent structure, when planned, seem to favor accuracy, whereas tasks which require more on-line processing or which have complex outcomes, when planned, produce greater complexity. Yuan and Ellis (2003) focused on the effects of pre-task planning and online planning. The results showed that pre task planning enhances grammatical complexity while online planning positively influences accuracy and grammatical complexity. The pre task planners also produced more fluent and lexically varied language than the online planners. Task-based research and fluency, accuracy and complexity measures Task-based research has to date been largely distinct from interaction research; research questions focused less on issues of second language development, and more on the immediate impact of various features of tasks, such as planning time, complexity, or repetition of tasks. The impact of tasks is generally measured by examining changes in fluency, accuracy and complexity (Ellis, 1987, 2005; Foster, 1996; Foster & Skehan, 1996; Hulstijn & Hulstijn, 1984; Ortega, 1999; Skehan, 1996; Foster & Skehan, 1997; Yuan & Ellis, 2003), whereas interactionist research typically measures outcomes in terms of modified output and acquisition. Learners‘ task-based interactions can vary according to many criteria. These include task type which can be interpreted as some form of cognitive load, time on task, which is often associated with 133 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 communicative pressure, as well as type, amount and guidance in planning that have been argued to lead to different allocation of attentional resources (Robinson, 2001). Post task activities According to Skehan (1996), the assumption made is that learners' knowledge of what is to come later can influence how they approach attention-management during an actual task. The central problem is that while a task is being done, the teacher needs to withdraw, be noninterventionist, and allow natural language acquisitional processes to operate (Brumfit, 1984). But then, the danger is that communication goals will be so predominant that the capacity to change and restructure, to take syntactic risks, and to try to be more accurate, will not come into focus as serious goals, and worthy of attention during the intensity of task completion (Skehan, 1992). Post-task activities can change the way in which learners direct their attention during the task (Willis & Willis, 1988; Tarone, 1983). The tasks achieve this goal by reminding learners that fluency is not the only goal during task completion, and that restructuring and accuracy also have importance. According to Skehan (1996), three general post-task activities can be mentioned: public performance, analysis, and tests. In public performance tasks, learners will be asked, after they have completed a task, in the privacy of their own group, to repeat their performance publicly, in front of some sort of audience. The audience could be the rest of a learning group (who themselves may also have been doing the same or a similar task, and who could equally well be asked to engage in the public performance), the teacher, or even a video camera, so that the performance could be played back later, with even the participants themselves required to watch. In this way, the knowledge that a task may have to be re-done publicly will cause learners to allocate attention to the goals of restructuring and accuracy where otherwise they would not. In this way, a concern with syntax and analysis can be infiltrated into the task work without the heavy-handedness of teacher intervention and error correction. There are also other post-task aspects of task-based learning which are important. One must examine task sequences, task progression, and generally how sets of tasks relate to one another, and to the underlying and more important goals, which are driving forward instruction. For example, there may be reasons to repeat tasks, with the idea that learners will be more effective with the analysis and synthesis goals. Similarly, there may be parallel tasks. Such tasks are likely to be similar to one another in some important respect, but at the same time contain new elements which are sufficient to engage the interest of the learner (Plough & Gass, 1993). Perhaps a general view about the task would be to think about it in terms of 'task families', where a group of tasks resemble one another and may well have similar language or cognitive demands (Candlin, 1987). In this way, learners will be clearer about the goals of such task groups, and there will be fewer tendencies for discrepancies to arise between teachers' and learners' views about task requirements. In order to investigate the research question empirically the following null hypothesis is formulated: Hypothesis 1: Post task requirements do not have significant effect on fluency in language, as measured by the number of error-free clauses. Hypothesis 2: Post task requirements do not have significant effect on accuracy in language, as measured by the number of the pauses. 