Thai tesol journal vol.26 no.1 june 2013

ISBN 2286-8909

Volume 26 Number 1 June 2013

Thailand TESOL Organization

under the Patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani

Vadhana Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra

THAILAND TESOL ORGANIZATION is a professional non-profit and non-

political organization under the patronage of H.R.H. Princess Galyani Vadhana

Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra. Its purposes are to strengthen English

Language education at all levels, to undertake research in the teaching of English

to speakers of other languages, to offer scholarships, to disseminate information,

and to cooperate in appropriate ways with other groups having similar concerns.

THAILAND TESOL ORGANIZATION is an affiliate of TESOL, Inc. located

in the United States of America; the International Association of Teachers of

English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL), located in Great Britain; JALT, located

in Japan; Korea TESOL; STETS, located in Singapore; ETAROC, located in

Taiwan; and TESL Canada.

THAITESOL JOURNAL (ISSN 2286-8909) is published 2 times a year, in

January and May by Thailand TESOL Organization under the Patronage of H.R.H.

Princess Galyani Vadhana Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra. It is intended

to provide a forum for research and the exchange of information including opinion

on theory and practice in the teaching of English to speakers of other languages.

PHOTOCOPYING Material in THAITESOL JOURNAL may be photocopied for

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THAILAND TESOL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE March 2011 – May 2013

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Suntana Sutadarat Ramkhamhaeng University

Naraporn Chan-Ocha Distance Learning Foundation

Sonthida Keyuravong King Mongkut University

Thonburi

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University

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Regional Affiliates

Northern Affiliate Wichian Sunitham Chiang Mai University

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THAITESOL

JOURNAL

Volume 26 Number 1

Published by Thailand TESOL Organization under the Patronage of Her Royal Highness

Princess Galyani Vadhana Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra

EDITORS

Editor

Pannathon Saengarun

Suranaree University of Technology

Thailand

Managing Editor

Maneepen Apibalsri

Rungsit University

Thailand

CONTENTS

ARTICLES

An Analysis of Reading Materials Using Coh-Metrix in Conjunction with

Students’ Reading Comprehension Scores

MARY SARAWIT

Effects of Online Task-Based Interactive Listening Instruction for EFL

Learners

XINGBIN TIAN

SUKSAN SUPPASETSEREE

Exploring Beliefs of Pre-Service Teachers toward English as an International

Language

FLORA DEBORA FLORIS

1

25

46

EDITORS

Editor

Pannathon Saengarun


Thailand

Managing Editor

Maneepen Apibalsri

Thailand

EDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD

Akara Akaranithi

Chulalongkorn University

Thailand

Anamai Damnat

Kasetsart University

Thailand

Andrew Lian


Thailand

Apisak Pupipat

Thammasart University

Thailand

Arunee Wiriyachitra

Independent Consultant

Thailand

Chaleosri Pibulchol

Distance Learning Foundation

Thailand

Chantharat Hongboontri

Mahidol University

Thailand

Chirasiri Kasemsin

Mahidol University

Thailand

Debra Hoven

Athabasca University

Canada

Harald Kraus

Dhurakitbandit University

Thailand

Kanjana Chattrakul

Suan Dusit Rajabhat University

Thailand

Kittitouch Soontornwipast

Thammasat University

Thailand

Leslie Burke Barratt

Indiana State University

U.S.A

Maneepen Apibalsri

Rungsit University

Thailand

Nattaya Puekpong


Thailand

Nopporn Sarobol


Thailand

Panna Chaturongakul

Thammasat University

Thailand

Pannathon Sangarun


Thailand

Pragasit Sitthitikul


Thailand

Rajeev Ramnah

Assumption University

Thailand

Ruja Polsawad

Rangsit University

Thailand

Singhanat Nomnian

Mahidol University

Thailand

Somsak Boonsathorn

Maeh Fah Luang University

Thailand

Sonthida Keyurawong

King Mongkut University

Thailand

Suchada Nimmannit

Chulalongkorn University

Thailand

Supanit Kulsiri

Srinakarinwirot University

Thailand

Supatra Thongkalaya

Srinakarinwirot University

Thailand

Unchalee Sermsongswad

Chiang Mai University

Thailand

Ubon Sanpatchayapong

Rangsit University

Thailand

Uthaivan Danvivath

Khon Kaen University

Thailand

Wichian Sunitham

Chiang Mai University

Thailand

Assistant Editor

Rajeev Ramnah

Assumption University

Thailand

Editorial

Welcome to the first issue of the Thai TESOL Journal.

Until now, this journal was known as the Thai TESOL

Bulletin. However, we felt it was important to rename it

so as to avoid confusion with other forms of publication

and to reflect clearly its status as a peer-reviewed,

refereed, journal of international standing.

The learning (and therefore teaching) of English is at a

critically important point in its history, especially in

Asian contexts. In particular, the inauguration of the AEC (ASEAN Economic

Community) in 2015 as part of ASEAN’s development plans will require the use

of English as the common language and will place increasing pressure on

English language learning resources (as well as on resources for the learning and

teaching of other languages). This is especially true in light of the possible

development of a Regional Economic Partnership which would include Australia

and New Zealand. These developments, which is are approximately two years

away, will significantly strain the already overloaded language-learning and

teaching systems in the region. As a result, it is almost inevitable that the

demand for English language-learning support, in both formal and informal

settings, will outstrip the resources currently available. Dealing with this

situation will require substantial increases in the efficiency and effectiveness of

English language learning and teaching in order to meet regional needs.

Thailand, as a member nation of the AEC and as an Asian country where English

is not an official language, has a critically important role to play both within its

borders and beyond. It is therefore very pleasing to be able to report that the

Thai TESOL Journal extends the tradition of quality established by the Thai

TESOL Bulletin and continues to receive a flow of high quality submissions

from both Thai and International scholars. These contributions will help refine

our theoretical and practical understandings of the language learning process thus

helping to alleviate some of the problems which lie ahead. We hope that you will

both enjoy and benefit professionally from the new and relevant contributions to

knowledge to be found both in the pages that follow and in subsequent issues of

the journal. We are grateful for these contributions and very much look forward

to receiving yours in the near future.

Pannathon Sangarun

Editor

Join us at

34th Annual Thailand TESOL

International Conference

January 17-18, 2014

The Empress Hotel, Chiang Mai, Thailand

www.thaitesol.org

THE AUTHORS

Mary Sarawit has been involved in English language teaching in Thailand since

her role as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand from 1967 to 1969. After

completing her studies for a Ph.D. in Linguistics at the University of Michigan,

she returned to teach in Phitsanulok, Thailand. She was Assistant to the Dean of

the Humanities Faculty, Deputy Director of the Naresuan University

International College, and is presently Distinguished Specialist in Language and

Advisor for International Student Activities in the Office of the President at

Naresuan University.

Xingbin Tian received his Bachelor’s Degree in English from Guizhou

University, China in 1982, and Master’s Degree in history from Shandong

University, China in 2008. He has been teaching English at Tongren University,

China since 1982. His research interests include technology enhanced language

learning, instructional systems design and language learning strategies.

Suksan Suppasetseree is currently a lecturer in English and the supervisor of the

Foreign Languages Resource Unit (FLRU), the self-access language learning

center, at Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

He is now a MA and PhD supervisor in his institute. His research interests

include technology enhanced language learning, e-learning and instructional

systems design.

Flora Debora Floris completed her Master’s Degree in English Language

Teaching at the Institute for English Language Education, Assumption

University Thailand as a scholar of the United Board for Christian Higher

Education in Asia (UBCHEA). She is currently a teacher in the English

Department of Petra Christian University, Surabaya where she teaches English

for Education Business subjects. Her areas of interest include issues of English

as an International Language and teachers' professional development.

AN ANALYSIS OF READING MATERIALS USING COH-METRIX

IN CONJUNCTION WITH STUDENTS’ READING

COMPREHENSION SCORES

Mary Sarawit

Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand

[email protected]

Abstract

The purposes of the study were (1) to analyze the SRA Lab 3B Rose Level using

Coh-Metrix indices at a lexical level (reading ease, reading grade level,

frequency of content words, concreteness of words, and lexical diversity),

syntactic level (words before the main verb, pronoun ratio to noun phrases,

personal pronoun incidence, number of modifiers before the noun phrase, and

words in a sentence), and semantic level (additive, temporal, causal, logical

connectives, and latent semantic analysis) and (2) to identify relationships

between the students‟ comprehension scores on the 11 Rose readings and the 15

characteristics of the readings. The subjects were Naresuan University International

College students. They read all 11 Rose readings and completed the questions

that follow the readings. This study reconfirms the relationship between

connectives and reading ease. The higher incidence of causal and logical

connectives related to a higher Flesch ease score. Also, a higher Flesch grade

correlated with a lower word frequency level. The Flesch grade level correlated

with the number of modifiers before the noun phrases for which the number of

words before the verb also correlated. Correlations between the students‟

comprehension scores and the 15 text indices showed correlations with temporal

and causal connectives. This study also found relationships between student

THAITESOL JOURNAL Vol.26, No.1 June 2013

2

reading comprehension scores and lexical diversity of content words in the

passages.

Keywords: SRA Reading Lab 3B, Coh-Metrix, reading comprehension,

reluctant reader

Introduction

In a previous study on students‟ attitudes towards reading (Sarawit, 2009),

I found that my students fit the definition of the reluctant reader: reading when

necessary but not as a hobby or leisure time activity even though they consider

reading in English enjoyable and useful. Teachers of English take great efforts to

get their students to read more efficiently by building their students‟ vocabulary

and reading skills, such as having students identify main ideas and details,

identify the tone of a passage and the author‟s opinions, and make inferences.

We use scaffolding, such as graded readers to build student confidence in

reading.

While graded readers do seem to offer a bridge to full texts, they often

miss their mark. A lower level reading is found to be more difficult than a

higher graded reading. In part, the background knowledge of the reader comes

into play. Recent research has also shown that traditional readability scales that

use number of syllables, words, and sentences only reveal surface components of

language and that a better measure of readability needs to include semantic and

syntactic features of a text. Researchers at the University of Memphis have over

the past decade developed new tools to better assess readability that go beyond

the surface structure of a text to include deeper language structures (McNamara

et al., 2010).

An Analysis of Reading Materials Using Coh-Metrix in Conjunction

with Students’ Reading Comprehension Scores

MARY SARAWIT

3

Comatrix as a Reading Analysis Program

Coh-Metrix is an online computerized analysis program that produces 60

indices which describe not only the traditional syllable, word, and sentence count

readability scales but also give deeper linguistic and discourse representations of

the text (Schmitt, 2010, 215). Coh-Metrix was developed and is maintained by

the Department of Psychology at the University of Memphis (McNamara et al.,

2002). The program has been used extensively over the years to validate the use

of syntactic and semantic components to analyze readability and text

comprehension. A study by McNamara et al. (2011) found that five components

related well with text difficulty: narrativity, syntactic simplicity, word

concreteness, referential cohesion, and deep cohesion.

