The Asian EFL Journal Quarterly
March 2013
Volume 15, Issue 1
Senior Editors:
Published by the Asian EFL Journal Press
Asian EFL Journal Press
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Publisher: Dr. Paul Robertson Chief Editor: Dr. Roger Nunn
Associate Production Editors: Allison Smith and David Litz
Assistant Copy Editors: David Coventry, Catherine Carpenter, Patrice Crysler, Karen Dreste, Amina Hachemi, Norman Jalbuena, Tim Kirk, Barbara Reimer, and Glenys Roberts.
Table of Contents:
Foreword
AEFL Journal Production and Copy Editors….………..………. 6-9
Editorial Opinion Piece
An Argument for Holism – Part 1
Dr. Roger Nunn………..……….………...10-23
Main Articles
1. Said Hamed Al-Saadi and Moses Stephens Samuel……….…... 24-63 - An Analysis of the Writing Needs of Omani EFL Students for the
Development of Grade 11 English Program
2. Mansoor Al Surmi……….………..………..….. 64-86 - The Effect of Narrative Structure on Learner Use of English Tense
and Aspect in an English as a Foreign Language Context
3. Ali Roohani……….……….………..………..….. 87-127 - A Comparative Study of Intuitive-Imitative and Analytic-Linguistic
Approaches to Teaching Pronunciation: Does Age Play a Role?
4. Chuen-Maan Sheu, Pei-Ling Wang, and Lina Hsu……….…………...….. 128-164 - Investigating EFL Learning Strategy Use, GEPT Performance, and
Gender Difference among Non-English Major Sophomores at a Technological University
Table of Contents:
5. Tsu-Chia Hsu……….………...……….………..…..….. 165-189 - Analysis of the Contributions of In-school Language Clubs in Taiwan
6. Huw Jarvis.……….……….………..………..………..….. 190-201 - Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL): Asian Learners and
Users going Beyond Traditional Frameworks
7. John Thurman……….………...………..….………..…..….. 202-245 - Choice and Its Influence on Intrinsic Motivation and Output In
Task-Based Language Teaching
8. Weiqing Wang…………...…...……….………..…..….. 246-270 - The Role of Source Text Translation in a Simulated Summary
Table of Contents:
Book Reviews
1. Innovating EFL Teaching in Asia.
Muller, T., Herder, S., Adamson, J., and Brown, P. S., (Eds).
Reviewed by Jim Bame……….……….……….……… 271-274
2. How To Teach Writing Across The Curriculum: Ages 6-8
S. Palmer (2nded. )
Reviewed by Zahra Hashemi and Amin Borhani…...……….……… 275-278
3. Pragmatics for Language Educators: A Sociolinguistic Perspective.
Virginia LoCastro
Reviewed by Thi-Thuy-Minh Nguyen……….……….……….……… 279-283
4. Planning and Teaching Creatively Within a Required Curriculum for Adult Learners. Anne Burns and Helen de Silva Joyce (Eds.)
Reviewed by Ko-Yin Sung……….……….……… 284-286
Asian EFL Journal Editorial Information………. 287-292
Foreword
By Asian EFL Journal Associate Production and Copy Editors
This first issue of the Asian EFL Journal for 2013 touches upon a number of topics, which are relevant to the field of English language teaching and learning, as well as applied linguistics. With article topics ranging from teaching pronunciation and grammar in the classroom to advances in CALL and studies on translation, this installment includes authors from a number of contexts such as China, Taiwan, Thailand, Iran, Oman and the USA. We expect it will be of great interest to English language professionals across Asia and beyond.
First, in the paper, An Analysis of the Writing Needs of Omani EFL Students for the Development of Grade 11 English Program, Said Hamed Al-Saadi and Moses Stephens Samuel document a study done on Omani Grade 11 students in regards to studying the language needs of an entire population. Utilizing, questionnaires, interviews and content analysis, the researchers gathered information from students, teachers, supervisors and heads of departments. In particular, it was found that the Omani Grade 11 curriculum did not meet the students’ needs with regards to developing writing skills and that a disparity exists between the curriculum content and the perceived needs of the students. The authors suggest that all people involved in the development of English language curricula work in partnership to develop a new national curriculum that better addresses students’ needs. In addition, the author recommends that further study of the students’ discourse samples and readings is warranted in future studies.
