scholarly journals The impact of English as medium of instruction on the academic performance of second language learners in the Further Education and Traning band at schools in KwaZulu-Natal

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rajendren Sabapathy Dorasamy
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Medium Of Instruction ◽  
English Second Language ◽  
The Impact

This study, in adopting a phenomenological approach, provides an overview of the contextual realities surrounding language choice and usage as it impacts on the academic performance of English second language learners. There have been concerns that the majority of learners with indigenous mother tongues can be seen to fare badly in a post liberation educational system in which English or Afrikaans is still used as medium of instruction. The focus of this study was therefore the impact of English as the medium of instruction on the academic performance of English second language learners. Using a mixed method approach, through a case study, data from questionnaires, interviews and observations were analysed using various statistical packages and the findings were reported on. It was established that it was not so much the language per se which had a negative impact on the academic performance of English second language learners: it was rather the efficacy of usage of the chosen language and other periphery issues in the formal environment, such as lack of interactions with target language speakers, code-switching, and teacher competence, which resulted in the poor academic performance of English second language learners. Furthermore, it was also established that the informal environment, consisting of learners’ culture and traditions, family educational qualifications, absenteeism and appropriate resources at home and community libraries, which also had a negative impact on academic performance. It was therefore recommended that, amongst other things, the Language in Education Policy be amended to provide for more opportunities for learner interaction with the target language. Furthermore, given that the efficacy of education is contingent upon the competence of the teachers, relevant skills and competencies among teachers should be developed to enhance their performance in class. It was also found that code-switching was counterproductive to learning the target language, thus holding back ESL learners’ acquisition of content knowledge. As such, code-switching should be used very restrictively, if at all, in the Further Education and Training phase. It was also recommended that necessary lexicons and registers of the indigenous languages be developed sufficiently so that these are worthy of use as media of instruction, without necessarily being seen as a replacement of English as medium of instruction. There should also be greater involvement of all stakeholders in the choice of and availability of resources which are relevant to the context of learners. Other issues requiring intervention from a broader stakeholder involvement include iii interdepartmental integration to alleviate poverty, and provision of transport so that learners might report regularly and timeously to school, thus reducing absenteeism. The solution to improving learner academic performance requires concerted and co-ordinated inter-governmental, community and other stakeholders’ effort and the necessary will of the government to ensure that learners receive quality education.

scholarly journals Voicing up in Debate Competition: Oral Development of Two Malaysian ESL Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 90
Author(s):  
Farzaneh Amiri ◽  
Moomala Othman ◽  
Maryam Jahedi
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Linguistic Resources ◽  
Communicative Strategies ◽  
English Second Language ◽  
Oral Development ◽  
Esl Learners ◽  
The Impact

This research used a qualitative approach to focus on the classroom debate between Malaysian English second language learners (ESL). Since debate has been often perceived as not a suitable activity for low proficiency students due to their limited linguistic resources, there has not been much emphasis on the impact of debate on incompetent ESL learners; however, this study was an attempt to concentrate on two students who were not competent in English to investigate their oral development via debate. The study observed the communicative strategies employed in this challenging task during the five debate rounds. Although the progress made was quite limited, the study showed that debate competition can be a relevant and meaningful practice for speaking activity among low proficiency students. Moreover, it showed that debate can be used to scaffold students’ practice in speaking.

scholarly journals The hegemonic position of English as a medium of instruction at primary school level in KwaZulu-Natal, and its impact on parents' preferences of schooling for their children

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jeevarathanum Naidoo
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
School Level ◽  
Medium Of Instruction ◽  
English Second Language ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Primary School Level

This study is concerned with the choices parents of second language learners make with regard to the schooling of their children in respect of medium of instruction, and explores the reasons why parents choose to disregard education in their mother tongue in favour of English as a medium of instruction. This is contrary to the Language in Education Policy, as the Department of Education instils in principals, educators and parents the need for children at primary school level to be taught in their mother tongue. The theoretical framework used to address the problem was the Critical Language Approach, this being an appropriate position from which to investigate language and power. A combination of questionnaires, interviews and observation was used to acquire data from parents and management in a large primary school in KwaZulu-Natal. After analysis of the data, which confirmed the hegemonic position of English as influencing choice of medium of instruction by parents of English second language learners, a model was developed to assist them to see the possible consequences of various choices. The model comprised a tenpoint questionnaire to identify needs, a flow chart diagram resulting from the needs analysis, a pictograph to assist stakeholders to understand the relevant choices available, and workshops to support the choice of medium of instruction. The value of the research, it is thought, lies in clarifying the various influences at play, in particular, the hegemonic position of English, and offering stakeholders a rational, rather than political or emotional basis for the choice of medium of instruction for second language learners, as well as pointing out the possible consequences of such choices.

An investigation into the early literacy skills of English second language learners in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-154
Author(s):  
Aileen Manten ◽  
Mia le Roux ◽  
Salomé Geertsema ◽  
Marien Graham
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Early Literacy ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Early Literacy Skills ◽  
English Second Language ◽  
Literacy Success ◽  
The Impact

This study employs the Comprehensive Emergent Literacy Model (CELM) theoretical framework, as it refers to the impact of context on learning early literacy skills. It is relevant to this study as the participants were English second language learners from cultures, communities, and demographics different from those of English first language speakers in South Africa. Early literacy skills, specifically phonological awareness (PA), are predictive of later literacy success. Many English second language (EL2) learners are unable to develop language and early literacy skills. Foundational skills such as general PA skills, often need explicit instruction to prepare the learners to learn to read in English. Twenty-one EL2 Grade 1 learners in an English medium private school in South Africa were selected as participants. Early literacy skills were assessed at the beginning of Grade 1. Reading, spelling, and reading comprehension skills were assessed after two terms in Grade 1 to determine if there is a correlation between early and later literacy skills. Results indicated significantly strong positive correlations between early literacy and later literacy skills. These results and previous research suggest that EL2 learners must be exposed to high-quality early literacy skills as early as possible to provide them with a foundation for future literacy success.