I have for many years used the Science Research Associates, otherwise

known as the SRA Reading Lab as a supplement to the two required freshman

English courses. Students expand their vocabulary and develop their reading

skills. They are required to read one story a week. This is only about two A4

pages and accompanied by 7 to 10 reading comprehension questions and

vocabulary development exercises. At the end of the freshman year, I encourage

students to continue the reading program. However, after freshman year few

students come to me to continue the program. The students who do continue are

the best students in the group. I have noticed that their progression from one

level (each of which is color coded) to another is often not linear. That is, they

move from one color to another, but often some of the readings in the new color

are extremely difficult for them while others at the same color level are quite

easy for them. Having become familiar with Coh-Metrix and its capacity to

analyze not only surface level features of a text but deeper semantic and

syntactic features, I decided to conduct an analysis of the SRA readings at the


4

Rose level and study which of the features I used related to the student‟s reading

comprehension scores. Identifying what makes a passage more difficult can help

the teacher to help the student develop the skills the student needs to be a

successful reader, on the assumption that a successful reader will read more

which ultimately may lead to him/her becoming a lifelong reader who will

constantly expand his/her vocabulary and viewpoint. With this in mind, I

decided to use Coh-Metrix as follows:

Research objectives

The purposes of the study were

1. To conduct a text analysis of Reading Level 5, or „Rose‟ level,

Science Research Associates (SRA) reading materials using Coh-Metrix.

2. To study the relationship between the features of the texts and the

students‟ reading comprehension scores for the SRA reading materials.

Research Questions

Two questions were addressed in the study.

1. What does a text analysis of SRA reading materials reveal as regards

reading ease, frequency of content words, concreteness of words, words before

the main verb, pronoun ratio to noun phrases, personal pronoun incidence,

number of modifiers before the noun phrase, words in a sentence, connectives,

and LSA (Latent Semantic Analysis) cohesion?

2. Which factors in the text analysis are significantly related to the

students‟ reading comprehension scores?

Importance of the Study

Teachers are constantly trying to get their students to read more. The

more students read, the better readers they will become. By identifying textual



MARY SARAWIT

5

features which students find difficult, and subsequently aiming to improve

comprehension skills by focusing on these difficulties, it is hoped that students

will improve their vocabulary and reading skills. As such, this study aims to

identify a number of text features, from overall basic ease of reading to deeper

characteristics of the text. More importantly, the study aims to identify which

features of the text are related to the students‟ comprehension scores.

Definition of Terms

Text. The texts were readings from the SRA Reading Laboratory 3B.

There were 11 readings at the Rose level.

Coh-Metrix. This is an on-line program created and maintained by the

University of Memphis that calculates the readability and coherence of a text

using a wide range of measures.

Reading ease. Reading ease refers to the difficulty of a text. In this

study two measures were used to determine level of difficulty: Flesch Reading

Ease and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. Both these measures rely on the number

of syllables per word and the number of words per sentence.

Flesch Reading Ease formula. The Flesch Reading Ease formula is

presented as a number from 0-100 with a higher score indicating an easier

reading. The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level is represented as a grade level from 0-

12.

Word frequency. Word frequency is the mean raw frequency of Nouns,

Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs in the text based on the COBUILD word corpus.

Concreteness of words. This is a measure of how concrete the words in

the passage are. Values vary from 100-700 with a higher score indicating a more

concrete word.


6

Lexical diversity. This is the diversity of words in the passage as

measured by type-token ratio (TTR). A higher score reflects a greater diversity

of words (content words) in a passage.

Words before the main verb. This is a measure of the mean score of the

number of words before the main verb in the main clause.

Pronoun ratio. This is the proportion of pronouns to noun phrases.

Personal pronoun incidence. This is the number of personal pronouns in

the reading.

Modifiers before the noun phrase. This is the mean number of modifiers

per noun phrase.

Number of words per sentence. This is the average number of words per

sentence in the passage.

Connectives. These are words that signal specific relationships. Four

types of connectives will be analyzed: Additive (e.g., also, moreover, but,

however), Causal (e.g., because, so, consequently, although, nevertheless),

Logical (e.g., or, actually, if), and Temporal (e.g., after, before, when, until).

The incidence of the four types of connectives in the texts is presented.

Latent Semantic Analysis of all sentence combinations. LSA is a

statistical technique “for representing world knowledge” (Coh-Metrix, 2005,

p.16). The mean LSA cosines are presented for all sentence combinations in the

text. This measures “how conceptually similar each sentence is to every other

sentence in the text” (Coh-Metrix, 2005, p.16).

Students. The students were students at the Naresuan University

International College.

Comprehension scores. These were the scores in terms of percentage

correct on the comprehension tests at the end of the SRA readings.



MARY SARAWIT

7

Method

Participants

Naresuan University International College freshman students who had

received an A or B+ in Foundations of English and second year English for

Business majors were asked to read the SRA readings and complete the

comprehension questions at the end of the readings. The researcher chose these

students because the students at the International College use English as the

medium of instruction for all their courses, and thus it was hoped that they would

be motivated to improve their reading abilities. In addition, the researcher

teaches at the college and was able to easily follow-up on the students‟ progress.

Task

From previous research (Sarawit, 2009), the researcher knew that

students enjoyed the SRA readings. The SRA Reading Laboratory 3B was used

and the students were asked to read one reading a week from the Rose level.

There are 11 readings. The researcher corrected the comprehension questions

and kept a reading chart for each student. For the purposes of this research,

students were asked to complete all 11 readings in Rose.

Material

Eleven readings from the SRA Reading Laboratory 3B , the Rose level,

were used. The SRA reading labs are an integral part of remedial and self-access

programs worldwide. The iconic color coded reading labs first appeared in

schools in the United States in the late 1950s. Today, as part of McGraw-Hill

publishing, they are used worldwide in reading development programs. The 3B

SRA Reading Lab has readings that cover general topics in the sciences and

social sciences covering 9 levels from Rose (grade 5) to Purple (grade 12). The


8

readings are appropriate for adults and culturally diverse. “SRA has not

confined itself to an exclusively Western view of culture. SRA has ranged more

widely over non-Western sources, drawing on the traditions of Asia, Eastern

Europe, Africa, and Central America” (Parker, 2000, p.6).

Data Analysis

In using Coh-Metrix, “a minimum of 10 cases of data for each predictor

is considered to be accurate” (Crossley et al., 2008, p.482). The researcher typed

one A4 page from each reading and entered it into the Coh-Metrix program

which analyzed the text. To successfully calculate the Flesch Reading Ease and

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level scores a passage should have more than 200 words

(Coh-Metrix). The 11 readings for the Rose level which were entered into the

Coh-Metrix program ranged from 442-655 words with a mean of 530 words per

passage. Indicators for reading ease included both the Flesch Reading Ease and

the Felsch-Kincaid Grade Level. In addition, the other following Coh-Metrix

indicators were used for text analysis: frequency of content words, concreteness

of words, lexical diversity using type-token ratio, words before the main verb,

ratio of pronouns to noun phrases, incidence of personal pronouns, number of

modifiers per noun phrase, number of words per sentence, connectives, i.e.,

additive connectors, causal connectors, logical connectors, and temporal

connectors as well as conceptual similarity of sentences in the passage.

Frequency, concreteness of words, and lexical diversity focus on the integral part

played by vocabulary in reading; words before the main verb, pronoun ratio,

incidence of personal pronouns, number of modifiers before the noun phrase, and

number of words per sentence relate to syntactic properties of the sentence while

connectives and conceptual similarity of all the sentences in the text focus on the



MARY SARAWIT

9

semantic relationships relating to cohesion in the readings. These 15 indicators

were chosen from the 62 indicators calculated by the on-line Coh-Metrix

program for this study.

The data for the various indicators were recorded for all eleven Rose

level SRA readings and then tallied. Mean, standard deviation, coefficient of

variability, and analysis of correlations were calculated for each of the 15

characteristics of the 11 texts under study. The descriptive data can be seen in

Appendix A. An analysis of correlations was also conducted to find out which, if

any, of the indicators related to the students‟ comprehension scores.

Results

Part 1

An analysis of the SRA 3B Laboratory (Rose) was conducted using Coh-

Metrix, a computational on-line program for analyzing text. Fifteen indices were

used in this study: 5 for studying lexical characteristics of the texts, 5 for

studying syntactic characteristics, and 5 for studying semantic characteristics.

The lexical characteristics involved the Flesch Reading Ease and the

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level both of which use the number of syllables in a word

and the number of words in a sentence for calculations. Word frequency, word

concreteness, and lexical diversity were also investigated.

Coh-Metrix uses frequencies taken from the 1991 version of the

COBUILD 17.9 million-word corpus. Word concreteness is measured using the

MRC Psycholinguistics Database (Coh-Metrix citing Coltheart, 1981). Lexical

diversity was calculated using the type (word) divided by token (instances).

Since the passages were of the same approximate length, TTR was considered an

appropriate measure of lexical diversity.


10

Table 1 displays the findings for the 5 lexical characteristics of the 11

Rose SRA readings. Details for the 11 readings can be found in the Appendix A.

Table 1

Lexical indices

Flesch Reading

Ease

Flesch-Kincaid

Grade Level

Word

Frequency

Word

Concreteness

Lexical

Diversity

x

SD

CV

78.334

5.554

7.090

5.480

0.712

12.993

2517.574

862.207

34.248

407.099

26.122

6.417

0.705

0.050

7.092

The Flesch Reading Ease mean score was 78.334 on a scale of 0-100

with the coefficient of variance only 7.090%; however, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade

Level of a 5.48 mean for the 11 readings while close to the SRA Rose grade of 5

showed a coefficient of variance of 12.003% with a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level

of 6.503 for Rose reading 7 and 4.148 for Rose reading 11.

The frequency of the content words showed a mean of 2,517.574 where

the word with the lowest frequency would have a value of 0 and the word with

highest frequency would have a value of 1,000,000. The mean word frequency

for the 11 Rose readings had a coefficient of variance of 34.248%. The mean

value for concreteness of the words in the readings was 407.099 with a rather

low coefficient of variance of 6.417%. The higher the value the more concrete

the word tends to be on a scale of 100 to 700. The average lexical diversity

score was 0.705 with a range of 0.638 to 0.775 where the coefficient of variance

was only 7.092 %. The closer the score gets to 1, the more unique the words in

the passage are, and hence the more difficult for the reader to process.



MARY SARAWIT

11

The indices used to analyze the syntactic characteristics of the 11 Rose

SRA readings included the number of words before the verb. The greater the

distance from the subject to the main verb, the more difficult the sentence is to

comprehend. Pronoun ratio to noun phrases and the number of personal

pronouns were also considered since pronouns require the reader to identify the

noun referred to. The number of modifiers per noun phrase was also studied

along with the number of words per sentence which tend to indicate more

complex sentences or as Crossley et al. (2007, p.199) state: “longer sentences are

a rough estimate of the number of propositions contained.”

Table 2 displays the findings for the 5 syntactic characteristics of the 11

Rose SRA readings. Details for the 11 readings can be found in the Appendix B.

Table 2

Syntactic indices

Words

before

Verb

Pronoun

Ratio

to Noun

Phrases

No. of

Personal

Pronouns

No. of

Modifiers

per Noun

Phrase

No. of

Words

per Sentence

x

SD

CV

3.599

1.063

29.536

0.301

0.113

37.541

87.723

34.959

39.852

0.819

0.154

18.803

12.515

1.785

14.263

The mean for words before the main verb was 3.599 words with a

coefficient of variance of 29.536%. The mean ratio of pronouns to noun phrases

was 0.301 with a coefficient of variance of 37.541%. The mean number of

personal pronouns in the selection was 87.723 with a coefficient of variance of


12

39.852%. The mean number of modifiers per noun phrase was only 0.819 with a

coefficient of variance of 18.803 %; and the mean number of words per sentence

was 12.515 with a coefficient of variance of 13.263%.

The indices used to analyze the semantic characteristics of the 11 Rose

SRA readings included the incidence of four types of connectives: additive,

causal, logical, and temporal. The use of connectives is related to cohesion of the

text as they indicate the semantic relationships in the sentences and paragraphs.

