Writing Strategies Used by Indonesian EFL Students with Different English Proficiency

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Dian Fajrina ◽  
John Everatt ◽  
Amir Sadeghi

The present study investigates the writing strategies used by 135 Indonesian English Foreign Language undergraduate students with different English proficiency and the relationship between their English proficiency, indicated by students’ receptive vocabulary knowledge, and the quality of text they produced. The writing strategies questionnaire by Petrić and Czárl (2003) was used to analyze participants’ use of strategies in the three stages of writing: pre-writing, drafting, and revising. Each item in the questionnaire was rated on a 5-point Likert scale. The Vocabulary Size Test (Nation & Beglar, 2007) was used as an indicator of participants’ proficiency in English. The participants were also asked to write an essay in English, which was assessed using the ESL Composition Profile of Jacob et al. (1981). The results of the data analysis showed that most of the students applied 15 of the 38 strategies referred to in the questionnaire. Results also indicate no significant differences in the choice of strategies between students with high versus low English proficiency levels. However, participants’ vocabulary size had only a weak positive correlation with their writing quality. The findings aim primarily to inform Writing courses in English Education majors in Indonesia, though they may also be useful for other English learning contexts.

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 187-195
Author(s):  
Rully Raslina Novianti

In investigating learners’ vocabulary mastery, some researchers focused their studies on either receptive or productive vocabulary mastery. This study examines university students’ vocabulary knowledge in Indonesia by using the Vocabulary Level Test (VLT). It also compares the receptive vocabulary size of students who obtained extra hours of English instruction with those who had not. Furthermore, this study also identifies their strategies in enhancing their vocabulary mastery. The 2000-word frequency-band from the receptive version of the VLT and questionnaire are used for data collection. The results show that their receptive vocabulary scores are lower than 2000 words and no significant difference was found between the students who had extra hours of English instruction and those who had not. Then it can be stated that even after they had gained extra hours of English instruction, their average vocabulary knowledge was still lower than the 1000 estimated word level in the VLT. Keywords: vocabulary mastery, Vocabulary Level Test (VLT), English as a Foreign Language (EFL), undergraduate students.  


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamariah Yunus ◽  
Mahani Mohamad ◽  
Bordin Waelateh

Vocabulary knowledge is a key component for literacy skills as well as the development of communication deemed important for students to succeed in university. Gaining adequate receptive vocabulary knowledge would enhance a university student’s comprehension of academic texts. This descriptive study aims to investigate the receptive vocabulary knowledge among English major university students in Malaysia and Thailand.  The sample comprises 80 English major students from Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Malaysia and 86 English major students from Prince Songkla University (PSU), Thailand.  A Vocabulary Size Test (VST) adopted from Nation and Beglar was employed to gather the primary data from the respondents about their receptive vocabulary knowledge. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 was used for data analysis.  Results showed that, on average, UniSZA students had a higher VST score (44.64%) compared to that of PSU students (20.92%).  The higher average score gained by UniSZA students was mainly due to early exposure to formal English education in schools. This study recommends preparing students with explicit academic vocabulary instruction, particularly in the beginning semester of an English programme, to meet the academic and professional needs of English major students in future.   Keywords: Receptive vocabulary, productive vocabulary, Vocabulary Size Test (VST), breadth of vocabulary knowledge, depth of vocabulary knowledge.Cite as: Yunus, K., Mohamad, M., & Waelateh, B. (2016). The breadth of receptive vocabulary knowledge among English major university students. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(1), 7-17.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rully Raslina Novianti

In investigating learners’ vocabulary mastery, some researchers focused their studies on either receptive or productive vocabulary mastery. This study examines university students’ vocabulary knowledge in Indonesia by using the Vocabulary Level Test (VLT). It also compares the receptive vocabulary size of students who obtained extra hours of English instruction with those who had not. Furthermore, this study also identifies their strategies in enhancing their vocabulary mastery. The 2000-word frequency-band from the receptive version of the VLT and questionnaire are used for data collection. The results show that their receptive vocabulary scores are lower than 2000 words and no significant difference was found between the students who had extra hours of English instruction and those who had not. Then it can be stated that even after they had gained extra hours of English instruction, their average vocabulary knowledge was still lower than the 1000 estimated word level in the VLT.Keywords: vocabulary mastery, Vocabulary Level Test (VLT), English as a Foreign Language (EFL), undergraduate students