134 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Hypothesis 3: Post task requirements do not have any significant effect on complexity in language, as measured by the number of subordinate clauses. Methodology The study investigated the effects of the different task implementation conditions on the fluency, accuracy and complexity measures of oral production. This section describes the tasks, subjects and settings, procedure and analysis of the results. Tasks The following instruments were used in this study: 1. TOEFL proficiency test 2. IELTS speaking test 3. Decision making task A. In order to come up with a homogeneous group of subjects with respect to their general English proficiency, a sample of TOEFL proficiency test was administered. The proficiency test was composed of three sections: a passage followed by 10 reading comprehension questions, 20 listening questions of two short dialogues and two long conversations, 20 vocabularies, and 25 grammar questions in the multiple-choice form. The allocated time to answer the test was 80 minutes. The reliability of the test was calculated through KR-21 formula and it turned out to be 0.78. B. In order to evaluate the participants speaking ability and be confident that there is no significant difference between the experimental groups and control group's speaking ability, a sample of speaking part of IELTS was administered. Part 1 which lasted for four minutes consists of a series of short questions, and short responses were required. In Part 2, the candidates were given a card outlining what to talk about. The candidates were given a pencil and paper and some time to think and make notes, it should take not more than three to four minutes. Part 3 of the IELTS speaking test returns to the question/answer format of Part 1, but the questions are longer and the answers should be longer. Time available for this part was four to five minutes. Those candidates whom were successful in these three parts were chosen as the subjects of this study. C. Decision-making tasks are tasks in which participants work together towards choosing, among many alternatives, the goal that suits them best (Pica & Doughty, 1985; Doughty & Pica, 1986; Duff, 1986). In this study, subjects were given three letters which were published in a magazine describing various personal problems with their friends, spouses, and their children. Each dyad which consisted of two learners in one group had to agree on the best advice to give to the letter writers. This task was considered to be the most cognitively taxing one as it involved 135 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 dealing with a lot of unfamiliar information, deciding how to advise people in trouble, and defending ideas against a partner who might have quite opposite advice. Subjects and Settings In this study, the participants were 120 part-time English as a Foreign Language (EFL) student of an Iranian language institute. They were aged between 21 and 35 and all of them were female. None had ever been to an English-speaking country, and they had little opportunity to use English for communicative purposes outside the classroom. They were all in advance level of language proficiency as measured by the institutes‘ standard placement test. All 120 students in researchers' classes took part in a sample of TOEFL test in order to have homogenized members out of them. Before the administration, the test was piloted with 50 subjects similar to the target sample. Accepted participants‘ scores fell one standard deviation above or below the mean score of all participants in the group. Based on their performance on the TOEFL test, they took part in IELTS speaking test in order to make sure that they had similar speaking abilities. Then they were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. Within each group, dyads were randomly assigned. Research Design The three groups in this study went through the decision making task. The control group did receive any post task activities. They received the task sheets and after five minutes of planning which was proven to be beneficial to the outcome (Foster & Skehan, 1997; Mehnert, 1998; Yuan & Ellis, 2003; Ellis, 2003), were supposed to go through the task in dyads. Their speaking was recorded during the study for further analysis. Post-taskers which were students in the experimental groups went through the same task with same amount of time planning. But the first experimental group did not have any foreknowledge of the task and the second experimental group was told beforehand that they were going to perform the post task in front of the audience as soon as they finished the post task. They actually had to stand before the rest of the class and perform the task again. In this way, they knew while doing the task with the rest of the class that they would have subsequently to do it again in public with everyone else listening. Because of the unknown effects on language performance that may be caused by