An Exploratory Case Study of English Speaking Anxiety Faced by Successful and Less Successful Japanese Learners

Relay Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 158-169
Author(s):  
Hung Nguyen-Xuan
Keyword(s):  
Structured Interview ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Speaking Anxiety ◽  
Exploratory Case Study ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
High Motivation ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Japanese Learners

This article addresses the English speaking anxiety faced by successful and less successful Japanese learners of English. Two Japanese EFL students (one successful and one less successful) agreed to participate in the research. A survey and a semi-structured interview were used to gather the details of these two learners’ English learning experiences and frequency of dealing with English speaking anxiety. Results indicate that both learners felt speaking anxiety, but the less successful learner felt anxiety more frequently than the successful one. The successful learner also appeared to show high motivation and willingness to speak English, whereas the less successful one felt shy or tended to have fear of speaking English. The study is expected to provide some useful insights for further research of EFL students’ speaking anxiety.

scholarly journals Learning English Vocabulary in a Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) Environment: A Sociocultural Study of Migrant Women

10.28945/2166 ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kham Sila Ahmad ◽  
Fay Sudweeks ◽  
Jocelyn Armarego
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
Small Community ◽  
Mobile Assisted Language Learning ◽  
Life Long Learning ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Learning English

This paper reports on a case study of a group of six non-native English speaking migrant women’s  experiences learning English vocabulary in a mobile assisted language learning (MALL) environment at a small community centre in Western Australia. A sociocultural approach to learning vocabulary was adopted in designing the MALL lessons that the women undertook. The women provided demographic information, responded to questions in a pre-MALL semi-structured interview, attended the MALL lessons, and completed a post-MALL semi-structured interview. This study explores the sociocultural factors that affect migrant women’s language learning in general, and vocabulary in particular. The women’s responses to MALL lessons and using the tablet reveal a positive effect in their vocabulary learning. A revised version of this paper was published in Interdisciplinary Journal of e-Skills and Life Long Learning Volume 11, 2015

scholarly journals Students’ perceptions of teacher feedback in EFL English class and their self-regulated learning after receiving feedback

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-60
Author(s):  
Nanin Verina Widya Putri ◽  
Ahmad Munir ◽  
Syafi’ul Anam
Keyword(s):  
Online Communication ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Teacher Feedback ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Self Regulated Learning ◽  
English Class ◽  
Regulated Learning ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Seeking Help ◽  
English Classroom

Teacher feedback is useful information for EFL students’ improvement. It assists students to know their weaknesses and strengths in English learning. However, students might perceive teacher feedback differently from the teacher's intentions. This study examined students’ perceptions of their teacher feedback in English class and investigated their self-regulated learning after receiving feedback. It is a descriptive-qualitative study involving ten EFL students of the senior high school using semi-structured interview questions through online communication. Subsequently, the data were transcribed and analyzed qualitatively using thematic analysis of students’ perceptions of teacher feedback and their self-regulated learning. The finding showed that the students perceived teacher feedback as positive and negative. Upon receiving teacher feedback, the students developed their self-regulated learning, such as setting goals, monitoring, self-motivating, seeking-help, adopting, and self-evaluating in English learning. This study offers implications for English teachers and educators to improve their feedback quality in English classroom assessment.  

scholarly journals The Effects of Anxiety Toward Acehnese Students' English Speaking Ability

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Habiburrahim Habiburrahim ◽  
Risdaneva Risdaneva ◽  
Ghina Putri ◽  
Syarifah Dahliana ◽  
Safrul Muluk
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Education ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Depth Information ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Speaking Anxiety ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Subject