Then, in The Effect of Narrative Structure on Learner Use of English Tense and Aspect in an English as a Foreign Language Context, Mansoor Al-Surmi considers the relationship between discourse narrative and verbal morphology use in an EFL context. He collected and analyzed data obtained from a group of Thai L2 English learners who were asked to recount a dream after looking at a set of pictures. In keeping with previous studies, Al-Surmi concluded that past forms are generally used in the foreground and non-past forms in the background. In addition, he established that this trend exists for both EFL and ESL learners.
Next, in A Comparative Study of Intuitive-Imitative and Analytic-Linguistic Approaches to Teaching Pronunciation: Does Age Play a Role?, Ali Roohani compares the effectiveness of intuitive-imitative and analytic-linguistic approaches in teaching the pronunciation of English sounds which do not exist in Persian. Fifty low-intermediate Iranian EFL students aged from 13 to 20 were randomly divided into intuitive-linguistic and analytic-linguistic groups, and over a 3-week period were given specific pronunciation instruction according to their group's emphasis. Pre- and post-testing showed that the analytic-linguistic approach was more effective overall in teaching the pronunciation of English sounds which are not found in Persian. However, age was also a factor as younger participants responded more to the intuitive-imitative approach, while older participants showed better results if taught with the analytic-linguistic approach. The author stresses that pronunciation does improve after intervention training. He proposes that analytic-linguistic strategies be included in pronunciation teaching in addition to purely imitative approaches, and that approaches be varied according to the age of the learners.
After this, Chuen-Maan Sheu examines gender differences with respect to learner strategies and learner listening proficiency in Investigating EFL learning strategy use, GEPT performance, and gender difference among non-English major sophomores at a technological university. The tools used in the study were the Chinese version of SILL for learner strategies, and the GEPT for listening proficiency. The study found that the learners were medium level strategy learners, indirect strategies were used more often than direct ones, and that learners with high scores in the GEPT used strategies much more frequently than learners with low scores, thus indicating a direct correlation between scores and strategy use, or lack thereof. The study also found that female learners used a higher number of strategies than male learners, except amongst learners with the highest marks, where there was no significant difference in strategy use. The study shows that EFL learners do better if they use language learning strategies, and that proficiency seems more important than gender in terms of the choice and use of strategies.
In the paper entitled Analysis of the Contributions of In-school Language Clubs in Taiwan Tsu-Chia Hsu examines extra-curricular speaking activities in universities. He focuses on the Toastmasters clubs which have sprung up across campuses in Taiwan. English has become an essential skill in higher education and students find getting practice beyond the classroom a difficult task. However, with the Toastmaster clubs students are offered a chance to gain leadership and communication training in a non-threatening environment. His study analyzes the benefits of the clubs for students wishing to ameliorate their English-language communication skills. This article will be of interest to those who teach English language skills in non-native milieus.
Then, in the article Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL): Asian Learners and Users going Beyond Traditional Frameworks Huw Jarvis begins with an examination of the historical development of CALL frameworks. He then looks at the changes from a traditional tutorial focus on conscious learning (usually restricted to one program) to the current multi-media approach. He suggests a need to go beyond CALL to include and exploit mobile multimedia (MALU), using a new educational theory recognizing unconscious language acquisition and connected with rapid technological expansion. Next, John Thurman looks at the element of choice in spoken language tasks in Choice and its influence on intrinsic motivation and output in task-based language teaching. In particular, the author asks the question of what might be the effect on language learner performance and level of interest if the student is able to choose the task. Moreover, Thurman explores this area through two studies involving descriptive spoken activities. The results suggest that both oral output and complexity are increased when participants are allowed to choose the task; also, task choice appears to have a positive effect on student interest level.
Lastly, The Role of Source Text Translation in a Simulated Summary Writing Test: What do Test Takers Say? addresses the strategies test takers use on summary writing prompts and the differences between writing and translation. Using interviews as a method of validation, Weiqing Wang, interviews Chinese post-graduate students living in the United States about the techniques they used on a simulated summary writing task. The results indicated that summary writing tasks cannot accurately measure writing ability due to the test takers’ use of source text translation and concludes with possible recommendations for resolving this issue.
