A Need for a Substantive Change in Tertiary EFL Education

As Saudi Arabia is increasing its international influence and educational collaboration at a global scale, promoting the importance of English language teaching and learning in basic and tertiary education has been more prioritized in the country. Diverse programs are offered in universities, incorporating foundation year programs and curricula, which have become a must for anyone passionate about his/her future, and a strategic necessity for any university that aims at preparing its graduates for their career life. This paper investigates the birth of one of the newest approaches in EFL curriculum design that tries to re-launch the link between labor markets and demands of academic requirements, global society, on the one hand, and the learners’ needs on the other hand, and questions the opinions of foundation year students who completed one academic year of the newly launched curriculum in an English Language Institute at a Saudi public university, data collection employed a large-scale survey (n = 2000) that purposefully explores the students’ opinion on the new curriculum. Results obtained from 371 respondents reveal students’ satisfaction toward a clear improvement in their language skills, specifically presentation, vocabulary, and writing, and joint agreement that the course was autonomy supportive. It was also significant that the course increased the students’ intrinsic motivation and appreciation of the challenges and inspiration this curriculum had given to them. This paper is an extended piece of knowledge for further research. It provides an illustration of students’ deep thoughts on their target language needs for policymakers and curriculum designers to consider.

A Need for a Substantive Change in Tertiary EFL Education

As Saudi Arabia is increasing its international influence and educational collaboration at a global scale, promoting the importance of English language teaching and learning in basic and tertiary education has been more prioritized in the country. Diverse programs are offered in universities, incorporating foundation year programs and curricula, which have become a must for anyone passionate about his/her future, and a strategic necessity for any university that aims at preparing its graduates for their career life. This paper investigates the birth of one of the newest approaches in EFL curriculum design that tries to re-launch the link between labor markets and demands of academic requirements, global society, on the one hand, and the learners’ needs on the other hand, and questions the opinions of foundation year students who completed one academic year of the newly launched curriculum in an English Language Institute at a Saudi public university, data collection employed a large-scale survey (n = 2000) that purposefully explores the students’ opinion on the new curriculum. Results obtained from 371 respondents reveal students’ satisfaction toward a clear improvement in their language skills, specifically presentation, vocabulary, and writing, and joint agreement that the course was autonomy supportive. It was also significant that the course increased the students’ intrinsic motivation and appreciation of the challenges and inspiration this curriculum had given to them. This paper is an extended piece of knowledge for further research. It provides an illustration of students’ deep thoughts on their target language needs for policymakers and curriculum designers to consider.

Challenges of Implementing Technology in ESL Writing Classrooms: A Case Study

The present study aimed to investigate the challenges and barriers encountered by ESL teachers when they implement technological tools in writing classroom. It also explored teachers’ perceptions towards integrating technology in writing classroom. The study involved observing a number of writing classes from different levels at an English Language Institute at a southwestern university in the United States. Next, an interview was conducted with one of the observed teachers to enquire about implementing technology in the classroom and reasons behind possible challenges. The study revealed some challenges that hindered or prevented teachers from applying technology in writing classroom. Such challenges were technical problems, students’ attitudes towards using technology, lack of time, lack of computers and other devices, and lack of technical support. Moreover, the study showed that teachers had positive perceptions toward using technology to facilitate teaching process. Pedagogical implications and solutions to overcome technical issues are provided for ESL/EFL writing teachers and policy makers.

Data-Informed Educational Decision Making to Improve Teaching and Learning Outcomes of EFL

For many justifications, the collection, analysis, and use of educational data are central to the evaluation and improvement of students’ progress and learning outcomes. The use of data in educational evaluation and decision making are expected to span all layers—from the institution, teachers, students, and classroom levels, providing a longitudinal record of each student’s performance over time. Such records/data can play a crucial role by giving students, teachers, parents, and stakeholders a scalable and efficient platform that track performance and lead to informed valid enhancement decisions. This paper provides a description of a proposed tracking system. Developed by an English Language institute. It has multiple key features and processes that can monitor the progress of students from day 1 till completing their study. It is a comprehensive integration of student data management and a monitoring system. Such data makes it possible to see if students are achieving their academic goals and administrator could see, as soon as possible, if a student is not progressing. The system is also useful in helping the institute to plan their educational activities every semester and improve data communication between administrator, teachers, and students.