In this study, we analyzed the effects of speaking anxiety of Acehnese students in English learning classroom by looking at the causes of students’ speaking anxiety and their strategies in coping with it. The researchers used purposive sampling to select the participants of this research. Ten respondents from sophomore students of Department of the English Education at Teacher Training Faculty of Ar-Raniry State Islamic University in Aceh, Indonesia were selected by identifying their answers of Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety questionnaires developed by Horwitz et al. (1986). To have in-depth information on the subject matter, a semi-structured interview was employed. The results of this research showed that speaking anxiety caused some negative effects to Acehnese students’ speaking ability, which could be observed through the difficulties in constructing sentences and expressing the idea when they spoke in the target language. Low self-confidence, lack of competency, and being afraid of making mistakes were some of the factors considered as the major causes of speaking anxiety that could debilitate students’ classroom participation.

scholarly journals Vlogs in University EFL Speaking: Student’s and Teachers’ Perceptions

2021 ◽  
pp. 416-424
Author(s):  
Misdi . ◽  
Usmala Dewi Siregar ◽  
T Thirhaya Zein ◽  
Deasy Anggraini ◽  
Zhafran Fatih Ananda
Keyword(s):  
Language Education ◽  
Private University ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Learning Motivation ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Directed Learning ◽  
Efl Students

The use of vlogs has increased significantly in the context of English learning, especially in the context of English as a Foreign Language education. Yet little has been reported on how university EFL students perceive vlogs for their English learning, e.g. speaking activities. Thus, this paper aimed to investigate students’ and teachers’ perceptions of vlog-mediated English speaking activities. From 99 EFL students and teachers, 49 students of the English department of a private university were recruited to participate in this study. After a week of a classroom project of vloging in speaking activities was implemented, questionnaires were distributed. Then a semi-structured interview was conducted to further explore students’ perceptions of vloging activities. The findings show that vlog-mediated EFL speaking successfully stimulated students for speaking English. Students enjoyed the vloging activities. Students’ learning motivation was also improved. Some implication of the vlog-mediated EFL speaking activities were presented and discussed. Students’ speaking engagement and challenges were also elaborated. Keywords: EFL speaking, learning motivation, self-directed learning, vlog-mediated speaking

Challenges Faced by Woodwind Players in Malaysia While Fasting During Ramadan: A Case Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen A Lonsdale ◽  
Fariba H Abadi
Keyword(s):  
General Health ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Tertiary Level ◽  
Sports Performance ◽  
Ramadan Fasting ◽  
Exploratory Case Study ◽  
Item Questionnaire ◽  
Adequate Hydration ◽  
Practice Time

While numerous studies have investigated associations between Ramadan fasting and sports performance, as well as general health, little is known about the experiences of musicians who play while fasting. This exploratory case study aimed to gain a better understanding of the experiences of tertiary-level woodwind players who practice, rehearse, and perform while fasting. Sixteen undergraduate woodwind players from two Malaysian university music faculties completed an 11-item questionnaire, as well as a 7-day food and playing diary, which formed the basis for a semi-structured interview. Their experiences were compared with previous studies of fasting athletes. Many participants stated that practicing from noon to 3:00 pm was difficult due to feeling thirsty, hungry, tired, and exhausted, with some experiencing a dry mouth and/or lips. By 3:00 to 6:00 pm, some had difficulty focusing and felt tired, dizzy, or lacked energy to practice. Many felt more comfortable playing after breaking the fast or after eating sahur. The majority experienced positive impacts such as increased focus and efficiency while practicing. This study suggests that fasting woodwind players would benefit from practicing in the morning and after sunset, limiting their practice time in the afternoon, not skipping sahur, and ensuring adequate hydration during sunset and sunrise.

