Asian Journal of English Language Teaching
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10 January 2000, Volume 10 Issue 1
    

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  • Keeping a Critical Eye on One’s Own Teaching Practice: EFL Teachers’ Use of Reflective Teaching Journals
    Noorchaya Yahya
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2000, 10(1): 1-18.
    Abstract ( ) Download PDF ( )   Knowledge map   Save
    Although journal writing is a popular pedagogical class assignment required by teachers in EFL classes, there is still room for research into the use of journal writing by teachers themselves to monitor the effectiveness of their teaching practice. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of keeping reflective teaching journals by EFL teachers in their own classrooms. The study examined reflective teaching journals — written or recorded accounts of teaching — kept by teachers in the study for the purpose of later reflection. The corpus data in the study was comprised of (1) the reflective teaching journal entries which teachers kept for twelve weeks and (2) transcriptions of regular group discussions that took place for the purpose of sharing and discussing important issues addressing the teachers’ own professional growth. The study explored the following research questions: a) What functions do reflective teaching journals serve for EFL teachers? b) How do reflective teaching journals help teachers solve teaching problems they face? and c) What effects does sharing of the reflective teaching journals in the support group have on empowering teachers in their EFL profession? Results of the study included substantial qualitative reports, which reinforced the significance of EFL teachers’ use of reflective teaching journals as a self-monitoring device in their teaching process. The theoretical and pedagogi- cal implications of the study are set out and discussed.
  • ESL Korean Learners’ Decision- making Processes in Speech Act Performance
    Jae-Suk Suh
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2000, 10(1): 19-44.
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    This paper investigated the ESL Korean learners’ decision-making processes involved in the realization of the speech act of requests with the use of immediate retrospection as a data-gathering method. In a study conducted with 30 upper- intermediate and advanced Korean learners of ESL, each learner was asked to participate in a discourse completion test (DCT), and immediately after the com- pletion of each item of DCT, to retrospect about what he/she had been doing and thinking when performing requests in a given item (situation). Content analysis of the retrospective verbal data was done, and six different categories were developed: assessment of situation, monitoring for appropriate sociolinguistic expressions, use of requesting skills, connection to personal life, cross-cultural comparison, and monitoring for language forms. The findings of the study sug- gested that the Korean learners were engaged in a variety of mental activities and underwent various, complex cognitive processes occurring in request realizations.
  • Comparative Analysis of Three Learning Strategies for EFL Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention
    Cheongsook Chin
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2000, 10(1): 45-68.
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    The purpose of this study was to compare three learning strategies for low-level EFL readers' vocabulary acquisition and retention. One hundred and five Korean- speaking students were divided into three groups, and each group received one of three treatments: context, word form analysis, and combined context-word form analysis. Both fill-in and multiple-choice tests were implemented to measure effects immediately following and two weeks after treatment. The findings revealed that treatment effects were varied according to the assessment tasks. The immedi- ate fill-in test scores showed that the context and the combined strategies signifi- cantly outperformed the word-form analysis strategy in facilitating EFL vocabu- lary acquisition; however, the combined strategy failed to yield significantly higher scores than the context strategy. The delayed fill-in test scores indicated that only the combined strategy was significantly superior to the word form analysis strategy in increasing EFL vocabulary retention. In contrast, the results of the immediate and the delayed multiple-choice tests reported that there was no significant treatment effect. Possible applications of these findings are provided.
  • Acquiring English Tense and Aspect: Effects of Differences and Similarities between L1 and L2
    Ganzhao Sun
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2000, 10(1): 69-90.
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    In this paper, I describe a study conducted to explore the effects of differences and similarities between L1 and L2 on acquiring English tense and aspect by Chinese learners through the investigation of their interlanguage phenomena. The subjects, twelve Mandarin-Chinese-speaking learners of English, who were from Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shengzhen, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, were in graduate schools or postgraduate programs, colleges, and a language institute in the United States. The results of the study, with its data base of 2331 subject verbs, indicate that the interlanguage of tense and aspect produced by Chinese learners can be “invaded” by the first language when L1 (Chinese) and L2 (English) are different. However, the similarities between the two languages tend to cause learning diffi- culties in acquiring English tense and aspect, a finding which, in fact, may challenge the commonsensical belief that where two languages are similar, posi- tive transfer occurs.