The fifth semantic characteristic of the text used was the value for the conceptual

similarity among the sentences in the passage using Latent Semantic Analysis

presented as cosine scores where the higher the score the more similar the

meanings (Dumais, 2005, p.188). Here again, conceptual similarity adds to the

cohesion of the passage.

Table 3 displays the findings for the 5 semantic characteristics of the 11

Rose SRA readings. Details for the 11 readings can be found in the Appendix C.

Table 3

Semantic indices

Additive

Connectives

Causal

Connectives

Logical

Connectives

Temporal

Connectives

LSA Sentence

Combinations

x

SD

CV

36.429

9.435

25.900

21.512

7.551

35.101

29.640

8.902

30.034

13.726

4.253

30.985

0.184

0.066

35.870

The mean incidence of connectors in the 11 Rose SRA readings from

highest to lowest incidence is as follows: Additive ( x 36.429), Logical

( x 29.640), Causal ( x 21.512), and Temporal ( x 13.726). The coefficient of



MARY SARAWIT

13

variance was at least 25% for all 4 connectors: 25.900%, 30.034%, 35.101%, and

30.985%, respectively.

The mean cosine for the LSA of conceptual similarity for all sentence

combinations in the passages was 0.184 for which the coefficient of variance was

35.870%. Values close to 1 indicate very similar words in the sentences while

values close to 0 indicate very dissimilar words which should hinder the reader.

An analysis of correlations between the 15 indices showed 12 significant

correlations. There were significant negative correlations between the Flesch

Reading Ease level and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade level (-.805 at the 0.01 level of

significance). This is in line with the fact that the Flesch Reading Ease level

means the higher the score the easier the reading while the Flesch-Kincaid Grade

Level relates to school grade 0 through 12. Both formulas are based on the

average sentence length and the average number of syllables per word. The

Flesch Reading Ease level also related positively with the causal and logical

connectors (.822 and .848 respectively at the 0.01 level of significance). The

higher occurrence of the causal connectors (because, so, although) and logical

connectives (and, or, if) should make reading easier since the semantic relations

in the sentence are explicitly presented. As McNamara et al. (2011, p.8) note in

their discussion of deep cohesion: “…connectives help the reader to form a more

coherent and deeper understanding of the causal events, processes, and actions in

the text.”

The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level was correlated with the word frequency

level (-.709 at the 0.05 level of significance). The higher the grade level, the

lower the word frequency. The Rose level is set at grade 5; however, as

analyzed by the Flesch-Kincaid formula used by Coh-Metrix the 11 readings

varied from a high of 6.503 to a low of 4.158 with a mean of 5.4804. The all


14

over frequency level itself was 2,517.574 for all 11 readings from a high of

3,696.116 to a low of 1,316.016. It is generally agreed that automatic decoding

of words is a strong predictor of reading performance, and as Crossley et al.

(2008, 483) note “Texts which assist such decoding (e.g., by containing a greater

proportion of high frequency words) can thus be regarded as easier to process.”

The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level also correlated with the number of modifiers

before the noun phrases (.646 at the 0.05 level of significance). The more

modifiers before the noun phrases makes it more difficult for students to parse

the sentence often moving the main verb farther away from the beginning of the

sentence. For example, instead of Birds flew overhead we might have Three

large black and white elegant duck-billed birds flew overhead.

Word frequency was negatively related to word concreteness (-.881 at the

0.01 level of significance). This is unexpected. The more concrete words would

tend to be of higher frequency. The small pool of 11 readings may askew the

results here. For example, one story was about cowboys and included many

words related to the equipment they used. Another story was about the Venus

fly trap and included specific words for parts of the flower. While these words

were concrete, they would not be extremely high in frequency.

Words before the verb correlated with both the number of modifiers

before the noun phrases and the number of words in the sentence (.689 and .729

respectively at the 0.05 level of significance). More elaboration of the noun

phrase in the subject position would result in more words before the verb which

also means longer sentences or a greater number of words per sentence.

The pronoun ratio to nouns was, as expected, related to the number of

personal pronouns (.989 at the 0.01 level of significance) and negatively related

to the number of modifiers before the noun phrases (-.653 at the 0.05 level of



MARY SARAWIT

15

significance). Sentences with long modifiers before the noun phrases might tend

to exclude pronoun usage in favor of the nouns. Likewise, the total number of

personal pronouns was negatively related to the number of modifiers before the

noun phrases (.-698 at the 0.05 level of significance).

Lastly, there was a significant correlation between the incidence of causal

and logical connectives (.780 at the 0.01 level of significance). Both types of

connectors often occur in the same types of discourse; such as cause and result,

reasons, and other opinion paragraphs.

Part 2

The second objective of this research was to examine any relationships

between the 15 features of the eleven Rose level texts and the students‟ reading

comprehension scores. The twenty one students read all eleven Rose SRA

readings and completed the comprehension questions that followed.

The average comprehension score on the 11 readings was a low of 49.660

percent (median of 42.857) for reading 3 and a high of 77.550 percent (median of

71.429) on reading 7. With regard to the students, the highest mean score for all

eleven readings was 81.818 percent (median of 85.714) and the lowest mean

score was 48.052 percent (median of 42.857). The minimum individual score

was 0 for readings 3 and 9, and the maximum individual score was 100 percent

for all but readings 3 and 5.

Correlation coefficient analysis between reading indicators and reading

comprehension scores using median, mean, standard deviation, minimum, and

maximum as representative of the reading score revealed four significant

correlations. The median reading score correlated significantly but negatively

with the incidence of temporal connectives (-.710 at the 0.05 level of

significance). This is unexpected. While lack of connectives should have made


16

the readings more difficult because the connective supplies the temporal meaning,

for these reluctant readers the additional clauses may have made the sentences

longer and hence more difficult.

The standard deviation in the students‟ comprehension scores was also

significantly related to temporal connectives (-.611 at the 0.05 level of

significance). The incidence of temporal connectives resulted in a narrowing of

the deviation in the students‟ comprehension scores because the addition of the

temporal clauses might confuse the better readers, thereby lowering their scores.

This may be related to results found in a study by O‟Reilly and McNamara

where they investigated text cohesion and students with high-knowledge and

students with low-knowledge. They found that less skilled high-knowledge

readers benefited from low-cohesion texts while skilled high-knowledge readers

benefited from high cohesion texts. They concluded that there is “..a more

complex view of when and for whom textual cohesion affects comprehension”

(O‟Reilly et al., 2002, p.121).

The standard deviation of the students‟ comprehension scores was related

(.623 at the 0.05 level of significance) to lexical diversity. The increased lexical

diversity of the passages resulted in further separating the high and low scores on

the comprehension tests. This is in line with the importance of vocabulary

recognition as a factor in the successful reader.

Finally, the maximum students‟ comprehension scores was negatively

related to the incidence of causal connectives (-.710 at the 0.05 level of

significance). While the presence of the causal connectives (because, so,

consequently, nevertheless, although) should help the reader with the intended

relationships in the sentence, these connectives are difficult for intermediate

level Thai learners of English. The causal connectives like although and



MARY SARAWIT

17

nevertheless which have a contrastive meaning are especially difficult for Thai

learners of English. So, although the students overall had the highest comprehension

scores, the presence of the causal connectives may not have aided their reading

comprehension as much as they should have. Hence, the scores were not as high

as they should have been.

Discussion

This study using Coh-Metrix showed that even for readings at the same

graded level there can be large variations for the lexical, structural, and semantic

content of the texts. The SRA Rose Level or grade 5 showed variations of more

than 15% for word frequency, number of words before the verb, pronoun ratio to

noun phrases, number of personal pronouns, number of modifiers per noun

phrase, connectors, and (LSA) conceptual similarity of sentences.

An analysis of the eleven Rose readings found that Rose 7 was the most

difficult with a Flesch Reading Ease score of 67.586 (the closer to 100 the easier

the reading) and a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 6.503 (the closer to grade 12 the

more difficult the reading). However, for the students in this study it was the

reading for which they had the highest score x 77.550% (median of 71.429%).

The students‟ lowest comprehension score was for reading 3 ( x 49.660%, median

42.857%) for which the Flesch Reading Ease score was 83.678 with a Flesch-

Kincaid Reading Grade of 5.372. There are obviously factors other than number

of syllables and words in the sentences that are affecting the students‟ reading

ability on these readings.

While the small sample, both in terms of student population and readings,

did not allow for higher level statistical analysis; a simple correlation study

revealed a number of interesting relationships between the 15 indices used to


18

analyze the texts. This study reconfirms the relationship between connectives, a

measure of semantic cohesion, and reading ease. The higher incidence of causal

and logical connectives related significantly with a higher Flesch Reading Ease

score. With regard to the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, the higher the grade level

was the lower the frequency of the words in the passage.

This study also offers support for looking beyond lexical factors to

syntactic factors when determining grade level. The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level

correlated significantly with the number of modifiers before the noun phrases for

which the number of words before the verb also correlated significantly. This is

despite the fact that the number of words per sentence did not correlate

significantly for this set of 11 Rose readings.

In addition, correlations between the students‟ comprehension scores and

the 15 text indices showed significant correlations between temporal and causal

connectives and student comprehension scores. These are both semantic

cohesion features and should be looked at when considering reading difficulty

levels. This study also found relationships between student reading comprehension

scores and lexical diversity of content words in the passages.

Conclusion

This study reconfirms the relationship between connectives and reading

ease. It also found relationships between student reading comprehension

scores and lexical diversity of content words in the passages. Hence, it is

recommended that a larger number of reading passages at a similar grade be

studied with a larger number of students to test for the role of lexical diversity

and connectives on student reading comprehension. It might be useful to separate



MARY SARAWIT

19

the causal connectives into the positive connectives (so, because, consequently)

and negative connectives (although, nevertheless).

Specifically for these reluctant readers, the results of this study point to a

need to help the students better understand the temporal and causal connectives

in reading passages. The incidence of both these connectives tended to make the

passages more difficult for these readers.

Coh-Metrix is a tool that can help us better understand students‟

problems in reading. A larger group of subjects and more readings at more

levels of difficulty may help to better identify factors that affect the reading

comprehension of Thai university students. Teachers need tools to help support

and encourage the reluctant reader. It is hoped that this small exploratory study

will encourage other researchers to use Coh-Metrix to study the deeper aspects of

reading and their effects on the reader.


20

References

Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G. & Kueau, L. (2002). Bringing Words to Life:

Robust Vocabulary Instruction. New York: Guilford Press.

Coltheart, M. (1981). The MRC Psycholinguistic Database Quarterly. Journal

of Experimental Psychology, 33(A), 497-505.

Crossley, S. A., Greenfield, I. McNamara, Vaud D. S. (2008). Assessing text

readability using cognitively based indices. TESOL Quarterly, (43)3,

475-192.

Crossley, S. A., McCarthy, P. M., Duffy, D. F. & McNamara, D. S. (2007).

Toward a new readability: A mixed model approach. Retrieved from

http://csjarchive.rpi.edu/Proceeding/2007/docs/p197.pdf.

McNamara, D. S., Louwerse, M. M., Cai, Z. & Graesser, A. (2005).

Cohmethrix version 1. 4. Retrieved from http://cohmetrix, menuphis.edu.

Dumais, S. T. (2004). Latent semantic analysis. Annual Review of Information

Sciences and Technology, 38(1), 188-230.

Graesser, A. C., McNamara, D. S. & Kulkowich, J. M. (2011). Coh-Metrix:

Providing multilevel analysis of text characteristics, Educational

Researcher, 40(5), 223-234.