STUDI EKSPLORASI DAMPAK WORK FROM HOME TERHADAP KINERJA KARYAWAN DI MASA PANDEMI COVID-19 PADA BUMN DI WILAYAH DENPASAR

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-27
Author(s):  
Putu Pradiva Putra Salain ◽  
Made Santana Putra Adiyadnya ◽  
Putu Agus Eka Rismawan
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Employee Motivation ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Exploratory Case Study ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Working From Home

The purpose of this study was to identify and obtain information regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the concept of working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study uses an exploratory case study method and its research approach uses a qualitative method used to obtain information on the strengths and weaknesses of the concept of working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this study the number of respondents used was 10 employees of state-owned enterprises (BUMN) in the Denpasar area. For purposes of confidentiality, respondents are given the initials K1 through K10 with semi-structured interview techniques and a list of questions compiled and developed based on the related literature. The results of this study are the concept of work from home provides advantages and disadvantages for employees. The advantage referred to is that employees can save on transportation costs so that this is used to divert transportation expenses to meet household needs and to prevent the spread of Covid-19. While the lack of work from home in this case both in terms of internet costs, home atmosphere distruction and decreased levels of employee motivation in completing work.

scholarly journals Investigating Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety among the Kurdish EFL Students: A Case Study at a Public University

2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-92
Author(s):  
Rawezh Mohammed Ibrahim ◽  
Latif Yahya Hamad
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Speaking Anxiety ◽  
English Classes ◽  
Efl Students

In the English as a Foreign Language EFL contexts from different settings, the issue of language learning anxiety has been extensively studies and investigated. However, in the Kurdish settings a few studies carried out about this issue, specially about speaking anxiety in English classes. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate the level, major factor of foreign language speaking anxiety among the Kurdish EFL students and the students’ perspectives about foreign language speaking anxiety in the context of a university in Kurdistan. For achieving the study purpose, first year students (N=91) from English Department at a state university participated. The data regarding the level of EFL speaking anxiety gathered through administering a questionnaire (Foreign Language Anxiety Classroom Scale FLCAS) by (Horwitz et al. 1986), as well as through a semi-structured interview with the participants (N=18). The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics by using the SPSS software program (version 25), and the qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis. The results of the quantitative data illustrated that the students experienced a moderate level of EFL speaking anxiety, and the qualitative data confirmed the results whilst the participants perceived speaking as the most anxiety provoking factor. It was also found that fear of making mistakes, fear of negative evaluation, fear of speaking in front of others and immediate questions were as the major causes of the students’ speaking anxiety. This research contributes to the literature as it is the first to target FL speaking anxiety among Kurdish freshmen EFL learners.

Modeling Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency of Japanese Learners of English: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Rie Koizumi ◽  
Yo In'nami
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Structural Equation Modeling ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Strong Correlations ◽  
School Students ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Speaking Proficiency ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Japanese Learners

With this study, we aimed to obtain a better understanding of the factor structure of the complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) of English speaking proficiency. For this purpose, 224 Japanese junior and senior high school students with an English level of elementary to lower intermediate took an English speaking test. We transcribed what they said, computed measures to assess CAF, and used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine whether the model in which the CAF factors are related fit the data. We found that syntactic complexity (SC), accuracy, speed fluency, and repair fluency represent distinct factors and that there are weak, moderate, or strong correlations among these factors. This generally suggests that those who speak fluently by using more words per minute tend to repair their speech more, but they also produce more accurate utterances with more clauses. We suggest pedagogical implications of considering CAF separately in teaching and assessment and benefits of using SEM for analyzing CAF. 本研究では、スピーキング熟達度における複雑さ、正確さ、流暢さ (complexity, accuracy, and fluency: CAF) の因子構造を調べる。中学生・高校生（初級から中級下レベル）の日本人学習者224名に、スピーキングテストを受けてもらった。発話をCAFの指標で数値化し、CAF因子が関連しあうモデルを共分散構造分析を用いて分析した。その結果、統語的複雑さ、正確さ、スピードに関する流暢さ、修正に関する流暢さの4因子の相関モデルがデータに適合し、4因子は関連しあいながらも別個に捉えられることが分かった。因子間の関連は弱いものから強いものがあったが、全体的には、1分間あたりにより多くの語を使って話す学習者は、修正をより多く行うが、より正確な発話と、より多くの節を産出する傾向が見られた。指導や評価の際にCAFを別々に考慮することの重要性や、共分散構造分析でCAFを分析する利点が示された。

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