Register Journal

English Language Attrition Levels and Language Maintenance Efforts among Indonesian Non-English Department Students

2024-03-26T11:44:30+00:00

In the EFL context, the primary linguistic environment for learners is a formal classroom in which they receive input, feedback, and opportunities to practice with teachers and other learners. However, as learners graduate from schools, they might no longer have access to such an environment and thus be deprived of the main intake to support acquisition and retention, which makes them susceptible to language attrition. This study aims to explore the levels of attrition experienced by 165 multilingual non-English department students 30 months after graduating from their secondary schools, the possible factors associated with attrition, and the predictive power of some language maintenance efforts (LMEs) on English attrition. The participants took standardized English tests, that is, Test 1 and Test 2 administered within a 24-month interval and responded to a questionnaire about LMEs. A paired t-test was used to establish a link between attrition level and the identified factors. A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to determine the predictive power of LMEs for attrition. The results show that learners with different proficiency levels experience different levels of attrition. Factors like attitude and motivation showed different degrees of correlation with attrition. A negative correlation was found in the three dimensions of LMEs: entertainment, literacy activity, and academic activity. Contrary to popular literature on first- and second-language attrition, the dimension of social interaction has a very low predictive power for foreign-language attrition.

Probing Socio-Pragmatic Skills of L2 Learners of Indonesian on Japanese Politeness

2024-02-01T06:37:13+00:00

This study explores how learners of Japanese as a foreign language in Indonesia comprehend and use Japanese politeness. Many linguists mentioned that socio-pragmatic skills can be developed in a classroom. This skill is essential for L2 learners to master communication in L2, such as how to build and express turn-taking, eye contact and give attention to the interlocutors. Therefore, this study aims to prove whether Indonesian learners of Japanese could use appropriate socio-pragmatic skills, focusing on Japanese politeness in a conversation setting. The subjects are 120 students from two universities whose level of Japanese skills is on the A2-B1 CERF level. We use the role-play method and set a one-on-one conversation/interview setting. Our findings demonstrate that most Indonesian students had difficulty comprehending the concept of ‘Tachiba’, meaning the place where one stands in a Japanese conversation. Most student participants could not yet grasp the social and interaction level. However, in some cases, Japanese politeness in context meaning is found.

Indonesian Suburban Area EFL Teachers' Perspectives on Translanguaging

2024-01-31T13:07:15+00:00

Bilinguals and multilingual people use translanguaging, which is the technique of using different linguistic components or forms of independent languages to improve communication. When incorporated into teaching methods, translanguaging strategies enable educators to bridge linguistic gaps and support the learning of a foreign language. Despite the perceived advantages of translanguaging, variations in teachers' perceptions create ideological barriers, hindering students from fully embracing translanguaging. This study intends to investigate the perspectives of Indonesian teachers teaching in suburban areas on translanguaging in English language instruction in order to obtain a deeper knowledge of this subject. This study used semi-structured interviews using a qualitative research design to go deep into teachers’ insights on the topic. The result of the study shows that the participants had a generally positive perception on translanguaging and used a variety of translanguaging strategies in their teaching methods, such as the use of contextual cues, cooperation, student-centered approaches, and bidirectional translation. The result of this study also shows participants’ perspective on a crucial need to include translanguaging to support low proficiency level EFL students in their classrooms. In addition, the finding reveals teachers’ perspectives on ramifications of translanguaging when it is used in EFL classes. The findings can be valuable for education stakeholders, particularly in suburban areas, guiding design of lessons with translanguaging practices that cater to learners’ needs in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms.

