International Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education

Investigating Preparatory Year Saudi Students’ Preferences Towards Different Feedback Methods to Improve Their Writing in EFL Classrooms

Alaa Waleed Alhazmi — 2024-11-12

This research aims to determine the most effective type of feedback for enhancing the writing skills of the students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Saudi Arabia. The study investigates preparatory year students' attitudes towards different feedback types, direct comments, indirect suggestions, and metalinguistic feedback. By analyzing the effectiveness of these feedback methods, educators can improve EFL education in Saudi Arabia. The research employs a mixed methods approach, involving interviews with seven teachers and a questionnaire administered to students. Findings from previous studies on feedback effectiveness were reviewed to provide insights for instructional practices. Ultimately, the study intends to provide valuable insights into the feedback methods employed in the EFL writing classes in Saudi Arabia. The findings show that teachers tend to prefer indirect feedback, while 75% of male students favor direct feedback and 66.7% of female students prefer metalinguistic feedback. However, indirect feedback was ranked as the second favorite type by both male students, who accounted for 15%, and female students, who accounted for 20%. Overall, indirect comments appear to be the most effective as they allow students to reflect on their mistakes and discover the correct answers, enhancing their learning experience. To establish more reliable and valid results, the researchers recommend repeating the study with a larger sample of participants.

Translating English Articles from Mongolian: A Case Study of Natsagdorj’s Shuvuun Saaral

Nomindari Byambasaikhan — 2024-11-12

This study investigates the complexities involved in translating English articles into Mongolian, focusing on Natsagdorj D.’s seminal work, Shuvuun Saaral. The absence of articles in Mongolian presents significant challenges for translators, educators, and learners, necessitating sophisticated linguistic strategies to convey intended meanings accurately. By analyzing sentences from the Mongolian novel translated into English by Western Washington University, this study explores the translation of indefinite, definite, and zero articles. The theoretical framework integrates Hawkins' (1978) referential or location theory and Bickerton's (1981) language roots theory. This study provides insights into contextual meaning conveyance, elucidates how English definite articles are translated into Mongolian, and interprets the strategies employed by translators, along with the challenges and opportunities in article translation.

Analysis of Punctuation and Spelling Errors Associated with Academic Writing among Iraqi EFL Learners

Bareq Raad Raheem — 2024-11-12

The present study aims to analyse and find punctuation and spelling errors EFL learners face in their academic writing as part of English proficiency tests. A quantitative method was adopted to implement the research objective. 117 written samples were collected and analysed. The participants were 82 females and 35 males. The average age is 23 to 37 years. The results showed different kinds of errors and challenges. The present study concerns limited errors and challenges: punctuation and spelling errors. The findings show a large prevalence of punctuation and spelling errors among Iraqi EFL learners. The most common errors using punctuation marks were using capital letters (54.72%), commas (25. 71%), and periods (19.58%). In terms of spelling errors, omission recorded the highest percentage of errors (40.9%), followed by substitution (30.5%), transposition (15.0), and insertion (13.6%).

Enhancing Metalinguistic Awareness Through Microlearning: A Comparative Analysis of Catalan Acquisition Between Multilingual French and English Learners

Nancy Gagné — 2024-11-12

Knowing that previously learned languages may influence and support language learning among multilingual learners, equipping educators with diverse tools and resources empowers them to make more informed decisions in facilitating language learning. This holds particular significance in the case of minority languages like Catalan, where resource availability tends to be more restricted. This paper presents the findings of a project aimed at identifying the specific needs of multilingual B1 learners of Catalan. Using a comprehensive five-way classification system, the study compares the written productions of multilingual learners from different linguistic backgrounds (English and French L1 learners of Catalan). Analyses revealed a similar pattern regarding the nature of the errors, with incorrect word selections at the lexical-semantic, syntactic, and orthographic levels being the most frequent. Both groups differ significantly in terms of the distribution of errors; however, they did not differ when the analyses were conducted by error types. In both cases, the most frequent error was the lexical-semantic misselections, with false analogies and incomplete applications of rules explaining the errors. These findings led to the creation of just-in-time microlearning capsules tailored to address these issues. The microlearning capsules were designed to enhance students' metalinguistic awareness. Students' and teachers' perceptions of the tool were also assessed, and both groups predominantly viewed interlinguistic information as beneficial to language learning. This project highlights how microlearning, tailored to frequent errors, can bolster multilingual learners' acquisition and provides promising tools for language teaching.