Graesser, A. C., McNamara, D. S., Louwerse, M. M. & Cai, Z. (2004). Analysis

of text on cohesion and language. Behavior Research Methods.

Instruments & Computers, 36(2), 193-202.

Hall, C., Lewis, G. A., McCarthy, P., Lee, D. S. & McNamara, D. S. Language in

law: Using Coh-Metrix to access differences between American and

English/Welsh language varieties. Retrieved from

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu



MARY SARAWIT

21

Louwerse, M. M., McCarthy, P. M., McNamara, D. S. & Graesser, A. C.

Variation in language and cohesion across written and spoken registers.

Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.pso.edu/viewdoc/downloaddoi=

10.1.1.123.1183& rep=rep1&tupe=pdf

McNamara, D. S., Graesser, A. C., Zhiqiang, C. & Kulikowitch, J. M. (2011).

AERA 2011. Coh-Metrix easability components: Aligning text

difficulty with theories of text comprehension. Retrieved from

http://129.219.222.66 pdf/AERA_Coh-Metrix.pdf

McNamara, D. S., Louwerse, M. M., McCarthy, P. M. & Graesser, A. C.

Coh-Metrix: Capturing linguistic features of cohesion. Discourse

Processes, 47, 292-330.

McNamara, D. S., Louwerse, M. M., McCarthy, P. M. & Graesser, A. C. (2002).

Coh-Metrix: Automated cohesion and coherence scores to predict text

readability and facilitate comprehension. Institute for Intelligent

Systems, University of Memphis, Memphis: Tenessee.

O‟Reily, T. & McNamara, D. S. (2007). Reversing the reverse cohesion effect:

Good texts can be better for strategic high-knowledge readers.

Discourse Processes, 43(2), 121-152.

Parker, D. H. (2000). Teacher’s Handbook SRA Reading Laboratory 3b.

Washington, Ohio: SRA/McGraw Hill.

Sarawit, M. (2009). Freshman Students’ Attitudes towards Reading: A Case

Study at the Naresuan University International College. Available at

www.sarawit. com/ msarawit appeared in 2012 in the Humanities

Journal of Rajabhat University, Phitsanulok.

Schmitt, N. (2010). Researching Vocabulary: A Vocabulary Research Manual.

Palgrave Macmillan.


22

Appendix A

Data from the Coh-Metrix Analysis of the 11 Rose Level of the SRA 3B Lab:

Lexical Indices

Rose

#

Flesch

Reading

Ease

Flesch-

Kincaid

Grade Level

Word

Frequency

Word

Concreteness

Lexical

Diversity

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

x

SD

CV

78.935

79.321

83.678

75.387

85.561

77.907

67.586

76.974

79.500

71.386

85.437

78.334

5.554

7.090

4.813

5.141

5.372

6.135

4.932

5.850

6.503

6.271

5.238

5.871

4.158

5.480

0.712

12.993

3003.453

4213.075

2425.300

1962.864

1994.321

2055.969

2216.330

1316.016

2740.976

1968.889

3796.116

2517.574

862.207

34.248

369.857

360.067

408.505

431.698

433.719

421.894

403.382

433.287

421.072

414.669

379.939

407.099

26.122

6.417

0.775

0.734

0.638

0.647

0.664

0.658

0.743

0.742

0.732

0.757

0.664

0.705

0.050

7.092



MARY SARAWIT

23

Appendix B


Syntactic Indices

Rose

#

Words

before

Verb

Pronoun

Ratio

to Noun

Phrases

No. of

Personal

Pronouns

No. of

Modifiers

per Noun

Phrase

No. of

Words

per

Sentence

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

x

SD

CV

2.720

3.190

4.326

3.243

3.521

3.472

3.458

6.486

3.587

2.915

2.667

3.599

1.063

29.536

0.475

0.326

0.495

0.313

0.221

0.342

0.157

0.157

0.216

0.342

0.270

0.301

0.113

37.541

145.349

86.345

141.985

91.089

65.253

99.800

48.450

37.879

58.099

106.996

83.710

87.723

34.959

39.852

0.734

0.780

0.729

0.918

0.844

0.678

0.987

1.118

0.922

0.704

0.599

0.819

0.154

18.803

10.320

11.857

15.233

13.649

12.833

13.917

10.750

15.086

12.348

10.340

11.333

12.515

1.785

14.263


24

Appendix C


Semantic Indices

Rose

#

Additive

Connectives

Causal

Connectives

Logical

Connectives

Temporal

Connectives

LSA

Sentence

Combinations

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

x

SD

CV

27.132

54.217

36.341

39.277

27.597

51.896

27.132

34.091

40.493

30.864

31.674

36.429

9.435

25.900

21.318

26.104

29.008

23.762

35.714

21.956

7.752

18.939

19.366

12.346

20.362

21.512

7.551

35.101

27.132

32.092

38.167

25.743

40.584

25.948

13.566

35.985

38.732

16.461

31.629

29.640

8.902

30.985

7.752

20.080

18.381

11.881

9.740

15.968

15.504

17.045

10.563

8.230

15.837

13.726

4.253

30.985

0.102

0.125

0.210

0.125

0.189

0.339

0.218

0.215

0.192

0.130

0.173

0.184

0.066

35.870

EFFECTS OF ONLINE TASK-BASED INTERACTIVE LISTENING

INSTRUCTION FOR EFL LEARNERS

Xingbin Tian

Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand

[email protected]

Suksan Suppasetseree

Suranaree University of TechnologyThailand.

[email protected]

Abstract

In order to meet the current trends in English listening teaching in China, the

researcher constructed online task-based interactive listening (OTIL) lessons to

enhance non-English major undergraduate students‟ English listening ability.

The study aims at investigating the effects of using OTIL and students‟ attitudes

toward OTIL. Two intact classes, 92 students in total, were selected as the

sample for the study. The research instruments consisted of OTIL lessons, tests,

a questionnaire and interview. The results showed that a significant difference

was found in the post-test score between the experimental and control classes

(P=0.000, P≤0.05). Meanwhile, the students had positive attitudes toward OTIL

because the system was convenient, flexible, interactive and well-designed. The

findings seem to indicate that OTIL might serve to develop English listening

teaching and to improve students‟ listening ability for EFL learners.

Keywords: online task-based interactive listening, English listening

teaching, EFL learners, China


26

Introduction

The importance of listening for language acquisition has been

emphasized by a number of researchers (Brown, 2006; Feyten, 1991; Krashen,

1982; Rost, 2002).From this point of view, listening teaching is the core of

ESL/EFL study. Rost(2002) defined listening teaching as “approaches to

curriculum design and methods of instruction that aim to assist learners in

improving their listening”(p. 103). In China, English listening teaching is also an

important part of college English teaching. However, the listening ability of most

undergraduate students‟ of English has been unsatisfactory(Cheng, 2009b; Gan,

Humphreys, & Hamp-Lyons, 2004; Tan, 2003; Yan, 2006). For instance, Lin

(2002) pointed out after ten years‟ English learning, students were still “deaf and

dumb” (when students can read, but cannot speak English fluently, or understand

what people say) (p. 8). The problem above occurs at Tongren University (TU),

China as well. After two years of learning English listening in the university, the

listening competence of the most students remains weak (Tian, 2010; Wei, 2006).

According to Wei‟s study (2006), there was lack of interaction between students

in college English listening teaching at TU. In other words, classroom instruction

was still teacher-centered, and the active role of students could not be exerted

completely. Furthermore, the teaching process of college English listening

teaching via multimedia at TU was very unitary: applying the CD-ROM attached

to the listening textbook and then doing the exercises associated with the

listening textbook (Tian, 2010). In class, teachers stood by the computer and

operated the mouse. They did not pay much attention to the communication with

the students. Students fixed their attention only on the screen and played a quite

passive role in such a learning environment. Although language labs at TU were

Effects of Online Task-Based Interactive Listening Instruction for EFL Learners

XINGBIN TIAN, SUKSAN SUPPASETSEREE 27

built to enable teachers and students to teach and learn English with an E-

learning environment, no teacher created his/her websites for listening instruction.

Nowadays, the importance of English listening in tertiary education has

been realized. In 2007, the Ministry of Education of China(MOE) issued a new

English curriculum for non-English majors, namely the College English

Curriculum Requirements (CECR), which emphasized “developing students‟

ability to use English in an all-round way, especially in listening and speaking”

(MOE, 2007, p. 18).For this reason, the CECR (MOE, 2007) claimed that

universities across China should satisfy 3 requirements as follows: 1) exploring

and establishing a web-based listening teaching model; 2) delivering listening

courses via the Internet or Intranet; 3) shifting teacher-centered pattern to

learner-centered teaching.

In order to meet the requirement of the CECR, a great number of studies

on EFL listening instruction in China (Cai & Li, 2008; Cheng, 2009b; Wei,

2012; Yao, 2010) have been performed on how to promote learners‟ listening

ability. For example, Cai and Li (2008) studied asynchronous listening

instruction in the EFL context with pedagogical tasks, showing that the average

listening comprehension score of the experimental group was much higher than

the score of the control group. Meanwhile, Cheng (2009a) conducted an

experiment to introduce learner-centered teaching theory into the listening class,

and investigated its effectiveness in improving learners‟ listening skills. The

results showed that the achievement of the experimental group was higher than

that of the control group. After the experiment, the subjects stated that ILT

aroused their learning interest and motivation. Yao (2010) carried out research

on a task-based approach to College English listening teaching via the Internet.

The results showed the achievements of the students in the experimental


28

groupwere higher than those of the control classes. The students‟ attitude toward

the task-based approach in college English listening teaching via the Internet was

positive. More recently, Wei (2012) conducted research on college English

listening teaching via Moodle. After the experiment, the experimental class had

made more progress than the control class. The research found that English

listening teaching via Moodle provided students with more interaction. The

feedback from the Moodle platform was very useful to motivate students to learn

more. All in all, the findings of previous studies indicated that listening

instruction via a network with interactive tasks and activities could enhance

learners‟ listening ability. In other words, the teaching of listening skills through

a technology-supported task-based approach was beneficial to the integration of

language skills. This was because students were able to make comprehensive use

of their language ability and communicative competence. However, for the most

part, tasks used in the previous research above were pedagogical tasks. Little

research used real-world tasks in English listening teaching. According to

Nunan(2004), “the point of departure for task-based language teaching is real-

world or target tasks” (p. 19). Under real-world tasks, learners can also undertake

many pedagogical tasks which represent a bridge to real world tasks. Real-world

tasks do not have a single correct answer. They can often be solved in several

ways and allow learners to perform the task in its natural setting (see Figure 1).



Figure 1. A Framework for TBA

(Nunan, 2004, p. 25)

The present study aimed at 1) investigating the effects of using online

task-based interactive listening (OTIL) with real-world tasks for EFL learners,

and 2) determining students‟ attitudes toward OTIL. Online task-based

interactive listening (OTIL) is defined as English listening lessons used to

deliver learning online through real-world tasks. The term “online” in the present

study refers to Moodle, short for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning

Environment, which is used as the online learning platform for English listening

at TU. OTIL aims to create a highly interactive E-learning environment for

English listening, during which listeners have maximum interaction with peers,

contents and teachers. The term “EFL learners” in the study refers to the non-

English major undergraduate students at TU who have registered to study college

English.

The study was carried out on the basis of two research questions as

follows.

Real-world/Target

Tasks

Pedagogical Tasks Enabling Skills

Rehearsal

Tasks

Activation

Tasks

Language

Exercises

Communication

Activities


30

1) Are there any significant differences in listening comprehension

between the experimental and control classes?