An Argument for Holism - Part 1 -
(An Editorial Opinion Piece)
Dr. Roger Nunn Professor of Communication
Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Abstract
Definitions of ‘holism’ in applied language studies need to remain broad enough to allow for true epistemological diversity and reject prematurely coherent impermeable systems that do not reflect the present state of knowledge in our field. In Part 1 of this two-part paper, I focus on definitional issues arguing that the atomistic parts of any whole are related within a complex, but fluid, organic system and are more easily understood in relationship to other parts of that system. After considering the relationship between holistic and atomistic phenomena, I argue that ecological studies (Van Lier, 2002), while providing groundbreaking new insights into the holistic nature of applied language study, appear to exclude context-independence as a legitimate perspective. My definition above is therefore closely associated with Pappamihiel and Walser’s (2009) characterization of complexity theory. Epistemological diversity and complexity lead us to accept dynamism, unpredictability and instability as natural conditions of our field which cannot be ignored.
Introduction
(1) “It is certainly curious,” I agreed. “Still, it is unimportant and need not be taken into account.”
A groan burst from Poirot.
“What have I always told you? Everything must be taken into account. If the facts will not fit the theory – let the theory go.” (Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, p.76)
Conducting and reviewing educational research is rather like being an Agatha Christie detective. Every atomistic detail has to be seen in the light of the whole picture within and even beyond the immediate research context. Fitting the apparently incompatible detail into the whole picture is often the key to resolving the whole investigation. There is an integrative rather than a dialectic binary relationship between the parts of a puzzle. When relevant atomistic evidence is excluded, the whole picture is affected. However, it is equally possible that when two atomistic variables are isolated from the whole in an experimental study, the results are contextualized by the experiment itself and may be distorted when the entire situation is not taken into account. All research evidence requires careful diagnosis within the scope of a broader picture.
In my role as editor, I am frequently called upon to check reviews of accepted and rejected papers. A common reason for rejection is that the paper is too broad and does not have ‘sufficient focus’. On the other hand, I have noticed that papers with a very narrow focus are evaluated as more successful even when the findings are not related to a broader perspective. After presenting my holistic argumentation in some detail in Part 1 of this holistic discussion, in which paradoxically the only common focus is holism itself, I will provide some more detailed examples in Part 2 (upcoming edition Asian EFL Journal,
June, 2013) and return in the Conclusion to some implications of the views expressed herein related to academic holism for journal article reviewers and authors.
Rational Conceptual Divergence and Holism – an Example from Language Study Moser’s (2002) epistemological view of diversity serves as a warning against attempting prematurely to devise coherent but impermeable systems of knowledge that are often associated with ‘holism’.
Within the tolerant confines of meta-epistemic instrumentalism, we can welcome even as rational, much of the remarkable divergence we see in contemporary epistemology (p.17).
For example, when faced with a broad and divergent body of knowledge, it may be tempting to simplify the different accounts of knowledge into some kind of coherent whole. This might take the form of rejecting scholarship that we cannot reconcile within our own conception. In our field, a common target for rejection has been Chomskyan views of linguistic competence which appeared to stand in opposition to social views of language use such as Hymes’ view of communicative competence or Halliday’s comprehensive systemic approach to language use. Moser’s characterization of ‘meta-epistemic instrumentalism’ (2002) allows us to reconsider binary disagreements, such as linguistic competence versus communicative competence, as “rational conceptual divergence” which reflect “a deeper rational unity” (p.17).
Chomsky’s concern is primarily with a universal and innate language faculty rather than with language use. This apparent divergence can at least partly be seen as merely a difference in focus. In Chomsky’s “New Horizons in the Study of Language and Mind” (2000, pp. 19-45) language use is addressed. He does certainly argue (p. 26) that there is reason to believe that the I-languages (“grammatical competence”) are distinct from
conceptual organization and “pragmatic competence” and that these systems can be “selectively impaired and developmentally dissociated.” However, there is also evidence that for Chomsky (2000) “I –languages” are embedded in more over-arching or broader performance systems.
We are studying a real object, the language faculty of the brain, which has assumed the form of a full I-language and is integrated into performance systems that play a role in articulation, interpretation, expression of beliefs and desires, referring, telling stories, and so on ( p.27).
This view of ‘integration’ appears to be at odds with what is normally characterized as a binary competence/performance distinction (See, for example, Van Lier, 1996, p.122). Moser’s epistemological view appears to be appropriate here when he argues (2002, p.16) that some form of conceptual divergence better reflects the current state of our knowledge rather than prematurely attempting to develop a holistic but impervious coherent system of knowledge (holistic coherentism).
