TESOL Today

A Content Analysis of Exploring Trends and Dynamics of English Language Pedagogy in Engineering Departments

2024-04-28T03:47:39-06:00

English language pedagogy has shifted from a broad to a specialized pattern in the past several decades. The aim of the present study is to examine the pedagogical landscape of the English language in engineering departments. The study demonstrates a remarkable prevalence of authors, focusing on the significance of independent investigation in the field by assessing various aspects such as authorship, years of publication, involvement of the countries where the studies were conducted, and the methodologies employed in the studies. A temporal analysis reveals an emphasis on studies during 2020-2022, suggesting increased concern and responsiveness to specific issues in English pedagogy in engineering departments. In terms of countries, Indonesia, China, and Malaysia emerge as substantial contributors, highlighting their dynamic involvement in English language instruction in engineering departments. Qualitative methodologies dominate, acknowledging the nuanced nature of language teaching in engineering and enabling a profound exploration of instructional intricacies. In summary, this content analysis provides insights into the distribution, trends, and preferences in teaching English in engineering fields. The prevalence of individual authorship, temporal clustering, geographical concentrations, and the dominance of qualitative methods collectively enrich the understanding of this dynamic research landscape.

Errors in the English Article System Among EFL Learners: Evidence from the Kurdistan Region - Iraq

2024-06-11T14:19:30-06:00

The identification of the sources and types of students’ errors in the use of the English article system is beneficial in assisting them to overcome such problems. This study aims to investigate the types and sources of article errors made by Kurdish EFL learners. The data was collected from 61 third-year university students who were studying English at the time of the present study. The types of article errors were analysed based on surface structure taxonomy (SST). Contrastive and error analyses were adopted to analyse the sources of article errors. The study findings suggest that the students committed different types of errors in the use of the English article system, namely, substitution, omission, and addition. Omission errors were the most frequent type of article errors, while substitution errors were the least frequent ones. The sources of errors are divided into two categories: inter-lingual and intra-lingual. Analysis of the student's written samples indicates that most of the errors in the articles are attributed to the target language itself. The implications of the study suggest that teachers should pay more attention to the acquisition of the English article system. Limitations and future research considerations are discussed in the article.

Kurdish EFL Undergraduates’ Academic Writing: Discussing the Main Writing Difficulties and Potential Solutions

2024-05-06T15:46:22-06:00

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) lecturers in the Kurdistan Region - Iraq (KRI) often report poor academic essay quality among Kurdish EFL undergraduates. The purpose of this study was therefore to determine the challenges and difficulties Kurdish English-majoring undergraduates encounter in their academic writing. Through writing 60 essays by the undergraduates in three public universities in KRI and interviewing 12 lecturers, we explored writing difficulties and potential suggestions to enhance undergraduates’ writing skills. We found that students made numerous grammatical, spelling, and capitalization errors. Additionally, many of the students also struggled to write proper introduction and conclusion paragraphs in their essays. The outcomes of this article suggest that students need to read more frequently and organize their ideas for effective writing. Suggesting university programmes, various ways of teaching by lecturers in EFL classes, and writing modules were the most repetitive recommendations by the interviewees meant to enhance students’ academic writing skills. Practical implications, Limitations, further research considerations, and implications are discussed in the article.

English Language Education in North and East Syria “Rojava” Today: Challenges and Opportunities

2024-07-02T02:59:59-06:00

The focus of this study is to investigate the challenges that English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners in Rojava face in learning English language and the opportunities to overcome the challenges. To this end, a qualitative inquiry was used to collect the data via a face-to-face interview with four experienced English language teachers and one language policy maker from the Ministry of Education. The study found that there are a series of factors that make learning English challenging including lack of English teachers, lack of motivation and family non-involvement in schooling, to name a few. Moreover, a number of formal and informal opportunities are being promoted to overcome these challenges. The opportunities were around preparing English language teaching staff, motivation and family support. Limitations and future research suggestions are discussed in the end of this article.