an unfamiliar setting and unusual procedures, it was considered important to maintain a normal classroom setting as far as possible throughout the study. All recordings were made during the scheduled class by the researcher, who was the teacher of the same classes. The tasks were introduced as communicative activities to be done by students working in pairs. This was a widely used classroom procedure, and was very familiar to the students. All data was collected on small dictation machines with no external microphone and a very narrow recording range. Dependent Variables The dependent variables, presented in the hypotheses earlier, were of three types: 136 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 1. Fluency: This was operationalized as the number of pauses, where a pause was defined as a break of one second or longer. No distinction was made between unfilled pauses and pauses that included fillers such as hm, um, and uh. It was calculated by the number of pauses of one second or more that occurred in the first four minutes of speech (more subjects did not speak for much longer). 2. Accuracy: It was measured by the percentage of error-free clauses. An error-free clause was the clause in which there was no error in syntax, morphology (lexical choice) or word order and errors of intonation and pronunciation were not taken into account. Errors in lexis were counted only if the word used was nonexistent in English, or indisputably inappropriate. An incorrect inflectional ending, no matter whether the mistake was due to, for example, wrong gender, wrong case, or both, was counted as one error. Errors that were repeated were counted only once. 3. Complexity: It was measured as the total number of clauses divided by the total number of c-units (communication unit). Following Loban (1963), a c-unit is grammatical independent predictions or answers to questions which lack only the repetition of the question elements to satisfy the criterion of independent prediction. Also Brock (1986) defined it as, an utterance providing referential or pragmatic meaning, consisting of either a simple clause, or an independent sub-clause or unit, together with subordinate clause(s) associated with either. The complexity scores had a minimum value of 1.00, i.e. where each c-unit contained only one clause. Analysis of the Results Before and after the treatment, certain pertinent statistical analysis was conducted to both guarantee maximal accuracy of the procedure and also check the value of the hypothesis. Piloting the proficiency test The first step was to pilot the test which was to be used to make sure that all groups were equal and belonged to the same population in terms of their general English proficiency. Therefore, the proficiency test was administered to 50 subjects with the same qualities as those of the main study and then item analysis including item facility and item discrimination was conducted for each item. After crossing out the malfunctioning items, the reliability of the test was estimated using the KR-21 formula and it turned out to be satisfactory with an index of 0.87 (Table 1). Table 1: The Reliability of the Proficiency Test KR-21 formula 0.87 N of items 75 137 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Administering the proficiency test Following the piloting phase, the proficiency test was administered to the three groups of the study, the descriptive statistics of which are presented in Table 2.It is worth mentioning that the total score of the test adds up to a maximum of 75. Table 2: Descriptive Statistics of the Proficiency Test Cont Exp1 Exp2 Total Std. Deviatio Std. n Error 95% Confidence Interval for Mean Lower Upper Bound Bound Skewness Statistic Std. s Error 1.023 59.715 64.897 0.65 0.54 5.354 0.932 59.980 63.777 0.40 0.52 60.86 6 5.151 .940 58.943 62.790 0.68 0.49 61.53 1 5.369 .553 60.432 62.631 -0.09 0.50 N Mean 31 61.80 6 5.700 33 61.87 8 30 94 The results were subjected to an ANOVA to ascertain the equality of the three groups in terms of their general proficiency. Table 3 presents the results. Table 3: One-way ANOVA on the Results of the Proficiency Test for the Three Groups Sum of Squares 19.584 Df 2 Between Groups Within Groups 2661.182 91 1 Total Mean Square 9.792 F .335 Sig. .716 29.251 2681.140 93 4 The insignificant value of 0.716 being greater than 0.05 in the table above shows that the three groups were at the same level of language proficiency at the beginning of the study and belonged to the same population in this respect. Oral proficiency test The first step in the oral proficiency test was to calculate the inter-rater reliability of the test. The reliability was computed for 30 out of 50 subjects who took part in the piloting procedure. Table 4 bears the results. 