International Posture and Intercultural Awareness: A Survey Study of Indonesian Pre-Service Teachers of English

2024-02-29T22:23:49+00:00

This study intended to investigate Indonesian pre-service English teachers’ International Posture and Intercultural Awareness. It also sought to investigate the extent to which learners' International Posture influenced their Intercultural Awareness. To this end, the study involved 73 learners studying in English Language Education departments at a state university and a private university in Java, Indonesia, in a survey. Through descriptive statistics on SPSS, the study found a quite high level of Intergroup Approach-Avoidance Tendencies (IAAT), the first dimension of International Posture. It also found a moderate-high level of Interest in International Vocation and Activities (IIVA), the second dimension of International Posture. Furthermore, learners’ awareness of their own cultures and those of others was generally high though some of the participants' awareness of specific aspects of other cultures was reported to be low. Using multiple regression, the study found that generally, learners' International Posture significantly influenced their Intercultural Awareness, accounting for 22.3% of the total variance in Intercultural Awareness. However, from the beta coefficient analysis, it was found that only learners' IAAT significantly influenced their Intercultural Awareness in a positive direction. Learners' IIVA did not significantly influence it. The findings highlighted the need to nurture second/foreign language (L2) learners’ International Posture and conduct further investigation on the possible impacts of learners’ International Posture on learners’ intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in general.

A Qualitative Analysis of WhatsApp Integration on Speaking Vocabulary Development

2024-02-13T08:18:55+00:00

The use of mobile devices is common in the development of language learning, and it has remarkable effects on fostering language instruction. The present study is a qualitative attempt to determine the learners’ attitudes on integrating m-learning in developing the vocabulary of speaking performance. The study used a qualitative research method to attain the data. 25 EFL learners were the participants of the study. Semi-Structured interviews were used to gather the learners’ responses. The findings suggest that learners endorsed the m-learning app to develop vocabulary learning for speaking performance. More specifically, the analysis of the data exhibited that the use of WhatsApp deemed usleful in the retention of vocabualry for spoken proficiency.

Unraveling Gender-related differences in Compliment exchanges: the case of Hijazi Speakers

2023-12-09T04:21:05+00:00

This study examined the socio-pragmatic aspects of complimenting behavior among Hijazi speakers of Al Taif City, Saudi Arabia. The study explored the effect of gender on complimenting behavior, in an attempt to foster the shortage of literature addressing issues related to complimenting behavior in Arabic societies, particularly Hijazi case. Trained investigators collected the naturally accruing data through spontaneous compliments and compliment responses via ethnographic fieldwork. Unlike similar previous studies, Hijazi men and women were found to offer nearly a similar number of compliments regardless of gender. However, a probable difference in the syntactic patterns of each gender was reported where males surpassed females in their use of implicit compliments lacking positive semantic carriers. Regardless of gender, the interlocutors were more inclined to agree with the compliments than disagree, and acceptance was the most opted-for agreement response strategy. The rapidly growing Western influence seemed to have an influence on complimenting behavior. The findings of this study were likely to fill a certain gap in the documentation of complimenting behavior among Saudi men and women, a society that has shown indications of being somewhat less conservative than before. This study can be extended to other cultures and replicated with inclusion of other sociocultural factors such as age and relationship.

A Corpus-Based Lexical Coverage of Coursebooks in Nigeria: A Case Study

2024-01-23T14:40:10+00:00

Since vocabulary is one of the most important components of reading comprehension, the relationship between the two has been studied in great detail. The significance of this relationship lies in the fact that learners' vocabulary size and the degree of coverage of the word families of the intended content are closely correlated with their ability to understand the context and the text. This study examined the lexical coverage of a corpus of 6,802,300 words from the first-year course books of the National Open University of Nigeria. With Anthony's AntWordProfiler software, we analyzed the lexical coverage of the corpus using the Lexical Frequency Profiling approach. The current study used Nation's (2012) BNC/COCA to determine the necessary vocabulary size for course book comprehension. The corpus study revealed that in order to reach 95% and 98% of the entire course book corpus, respectively, 5000 and 11000 word-families were required. However, vocabulary size needed for comprehension of each disciplinary field varied greatly, with the hard sciences having a significantly higher lexical demand as compared to the other fields. This means that students need a larger vocabulary to interact with and understand the course books, especially in the hard sciences. It therefore recommended that materials writers and instructors consider the specific disciplinary vocabulary needs in course books. Similarly, due to disciplinary differences, more specific instructions and glossaries are needed for first-year university students to have a better understanding of course books, especially hard science course books. The study demonstrated the significance of corpus-based approaches in the analysis of language learning materials. Overall, the study underlined the importance of sufficient vocabulary for reading comprehension.