2) What are the students‟ attitudes toward online task-based

interactive listening (OTIL) instruction?

Methodology

Population and Samples

The population for the study consisted of1075 second-year non-English

major undergraduate students at TU. There were 26 intact classes within 20

majors. Purposive sampling was adopted in the present study. The college

English final examination in the second semester of academic year 2012 was

used to determine the sample. According to the results, two intact classes, 92

students in total, were selected as the sample for the study because 1) the number

of students in each class was similar and 2) the students‟ English proficiency

level was similar. The two intact classes were a Politics Class (N=46, =64.78,

SD=11.105) and a Chinese Class (N=46, =64.72, SD=8.471). The Chinese

Class was chosen as the experimental class and the Politics Class as the control

class.

Research Instruments

Four research instruments were employed in the present study, including

OTIL, tests, a questionnaire and an interview.

Online task-based interactive listening (OTIL). The term “online task-

based interactive listening” (OTIL)refers to the English listening lessons

constructed by the researcher after a needs analysis. Real-world tasks were

designed for OTIL to provide an environment to promote students‟ English

listening ability.



Tests. Two English listening tests were employed for the pre-test and

post-test. The tests were adapted from the listening sub-tests of the standardized

CET 4 (College English Test, Band 4). These were designed to evaluate the

overall English proficiency of undergraduates in Chinese universities. The total

score of pre-test and post-test was 100 points.

A questionnaire. A questionnaire designed by the researcher was used to

determine the students‟ attitudes toward OTIL. It consisted of two parts,

including students‟ general information and the students‟ opinions toward OTIL.

The format of the second part was a five-point Likert scale. That is, values on the

scale were labeled from 1 to 5, namely strongly agree, agree, uncertain, disagree,

and strongly disagree.

Interview. Data from one source only is sometimes not sufficient to draw

good conclusions from findings. A triangulation process should be applied by

using more instruments, such as interviews, to collect more data. Thus, a semi-

structured interview was employed in the study. The interview, designed by the

researcher, consisted of six guided questions.

Data Collection and Analysis

The data collection consisted of two phases: 1) collecting the scores of

the pre-test and post-test which were given to the experimental and control

classes before and after the experiment, and 2) obtaining information from

questionnaires(for the experimental class only). After the students had responded

to the questionnaire, fifteen interviewees were selected from the experimental

class. They came from three different English proficiency levels: high, medium

and low. Stratified sampling was used to select samples. Discrimination between

levels was performed on the basis of z-scores from the post-test (-1.00≤Z≤1.00).

Five interviewees were selected from each level for a small-group interview. All


32

interviews were recorded and transcribed for data analysis. Chinese language, the

respondents‟ native language, was employed for both questionnaire and interview

for better understanding and convenience.

Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted in the study. The

software Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) package was used to

conduct descriptive and statistical analyses. Descriptive analysis involved the

mean score and standard deviation, while statistical analysis included t-test and

analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Records of the interviews were transcribed

verbatim. To interpret the data, content analyses were conducted using open and

axial coding.

Results and Discussion

Students’ English Listening Achievement for the Experimental and Control

Groups

Tests were used to evaluate students‟ English listening ability and to

compare students‟ English listening ability before and after the treatment as

shown in Table 1.

Table 1

Results of Students’ English Listening Achievement

Tests N

Experimental Group Control Group

SD SD

Pre-test 46 57.30 8.897 57.17 8.160

Post-test 46 75.57 8.702 66.35 9.374



As can be seen, no significant differences were found between the two

classes‟ pre-test (P=0.942, P≤0.05). However, after the intervention, students of

both classes improved their listening ability as shown in Table 2. The results

showed that a significant difference between the pair scores (pre-test and post-

test scores) of each class was found(P=0.000, P≤0.05) by using a paired-samples

T-test.

Table 2

Results of Paired Samples T-test for Experimental and Control Class

Classes Tests

Paired Differences

T Sig. (2-

tailed) SD

95% Confidence

Interval of the

Difference

Lower Upper

Experimental

Class

Pretest -

Posttest

-18.261 4.855 -19.703 -16.819 -25.508 .000

Control Class Pretest -

Posttest

-9.174 4.312 -10.454 -7.893 -14.430 .000

In order to evaluate the effects of using OTIL, analysis of covariance was

used to increase statistical power (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007), namely by

removing extraneous variability (students‟ prior English listening ability) that

derived from pre-existing individual differences. The findings revealed that a

significant difference was found in the post-test score between the experimental

and control classes (P=0.000, P≤0.05) as shown in Table 3. This indicated that


34

the students in the experimental class, instructed with OTIL, had made more

demonstrable progress than those of the control class. Therefore, the OTIL

approach delivered via Moodle appeared to help EFL learners develop English

listening more effectively.

Table 3

Comparison of Post-test Scores for the Experimental and Control Classes

Source Type III Sum

of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Corrected Model 7463.978a 2 3731.989 179.360 .000

Intercept 669.914 1 669.914 32.196 .000

pretest 5509.891 1 5509.891 264.806 .000

Classes 1903.611 1 1903.611 91.488 .000

Error 1851.848 89 20.807

Total 472520.000 92

Corrected Total 9315.826 91

Students’ Attitudes to Online Task-based Interactive Listening (OTIL)

Results of the Questionnaires

To determine students‟ attitudes toward OTIL, a frequency analysis was

applied to analyze the questionnaires. The results of the analysis were presented

in Table 4.



Table 4

Students’ Attitudes toward OTIL

Statements N SD

1. Online task-based interactive listening can make

English learning enjoyable.

46 4.07 .574

2. Online task-based interactive listening can meet my

learning objectives.

46 3.93 .490

3. Online task-based interactive listening can enhance

my listening comprehension.

46 4.09 .626

4. Online task-based interactive listening provides me

opportunities to practice listening skills.

46 4.37 .610

5. Online task-based interactive listening can enhance

student-student interaction.

46 4.07 .533

6. Online task-based interactive listening can facilitate

student-teacher interaction.

46 3.96 .631

7. Online task-based interactive listening is convenient

for reviewing the lessons.

46 4.15 .666

8. Online task-based interactive listening can promote

learning.

46 3.96 .729

9. Online task-based interactive listening provides

abundant materials to learn.

46 4.37 .645


36

Statements N SD

10. Online task-based interactive listening can provide

easy access to useful feedback from the teacher.

46 4.09 .725

11. Materials in online task-based interactive listening are

interesting.

46 4.15 .595

12. Materials in online task-based interactive listening are

suitable for my English proficiency level.

46 3.76 .524

13. The activities in online task-based interactive listening

are interactive.

46 3.91 .626

14. The activities in online task-based interactive listening

can help me improve listening ability effectively.

46 4.24 .603

15. The interactive modules, such as forum, chat room

and wiki in online task-based interactive listening are

very useful for group discussion.

46 4.11 .605

Total 46 4.08 .166

It should be noted that the highest mean score was 4.37, while the lowest

was 3.76. The first three highest frequency statements were: 1) OTIL provides

students opportunities to practice listening skills ( =4.37, SD=0.610); 2) OTIL

provides abundant materials to learn ( =4.37, SD=0.645); and 3) The activities

in OTIL can help students improve listening ability effectively ( =4.24,

SD=0.603). The total mean score of the questionnaire was 4.08 (SD=0.166),

indicating that the students had positive attitudes toward OTIL.



Result of Semi-structured Interview

All interviewees had positive attitudes toward OTIL. They claimed that

they preferred learning English listening through OTIL for two reasons. First, the

tasks in OTIL met learning objectives of the course. Second, OTIL could help

them improve their listening comprehension. After reading through the whole

transcripts, two major categories were identified from the reported statements.

Each major category covered several sub-categories as shown in Table 5.

Table 5

Categories of the Semi-structured Interview

Categories Sub-categories

Satisfaction with OTIL

Abundant materials with different media

Real-world tasks

Well-designed listening stages

Learning styles

Convenience

Flexibility

Interactivity

Favorite items in OTIL

Videos

Audios

Self-test

Comprehension exercises


38

The present study was conducted to meet the current trends in the

teaching of English listening skills in China for EFL learners, by investigating

the effects of using OTIL and students‟ attitudes toward OTIL.The results

showed that the post-test scores of the experimental class were significantly

higher than those of the control class (P=0.000, P≤0.05). Meanwhile the students

had positive attitudes toward OTIL. The results in response to the research

questions are discussed below.

Listening Achievement

Although the students of both the experimental and control classes made

great progress after the intervention, a significant differences between the post-

test scores of the two classes (P=0.000, P≤0.05) wasfound. Five main reasons

may account for the experimental class‟ listening improvement. First, OTIL was

more learner-centered than teacher-centered. The goal of OTIL was for students

to take on more of the responsibility of learning English listening and become

more actively involved in the learning process. Students learned English

listening though OTIL by doing things for themselves. They became active

participants not just receivers of knowledge. Second, the tasks in OTIL provided

meaning and motivation for learning. Ur (1984) argued that listening activities

are most effective if they are constructed around a task. Some types of tasks in

OTIL might be found in real life or approached real life tasks. This raised

students‟ interest. Third, OTIL via Moodle offered a lot of useful and interactive

modules such as Wikis, Forums, Workshops, Chats and Glossaries to enhance

interactivity. Lee (2001) pointed out that the Internet has tremendous potential as

a tool for teaching EFL. Based on a constructivist approach to learning, OTIL

emphasized learning through a group‟s collaborative construction of knowledge.

Students could interact with each other synchronously and asynchronously.



Fourth, OTIL motivated students to learn English by providing immediate and

effective feedback. Siragusa (2000, cited in Herridge-Group, 2004) claimed that

students may be more motivated to succeed in a learning program if regular and

effective feedback is provided. Finally, students could use various authentic

listening resources of authentic listening drawn from different media in OTIL to

practice their listening in a cultural context.

Students’ Attitudes

The results of the questionnaire and interview revealed that the students

had positive attitudes toward OTIL. First, students strongly agreed that OTIL

provided them opportunities to practice listening skills ( =4.37, SD=0.610). This

might be due to the fact that OTIL was convenient, flexible, and interactive. This

finding agreed with He‟s (2002)observation. He pointed out that excellent online

learning provided the learners with services and opportunities, including

opportunities to learn some topics by different means through different media,

opportunities to experience their own knowledge, opportunities to receive

feedback according to the perceptions of the learners, opportunities to consult

specialists, opportunities to share and develop understanding with other learners,

and opportunities to participate equally during rich and colorful discussions and

collaborations. The findings of the interview also demonstrated this.

Second, the students strongly agreed that OTIL provided abundant

materials for learning ( =4.37, SD=0.645).The materials including images,

audios, videos and text files were rich, authentic and humorous. In each topic,

the lesson was broken up into five sections: warm-up, listening practice, real-

world task, self-test and further development. Listening material was supported

with glossaries, pictures, examples of listening skill training, audios, videos,

comprehension exercises, discussion questions, real-world tasks, self-tests, and


40

forum interactions. Except for the topics, a Moodle library was constructed to

provide different types of materials for students to train and practice in or out of

class.

Third, the students also strongly agreed that the activities in OTIL helped

students improve listening ability effectively ( =4.24, SD=0.603). The activities

in OTIL included pair work, group discussions, listening skill practice, glossary

brainstorm, vocabulary learning, prediction, forum, true or false, matching,

multiple-choice, gap-filling, reporting, interview and testing. Activities in pre-

listening served as preparation for listening, using prior knowledge to predict the

context. While-listening activities related directly to engagement with listening

materials. Students were required to complete them during or immediately after

listening or watching. In the post-listening phase, analysis and practice activities

were designed to shift students‟ attentions from meaning to forms contextualized

through the task (Willis, 1996). The findings met a „learner-centered‟ , „learning

by doing‟ and „learning in interaction‟ language teaching approach (Brown,

2001; Foster, 1999; Richards & Rodgers, 2001).