138 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Table 4: Inter-rater Reliability for the Oral Proficiency Test Rater A Rater B Rater A Rater B Pearson Correlation 1 .885(**) Sig. (2tailed) . .000 N 30 30 Pearson Correlation .885(**) 1 Sig. (2tailed) .000 . N 30 30 ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Evidently, the correlation between the two raters was 0.885 meaning that the average score of their marking could be safely used as the speaking score of every individual for the oral proficiency test. The next step was to analyze the oral proficiency test in order to make sure that the participants of the three groups were at the same level in terms of their speaking skill as well. In the pretest of speaking, the subjects who scored one standard deviation above and below the mean were considered as the target population for the research. From 94 subjects, four members were omitted due to their undesirable score. Table 4 demonstrates the descriptive statistics of the speaking test of IELTS. Table 4: Descriptive Statistics of the Oral Proficiency Test cont N 30 Mean 83.533 SD 4.384 Std. Error .800 Exp1 30 82.566 5.525 Exp2 30 83.866 Total 90 83.322 95% Confidence Interval for Mean Lower Upper Bound Bound 81.896 85.170 Minim Maxim um um 74.00 90.00 1.008 80.503 84.629 73.00 90.00 4.392 .801 82.226 85.506 74.00 90.00 4.775 .503 82.322 84.322 73.00 90.00 139 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 As it can be seen in Table 5, the ρ value of 0.554 being greater than 0.05 indicates that the three groups did not exhibit any significant differences in their speaking and hence were eligible to participate in the study as samples of the same population. Table 5: One-way ANOVA of the Results of the Oral Proficiency Test for the three Groups Between Groups Sum of Squares 27.356 Df Mean Square F Sig. 2 13.678 .594 .554 Within Groups 2002.300 87 Total 23.015 2029.656 89 Speaking post test After the accomplishment of the tasks, recordings of the subjects' speeches were gathered for further analysis. Since the scoring of the posttest was based on the measures of accuracy, fluency and complexity, inter-rater reliability of the posttest was measured by the same two raters. The score of 30 subjects out of 50 ones, with similar characteristics of the targeted groups were the criterion for measuring the inter-rater reliability. Table 7 bears the results. Table 7: Inter-rater Reliability of the Posttest Rater A Rater B 1 .957(**) Sig. (2-tailed) . .000 N 30 30 .957(**) 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .000 . N 30 30 Rater A Pearson Correlation Rater B Pearson Correlation ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Table 7 demonstrates that the posttest enjoyed a high inter-rater reliability (r = 0.957). Therefore, the speaking posttest could be safely used for comparing the subjects' proficiency in speaking. Following the calculation of inter-rater reliability, Table 8 illustrates the descriptive statistics of the speaking posttest in fluency measure for the three groups. 140 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Table 8: Descriptive Statistics for the Speaking Posttest for Fluency Measure in three Groups N Mean Std. Deviatio n Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval for Mean Lower Bound Upper Bound Minim Maxi um mum Cont 30 9.633 2.858 .521 8.565 10.700 6.00 15.00 Exp1 30 9.333 2.720 .496 8.317 10.34 5.00 13.00 Exp2 30 9.800 3.220 .588 8.597 11.002 4.00 15.00 Total 90 9.588 2.914 .307 8.978 10.199 4.00 15.00 In order to address the first hypothesis which stated that post task requirements do not have any great influence on speaking fluency of the students, the researchers needed to run a one-way ANOVA to test the impact of independent variable, i.e. post task requirements, on the dependent variable, i.e. the speaking fluency of EFL learners. To legitimize running a one-way ANOVA, the Leven's test of homogeneity of variance was carried out. Table 9 demonstrates the results. Table 9: Levene's Test of Homogeneity of Variance on Fluency Measure Levene Statistic .452 df1 df2 Sig. 2 87 .638 The results of testing the homogeneity of variances (ρ=0.638) revealed that the distribution of scores enjoyed homogeneity of variance and the ρ value was higher than 0.05. Therefore running the one-way ANOVA was legitimate. The ANOVA was carried out on the Fluency measure of speaking in order to address the first hypothesis. Table 10 presents the results. Table 10: One-way ANOVA of the Speaking Posttest for Fluency Measure in Three Groups Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. 