Inquiry-based teaching to develop EFL students’ Critical thinking in reading comprehension

Qatar is a Gulf state undergoing a sweeping educational reform where educational development is linked to ICT and the English language. ICT is promoted to upskill the future generation or the “digital natives”. English is seen as a key to a myriad of doors and a passport to a world class education. In all public schools, English is a compulsory subject taught from grade one where learners are exposed to English for more than 500 teaching hours every year. It is also the medium of instruction for maths and science. The purpose of my year-long study was to investigate the effectiveness of ICT in supporting the learning and teaching of English language in the Qatari context. It was guided by the critical paradigm and employed action research as the investigative methodology. The initial data collection process was carried out through a survey instrument. More than 200 students answered questions about their attitudes, perceived values, current uses and issues with ICT. The findings of the study have identified a number of challenges. One of which is the minimal support that ICT is providing to the teaching of the listening skill. An intervention programme was later designed in a form of a webquest lesson based on CLIL (content and language integrated learning) and informed by the survey findings, student’ voices and previous research in the field. After that, the intervention programme was trialed with two classes (n=50) and evaluated by qualitative (classroom observations) and quantitative instruments (questionnaires). Evidence from the evaluation data showed that ICT has the potential to support the teaching and learning of English language through its positive impact on autonomy and motivation. The results also revealed that teachers have limited knowledge of the potential of ICT and they could play an indirect role in impeding its use. This study has shown how action research, as a self-reflective inquiry, could broaden our understanding of the role of ICT in language classes. The study concluded that ICT-supported teaching of English in Qatar should be accompanied by a positive ICT culture, reflective research, proper staff training, teacher networking and supportive educational leadership.

Gamification in English language learning comprises of game mechanics which involve points, badges, leader boards and rewards. It is one of the approaches that has been used by the educators to change the pace of lesson in learning English. This approach has been used in the class because of the benefits that it can offer in English language learning. This paper focuses on the use of gamification in English language teaching (ELT) and learning by looking at the advantages it has brought to language skills. Gamification can be used in the teaching of the different skills in English and in terms of its benefits to English language learning, gamification makes learning more effective by making grammar learning more pleasurable, vocabulary memorisation more successful, communication and cooperation easier to be practiced and others. It is hoped that this paper will add to the literature on the applications of gamification in ELT and lead to the betterment of ELT in second language setting particularly in Malaysia.

The continuous claim about the unsatisfactory performance of Malaysian graduates during interviews and at workplace in relation to their communication skills in English is alarming. This raises questions about the extent to which future workforce is prepared for this globalised world which requires them to interact and collaborate with individuals not only from their own country but also from other countries. At higher learning institutions, many English language educators face challenges in creating language learning environment that supports intercultural communication. In preparing future workforce for international communication, English language teaching and learning needs to go beyond the four walls of a classroom, over to other regions. An alternative to provide such language learning environment is by designing e-collaborative learning that provides opportunities for language learners to learn the language with students from other countries in a meaningful way. This paper showcases the impacts of e-collaborative English language learning conducted between engineering students of one technical university in Malaysia and one higher learning institution in Bordeaux, France for about one semester. At the end of the semester, the students from both countries wrote a reflection of their experience. The data from the reflective writing were analysed using thematic analysis to highlight the impacts of the e-collaborative learning on students' intercultural communicative competence. This study highlights key considerations to structure e-collaborative language teaching and learning among students of different regions.

Technology advancement has allowed our education to make innovations, and massive open online courses (MOOCs) has become one of the promising programs that facilitate fruitful learning outcomes for many fields of study especially English language learning. This reflective study evaluated the first iteration of Indonesian Massive Open Online Course (IMOOC), in 2017, perceived from both facilitator and participant point of view, taking the IMOOC IAIN Salatiga camp as the sample subject of the study. Our reflections started with vignettes on challenges and opportunities for online learning and some attributes generally referred to as the basic requirements of successful open online course, such as, curiosity and richness in ways of the learning materials, preferences in learning and flexibility for the aspects of learning style and facilitation, and user-friendliness for the aspects of information and communication technology. Finally, our reflections as a facilitator and a participant to the first IMOOC discovered assorted technical and module-related issues faced by facilitator and participants respectively but both assured of opportunities prospective to develop professionalism in English language teaching in the future. In a more serious note, this study has formulated 3 attributes for the basic requirements of successful open online course namely providing multimodal contents in accordance with participant critical thinking level, accommodating different learning styles with stimulating facilitation, and utilizing current and user-friendly digital tools applicable and integrative in Indonesian teaching context.