The work of Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) in systemic linguistics explicitly addresses the holistic nature of language knowledge and use. Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) note that systemic theory attempts to be comprehensive: "it is concerned with language in its entirety, so that whatever is said about one aspect is to be understood always with reference to the total picture" (p.3). They provide this holistic framework as a representation of the kind of knowledge that underpins competent use of a language. A systemic explanation of language implies that the knowledge required for competent use acts as a holistic resource available to the user. Users create text and "a text is the product of ongoing selection in a very large network of systems – a system network." (p.23). "We cannot explain why a text means what it does, with all the various readings and values that may be given it except by relating it to the linguistic system as a whole" (p.3).
A user makes appropriate local choices and selections in particular contexts based on his holistic systemic knowledge. While Halliday and Matthiessen (2004, p.5) concede that systemic linguistics provides a very complex explanation of language knowledge, they justify this by stating that "if the account seems complex, this is because the grammar is complex."
The issue that arises with such a comprehensive coherent systemic approach to language competence is whether it is impervious to other apparently incompatible perspectives, in other words, whether it is more coherent than our current state of knowledge allows. The field of pragmatics provides a less comprehensive and often much simpler view of language use. Huang (in Horn and Ward, 2006) provides another angle in relation to the relationship between language use and language form from the fields of pragmatics and syntax. Interestingly Huang (2006) accepts an independent syntactic level of analysis, advancing a pragmatic theory of anaphora which "presumes the independence of an irreducible grammatical stratum for pragmatically motivated constraints. Calculation of pragmatic inferences has to be made over a level of independent syntactic structure and semantic representation" (p. 304). Huang resumes this relationship in the slogan: "pragmatics without syntax is empty; syntax without pragmatics is blind." Pragmatic inference is then said to depend "on the language user's knowledge of the range of options available in the grammar…"(p.305).This view is clearly compatible with the notion of choices within a systemic linguistic view.
The Meaning of Holism
A holistic philosophy of tolerance of divergence provides a theoretical umbrella for a variety of approaches by exploring constructive relationships between academic
disciplines and actively seeking new relationships between atomistic parts of a theory. Dörnyei (2009b) argues that “within a dynamic systems framework there are no simple cause-effect explanations between variables examined in isolation, which is the standard research focus in most applied linguistic research…” (p. 241).
Definitions of holism (holos) are often linked back to the dictum attributed to Aristotle that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. I will provisionally define holism here as the view that the atomistic parts of any whole are related within a complex but fluid, organic system and are more easily understood in relationship to other parts of that system. A stronger version might change the last part of this definition to can only be understood in their relationship to other parts of that system.
The main reason that I do not adopt the stronger version of the definition is my belief that within the study of a large number of areas that are in themselves holistic, there is an essential role in each area for more focused atomistic studies. Hence the need for both focused research by scholars who specialize in individual aspects of holistic phenomena and for papers that attempt to identify different types of relationships between the parts.
Ecology of Language Acquisition and Holism
A very influential, essentially holistic approach to educational linguistics is the ecological-semiotic perspective (Van Lier, 2002), which indisputably promotes a diversity of perspectives. The relationship between holism and atomism can be interestingly discussed based on the following definition.
Ecology is the study of the relationships between all the various organisms and their physical environment. It’s a complex and messy study about a complex and messy reality. Its primary requirement is, by definition, that the context is central,
it cannot be reduced, and it cannot be pushed aside or into the background. The context is the focal field of study. (Van Lier, 2002, p.144).
Complexity – which is related to holism - is clearly an important feature, but at the same time there is also a “focal field of study” which might therefore exclude those fields that attempt to be context free. We have already discussed the Chomskyan perspective of language which seems to depend on an argument that there is some benefit in a context-independent cognitive/rationalist level of analysis. We might also consider in this respect the conversational analysis perspective (Sacks et al., 1974) which also centers on the context-free/context-dependent dichotomy, but prefers the context-free perspective. Classroom analysis, a field of study which appears to be essentially ecological, when based on the analysis of turn-taking (Sacks, Schegloff & Jefferson, 1974) emphasizes the structure of participation and the management of turns in classroom interaction. Schiffrin (1994) refers to the conversational analysis approach as one that attempts to reveal “the way participants in talk construct systematic solutions to recurrent organizational problems of conversation” (p.239). Furthermore, the teaching approach in any particular classroom context is closely related to the way turns are distributed (Nunn, 2011). The norms of speaker-selection reflected in the behaviour observed in the classroom are then of great value in describing both the social and pedagogical roles of teachers and students. However, Sharrock and Anderson (1986) make the strong claim that turn-distribution is independent of social context. Their claim is based on an assumption that universal rules of turn-taking underlie all conversation.