3.356 2 1.678 .194 .824 Within Groups 752.433 87 8.649 Total 89 Between Groups 755.789 141 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 To interpret the above findings, the mean differences between the two experimental and control groups in Table 8 can be compared with each other. The mean differences between the three groups above (mean of 9.63 for the control group and the means of 9.33 and 9.80 for the first and the second experimental groups respectively) came out to be insignificant according to Table 10 (F = 0.194, ρ = 0.824), showing that the performance of all three groups were similar to each other with respect to Fluency measure of speaking. Therefore, the use of the post task and the foreknowledge of the post task do not have any significant influence on the performance of three groups. In order to check the second hypothesis of the study whish stated that post task requirements do not have any great influence on speaking accuracy of the students, the descriptive statistics of the posttest of Accuracy measure of speaking is provided in Table 11 for further analysis. Table 11: Descriptive Statistics of the Speaking Posttest for Accuracy Measure in Three Groups N Mean Std. Deviat Std. ion Error 95% Confidence Interval for Minimu Maxim Mean m um Lower Bound Upper Bound 3 0 57.566 6.404 1.169 55.175 59.95 8 50.00 70.00 Exp1 3 0 58.800 5.961 1.088 56.573 61.02 6 51.00 71.00 Exp2 3 0 64.900 4.707 .859 63.142 66.65 7 58.00 73.00 Total 9 0 60.422 6.523 .687 59.055 61.78 8 50.00 73.00 Cont In order to interpret the differences of the means in three groups, the researchers had to conduct One-way ANOVA to check whether the mean differences are meaningful or not. Before conducting ANOVA, to make sure that the variances in three groups were homogeneous, the researchers conducted the Levene's test. The results of the Levene's test are provided in Table 12 below. Table 12: Levene's Test of Homogeneity of Variance for Accuracy Measure Levene Statistic 2.198 df1 df2 Sig. 2 87 .117 142 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 The results of testing the homogeneity of variances (ρ=0.117) revealed that the distribution of scores enjoyed homogeneity of variance since the ρ value was higher than 0.05. Therefore running the one-way ANOVA was legitimate. The ANOVA was carried out on the Accuracy measure of speaking in order to address the second hypothesis. Table 13 demonstrates the results. Table 13: One-way ANOVA of the Speaking Posttest for Accuracy Measure in Three Groups Between Groups Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. 925.089 2 462.544 14.056 .000 Within Groups 2862.867 87 Total 32.907 3787.956 89 To interpret the above findings, the mean differences between the two experimental and control groups in Table 11 can be compared with each other. The mean differences between the three groups above (mean of 57.56 for the control group and the means of 58.80 and 64.90 for the first and the second experimental groups respectively) came out to be significant according to Table 13 (F = 14.05, ρ = 0.00), showing that the performance of all three groups were different from each other with respect to Accuracy measure of speaking. Therefore, the use of the post task and the foreknowledge of the post task have significant influence on the performance of three groups. In order to locate the differences between the performances of the three groups, a Scheff΄s Test was necessary to run. The results of the Post hoc Scheffe΄s Test are provided in Table 14. Table 14: Post hoc Scheffe's Test for Accuracy Measure (I) VAR000 05 (J) VAR0 0005 Mean Difference (I-J) Std. Error Sig. 95% Confidence Interval Lower Bound Upper Bound Cont Exp1 Exp2 Exp1 -1.2333 1.48114 .708 -4.9221 2.4554 Exp2 -7.3333(*) 1.48114 .000 -11.0221 -3.6446 Cont 1.2333 1.48114 .708 -2.4554 4.9221 Exp2 -6.1000(*) 1.48114 .000 -9.7888 -2.4112 Cont 7.3333(*) 1.48114 .000 3.6446 11.0221 Exp1 6.1000(*) 1.48114 .000 2.4112 9.7888 * The mean difference is significant at the .05 level. 143 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 Referring to Table 11 that was presented before, the highest mean was obtained by the second experimental group and the lowest by the control group. The results of Table 14 demonstrates a significant difference between the performance of control group and the second experimental group (ρ = 0.00 < 0.05). Also, there is a significant difference between the performance of the first and the second experimental group (ρ = 0.00 < 0.05). But there is no significant difference between the control group and the first experimental group‘s performance. In other words, the second experimental group who had to do the post task with foreknowledge had the best performance on the Accuracy measure of the speaking posttest. But there was no significant difference between the performance of the first experimental group who performed the post task without any awareness of it and the control group who did not have any post task. In order to check the second hypothesis of the study which stated that post task requirements do not have any great influence on speaking complexity of the students, the researchers calculated the descriptive statistics of the complexity measure of speaking post test. The results are provided in Table 15. Table 15: Descriptive Statistics of the Speaking Posttest for Complexity Measure in Three Groups N Mean Std. Std. Deviation Error 95% Confidence Interval for Mean Lower Bound Upper Boun d Minim Maxim um um Cont 30 1.439 .2652 .0484 1.340 1.538 1.00 1.98 Exp1 30 1.352 .1989 .0363 1.277 1.426 1.12 1.80 Exp2 30 1.399 .2820 .0514 1.293 1.504 1.12 1.98 Total 90 1.396 .2510 .0264 1.344 1.449 1.00 1.98 In order to interpret the above findings, the researchers had to conduct a One-way ANOVA. However, in order to legitimize the ANOVA, the homogeneity of variances of the scores should be checked. For this reason, Leven΄s test was run. Table 16: Leven΄s Test of Homogeneity of Variance on Complexity Measure Levene Statistic 2.837 df1 df2 Sig. 2 87 .064 The non-significant Levene΄s statistics of 2.837 (ρ = 0.064 > 0.05) demonstrated that the distributions enjoyed homogeneous variances.Since the requirement of ANOVA was met, the test was run to compare the performances of the three groups. The results of the One-way ANOVA are displayed in Table 17. 