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-44
Author(s):  
Nor Hazwani Munirah Lateh ◽  
Sarimah Shamsudin ◽  
Abdul Halim Abdul Raof Abdul Raof

One of the challenges for undergraduate students is coping with the demand for English language use at universities. Generally, vocabulary knowledge of learners affects how well learners can function in the language, whereby better vocabulary attainment enables more effective use of the language. Thus, it is vital to understand the vocabulary ability of university students to ensure that their overall English language proficiency could be enhanced. This study explores the receptive vocabulary profile of 35 novice business undergraduates at a public university in Malaysia. The profile was explored in terms of size and level. Two tests were administered -- the Vocabulary Size Test (Nation & Beglar, 2007) and Vocabulary Levels Test (Schmitt, Schmitt, & Clapham, 2001). In terms of size, the results indicate the average was 2971 word families (the maximum known was 3800). This is in line with their vocabulary level which reveals 97% of the students did not reach the mastery level of 3000 word family level i.e. have not acquired adequate vocabulary to be able to use the language. The study offers insights into the profile of receptive vocabulary of novice undergraduate students which could be used to enhance vocabulary teaching and learning at universities.   Keywords: Business undergraduates, receptive vocabulary profile, vocabulary level, vocabulary size, word families   Cite as: Lateh, N. H. M., Shamsudin, S., & Abdul Raof, A. H. (2019). English language receptive vocabulary profile: A case of novice business undergraduate students. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 4(2), 29-44. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol4iss2pp29-44


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 917-934
Author(s):  
Andi Susilo ◽  
Restu Mufanti ◽  
Aris Fitriani

Critical thinking and self-voicing are two demanding skills that facilitate students to produce concise, authorial academic texts. While most writing programs and research have paid much attention to improving students’ writing achievement, less attention is given to promote these two skills in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing classrooms. This article reports a classroom-based study investigating the use of the Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) technique to promote EFL students’ academic writing skills. It particularly examines how the CIRC technique helps to foster students’ critical and self-voicing stance in developing argumentative texts. A participatory qualitative study was employed, involving 64 undergraduate students majoring in English Education. Data were generated from the participants’ writing portfolios, observations, and the teacher’s reflections. The collected data were managed, classified, and analyzed using NVivo 12 to elicit the emerging themes. Drawing on the qualitative content analysis, the results showed that the CIRC technique helped to shape the participants’ critical thinking and self-voicing skills which were consistently demonstrated during the student-centered activities and their writing results. The participants could engage in productive writing processes, such as critical reading, note-taking, summarizing, drafting and revising composition, peer-reviewing, and other related collaborative skills. The findings indicated that the development of students’ critical thinking and self-voicing skills simultaneously affected the quality of their academic writing texts.


Author(s):  
Adela Talbi Hassani

This paper addresses the extent to which technology-based language resources and tools influence the vocabulary development among University students learning English as a foreign language (EFL). The vocabulary development of 184 undergraduate students at the University of xxxxxxxx (xxxxxxx) is studied in terms of the growth of their receptive vocabulary size as well as their use of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) across three years, and any possible correlation between this development and the use of technology is analysed. Findings reveal that for the majority of the population, the highly frequent use of multimedia tools was largely confirmed; however, for most students there was no significant correlation between the use of such resources and the growth pattern of their vocabulary knowledge. Only the low-intermediate students who had just joined the university were the exception, as their use of Internet to search for information or to communicate with others seemed to be significantly correlated to their vocabulary development. These findings have interesting implications for the classroom as they show the high potential of technology-based resources in developing vocabulary especially in environments in which English is taught as a foreign language (FL), and used only in classroom contexts. Learners appear to be "connected" enough and avid of technology based tools; however, they seem to need assistance from instructors to maximize the positive support of such tools on their language learning in general and vocabulary development in particular.


