ESP TodayPub Date : 2019-01-01DOI: 10.18485/esptoday.2019.7.2.3
Jia-Ying Lee
{"title":"Teaching Test-Taking Strategies to EFL Student Readers with Different Language Proficiencies: An Empirical Reassessment","authors":"Jia-Ying Lee","doi":"10.18485/esptoday.2019.7.2.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18485/esptoday.2019.7.2.3","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigated the effect of teaching test-taking strategies to EFL student readers with different levels of reading proficiency (i.e. high and low). Two groups of undergraduate non-English majors joined an eight-week experiment. One served as the treatment group (TG) which learned test-taking strategies to tackle English reading test tasks, while the control group (CG) received no strategy instruction. The pretest and posttest reading performances of all the participants from the TG and CG were quantitatively compared. Additionally, the TG’s use of test-taking strategies was investigated by means of entry and exit surveys. The results show that the students at both proficiency levels of the TG made significantly greater gains in the reading posttest compared with the pretest, and they also significantly outperformed their counterparts from the CG on the posttest. The participants from both levels of the TG also used significantly more test-taking strategies than before, but they used some strategies more frequently than others. Taken together, the results support the pedagogical effects of the instruction in test-taking strategies in EFL reading classes.","PeriodicalId":501121,"journal":{"name":"ESP Today","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138511461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
ESP TodayPub Date : 2019-01-01DOI: 10.18485/esptoday.2019.7.2.7
Sanja Marinov, Višnja Pavičić Takač
{"title":"Non-Language Majors’ Study Abroad Language Learning Experiences Captured in a Narrative Frame","authors":"Sanja Marinov, Višnja Pavičić Takač","doi":"10.18485/esptoday.2019.7.2.7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18485/esptoday.2019.7.2.7","url":null,"abstract":"Study abroad (SA) research involving Croatian students is still in its infancy, with hardly any documentation of systematic research. Thus, the present paper aims to explore the main themes permeating Croatian sojourners’ SA experiences and their interrelatedness. The study utilises narrative frames (NFs), i.e. story templates that produce a coherent account of an individual’s own experience (Barkhuizen, 2014), to elicit information on participants’ perceptions of SA experience. The NF created for the purposes of this study aims at capturing language learning experiences in an SA context. The frames, completed by 33 Croatian students from non-language fields of study who participated in the Erasmus student exchange programme in various European destinations, were analysed using the grounded theory (GT) approach. All stages of the procedure are meticulously detailed in the study. The all-encompassing idea resulting from the analysis is that SA experience provides a ground for students’ authentic growth in which language development and personal and professional development are intertwined and mediated by a range of emotions and attitudes that are created, changed or confirmed in the process.","PeriodicalId":501121,"journal":{"name":"ESP Today","volume":"18 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138511549","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}