In the past, English language teaching (ELT) put more emphasis on the teaching of structure of the language. Meaning and contexts seemed to be neglected. However, over the past few years, the trend has changed. Grammar and structure (language forms) are not the single element of language learned in English language learning. Context should be taken into account when teaching and learning a language. In this paper, I shall discuss the relationship between contexts and language teaching, particularly English language teaching. In other words, this paper discussess discourse analysis in regard to ELT. Keywords : discourse analysis , English language teaching

Metacognitive reading strategies play a significant role in reading comprehension and educational success. Being noticeably absent from many Iranian classrooms and largely unaware of by many language learners and teachers, metacognitive reading strategies have fallen into oblivion in English language teaching, research, learning, and assessment. The present study was an attempt to measure the metacognitive reading strategy (MRS) awareness among Iranian university students majoring in English Translation Studies. It also aimed at determining whether gender and learners’ different academic levels would make any difference in using various types of MRS. Furthermore, it investigated the relationship between Iranian EFL learners’ awareness of MRS and their reading comprehension performance. A sample of 45 EFL university students majoring in English Translation at Chabahar Maritime University participated in this study. They were asked to complete the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) questionnaire adapted from Tavakoli (2014) and to take a TOEFL Junior Standard Reading Comprehension Test. The results revealed that although the overall strategy use among these students was low (M=2.42), support reading strategies were used the most and problem-solving strategies were the least frequently used ones. Additionally, no significant difference was found between males and females as well as different academic levels in the use of MRS. No significant relationship was found between students’ overall use of metacognitive reading strategies and their reading comprehension achievement. The study concludes with a number of pedagogical implications and lists several guidelines for future research.

Education in the 21st century requires not only content mastery but also the development of higher-order thinking skills to address complex global challenges. This study investigates the effects of STEM Project-Based Learning (PjBL) and students’ critical thinking on creativity in English language learning. Employing a mixed methods approach with an explanatory sequential design, the study first gathered quantitative data through surveys and tests, followed by qualitative data from interviews and classroom observations. The participants consisted of 200 Grade X students from two senior high schools in Serang City, selected through purposive sampling. The quantitative findings revealed that both STEM PjBL and critical thinking significantly influence student creativity, with strong positive correlations (r = 0.867 and r = 0.889) and moderate effect sizes (Cohen’s d = 0.516 and 0.505). The qualitative data supported these findings, highlighting students’ increased engagement, collaboration, and reflective thinking during project implementation. These results suggest that integrating STEM-based projects in English learning can effectively foster critical and creative thinking skills, offering a promising interdisciplinary approach to language education. The study contributes to current literature by demonstrating the combined impact of PjBL and critical thinking in a language learning context, an area often overlooked in prior research. The findings hold practical implications for curriculum designers and educators seeking to promote 21st-century competencies through integrated, student-centered instruction.

This study explores the effectiveness of data-driven pedagogical translation (DDPT) in enhancing the grammatical and collocational competence as well as the reading comprehension skills of first-year secondary school EFL students. The study also aimed to promote students’ critical thinking dispositions. The research investigates the role of translation as a pedagogical tool to address the academic challenge of improving language proficiency among students, particularly in Arab countries. While traditionally viewed as a hindrance in language learning, modern studies highlight translation's potential for enhancing cognitive processes by leveraging the mother tongue in a pedagogical context. The research uses a quasi-experimental design with two groups: an experimental group using DDPT and a control group undergoing conventional instruction. Data was collected through pre- and post-tests assessing grammatical, collocational, and reading comprehension skills, as well as a critical thinking disposition scale. The results demonstrate statistically significant improvements in the experimental group's grammatical and collocational competence and inferential reading comprehension. Furthermore, most critical thinking disposition dimensions improved subsequent to the treatment, compared to the control group. This highlights the beneficial role of pedagogical translation in EFL instruction. The study suggests that integrating machine-assisted translation and translation activities into the EFL curriculum can significantly support language acquisition and foster deeper cognitive engagement among students.

English language learning and teaching in Libya has a chequered history. It has come in and out of favor over the last 50 years. It has been a necessary commodity in the oil economy, a pariah during the Gaddafi era, and an enduring source of cultural capital in the twenty‐first century. However, to most Libyans, English language also represents the threat of cultural and linguistic displacement of Libyan culture; other invaders have attempted to do this in previous centuries. Against this historical background, in a country struggling to repair its governance and economic stability after a decade of civil unrest, English language teaching and learning in Libya is faced with some insurmountable challenges. These challenges also include systemic corruption and mismanagement in education in general, and a deeply ingrained culture of nepotism at all levels of politics and public administration.

Strategic reading has been recognized as an important and critical skill that ensures better reading comprehension abilities. It is evident from Second Language (L2) reading research that less skilled readers are unaware of the use and importance of reading strategies. English is the official language of Pakistan and is used in almost every field of life. Despite this wide use of English, English language teaching and learning in Pakistan is unsatisfactory. This study explored the use of reading strategies by undergraduate and graduate-level learners of English in Pakistan. A Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) was used to collect data. Fifty undergraduate-level and fifty graduate-level learners participated in the study. Results of the current study showed that almost all the learners frequently used almost all the reading strategies. No statistically significant difference in the use of reading strategies was found between undergraduate and graduate-level learners. Support reading strategies were preferred more by undergraduate-level learners, and graduate-level learners preferred global reading strategies. No statistically significant difference was found between the male and female learners of English in terms of the use of reading strategies.