Author(s):  
Adela Talbi Hassani

Purpose: The present study investigated the extent to which background knowledge of the French language could influence English vocabulary learning among EFL university students in Algeria. More specifically, the possible cross-linguistic influence in this context was researched in relation to the growth pattern of the receptive written vocabulary size across the three years of the undergraduate course. Methodology: A cross-sectional research design was used for a total number of 184 EFL Algerian university students. The written receptive vocabulary size was measured using Nation's Vocabulary Size Test (2007) which contained many words with similar orthographic forms as their French equivalents. A comparison between the results of the whole population made it possible to establish the progressive growth pattern from Year 1 to Year 3 of the degree course. Results: Besides a moderate increase of vocabulary size from one proficiency level to the other, and an expected decrease pattern of knowledge from the most frequent English words to the least frequent ones, the positive cross-linguistic influence of French cognates was highly significant as it led to the knowledge of words that were beyond the expected level of most participants. Conclusion/Implication: The facilitative effect of French cognates for EFL learners in Algerian universities is, therefore, an area that instructors and syllabus designers can make use of to maximize the vocabulary learning process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-34
Author(s):  
Yuliana T Wero ◽  
Karmila Machmud ◽  
Nurlaila Husain

This study intends to know the vocabulary size of English Department Students in eight semesters. The population of this research is all students in English Department, specifically in eight semesters (class of 2013). This research used purposive sampling in taking the samples, and there are 21 students as the sample obtained from 122 students as the population. The method of this research is quantitative method. The instruments which the researcher used in collecting the data are fix test to measure how large students’ vocabulary size, that divided into two test; Receptive Vocabulary Size Test (RVST) and Productive Vocabulary Size Test (PVST). In analyzing the data, it is used numerical descriptive statistic to describe students’ vocabulary mastery first, and then calculate the vocabulary size. The result of this research shows that students’ receptive and productive vocabulary size were 3,110 words and 1,841 words respectively or in general around 4,905 words,with the receptive vocabulary knowledge was higher than productive vocabulary knowledge. However, it has shown a low result for the students who learned English for about eight semesters, it should be more than that.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100
Author(s):  
Ismi Narulita Firda ◽  
Intan Azkiyah ◽  
Albiansyah

Abstract   Testing the breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge is needed to see its effect on the vocabulary size of EFL students. The study aims to know at the relationship between the breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge and the vocabulary size of EFL students. This research was conducted in the 8th grade of Trimulia Junior High School Jakarta. This research uses a correlational research design. The sample was 51 EFL learners. The Vocabulary Level Test (VLT) and the Words Associates Test (WAT) were administered in this study. The scores were presented with descriptive statistics for two tests of the breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge. The results showed that the breadth and depth of the vocabulary knowledge test had a negative correlation with the L2 vocabulary size of EFL students. Using Statistic Product moment, the correlation coefficients found at 0.01 for the breadth and 0.11 for depth is included in the very weak category. So, there is a very weak correlation between the tests of breadth and deep vocabulary knowledge and the size of students' vocabulary.   Keywords: breadth, depth, vocabulary knowledge, vocabulary sizes


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khawater Fahad Alshalan

This study aims to investigate how frequently Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) cohesive devices were used as well as their relationship with the writing quality of 100 Saudi EFL undergraduate students in Al Imam Muhammed Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It uses a mixed method approach, where the students’ essays were analyzed using systemic functional linguistics (SFL) in terms of the textual meta-function of cohesive devices. The five types of the cohesive devices are the following: lexical cohesion, reference, conjunction, substitutions, and ellipses. Moreover, each of their subcategories were analyzed in the students’ texts. The NVivo qualitative data analysis software and the corpus analysis (conducted using AntConc) were used to calculate the frequencies of each cohesive device found in the data. The IELTS writing assessment scale was also used to evaluate the students’ writing scores. The results show that the most frequently used device was lexical cohesion, specifically repetition. Saudi EFL undergraduate students tended to repeatedly stay focused on the central idea of the topic. Furthermore, Pearson’s correlation coefficient found a relationship between the students’ writing scores and length of their essays, the use of cohesive ties and the scores, and cohesive ties and the length of the students’ essays. This study recommends that EFL teachers provide Saudi EFL students several cohesive tools in order to help them improve their writing skills and connect their ideas smoothly.


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