Volume 21, Number 1, June 2024
DOI: 10.56040/e-flt.211

Editorial DOI: 10.56040/koos2110

Articles

Kanako Yamaoka

Remedial Learners' Non-Linear Motivational Development in an EFL Classroom

DOI: 10.56040/knym2111

Abstract
The rising university enrollment rate and the growing number of types of university admission examinations have allowed students who lack fundamental knowledge to enter universities in Japan. Providing students with the necessary knowledge to continue studying at universities is referred to as remedial education. Remedial student motivation is among the most frequently studied topics in this field. This study examined Japanese remedial students’ motivational development in English classes using complex dynamic systems theory. Fifteen Japanese university freshmen participated in the study for one year, for a total of 20 sessions. Data were collected from weekly questionnaires, semi-structured retrospective interviews, teaching journals, and classroom observations. The data were analyzed using retrodictive qualitative modelling procedures and change-point analyses. After discerning the eight motivational patterns, they were categorized into three groups. Examination of each group’s cases suggested a hypothetical motivational developmental path for remedial students. This path had some similarities to another motivational developmental path hypothesized in a previous study.

Duong My Tham and Tran Thi Thanh Thuy

Teachers' Perceptions of the Implementation of Theme-Based Approach in Vietnamese EFL Classrooms

DOI: 10.56040/tdtt2112

Abstract
Theme-based instruction (TBI) is deemed one of the innovative language teaching approaches. However, re-search on TBI, particularly teachers’ viewpoints on TBI in English as a foreign language education at high schools in Vietnam, is still scarce. The current study aims to explore EFL teachers’ perceptions of the imple-mentation of TBI at high schools in Dalat City, Vietnam. The explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach was employed with sixty-five Vietnamese teachers of English. The quantitative data obtained from the question-naire were statistically processed (i.e., mean and standard deviation), and the qualitative data gathered from the semi-structured interviews were analyzed through content analysis. The findings generally indicated that the participants positively perceived the TBI implementation at high schools in the capital city of Lam Dong Prov-ince, Vietnam. Specifically, TBI provided EFL learners with merits, e.g., increasing opportunities for improving English vocabulary and competency, strengthening cooperation, enhancing problem-solving and presentation skills, developing cognition, and connecting content to the real world based on their own needs and interests. Additionally, students were expected to take responsibility for their learning, while teachers assumed the roles of resources, facilitators, and motivators. Strikingly, the research revealed discrepancies in perceptions of Task-Based Instruction (TBI) implementation between high school EFL teachers who received formal training from the Department of Education and Training of Lam Dong Province and those who had not undergone such training.

Ngoc Minh Thu Dong and Bao Trang Thi Nguyen

Use of the Inflectional Morpheme -s Marking Plurality and the Third-Person-Singular Present Tense in Vietnamese EFL Opinion Essays: Accuracy Analysis and Learner Perspectives

DOI: 10.56040/ndbn2113

Abstract
The present research explored how Vietnamese EFL third-year students used the inflectional morpheme –s marking plural nouns (PN–s) and the third-person singular in the present tense (3SG–s) in opinion essays. 32 students each wrote an opinion essay about the topic of Facebook within 45 minutes as a progress test. The collected essays were analyzed for the use of PN–s and 3SG–s. 10 of the students who had completed their writing task were subsequently interviewed in an in-depth semi-structured format. The results revealed that students used PN–s and 3SG–s correctly in most of the obligatory contexts. Yet they used PN–s more accurately than 3SG–s. Omission was the most common error students made, and they omitted 3SG–s at a higher rate than PN–s. In view of the plural morpheme, omission of the orthographical plural variant –s was significantly higher than that of –es and of –ies. Incorrect use rarely occurred. But when it did, it was only found with PN–s, which also had a higher rate of oversuppliance than 3SG–s. In the interviews, the students reported having ex-plicit knowledge about the target morphemes, but different factors related to the meaning-making process in-volved in essay writing contributed to omission or misuse. The study offers important pedagogical implications for writing instruction and teacher feedback that enhance the use of the target morphemes in written language production.

Wafa Zekri and Ali El Moussaoui

Algerian Teachers' Motivation and Self-Efficacy Towards Online Teaching

DOI: 10.56040/wzam2114

Abstract
This study explored the motivation and perceptions of Algerian teachers of English in higher education using different online platforms during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers collected data from teach-ers’ online surveys and interviews. This study provides insights into the motivation and perceptions of online teaching. This study was conducted with 205 teachers of English in higher education. The findings revealed that teachers’ unfamiliarity and accessibility to online teaching are regarded as inhibiting factors that influenced their use of the available online platforms. The results showed a correlation between students’ accessibility to techno-logical tools and teachers’ motivation. Data from the interviews revealed that accessibility and availability of technological resources, policy, and training were the main contextual factors influencing teachers’ self-efficacy in online teaching in Algerian universities. These findings help in understanding the technology-enhanced teach-ing of English online through teachers’ perceptions, which remain influential during and after the COVID-19 time.

Adil Youssef Sayeh et al.

Beliefs of Moroccan Students about Learning French: Variations According to Gender, Language Proficiency, and Major

DOI: 10.56040/srym2115

Abstract
Different studies have analyzed the factor structure of the Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) (Horwitz, 1987, 1988) through exploratory factor analysis, and the obtained results were partially or not con-firmed by confirmatory factor analysis. Hence, this study examined the subcategories of Horwitz’s (1988) BALLI using confirmatory factor analysis and explored the differences in students’ language beliefs according to their gender, language proficiency, and major. 423 Moroccan university and high school students were ran-domly selected and administered a French version of BALLI to examine their beliefs about learning French as a foreign language. The obtained data were analyzed using MANOVA tests in SPSS version 25. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the factor structure of Nikitina and Furuoka’s (2006) factor structure. Also, the MANOVA tests revealed that the students’ beliefs were affected by individual differences, such as their gender, language proficiency, and major. Our results provide further justification for the validity of BALLI and indicate that Nikitina and Furuoka’s (2006) refined instrument is more reliable in conducting inferential statistics. Furthermore, our findings imply that research findings about learners’ beliefs about language learning cannot be overgeneralized since these beliefs are shaped by learners’ individual characteristics.

Reviews

Fahimeh Marefat et al.

Review of "Research Methods in Language Teaching and Learning: A Practical Guide"

DOI: 10.56040/mshs2116

Sergio Rodriguez Flores

Review of "Amaneceres"

DOI: 10.56040/srfr2117