Online graded assessment of Saudi EFL learners during the Covid-19 pandemic: A successful implication of TAM

This paper highlights a successful experience of assessing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learner’s proficiency at Yanbu English Language Institute (YELI), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the Covid-19 restrictions. To investigate the existing problem various interventions were introduced such as replacing Google Classroom with Black Board, implementing online proctoring during the exams, and portfolios. The provision of online assessments was a forced response to Covid-19 restrictions, which brought many challenges and risks without any prior experience and precedence. Addressing these challenges and making well-informed decisions that can potentially affect the performance and career of hundreds of learners, requires judicious justification and reasoning. The paper reflects on the well-informed strategy TAM used to deploy and address the challenges of online graded assessments effectively during the current pandemic for EFL learners to continue their progress toward their specializations while maintaining academic rigor and quality. This paper also intends to provide an insight to language teachers, practitioners, and policymakers to tackle similar challenges in the future. One among many other objectives of this research was to address the role of digital assessment for effective teaching, learners’ motivation, achievements, and transferability.

Cooperative strategies and listening comprehension: The cases of Jigsaw and Missing information techniques

This study examined the impacts of the jigsaw and missing information activities on pre-intermediate EFL learners' listening comprehension. Accordingly, 69 homogenous participants (17 to 19 years old) were chosen from a private English language institute. Following the selection of the intended subjects, they were randomly assigned to one of three equivalent groups: two experimental groups and one control group. Then the researcher administered a researcher-made listening pre-test to the three groups and then taught the experimental groups using the jigsaw and missing information activities during 15 sessions. Participants in the control group, on the other hand, were not given the above instruction. The modified version of the pre-test was performed as the post-test at the end of the intervention to determine the effects of the treatment on the students' listening progress. After running one-way ANOVA and Scheffe Post Hoc Tests, it was reavealed that that both jigsaw and missing informations strategies improved EFL learners' listening comprehension. In the end, the research implications were explained and some recommendations for further studies were suggested. Keywords: Cooperative Strategies, Jigsaw, Missing Information, Listening

Saudi EFL Students’ Perceptions of Online English Achievement Exams in the Era of COVID-19

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, assessment and testing processes have been shifted to an online environment. Therefore, this unexpected shift requires more recent research in the field of online assessment. Based on this requirement, the present research aimed to explore female EFL students’ perceptions of an online English achievement exam by focusing on these dimensions: availability and accessibility, instructions, and mode of delivery. The participants were preparatory year students at the English Language Institute (ELI) at the University of Jeddah. To serve the research aim, the research used a mixed-methods approach. Students (n =49) participated in the quantitative phase by answering an online survey and 2 students were interviewed in the qualitative phase. The quantitative data revealed that the students had a positive perception of the online exam availability, accessibility, instruction, and mode of delivery. More particularly, the qualitative data explained that the clear online exam instructions and suitable mode of delivery have significantly improved these positive perceptions.

The Perception of Saudi Students toward Using Facilitation Strategies in Digital Classrooms

Instructors use various strategies to facilitate learning and actively engage students in online courses. In this study, we examined students’ perception of the helpfulness of some different facilitation strategies used by instructors to establish instructors’ presence, instructors’ connection, engagement, and learning in online classrooms. 102 undergraduate students taking online courses due to COVID-19 pandemic at an English language institute at a Saudi university, responded to the web survey. Among the facilitation strategies, instructors being present in the discussion forum rated the highest in two constructs (instructors’ presence and students’ engagement). While video-based instructor introduction rated the highest for instructors’ connectedness. In addition, students found video-based course orientation was the most effective strategy to enhance online learning. Analysis of variance used to detect differences between gender, status, and age on all four constructs measured. No statistically significant differences were noticed for any one of the four latent constructs concerning discipline for the level of education and age. However, there was a significant difference between young and adult learners. Adult students had a stronger perception of using facilitation strategies to establish and enhance the four constructs than young students had.

Flipped classroom model and self-efficacy in an Iranian English as a foreign language context: A gender-based study

This study aimed to investigate the impact of the flipped classroom model on students’ self-efficacy and the difference in self-efficacy between males and females using this model. In order to accomplish this, 66 advanced participants were selected from a private English language institute. They were divided into two equal groups, namely experimental (flipped classroom) and control (traditional) group. The students’ self-efficacy was scored before and after the intervention with the Self-Efficacy Survey. The results indicated an increase in their average self-efficacy score with the flipped classroom while the traditional classroom decreased their average score. When the genders were analyzed separately, the males demonstrated a decrease in self-efficacy while the females indicated an increase while utilizing the flipped classroom. In light of these results, some recommendations have been made.