Investigating Iranian Undergraduate EFL Learners' and Teachers' Attitude Towards Partnership Approach (original) (raw)
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Applied Research on English Language, 2020
New approaches and methods to language learning and teaching have drawn the attention of many researchers. This study aimed at investigating the role of Iranian EFL learners" attitudes towards the value components of the Partnership Approach (PA) on motivating their active engagement in the learning process. A descriptive research method (survey study) was used, and 72 male and female Iranian EFL students whose ages ranged from 18 to 26 were randomly selected to participate in the study. They were asked to respond to a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire addressing the objectives of the study, and then 30 of the participants were randomly interviewed to reveal the possible consonance with the questionnaire outcomes. The study was conducted at Islamic Azad University (IAU), Najafabad Branch. The findings indicated that although both male and female participants showed significantly positive attitudes towards the value components of the PA, except for the inclusivity value, female participants held significantly higher positive attitudes. The highest motivational value from both male and female participants" point of view was for the challenge value component. However, reciprocity and inclusivity were the value components with the lowest motivational values from the male and female participants" point of view, respectively. Focusing on the importance of the psychological factors in education, the findings of the study may encourage both education policy-makers and practitioners in the field to think more critically, and make more reasonable decisions for their policy and practice.
Experience of Teaching English Basing on Educational Partnership in Non-language Universities
Mastering of foreign languages, especially English, is becoming more and more vital in the global world. At the same time teaching English at higher educational non-linguistic institutions faces a lot of problems as, firstly, a significant number of students are weakly motivated to learn any foreign language, secondly, they often have not high level of knowledge of the language and in addition teachers have to deal with psychological barriers, which such students usually have. Thus, in order to improve learning and teaching English it is important to create partnership relations with students at foreign language lessons. From this point of view, it is valuable to study the essence of educational partnership and the factors that facilitate interpersonal communication and increase the efficiency of learning and training English process. It may be functional also to share positive experience of using different methods of forming partnership relations at English lessons. This paper has been written on the basis of research of theoretical aspects of the problem, i.e. on analysis and synthesis of scientific psychological and pedagogical literature, and on personal experience of teaching English during nearly twenty years in Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University (Ukraine). During this period we were observing more than two thousand students with whom we built partnerships. The most successful methods for creating partnerships are described in this paper. They are: the methods based on the interest of the students in their future profession, " creative " collaboration with students, " personification " of the learning process. The methods were analyzed and discussed at different Methodical seminars, scientific and practical conferences. The described methods can be admitted by other foreign language teachers. However, it should be noted that the listed methods of pedagogical interaction may be amended. Their realization depends on different circumstances and learning situations.
Abstract. The aim of this study is to investigate the attitudes of ELT student teachers towards collaborative and student centered way of teaching the Language Acquisition course in a Turkish ELT teacher education program. Data was collected by means of pre- and post-questionnaires and two sets of interview. The results showed that student-teachers have positive attitudes towards the course and found collaborative learning activities more motivating in comparison with the teacher centered teaching. They indicated that peer collaboration helped them to retain what they had learned in this course and enabled them to make use what they learned in other courses.
EFL Students’ Attitude toward Learning English by Using Collaborative Learning
Acitya: Journal of Teaching and Education
The ability to use English to communicate is strongly needed in this era; therefore, learning English has now become a requirement for all students worldwide. Many strategies have been used in the process of learning English; one of them is by implementing collaborative learning. The purpose of this research is to identify EFL students’ attitudes to learning English by using collaborative learning. This study obtained the data from a questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale and open-ended questions to determine students' attitudes when participating in collaborative learning activities. The results show that the students have positive attitudes toward learning English by using collaborative learning. The students believe that collaborative learning can improve comprehension, increase motivation, cooperation, and confidence, as well as communication skill. Even though they face some challenges such as different views among students and longer time in completing tasks, students c...
EFL Learners’ Reflections on Cooperative Learning: Issues of Implementation
Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2019
This study has described and identified the opinions and experiences of the EFL learners who participated in CL English lessons. The participants in this study were 10 tenth-grade male students, aged 14-15 years in four boys’ secondary schools in Al-Baha city. Two English teachers were asked to implement cooperative learning in their classrooms for 12 weeks. The researcher interviewed ten randomly selected students from the cooperative learning classes at the end of the study.The results and findings of this study showed that most students found that CL enabled them to improve their English skills, make new relationships with others classmates, perform different roles, improve their oral presentation skills, build their self confidence, take on responsibility, respect different opinions and offer their different views, increase their motivation, and develop their friendships with their classmates.However, there were few drawbacks and obstacles to using the CL method. These included:...