One of the objectives of communicative approach is language learners are able to reach communicative competence. The term was first introduced by Dell Hymes in terms of the “appropriateness of sociocultural significance of utterance”. It was later on developed by Canale and Swain (1980, 1983) into four areas of competence: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence. In general, the emphasis of communicative competence is language learners can use the language they learn appropriately. Appropriately in this context refers to all aspects of language, including its culture. Thus, not only should English language learners be knowledgeable of how to speak and write English accurately, but they should also be able to understand its culture so that there will not be understanding when communicating with native speakers of English. Taking this concept into account, the primary objective of this research is to examine the implementation of communicative competence in English classes, particularly the one dealing with cultural competence. The subjects of the research are English teachers who teach General English and English Conversation classes. Their responses to the questions regarding the inclusion and the implementation of cultural competence or components in their classes and in the materials used in teaching-learning sessions are discussed in this study. Keywords : communicative competence and cultural competence

Assessment has several advantages like involving students in learning and making them cognizant of their strengths and weaknesses. The effects of peer assessment and self-assessment as two main kinds of assessment have not examined on EFL learners’ self-regulated learning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills; therefore, the present research attempted to inspect the impacts of self and peer assessment activities on self-regulated learning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills of Iranian EFL learners. To do so, 75 Iranian EFL learners were selected and divided into two experimental groups (peer assessment group (PAG) and self-assessment group (SAG)) and one control group (CG). Then, three questionnaires of self-regulated learning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills were administered to the students as the pre-tests of the study. After that, one experimental group received the treatment via using self-assessment and the other experimental group received the instruction through peer assessment. The control group received a teacher-based assessment instruction. After teaching 13 English conversations to all groups, 3 post-tests were given to them to measure the impacts of the treatment on their self-regulated learning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. The results of one-way ANOVA showed that there was a substantial difference between the post-tests of the experimental groups and the control group. The results showed that both experimental groups outperformed the control group in the post-tests of self-regulated learning, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Furthermore, the outcomes revealed that there were no significant differences between the post-tests of the experimental groups. It can be concluded that both types of assessments play a vital role in English language teaching and learning. Based on the results of this study, language teachers, materials developers, and education authorities can concentrate on using self and peer assessments as one of the main strategies to develop the language learning ability of Iranian EFL learners.

This research aims to evaluate the possible positive aspects of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in English language teaching that occur when training learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) or English as a Second Language (ESL). The study seeks to understand how AI technology and methodologies enhance language learning and teaching, including the unique possibilities that arise when considering learners and educators with an evolving role in increasingly larger education systems and educational environments. It seeks to understand the potential of AI for personalizing English language training. Also, by asking the question study, if there are methods including Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning (ML), and AI-based analytics or tools, can they personalize learning experiences for EFL-ESL learners? A qualitative study was completed through interviews with learners from different experience levels engaged in EFL or ESL programs that used AI-based tools in the pedagogy. The results demonstrate that AI has positive opportunities for personalized language education in the EFL and ESL contexts, the ability to enhance language skills in specific domains, and offer customized language learning experiences. This research has indicated challenges that surround cultural elements, technical challenges, and distinctly human teaching and learning elements. The research also offers helpful information for English language learning and recognizes the shifting nature of personal learning experience whether enhanced through AI, the practical requirement of incorporating AI will also provide a unique lens and perspective in English language learning and teaching, recognize the affordances AI can offer, alongside students and language learning never being exclusively cultural or human.

This study wants to investigate the importance of the Internet in English language teaching and learning. This study aims at analysing the role of Internet as a tool in the classroom and the use of Internet as an educational instrument for teachers in the classroom. This paper presents advantages and disadvantages of using Internet to learn and teach English language. Nowadays, the significance of Internet in language teaching and learning becomes more and more as a one of medias. By accessing to this media, not only leaning of a language becomes easier for students but also it is fruitful for teachers to use it as an instrument in their classrooms for achieving educational goals.

Educators and teachers generally use a traditional approach in English language teaching. They use books, flashcards, and whiteboards to organize a lecture. However, at present times, teaching through traditional methods is not considered effective. We live in the advanced technology age, where teaching through a blended method is more practical and effective. For this reason, a teacher should be acquainted with the various technology tools to be used effectively in the classroom. The use of technology plays playing a significant role in English language teaching and learning (ELTL). In this paper, the authors will explore the uses of technology such as the internet, websites, electronic dictionaries, softwares and social networking technologies in English language teaching and learning.