  • Cultures in Contact in Academic Writing: Students’ Perceptions of Plagiarism
    Antonia Chandrasegaran
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2000, 10(1): 91-114.
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    This paper reports findings from an investigation of a group of Singaporean students’ understanding of plagiarism. The investigation sought to discover if the students were able to recognise as plagiarism unacknowledged borrowing from sources in two forms: quotation and paraphrase. It further sought to determine if they perceived these forms of unacknowledged borrowing as dishonest. The find- ings reveal that while verbatim quotation was regarded as wrong and dishonest, unacknowledged paraphrase was not. The disparity between the students’ under- standing of plagiarism and that of the Western academic community points to a need to teach the discourse functions of citation in the context of teaching aca- demic writing as a rhetorical act.
  • EFL Testing and University Admission in Finland and Japan
    Mike Garant
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2000, 10(1): 115-136.
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    Using both qualitative and quantitative data, this paper describes the difference between English language testing in Finland and Japan related to university admission. There are undeniable differences between the two countries and cultures. In both countries over 90 per cent of secondary school students study English. However, the foreign language proficiency rates among Finns are signifi- cantly higher than those among the Japanese, as illustrated by the TOEFL test scores. This paper reports the results of the language testing section of a much larger study which also investigated the historical background, language policy and planning, textbook design, teaching methods, and classroom interaction with the specific educational settings in Finland and Japan. Results suggest that learner attitudes and goals vary greatly. Finnish learners tended to see English more as a means of communicating while their Japanese counterparts tended to see test taking for high school and university admission as their main reason for studying the language. Results also showed that language testing for university admission in the two countries varied greatly. The insights provided by this study may prove useful for curriculum designers and language assessors in Finland, Japan, and other countries.
    • Reports
  • Language Acquisition and Learner Autonomy in an Asian EAP Program
    Pierre Walter
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2000, 10(1): 137-148.
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    In recent years, the scope of learner autonomy in language education has broad- ened to include not only pedagogies of learner training, self-access, and self- directed learning, but also more humanistic and critical ELT approaches. However, even while the latter pedagogies are recognized as belonging to the educational foundations of ELT, they have often provoked skepticism as to their effectiveness in promoting English language acquisition, particularly in institu- tional settings in higher education, and especially in Asia. This paper addresses this issue with an evaluation of language acquisition and the development of learner autonomy in an EAP program at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand.
  • Communicative Language Teaching and Its Role in a Pronunciation Class
    Chad Fryer
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2000, 10(1): 149-160.
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    This report describes two major interpretations of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) that often cause confusion among educators. The “weak” version is better known in Japan primarily due to the influence of North American teaching theories that promote this version. This version favors maximum English exposure during teacher-talk and group work. However, the “strong” version appears to be better suited to Japan and other Asian teaching contexts because it stresses that the lesson objectives should determine whether English should be used during group work. To demonstrate the integration of CLT theories into practice, a description of the way the author uses CLT in a pronunciation class is presented. The descrip- tion reflects a compromise between the author’s personal teaching views and the university’s expectation for this type of course. While the focus is on the Japanese setting, many of the points can be transferred to the wider Asian context.
  • Tackling Students’ (Mis)Conceptions about Writing: A Case Study
    Chien Ching Lee
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2000, 10(1): 161-174.
    Abstract ( ) Download PDF ( )   Knowledge map   Save
    Effective teaching happens when students understand what is to be learned. Often, however, what students learn is not what is being taught. This may be due to their (mis)conceptions not being detected and corrected. In a large class, the task of tackling students’ misunderstanding would be even more difficult. This report proposes that having oral presentations as a substitute for the first draft of an essay and also reflective questions which are answered in journals would help to tackle students’ (mis)conceptions about writing directly by giving immediate and collaborative feedback. With a clearer mental model about writing, students will then be able to develop and organize their essays better.
    • Reviews
  • Let the Wars Continue: Comprehension Approaches to Language Teaching
    Jeff McQuillan
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2000, 10(1): 175-180.
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  • Understanding Language Teaching: Reasoning in Action
    Karen E. Johnson, Reviewed by Robert Richmond Stroupe
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2000, 10(1): 181-184.
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  • A Guide to Effective Writing
    Margaret McLaren, Reviewed by Valerie Priscilla Goby
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2000, 10(1): 185-187.
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Asian Journal of English Language Teaching
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