Finally, according to the results of the interview, students liked OTIL

because it provided abundant authentic, interesting and useful materials. The

materials not only raised their interest, but also helped them gain a great deal of

knowledge. Among the materials in OTIL, students preferred videos more than

other types. They enjoyed videos because the contents were rich, colorful,

humorous and authentic. The most important aspect of this was that the videos

helped them understand the contents and learn cultures of foreign countries. The

students also liked the online learning style which made them learn English

effectively, improve their English listening, and raised their interest. OTIL

provided several listening stages to promote their listening ability. Moreover, the



students liked OTIL due to convenience, flexibility and interactivity. Students

could visit OTIL anywhere, anytime, listen to audios or watch videos as much as

possible. They found it easy to assess their listening level by using OTIL and

find the meanings of new words through the Internet. When they met difficulties,

they could discuss and solve the problems by chatting directly with the teacher

and classmates via the Chat Room. They could also use the Forum to

communicate and share with others.

The findings of the study agree with the study of Fan, Wang, He and Hu

(2010) who developed Autonomous College English Listening Learning via

Moodle in China. The results showed that the post-test scores of the

experimental group who received tutoring via Moodle ( =82.30, SD=8.879)

were higher than those of the control group who were taught with traditional

college English listening teaching ( =76.86, SD=9.136). The students of the

experimental group had positive attitudes toward the Moodle platform.

Furthermore, Yang (2011) conducted a comparison between college English

listening teaching via Moodle and traditional English listening teaching in China.

The findings showed that the students of the experimental group ( =67.15) had a

higher average post-test score than those of the control group ( =57.26). A

significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups.

83.8% students reported that they were interested in learning English listening

through Moodle. In addition, Dennis (2012) constructed Blended Online

Learning Approach (BOLA) packages for teaching English for Careers in

Technology in Thailand. The results showed that the students of the

experimental group obtained higher mean scores ( =12.1) after the treatment.

According to the results of the questionnaires and interview, students were very


42

satisfied with the BOLA packages which could promote autonomous learning

effectively.

In short, OTIL was an effective and suitable English listening website for

promoting student listening ability. It provided students with many kinds of

materials which were authentic and interesting. Real-world tasks in OTIL were

designed to meet students‟ learning goals and help them improve listening

comprehension. Additionally, OTIL is convenient, flexible and interactive, thus

supporting and motivating students to learn English listening without the

restrictions of time and place.

Conclusion

The present study was conducted to meet the current trends in English

listening for EFL learners. From the results of the study, it can be found that

OTIL contributes significantly to the successful development of EFL listening

skills, and that real-world tasks are very important to engage students in the

whole learning process. The study provides some insights into how English

listening with network support might be effectively used to promote EFL

learners. Furthermore, the study might serve to contribute to finding solutions for

the development of college English listening teaching programs for improving

students‟ listening ability in China. However, because of the limitation of the

sample size, it is difficult to generalize the results of the study beyond the current

sample and more research is needed before the system can be implemented as a

part of China‟s reform in college English teaching.



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College, 32(10), 166-167.

EXPLORING BELIEFS OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS TOWARD

ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE

Flora Debora Floris

Petra Christian University

Jl. Siwalankerto 131-136 - Surabaya 60236, Indonesia

[email protected]

Abstract

Research has repeatedly shown that pre-service teachers have well well-

established beliefs about teaching which have been formed on the basis of their

own learning experiences. These beliefs strongly influence their professional

development and how pre-service teachers interpret and acquire information

from their teacher education courses. This paper presents the results of a small

research conducted on 11 pre-service teachers‟ beliefs toward English as an

international language (EIL) before and after joining World Englishes class in

order to detect any changes in the nature of these beliefs. 4 major areas of EIL

namely (a) the role of English as an international language, (b) the best variety,

(c) the use of the students‟ mother tongue in English classrooms, and (d) the best

teacher of English were highlighted in this study.

Keywords: pre-service teacher, teacher education, beliefs, English as an

international language

Exploring Beliefs of Pre-Service Teachers toward English as an International Language

FLORA DEBORA FLORIS 47

Introduction

The fact that English is now the major international language in

intercultural communications, business, science, technology, and other areas is

indisputable. It is also the most widely learned second or foreign language in

many countries; and it makes the number of second and foreign language

speakers far exceed the number of the first language speakers of English. In 2003,

for example, the number of English speakers according to Crystal (2003) reached

approximately 1,500 million only 20% of which are the native speakers of the

language. In 2008, this number had been revised upwards again in the direction

of 2 billion. In fact, within 25 years, the number of speakers of English had

moved from a fifth to quarter to a third of the world‟s population (Crystal, 2008).

In 2070, Graddol (1999) claimed that the projected number of English speakers

would be nearly 10 billion.

This situation has resulted in remarkable demand in English language

teachers, which has also led to an increase in the number of non-native English

language teachers. In Indonesia, for example, approximately 3,047 non-native

English language teachers were employed at formal schools in 2011 and 3,442

teachers in 2012. The number keeps increasing due to the growing number of

Indonesian students who study English at formal schooling. In 2013, for example,

Indonesia needs approximately 3,733 new English teachers and 4,130 new

teachers in 2014 (Yahya, 2011).

Matsuda and Matsuda (2001) state the fact that the majority of English

teachers in the world are not native speakers of English. Some of these teachers

learned English as children; others learned it as adults. For some, English is their

third or fourth language; for others, it is the only language other than their

THAITESOL JOURNAL Vol.26, No.1 June 2013 48

mother tongue that they have learned. As there is an increase in the number of

non-native English teachers, accordingly there is also an increase in the number

of non-native English language speakers as pre-service teachers joining

Department of English Language Teaching at universities all around the world.

This is because for non-native English teachers, pre-service education is often

seen as the start of teacher preparation program or in other words the first step in

the professional development of teachers. Wilke (2004) says that such education

often exposes pre-service teachers to new perspectives as well as prepares them

in knowledge and skills.

In many universities, programs for pre-service EFL teachers still tend to

focus on the inner circle. This might be because people had some long-

established assumptions such as (a) students need to learn the English of native

speakers, (b) the native speakers should serve as the model and standard, (c)

American or British culture should be taught, and (d) communicative language

teaching is the best way to teach the language (Brown, 2012). However

considering the fact that English now is considered as the international language

and that non-native speakers outnumber native speakers, work should be done to

create pre-service teacher programs that focus spirit of English as an

International Language (EIL). Pre-service teachers need to be informed that a

language program should incorporate the promotion of intercultural competence,

an awareness of other varieties of English, multilingualism in the classroom,

instructional materials that include both local and international cultures and the

adoption of socially and culturally sensitive teaching methodology (McKay,

2012).

The English Education Business Program of the English Department of

Petra Christian University Surabaya also updated its curriculum to incorporate



the EIL principles by offering some new subjects such as World Englishes,

Education Policy, Current Issues in Global Education and Intercultural

Teaching & Learning and by “slipping-in” the EIL principles in other subjects

such as Spoken English in which pre-service students are introduced to varieties

of English or in Language Teaching & Learning in which they are asked to

critically evaluate various teaching approaches. New subjects such as World

Englishes whose scope is not limited to the inner circle are offered cause such

courses are likely to result in a “world view . . . [that is] more consistent with the

sociolinguistic realities of the spread of English as an international language”

(Brown and Peterson, 1997, p. 44). The principles of EIL are also integrated in

other courses so pre-service students will be aware of the current landscape of

English. By introducing the EIL issues as the content of the course or

peripherally, it is hoped that pre-service students will develop a favorable

attitude towards EIL.

The implementation of the revised curriculum started in the 2nd

semester

of 2011/2012 (February – August 2012). I was assigned to facilitate World

Englishes course which aimed to enable the students to consider past, present,

and future varieties of the English languages. Attention was given to the

historical, political, and sociocultural issues associated with the globalization of

Englishes and on the ideological underpinnings of debates about nativization,

standardization, identity, and ownership. Students were required to attend 14

consecutive meetings.

There were 11 pre-service students of Batch 2010 registered for this

course. As none of the topics discussed are covered in the first two years of their

university study, these students had never come across the relevant concepts

before. In addition, these 11 pre-service teachers had been immersed in the


traditional EFL classrooms since they were in elementary level. As the concept

of EIL was new for these students, I was interested to observe the prior beliefs of

these pre-service teachers and wished to ascertain to what extent the exposure to

the relevant concepts influenced their prior beliefs. Therefore the present study

was guided by the following research questions:

1. What sorts of beliefs do pre-service teachers have at the beginning of

the course about (1) the role of English as the international language,

(2) the best English variety, (3) the use of students‟ mother tongue in

the EFL classrooms, and (4) the best English language teacher.

2. Do these pre-service students‟ initial beliefs change at the end of

semester?

3. How do these pre-service students welcome the EIL principles in

their future pedagogical practices?

Attention was given to (1) the role of English as the international

language, (2) the best English variety, (3) the use of students‟ mother tongue in

the EFL classrooms, and (4) the best English language teacher because these

areas are closely related to the native-speaker paradigm (see Hassall, 1996 and

Matsuda, 2003) and are widely addressed in Indonesian context nowadays.

Another reason why I was interested to observe these students‟ beliefs

was because the literature portrays that beliefs play a central role on guiding

teachers‟ instructional behavior. Teachers‟ beliefs can powerfully shape what

teachers do (Pajares, 1992 and Borg, 2011). Beliefs form “the bedrock of

teachers' intentions, perceptions, and interpretations of a given classroom

situation and the range of actions the teacher considers in responding to it"

(Chapman, 2002, p. 180). Johnson (1994) also states that (1) teachers‟ beliefs

influence perception and judgment, (2) teachers‟ beliefs are reflected in classroom



practices, and (3) teachers‟ beliefs should be understood with a view to improving

teaching practices and teacher education programs.

In the context of language teacher education, beliefs are seen to be a key

element. Borg (2011) states that teacher education is more likely to have an

impact when it is based on an understanding of the beliefs these pre-service

teachers hold. Kagan (1992, p. 85) has suggested that beliefs “may be the

clearest measure of a teacher‟s professional growth”. Therefore most of the

research available on the impact of teacher education on language teachers‟

beliefs has been conducted in pre-service contexts.

Studies highlight that pre-service students carry with them some strong

ideas and beliefs. These beliefs are formed during the “apprenticeship of

observation” which refers to the years these students have spent sitting in the

student desk prior to entering a teacher education program (Lortie, 2002). In

other words, pre-service teachers‟ beliefs are formed through many years of

exposure to educational practices and can be traced back to early experiences,

from primary education up to tertiary level.

Furthermore, pre-service teachers use their previous educational

experiences to interpret the input provided in their teacher education program

(Kagan, 1992). The majority of pre-service student-teachers who start their

education program, for example, view teaching as telling or lecturing-that is,

directly transmitting information to a passive learner (Torff, 2003).This is

because they are exposed to such lecturing style during their school years.

