#55, Article: Stirrers and settlers for the primary classroom
"Teaching in the primary classroom is very different from teaching teens or adults because of the amount of energy children have! Knowing how to channel this energy, or when to…
#55, Article: ‘Factors and Problems of Teaching English as Second Language at Rural Areas’ by Nukesh Yellapu
Factors and Problems of Teaching English as Second Language at Rural Areas for +1 Students in Andhra Pradesh
Nukesh Yellapu, M.A.,B.Ed.
With the long and varied experience of teaching English to young students in rural areas of Andhra Pradesh at +1 level, the columnist would like to share some of the vengeances and their probable remedies in teaching English as second language. The main aim of the essay is to dispel the illusion of English language learning. It tells that English can be learnt comfortably even by the people who were born and bred up in adverse conditions.
Most of the students accomplish their schooling in their mother tongue i.e. Telugu. Though they have attained heaps of marks in core subjects, they remain very poor at English still. The students have an unknown fear and fever over English all these years. Now, let us examine some of the various factors which make English as a souring grape for rural students even today. (more…)
#54, Research Paper: ‘The Effect of Monolingual, Bilingual, and Bilingualized Dictionaries on Vocabulary Comprehension and Production’ by Abbas Ali Zarei
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of monolingual, bilingual, and bilingualized dictionaries on vocabulary comprehension and production of Iranian EFL learners of English at different proficiency levels. A total number of 270 students at Tabriz Azad University (nine groups of 30 members each) participated in the study. Three groups were elementary, three intermediate, and three advanced level learners. At each level of proficiency, all the three groups were taught the same words, but each group used a different kind of dictionary. At the end of the experimental period, all three groups (at each level) received two posttests, a multiple-choice test and a fill-in-the-blank test. Six independent one-way ‘Analysis of Variance’ (ANOVA) procedures were run to compare the means of the groups on receptive and productive vocabulary tests. Results indicated that different types of dictionaries are appropriate for vocabulary comprehension and production of learners at different levels of proficiency
Key terms: monolingual – bilingual – bilingualized dictionary – vocabulary comprehension – vocabulary production
Introduction
A dictionary is amongst the first things a foreign language learner purchases (Baxter 1980), and learners carry their dictionaries around, not grammar books. But, there has been a great deal of discussion as to which dictionary type is a better educational tool for foreign learners; monolingual, bilingual or bilingualized. The question sounds simple, but the answer is not. Baxter prefers his students to use a monolingual dictionary. Snell-Hornby (1991) has a similar preference. But, Atkins (1985) believes that learners prefer L2-L1 bilingual dictionaries because they satisfy learners’ immediate needs. A fairly recent development is bilingualized or semi-bilingual dictionaries. Nakamoto (1995) states that the bilingualized dictionary combines explanations in L2 with translation equivalents. Thus, it should satisfy both language teachers who insist that foreign learners should use dictionaries of the target language and learner-users who complain that such monolingual dictionaries are too difficult. (more…)