144 The International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume 1 (1), December 2012 ISSN: 2289-2737 Table 17: One-way ANOVA of the Speaking Posttest for Complexity Measure in Three Groups df Mean Square F Sig. 2 .058 .914 .405 Within Groups 5.494 87 .063 Total 89 Between Groups Sum of Squares .115 5.610 As it can be seen the F value is 0.914. Therefore the difference between the groups came out to be insignificant (F = 0.914, ρ = 0.40 > 0.05). It can be concluded that the third hypothesis is confirmed. There is no significant difference between the performances of the three groups in measure of Complexity in speaking post test. Conclusion The motivation for the present study was the several hypotheses which were formulated regarding the effects of post task activities on task performance. In the main, these hypotheses have received support, although in some cases these supports were limited in some cases. The effects of post task have confirmed those reported in Foster and Skehan (1997). Post task is effective in measures of oral proficiency. The post task condition was theorized to increase the attention that subjects would pay to the accuracy of their language. In the second experimental group who had the foreknowledge of the post task, the subjects were more cognizant about their accuracy in utterance as they knew that they would have to submit to a subsequent public scrutiny. According to Foster and Skehan (1996), the researchers in the field of task based teaching should consider how attentional resources are prioritized in students' minds, and what influences on such prioritization can be identified. Learners required to complete the tasks seem unable to prioritize equally the three performance aspects of fluency, accuracy, and complexity. Achieving more highly in one seems mostly to be at the expense of doing well on the others, with competition between accuracy and the two other measures. Students are unable to divide their attention to all three aspects simultaneously. Post task activities and more precisely, the foreknowledge of the post task is only channeled to only one of these aspects. Another interesting finding of this study was the relationship between dependent variables of accuracy, fluency, and complexity. In the last phase of the study, when the recordings of the students' speeches were analyzed for the post test results, the researchers noticed that nearly all the utterances of the students were communicatively meaningful. Such an observation has implications for the way in which performance is tested, since it suggests that one cannot validly simply take one such measure in isolation and use it for the rating of overall performance. At the 145 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 very least, it suggests that assessment procedures may need to employ a range of data elicitation measures and profile-based reporting of performance. The findings of the present study imply that task-based teaching can be accompanied with post task activities. But more important than the post task is the direction of the students mind toward post task activities. When they have the foreknowledge of the post task, they can easily prepare themselves for the post task. In this condition, the maximum benefit of post task activities can be achieved in the classroom. References Brock, C. (1986). The effects of referential questions on classroom discourse. TESOL Quarterly, 20, 47-59. Brumfit, C. (1984). Communicative Methodology in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bygate, M. (1996). Effects of task repetition: Appraising the developing language of learners. 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On the variability of interlanguage systems.Applied Linguistics, 4, 143-63. Willis, D., & Willis, J. (1988).COBUILD Book 1. London: Collins. Willis, J. (1996). A Framework for Task-based Learning. London: Longman. Yuan, F., & Ellis, R. (2003).The effects of pre-task planning and on-line planning on fluency, complexity, and accuracy in L2 monologic oral production.Applied linguistics, 24 (1), 127. Yule, G., Powers, M., & Macdonald, D. (1992). The variable effects of some task-based learning procedures on L2 communicative effectiveness.Language Learning, 42 (2), 249-277. 147 Copyright IJLLALW, December 2012 The next issue to be published on January 2013 148

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