The Current Scenario of English in Education in Rojava: Policy, Implementation and Implications

2024-07-08T13:41:34-06:00

Recent changes in English language education in Rojava have led to a need for understanding the challenges faced by teachers in Rojava’s universities. This qualitative study combines in-person and online interviews with four English teachers and an analysis of university documents to identify the key challenges in implementing English language policies in Rojava today. The study reveals significant obstacles, including financial constraints, overcrowded classrooms, and concerns about teacher quality. To address these challenges, the study suggests comprehensive training programs for English language teachers, improving their English communication skills, pedagogical training, and technology integration into English language classes. By tackling these issues, Rojava’s universities can improve their English language policies and overall English language education. Limitations and future research suggestions are discussed in the article.

Launching TESOL Today: A New Hub for English Language Education Research

2024-07-03T06:01:39-06:00

As an academician, I have always believed that I have to allocate time for editorial services to profession in the field of my work. That said, I attempted to launch a new journal in the field of English language education in Kurdistan with the help of a public university, but the attempts remained unsuccessful for a number of reasons. My driving interest of working for scientific journals pushed me to work as an editor and reviewer for a few journals over the past few years with the dream of learning how to become familiar with editorial services in the line of my work, and eventually launch a new journal in the field of English language education research. Over the past two decades, an increasing number of Kurdish scholars and researchers have turned their interest and attention into the English language education phenomenon, investigating its learning and teaching in the context of Kurdistan. However, researchers in the field of English language across the region did not have a venue to publish their research findings and contributions with journals specifically designed for the English language education research. The reason for this was that all the journals published by public and private universities publish broadly-defined subjects and disciplines in humanities and social sciences, leaving no specific rooms for English language research only. As such, the main driving force to launch TESOL Today came from the understanding that no journals in the field of TESOL and Applied Linguistics exist neither in Iraq nor in Kurdistan to date. However, it is worth mentioning that TESOL Today doesnot aim to remain within the context of Iraq and Kurdistan. Rather, the journal seeks to publish a wide range of perspectives on English language internationally. Based on this, TESOL Today covers a comprehensive range of topics within the field of English language teaching and learning including, English language planning and policy, innovative methods in English language teaching and learning, curriculum design and materials development, pragmatics instruction in ELT, and technology integration into English language classroom, to name a few.

Responding to the rising scholarly interest in the field of English language, we are launching TESOL Today with the ambition to become a hub for TESOL and Applied Linguistics researchers across the globe. In other words, TESOL Today aims to become an international room for researchers of TESOL and Applied linguistics in the world. We also intend to be a teaching journal to less experienced researchers who work hard to get their research findings published. TESOL Today; therefore, encourages submissions of empirical and theoretical scholarship from younger and novice researchers that contribute to the professional knowledge base of TESOL, promoting a collaborative exchange of ideas that can inform and shape future practice and policy in English language education. The journal is committed to upholding rigorous academic standards while embracing innovative research that challenges traditional paradigms and promotes progressive teaching methods. While it is our hope that TESOL Today will be especially useful to younger scholars, we also encourage seasoned scholars to submit their research findings to TESOL Today. We intend to continue to serving as a prime venue for the development of English language research through publishing original contributions and exciting new research by figures in the field. As such, we humbly feel this journal will play a key part in the increasing academic respectability of researchers all over the world. In doing so, we are committed to bring this journal into a higher level of scholarship and get it indexed by international databases including Clarivate Analytics and Scopus.

In our endeavor, we are fortunate to be supported by an editorial team of members across different countries who work hard in pursuit of the success of TESOL Today. We work together closely to enrich the journal and shape its development, engagement and its future. However, we continue to strive for adding new members to our board. In closing, then, we extend our sincere invitation to TESOL and Applied Linguistics researchers across varying geographical areas around the globe to join us and submit their research and shape TESOL Today into a path-breaking academic journal by addressing different critical questions in the field of TESOL and Applied Linguistics.