Scholars have found that pre-service teachers‟ prior beliefs brought to a

teacher education program significantly impact what and how pre-service

teachers learn. Prior beliefs can function as filters for processing experiences and

knowledge (Borko and Putnam, 1996). Prior beliefs are also related to


motivation constructs and to pre-service teachers‟ academic performances and

achievement (Pajares, 2003). Prior beliefs may hinder their ability to see the

relevance of their teacher education program as well because the existing beliefs

may be incompatible with their new learning in their teacher education program

(Borko and Putnam, 1996). However a strong sense of confidence built on

positive prior learning will expend a higher level of energy to work through the

difficulty (Pajares, 2003).

To change prior beliefs of pre-service teachers on language education

program is a challenge. Borg (2011) has in fact observed that some studies such

as Borg (2005), Peacock (2001), and Urmston (2003) report no changes in the

pre- and post-course beliefs of pre-service teachers. In contrast, other studies

such as Clarke (2008), Mattheoudakis (2007) and Busch (2010) provide evidence

of change in student teachers‟ beliefs during language teacher education (cited in

Borg, 2011). A research done by Minor et.al. (2001) also showed that at the end

of the semester of their observation, the beliefs of 84 pre-service teachers

observed had moved to be more in line with the instructor that is to have a more

progressive orientation.

Does instruction impact pre-service teachers‟ beliefs? A study by Liu and

Fisher (2006) reported that belief change could be promoted in variable ways (as

cited in Borg, 2011). Pre-service teachers involved in Minor et.al. (2001) „s

study, for example, were required to complete a variety of assignment including

a written critique of an article from a refereed education journal, an individual

presentation, a group presentation, reflections of reading assignments, active

participation in class activities, exams, and the development of a professional

portfolio. At the end of the semester, their prior beliefs changed.



Having read all of the review of literature and considered the nature of

the World Englishes course taught at my university and 11 pre-service teachers

registered for this course, I became interested to observe the beliefs that these

pre-service teachers had at the beginning of the course, to see whether there were

any changes on their initial beliefs, and to find out how these 11 student teachers

perceive the EIL principles in their future pedagogical practices. The focus

would be on (1) the role of English as the international language, (2) the best

English variety, (3) the use of students‟ mother tongue in the EFL classrooms,

and (4) the best English language teacher.

Method

Participants

The participants of this study were 11 student teachers registered for the

World Englishes course of English Education Businness program of Petra

Christian University Surabaya. All of them were Indonesians in their early

twenties and in their 5th

semester. There were 10 female students and 1 male

student.

Procedure

This study was conducted in the 2nd

semester of 2011/2012 (February –

August 2012). The course itself was conducted for 14 meetings in which each

meeting lasted for 2 hours. Each meeting was conducted once per week. All the

names mentioned in this paper were pseudonyms. The research mainly adopted a

qualitative approach. Dörnyei (2007) addressed several reasons for choosing this

type of research namely: the research uses small sample size of participant, the

data analysis is done with words, and it is concerned with subjective opinions.


Classroom discussions and reflective papers of the students were used to collect

data.

In order to answer the first research question which aims to explore the

prior beliefs, at the beginning of the semester, the pre-service teachers were

required to write what they know about English as an international language, the

best English variety, the use of students‟ mother tongue in their language

classrooms, and the best English language teacher. They were asked to reflect

upon their personal teaching and learning experiences and beliefs and explicitly

provide examples. These reflective papers were not meant to be research papers

and the students were not expected to do any additional reading. The paper was

written in English and the participants submitted their reflective papers at the

beginning of the second meeting. For answering the other research questions, I

employed the online and offline classroom discussions and students‟ final

reflective papers.

For the purpose of online classroom discussions, I set up a closed

Facebook group. All students were members of this online group and some

participated in the thread of discussions quite actively. Ongoing throughout the

class meetings, the pre-service teachers and I always had (offline) classroom

discussions in which I asked my students some questions related to the issues of

EIL so that I knew what their before-course-perceptions were.

Then I asked each participant of this study to share their initial beliefs

with each other, and together overview and examine the present EIL situation.

During the discussions, I took notes on some interesting points of views that my

students expressed. I also asked the participants to note down if listening to the

classroom discussion had sparked some ideas and they felt their prior beliefs

needed revision. All online and offline discussions were mainly conducted in



English though some Indonesians occurred occasionally. At the end of the

course, the students were once again asked to revisit their personal beliefs and

write their reflections towards the 4 major issues highlighted in their World

Englishes class. They also got an additional task, i.e. to think about how they

would apply their EIL beliefs in their future classrooms.

Data Collection and Analysis

Data gathered from the participants‟ reflective papers and classroom

discussions were then analyzed through content analysis as proposed by

Cresswell (2011). The first step that I took was to explore or to obtain a general

sense of the data. Then I started the process of coding the data according to the

categories relevant to the research questions. After that I tried to interconnect the

categories and report findings to the research questions. By doing these, I could

identify the teachers‟ beliefs related to (1) the role of English as the international

language, (2) the best English variety, (3) the use of students‟ mother tongue in

the EFL classrooms, and (4) the best English language teacher. I could also find

out the participants‟ opinions on how to implement EIL pedagogy in their

classrooms.

Findings and Discussion

The findings of this study would be presented in accordance with the

research questions. Thus I would start with the findings on pre-service teachers‟

initial beliefs related to the following areas: (1) the role of EIL, (2) the best

English variety, (3) the use of students‟ mother tongue in the EFL classrooms,

and (4) the best English language teacher. For each major area, there would also

be some discussions on the participants‟ (un)shifting beliefs and proposed

pedagogical implementations. All the names mentioned below were pseudonyms.


The Role of English as the International Language

At the beginning of the course, all of the participants of this study had

similar beliefs about the role of EIL. English was seen as a global language, a

lingua franca, a medium of communication, a very important language in this

globalization era. No further comments were provided probably because at the

beginning of the semester these pre-service teachers were not aware of the

changes that had happened to English.

At the end of the course, all students still had the same beliefs of the

importance of English. But now they were aware of the changes in the uses and

users of English. The following comments illustrate this:

Before I joined the World Englishes class, I felt there was only one kind

of English and there was no difference. But now I know that the issue of

English as an international language is more complex than I thought

(Henny, Final Reflective Paper).

When we talked about the role of EIL, I thought that we only talked about

varieties. However, I found out that, we did not just talk about varieties

but we also examined more specific components and issues in English

teaching including the implementation of such EIL pedagogy in

classrooms (Setiawan, 14th

meeting).

All participants of this study also believed that the teaching of English

nowadays should acknowledge the EIL pedagogy, for example by having more

local (non-native) speakers to teach English, by acknowledging the role of



students‟ mother tongue and other varieties of English. These beliefs were

written on their reflective papers and expressed on our last class meeting.

The Best English Variety

The analysis of the reflective papers made at the beginning of the

semester showed that all participants of the study believed that American English

and British English were the best varieties of English. It is not surprising.

According to Farrell and Martin (2009), when someone uses the term “English”,

his/her interlocutors are likely to assume that he is referring to British or

American English because “the English that exists in such places as Africa, Asia,

the West Indies, the Philippines and Singapore is not real or standard English”

(p. 2).

Some participants considered British English better than American

English because they believed that English was “born” in England. Some student

teachers also considered British English as the best variety because it was

considered more elegant than the American English. The following were some of

their comments:

British English is the best and the standard one. I believe that the English

language itself comes originally from England as both names are similar

(Via, Initial Reflective Paper).

[British English is the best cause] there is no slang in British English

(Rosa, 3rd

meeting)

British English is more difficult to understand meaning that people who

speak it are more intelligent (Ida, 4th

meeting).


The majority of the participants though considered American English as

the best variety. This was because of the influence of America in people‟s lives

nowadays so Indonesians were more familiar with this variety. As these two

student teachers said,

For me American English is the best because listening to American

English is much easier than listening to British English (Dina, Initial

Reflective Paper).

In fact, in Indonesia, we are more exposed to American English. There

are many movies, books, and novels are from USA. Thus many people use

American English (Fefe, 3rd

meeting).

Interestingly, it was also found that some EFL teachers in Indonesia

preferred to teach American English in their classrooms. As one of the pre-

service teachers shared,

Once my teacher corrected the word “colour” I wrote on my test. She

said it had to be “color” without the letter “u”. She then said that if I

used the letter “u”, that was British English not American. Almost in

every lesson, my teachers rarely mentioned British English. Thus, I think

American English is the standard one. I know that there is British English

but I do not really pay attention to it since I do not use it in school. (Mita,

3rd

meeting).



Nevertheless after having a series of discussions at World Englishes class,

all pre-service teachers changed their beliefs. At the end of the course, none of

them considers American or British English as the best varieties. They have

come to acknowledge the existence of other varieties of English. Following

quotes taken from the written reflective papers and the classroom discussions

illustrate their new beliefs:

When I joined the World Englishes Class, I learned that actually English

itself is formed from many other languages. The word like “dog” which I

believed as the word in English, actually came from different language.

This knowledge washed out my prejudice that British English was the

original and the Standard English (Via, Final Reflective Paper).

I have learned that that there are many varieties in this world, not only

the American and British English. Even in Britain itself, people in

Liverpool have different kind of English compared to the variety used in

Manchester. American and British English are popular because of their

power (in politic and economic) and the huge number of the users (Fefe,

14th

meeting).

Other varieties of English are something that we should keep since every

variety reflects the unique local culture that needs to be preserved. I

learn not to judge which one is better than other (Kristin, 4th

meeting).

When asked how to bring their new beliefs into the classroom, all

participants in general stated that they would use American/British English while


introducing non-American/British-English varieties to their students. The

American and British English were still necessary as these were the common

international varieties widely used by the English speakers. As a participant

wrote in her reflective paper,

It is not because American English is better than other variations, but it

is because American variety is used widely in the world. In my opinion, in

other to be able to communicate with other people in the world, our

students have to know both local variety such as Singaporean English or

Indian English as well as the international variety such as American

English (Via, Final Reflective Paper).

Another reason was because these varieties were written and published in

dictionaries so learners could find the references easily. As Ida commented,

I think it is still necessary to use American and British English in

classrooms because only American and British English can be found in

dictionaries. But I will not force my students to use American dictionaries

only. They can refer to other dictionaries (Ida, Final Reflective Paper).

Some participants also mention the aspects of accent and pronunciation

during 4th

-classroom- discussions. They were in the opinion that which accent to

be used is not really important cause “accent is part of our identity” (Dila), “it is

difficult for our students to imitate foreigners‟ accents” (Rosa/Silvi), and “the

most important aspect is mutual understanding” (Henny/ Ida/Fefe).



To acknowledge both the international and local varieties, a student-

teacher proposed the following classroom activities,

I will teach my students by using American English but I plan also to

introduce other varieties of English. I should show them some videos of

people using Singaporean English or Canadian English. So that they also

know the other varieties of English existing in this world and later they

can choose which varieties should be used in particular contexts. (Fefe,

Final Reflective Paper).

It is an intriguing discussion when people try to decide which variety of

English should be taught in EFL classroom. If, for instance, only Singlish is

taught in Singapore, it might not be problematic for Singaporeans because

Singlish is intelligible to them. However, teaching Singlish only might limit the

learners‟ ability to communicate with other speakers as Singlish is unintelligible

to English speakers outside of Singapore (McArthur, 2004; Farrell and Martin,

2009). Nevertheless teaching inner circle varieties only might be problematic as

well because it does not acknowledge the development of other varieties in the

world.

Thus, the appropriate way, according to Mckay (2002, p. 128) is “to be

culturally sensitive to the diversity of contexts in which English is taught and

used”. To this, Renandya (2012, p. 19) gave an example: “When teaching a

group of business people from Thailand who have business dealings with

business people from Singapore, it makes sense to include teaching materials

that depict features of Singapore English commonly used by Singaporeans in

business settings”. Exposing learners to different Englishes, just like what Fefe


had suggested, might be beneficial for learners as this can add the learners‟

knowledge and develop their positive attitudes towards other varieties of English.

