International Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education

Motivation Profile of Education Degree Students in English Language Learning

Jesús Luis Recuero, Svetlana Antropova, Gretchen Obernyer, Cynthia Hertfelder — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The adoption of the English language as lingua franca, has increased the demand for English language teachers, however, the percentage of Education Degree students electing to specialize in English has dropped considerably. The objective of this research is two-fold: to tackle motivation factors which influence ELL in Primary and Early Childhood Education Degree students, and, to analyse any differences in motivation patterns between these degrees. Drawing on Dörnyei’s L2 motivation self-system (2005, 2009), a questionnaire was elaborated to explore 12 factors which influence motivation in ELL. 106 Education Degree students took part in this study. The results obtained showed that there were 7 factors which explain the model’s variance. While Primary Education Degree students opted for career opportunities abroad, living-abroad experiences, and previous L2 learning experiences; Early Childhood Education Degree students chose previous experiences in L2 learning, sociocultural interest and L2 anxiety.

Teacher’s Role in Eliminating Stereotypes in Class

Darja Pipuš — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The paper Teacher’s Role in Eliminating Stereotypes in Class deals with stereotypes in education, takes a closer look at gender stereotypes in EFL, and focuses on the teacher’s role in eliminating stereotypes in the classroom. A major part of children’s socialisation occurs in schools, through formal education. School is the place where children consciously and unconsciously learn about stereotypes. This paper examines whether stereotypes exist in school, in EFL, and in what way and how to overcome them. In the beginning it describes stereotyping, sexism, gender roles and how they are present in the (EFL) classroom. It furthermore discusses the problem of stereotypes and sexism in education and the period of middle childhood in terms of the development of self-image. The central part of the paper focuses on ways of overcoming stereotypes in the EFL classroom and emphasises the role of the teacher. In terms of methodology, the paper is theoretical in nature and uses the descriptive and comparative research method as it describes some findings on the topic and comparative research method when comparing professional and scientific findings of different authors. The paper also provides some examples and is an output of the author’s ongoing personal research and work in the area of English language teaching.

Do Native and Non-Native English Speaker Teachers Really Matter?: EFL Chinese Undergraduate Students' Perceptions in A Sino-Foreign University

Leah Li Echiverri, Hanbing Mei, Feite Liu — Mon, 27 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This descriptive-exploratory paper investigated Wenzhou-Kean University students' perceptions of their Native English Speaking Teachers (NESTs) and Non-Native English Speaking Teachers (NNESTs) in the aspects of linguistic, teaching, and personal factors. The mixed method collected information from 400 survey respondents and 16 interviews. Many agreed they learn better authentic pronunciation from NESTs' fluency and pronunciation, while more than half perceived NNESTs could better teach EFL students to remember and use words in sentence construction. About half claimed that NNESTs prepared teaching materials are more understandable because of their sensitivity to the EFL students' English language learning difficulties. Many students perceived that NESTs employ more engaging teaching methods to explain lessons with better clarity and effective student learning. Many felt nervous talking to NESTs because of possible misunderstandings from language barriers. A majority agreed that NNESTs' competence and overseas working experience make their qualifications comparable to NESTs in English language teaching.