scholarly journals The Impact of Wait Time Instruction and Teaching Experience on Teachers’ Feedback in Moroccan Speaking Classes

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arab World English Journal ◽  
Sana SAKALE
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Wait Time ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Ex Post Facto ◽  
The Impact

Instruction plays a major role in the development of speaking skills for second language learners. Different approaches and methods have emerged throughout the history of language learning/teaching based on the influence of different theories of language, psychology, and related domains such as psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, pragmatics and cultural studies. Two major trends in language teaching emerged under the influence of these mentioned language theories, namely, accuracy based versus fluency based approaches. This article gives a historical sketch up to these trends in an attempt to provide a historical background and to empirically bring evidence that wait time instruction and teaching experience can impact classroom feedback in Moroccan classes. Relevant questions related to the role of teachers’ experience in leading different types of feedback, the effect of the number of teaching years as well as the correlation between wait time instruction and the corresponding teaching experience are closely investigated. This article adheres to a mixed design or what has been identified in research methodology as ex-post facto (Cohen, Manion, Morrison, 2007). Therefore, it is both a qualitative and a descriptive one. For the type of instructions used, the results obtained show the insignificance of the impact of experience on this variable. On the other hand, results retained that wait- time instruction in comparison to other items recorded a higher significance of the impact of experience. Therefore, current article brings empirical evidence on how wait- time instruction plays a crucial role in spoken activity for second language learners.

Using Feedback in ESL and EFL Asynchronous Online Environments

2018 ◽  
pp. 206-222
Author(s):  
Larisa Olesova ◽  
Luciana de Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Audio Feedback ◽  
Instructional Feedback ◽  
Oral Feedback ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Online Environments

Researchers and practitioners' interest in finding more effective ways to provide instructional feedback in order to help second language learners in online environments has increased. The majority of studies found evidence about effectiveness of written and oral feedback to improve student's writing in a target language when they enroll in online courses taught in English. However, some studies also found limitations of both types of feedback when they provided for second language learners. Therefore, researchers and practitioners investigated benefits of other types of feedback and among them is audio feedback. The purpose of this chapter is to overview instructional capabilities of written, oral and audio feedback and how they can support ESL and EFL students in asynchronous online courses. This chapter also discusses when and how to provide different types of feedback when ESL and EFL students are enrolled in online courses taught in English.

Vowel learning in diglossic settings: Evidence from Arabic-Greek learners

2020 ◽  
pp. 136700692094539
Author(s):  
Georgios P Georgiou ◽  
Charalambos Themistocleous
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Variety Versus ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Formant Frequency ◽  
Egyptian Arabic ◽  
Arabic Speakers ◽  
Language Variety ◽  
The Impact

Aim and questions: Second language learners are often acquiring a second language (L2) in multilingual and bidialectal sociolinguistic environments. The competing pronunciations can be challenging to language learners. This study aims to determine the effects of language variety—standard variety versus local variety—on L2 vowel learning. Methodology: Vowel productions from 55 speakers were analyzed in the study; 10 speakers of Egyptian Arabic were recorded in a reading task producing Greek vowels and their vowel productions were compared to L1 vowel productions produced by 20 Standard Modern Greek and 25 Cypriot Greek speakers from a study by Themistocleous. Data and analysis: We conducted linear mixed effects models and tested the effects of language variety, vowel, and stress on the first and second formant frequency and on vowel duration. Findings: Egyptian Arabic speakers merge the middle Greek vowels /e/ and /o/ and the high /i/ and /u/ vowels. Also, they did not differentiate phonetically between L2 stressed and unstressed vowels. These findings are arguably an effect of the L1 vowel structure on L2 vowels. The two varieties exercised competing effects on learners’ vowel productions, which suggests that both varieties are influencing vowel learning. Originality: There has been substantial research on L2 vowel learning in monolingual environments but not in diglossic environments; this study fills this gap by offering evidence about vowel learning in diglossic environments. Implications: In modern societies, communication takes place in multilingual environments. The findings highlight the impact of diglossia on L2 vowel learning and, ultimately, they demonstrate the importance of sociolinguistic factors on L2 learning.

Reading-time studies of second language ambiguity resolution

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Despina Papadopoulou
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Ambiguity Resolution ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
Target Language ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
On Line ◽  
The Impact

This article provides a review of studies that have examined the ambiguity resolution strategies employed when processing a second language (L2). The way second language learners parse the L2 input has not yet been thoroughly investigated, although recently there has been an increasing interest in this area. The exploration of the mechanisms L2 learners use to parse ambiguous constructions allows us to examine not only aspects of L2 acquisition that still remain obscure, but also the validity of existing theories of parsing. The studies reported in this article look at three different types of ambiguous construction in the L2, and their results are discussed in relation to the L2 performance pattern. Most of the findings show that even advanced L2 learners are slower readers than native speakers and apply processing routines that depart from those best suited for processing the target language input. In addition, although L2 learners show sensitivity to lexical cues such as verb argument structure when processing the L2 input, they are less likely to rapidly employ structural information on line. The issues of the transfer of processing mechanisms from the first language (L1) to the second as well as the impact of L2 exposure on the adoption of the L2 processing routines are still unresolved and need to be further investigated.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document