The Use of Students’ Mother Tongue in the EFL Classrooms

The pre-service teachers had similar beliefs about the role of the mother

tongue before and after joining the World Englishes class. They did not change

their prior beliefs. They now, in fact, were more convinced that the students‟

mother tongue should be allowed in EFL classrooms for some reasons such as

explaining instructions and concepts. The reflections below illustrated why the

pre-service teachers held such point of view:

My first language (Indonesian) is completely different in terms of

structure, pronunciation, etc compared to English. I believe learning a

language which is very different from our first language is not easy. The

pronunciation may be too difficult. The sentences written on the textbooks

published by American publishers such as McGill and Penguin Books are

probably hard to understand especially if the readers are still in their

elementary or pre-intermediate level. This is the time for the mother

tongue or first language to come as a helper. Helper here means a bridge

for students to understand the message or ideas easily. I am not saying

that the teachers who use their students‟ native language do not have

enough English competence to explain in English. However I believe that

when the explanation is given in the mother tongue, students will

understand it better (Mita, Intial Reflective Paper).

How could we teach in English for people who do not have any or who

have little experiences with English before? Of course they will not



understand what we are talking about. At the end, the learning process

will be useless. So it is better to use Indonesian for explaining difficult

concepts or ideas (Sonia, Initial Reflective Paper)

In sharing their (prior) beliefs related to the use of students‟ mother

tongue, all participants mostly referred to their learning experiences in secondary

school education when their English teachers did not allow the use of the native

language. Their prior „painful‟ learning experiences had actually shaped their

beliefs towards the use of the mother tongue. The following comments by the

participants bear testimony to this belief:

When I was in senior high school, my teacher kept forcing us to speak in

English. It is fine for some of my friends because they have already had

an ability to listen and speak in English. But it was a burden for me and

some other friends. Such burden led us think that English was hard to

learn. We became lazy to learn English. (Henny)

I believe that mother tongue is still important because they [students] are

not the native speakers of English. When I was in my first year of Junior

High School, I had a teacher who explained everything in English.

Almost all students in this class did not really understand about the

instructions and explanations provided so we began to ask many things.

But then we found some difficulties in asking questions because we were

not fluent enough, had many language errors, and did not have many

English vocabularies. At the end, our English teacher allowed us to ask

in Bahasa Indonesia. So in my opinon, the use of mother tongue is needed


for some cases, such as giving instruction or explaining some difficult

subjects (e.g. grammar) because it helps the students to understand more

about the lesson. (Rosa)

However, all participants also stated that the use of mother tongue should

be done with caution for it to be effective. For instance, teachers used their

students‟ native language only when they had to give instructions and explain

difficult concepts. Fewer mother tongues should be used when teachers met

students with high level of proficiency to avoid over-reliance. This point of view

can be detected in the comment below:

For beginners, it is okay if teachers use their mother tongue as much as

possible so their students easily understand the instruction or concept

easily. But for advanced learners, teachers should reduce the use of their

mother tongue. (Setiawan, 8th

meeting).

When they became teachers in the future, these student-teachers stated

that they would use students‟ mother tongue in their language classrooms. The

following utterances reaffirm this finding:

When I become a teacher, I will use mother tongue in my classroom but

not all the time because if I only use mother tongue, my students will not

be able to speak in English. I will use mother tongue for example to

explain something that my students do not understand although I explain

it two or three times (Rosa, Final Reflective Paper).



When I teach later, I will let my students speak in Bahasa Indonesia in

some circumstances. I will not make them feel frustrated because of the

language barrier. I want them to understand the materials, yet I want

them to be able to speak in English. So, if they ask me about the materials,

I will apply code mixing between Indonesian and English to answer their

questions (Fefe, Final Reflective Paper),

It is interesting to note the participants of this study were against the use

of English-only-policy since the beginning of the semester. Recent studies

indeed show that arguments against using students‟ native language in classroom

can easily be refuted. There are empirical evidences to support the claim that

monolingual tenet is a fallacy. A study done by Storch and Wigglesworth (2003),

for example, shows that students‟ mother tongue can give students “cognitive

support“ during language analysis and in the completion of cognitively

demanding tasks. Moreover it allows students to work at cognitively higher

levels and may be a “normal psychological process” (p.768).

The participants of this study mentioned that they would not discourage

the use of students‟ mother tongue. However it is important to note that the

students‟ mother tongue should be used selectively and not be seen as an easy

option (Hawks, 2001). The use of the mother tongue should be limited or

controlled. The higher the level of proficiency of the students, the use of

students‟ mother tongue should be reduced.

The Best English Language Teacher

At the beginning of the semester, when the participants were asked to

write down what they think about the best English language teacher, they all

claimed that the best teacher was native speaker of English meaning someone


from the inner-circle counties. They had this belief because native speakers were

born with the language so it was assumed that native speakers could become

“perfect” English teachers because they taught their own language.

In my opinion, the best teachers of English are native speakers of English

because they have this language as their mother tongue. They can

become the best teachers because they are able to pronounce all words

correctly and to explain the grammar rule. (Yuni, Initial Reflective Paper)

I believe that the best teacher of English is the native speaker of English

(American, British, Australian). They speak using that language everyday

so automatically they know that language well. Sometimes when I see a

native speaker, I think I can learn many things from them about their

language even though they are not language teachers (Sonia, Initial

Reflective Paper).

I believe that the best teachers of English are „white‟ people. English is

their language so they know it better than any other speakers. Many

course advertisements in magazine or in newspaper also claim that they

have white people as their language teachers. That is why I think that the

best English teachers are white people (Setiawan, Initial Reflective

Paper).

There has been a long-standing myth in ELT that native English language

speakers automatically make for better teachers. Thus despite the facts that the

majority of ESL/EFL teachers in the world are non‐native English‐speaking



teachers, these teachers are still considered less credible and less competent

teachers than their native counterparts. This is what Philipson (1992) calls as the

native-speaker fallacy where native teachers are often judged based on their own

skill in using the language, not on the basis of their specialized knowledge or

their teaching ability (Johnston, 2003).

In reality, as Medgyes (1994) has observed, non-native teachers have

some strengths in EFL classrooms: effective providers of learning strategies,

better anticipators of language learning difficulties, being sensitive to language

learners‟ needs, and facilitators of language learning as a result of a shared

mother tongue. According to Mahboob et.al. (2004), native speakers are not

better teachers than non-native speakers. Proficiency, educational background

and teaching skills are the points that should be taken into account.

Over the course of the semester, my student-teachers had some

discussions on the native-speaker fallacy as proposed by Philipson (1992). At the

end of the semester, they apparently had changed their prior beliefs. All

participants now consider anyone can become good language teachers as long as

they have knowledge and skills in teaching English. Some student-teachers even

said that non-native speakers were better in some cases because they knew better

about their students, could acknowledge local cultures in their teaching, could

speak in the students‟ mother tongue, and learnt English for more than 10 years

so they knew the language system very well. The following remarks illustrate the

paradigm shift of these pre-service teachers:

Even though native speakers use English every day; most of them cannot

clearly explain the rules or convention of the language. In my opinion,


the best teacher is someone who knows his/her teaching material well

and can explain it clearly to his/her students (Ida,8th

meeting)

To become an English teacher, someone needs to master the language

and the skills of teaching the language. What will happen if a native

speaker who does not know how to make a well-organized writing teach

writing as a subject? So I think in this case, it is better to employ a non –

native teacher who understands how to make a well-organized writing

(Via, Final Reflective Paper)

Overall, all participants now had more confidence as non-native speakers

who would become language teachers in the future. One of the participants (Mita)

wrote in her reflective paper, “In my future class, I will teach English confidently

even though I am not a native English speaking teacher. This is because now I

know that non-native teachers have some benefits over the native teachers”.

Another participant (Sonia) stated in our 8th

class meeting, “Everybody can be a

good English teacher too as long as he/she has fulfilled all requirements needed”.

Some participants who would like to open English courses in the future

also say that they would choose language teacher who had good knowledge and

skills on language and teaching. All said that the issue of nativeness would not

influence their decision.

In general, nowadays, non-native teachers are beginning to see

themselves and to be viewed by others as equal partners in the ELT profession.

At some schools, native- and nonnative-English-speaking teachers even

collaborate with each other. This kind of positive attitude and confidence has to



be continuously developed by the participants of this study. As non-native

speakers who will become teachers of English, they need to improve their

professional knowledge and skills continuously. Qualified teachers can surely

contribute in meaningful ways to the field of ELT.

Conclusion

At the beginning of course, 11 pre-service teachers involved in this study

had some prior beliefs which were not in line with the development of EIL.

However at the end of the course, these pre-service teachers did change their

points of view. This might happen because the participants‟ beliefs were taken

into account from the very beginning so I, as the instructor, knew my students‟

prior beliefs and the World Englishes course could be structured in order to best

align these beliefs with the pedagogical practices and knowledge they would

need to learn in World Englishes class.

Another possibility was because the pre-service teachers themselves were

required to observe their beliefs at the beginning of the course so they became

aware that they held intuitive beliefs about teaching and learning formed on the

basis of their experiences as learners and that sometimes these beliefs were not in

line with the development of ELT. In addition, throughout the course and at the

end of the semester, these pre-service teachers had systematic opportunities to

articulate their beliefs. Classroom discussions and reflective assignments, as

applied in this study, were some of the techniques that could assist pre-service

teachers in examining their beliefs, reflecting on them and detecting possible

fallacies.

The results of this study suggest administrators or teachers of teacher

education program pay attention to the issues of pre-teachers‟ beliefs. By taking


pre-service teachers‟ beliefs into account from the very beginning, teacher

education courses could be organized in order to change prior beliefs which are

not necessary for pre-service teachers‟ future teaching careers. If student-

teachers‟ beliefs are ignored, teacher education courses might have little chance

of effecting change in their students‟ prior beliefs. At the same time, pre-service

teachers should also be asked to find out and examine their own prior beliefs.

Detecting incongruence within one‟s beliefs and comparing and evaluating them

can be very important springboard for belief and general conceptual change.



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Notes for contributors

THAITESOL Journal is a semiannual, international, peer-reviewed official journal of

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References in the text should be ordered alphabetically and contain the

name of the author and the year of publication, e.g. (Thomas, 2001).

For direct quotations include the relevant page number(s), e.g.

(Thomas, 2001, p.34).

Tables, figures or diagrams should be numbered consecutively and

included in the relevant part of the text. Each should have an

explanatory title.

Numbers up to and including ten should be spelt out and numbers over

ten should be expressed as figures.

Standard of

English:

Before submitting articles for consideration, authors are solely

responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts have been thoroughly

proofread and edited to achieve the appropriate standard of

professional English. Thailand TESOL should not be expected to

improve the quality of the writers' English. Manuscripts that do not

meet this requirement will be rejected or returned to the authors for

revision before the peer review process is undertaken.

SUBMISSION OF THE MANUSCRIPT

Submit the manuscript to:

Maneepen Apibalsri

Managing Editor

Faculty of Education,

Rungsit University,

52/347 Muang-Ake, Phaholyothin Rd.,

Lak-Hok, Muang, Pathumthani 12000

Thailand.

E-mail: [email protected]

Thailand TESOL Organizationunder the Patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani

Vadhana Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra

Thai tesol journal vol.26 no.1 june 2013

Education

Transcript of Thai tesol journal vol.26 no.1 june 2013