Students’ and Teachers’ Views on School-University Partnership in the Omani EFL Context
International Education Studies
Educational partnership between schools and higher education institutions has become an important tool towards enhancing students’ achievement levels in both contexts and increasing students’ college readiness level. It has also been identified as one key element of educational reform. The present paper reviews a number of models of school-university partnership from different parts of the world. It also presents the results of a study that investigated- among other things- the views of 749 school students and 68 school teachers on the topic of school-university partnership. The paper provides a summary of participants’ suggestions on how best to create better progression between EFL syllabuses in both contexts: post-basic schools and foundation programs in Omani universities, with particular reference to the teaching/learning of EFL reading and writing. Students’ suggestions have mainly focused on three themes, which were collaboration at the administrative level, the need for orie...
Iranian Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 2018
Introducing effective approaches and providing equal opportunities for all language learners at any level of language knowledge to learn successfully seems to be an asset. In this study, the role of employing Partnership Approach (PA) to teach speaking to undergraduate EFL students through Streaming/Homogeneous-Grouping of the learners in Mixed-Ability classrooms was examined. A quasi-experimental research method was employed and 72 Iranian male and female undergraduate students majoring in TEFL whose ages ranged from 19-24 participated in the study. The study comprised three experimental and three control groups in high, low, and mixed language-ability levels based on the results of an Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) so that there were 12 students in each group. The findings indicated that among the streamed experimental groups, low-ability students did not significantly develop their speaking ability. On the contrary, low-ability students benefited from the mixed-ability teaching more than the other students both in the control and the experimental groups. Mixed-ability and high-ability students in the experimental group significantly outperformed their counterparts in the control group. Low-ability students in the control group outperformed their counterparts in the experimental group. This study has the potential to develop new insights and ideas which can be adapted by both EFL teachers and students in different educational settings. The processes and outcomes of the study can be adapted for use in other disciplines to examine the effect of ability grouping and partnership on the individuals' overall success.
Forming a Collaborative Community of Practice of EFL Teachers through Self-study Research
Universal Journal of Educational Research, 2020
The current study is a self-reflective autoethnographic research study, which aims to explore how two in-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in Japan built a collaborative and mutually supportive community of practice, and how they shared and reconstructed their expertise through interacting with each other. Prior to the study, both of the participating teachers from different teaching contexts shared a similar struggle: a lack of collegiality and a quest for creativity. An online journal forum was created where they recorded their thoughts, difficulties and challenges in their everyday teaching practice for one year. They also gave comments and feedback to each other online. As a result, participation in an online collaborative community of practice enabled them to reflect on and adjust their teaching practices. In particular, the role of collegiality in sharing teaching strategies impacted the teaching of English as a foreign language in diverse contexts, both public and private schools. It also had an impact on teaching different language skills (oral communication for one participant and reading and translation for the other) and the use of students' native language as assistance. By taking on the role of a diagonal mentor, they also found a way to make their professional voices heard.
Collaboration in EFL Classes: Listening to Teachers' and Students' Voices
Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Education Innovation (ICEI 2017), 2018
The 21 st century learning is characterized by the 4Cs: Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Communication. Pedagogical practices, therefore, should accommodate interactions and active thinking among students. Putting students into groups is one strategy that can be expected to encourage collaborative learning, communication, as well as high order thinking skills. This study aims at describing how groupings are planned and implemented by EFL teachers in junior high schools in Bali. The study followed a descriptive qualitative research paradigm involving 8 English teachers from 4 public schools and 154 students of Grade 8. The data were collected through classroom observation, document study, questionnaire, and interview. The study found that among the range of grouping formats, EFL teachers showed monotonous grouping strategies that involve students to work on a task. Most of the strategies are spontaneously assigned to students as the lesson flows. Only 41.9% of group activities are planned, which mostly involve students to work in pairs or in a small group (buzz group). The majority of students (81.3%) perceived that working in groups give them a chance to learn better. However, the limited types of grouping employed in the classroom tend to create monotonous classroom atmosphere. The data from interview revealed that teachers perceived that not many types of cooperative learning can be practiced because of the limited time available for teaching 'a big topic'. It is also perceived that learning occurs in any group activities, and interaction can be expected to occur regardless of grouping types used.