Given that conversation is something that can take place between people of all kinds, the rules which regulate turn-taking must be independent of the social composition of conversation. (p.72)
The lesser claim that turn-distribution can be analyzed independently of social context seems to me to be more reasonable, and is a claim upon which I have based my own studies in classroom analysis. It is relevant because we might find it useful to have a so-called context-independent stage of analysis to describe what is happening in any context in order to be able to make comparisons across contexts and hence better understand what is happening in any particular context. This does not mean that a context free/context independent distinction creates a dialectic binary opposition. My argument is rather that they complement each other within a holistic relationship.
This need not necessarily mean that there exists a universal set of turn-taking rules regardless of context, although Sacks et al.’s model has been remarkably resilient since 1974. It does indicate that an ecological perspective, holistic, broad and useful as it has proved to be in countering narrow and unmotivated classroom approaches, is not synonymous with the kind of rational epistemic divergence that I am attempting to equate with holism. This is because ‘context’ itself has become an essential focus which might unwittingly exclude useful perspectives within the complex body of theory that helps inform our field of study. Recently, Seedhouse (2010) has further underlined the holistic nature of classroom discourse study. He characterizes classroom discourse study as a “complex adaptive system”, suggesting that “the study of spoken interaction as a system may benefit from the insights of complexity theory” (p.4).
Leather and Van Dam (2003), in characterizing the ecology of language acquisition describe their aim as follows:
This volume aims to explore how a number of contemporary approaches and insights in LA research might be coherently interrelated through a perspective that can be called ecological. (p.1)
This is certainly holism in practice – and in my view represents an extremely useful way forward in viewing LA (and indeed SLA) – but it is an example of “coherentism” rather than of rational epistemic divergence in that it attempts to provide a coherent but exclusive model.
Van Lier (2002) interestingly proposes different levels of connection between disciplines in relation to his ecological perspective:
Sociolinguistics, pragmatics, the sociology of language, and discourse analysis are therefore relatives of ecological linguistics. However, they are philosophically very different, because they start out from a selection or system of rules and therefore address only one tiny corner of ecology. Ecological research cannot afford to do that, since the context is no longer the context. Ethnography, ethnomethodology, and discursive psychology are closer to an ecological science. (p.144)
The interesting paradox arises as to whether a focus on holism itself, such as the one I am attempting here, can itself end up excluding epistemic divergence. Holism that excludes any atomistic focus is arguably not epistemic divergence at all. The design of holistic curriculum, for example, is a useful area to consider the binary distinction often made between my topic, holism and atomism. Curriculum-in-use (rather than as a document) is sensitive to the relationship between holistic competence and performance and the particular learning needs of students within but also beyond their own learning context. While, holism (as realized for example in the design of projects and holistic tasks) is commonly opposed to reductionism or atomism (as realized in activities such as language exercises), I have proposed (Nunn, 2006) a different synthetic relationship, arguing that holism is an inclusive notion that most usefully subsumes rather than opposes atomistic parts. Rather than an approach built on tasks alone, I have therefore proposed the design
of holistic task-based units which promote the design of pools of materials for each unit. Each unit has available per se a set of atomistic exercises in addition to a set of repeated tasks. The teacher has to decide when to zoom in on atomistic details, (such as the passive voice in academic writing) and when to zoom out (such as looking at a transitivity system as a whole in a systemic sense through which for example it may be revealed that the passive voice does not dominate clause structure even in scientific writing.) The paradox here is that to isolate holism as an exclusive reductionist concept opposed to atomism – as part of a binary distinction - is counter to the meaning I feel we need to give to holism. It would be rigid coherentism rather than rational epistemic divergence, which instead embraces the whole, the parts, and the parts in relationship to each other as well as to the whole.
Complexity and Holism
Pappamihiel and Walser (2009) explain the relationship between complexity theory and holism as follows:
Complexity theory provides a framework for understanding complex systems, which range from human beings to weather to business organizations. One of the major tenets of complexity theory is holism; that is, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts (Byrne 1998; Midgley 2007). Connections and relationships—the interactions—define how complex systems operate (Westley, Zimmerman, and Patton 2007). Thus, complex systems are comprised of many interacting parts that must be understood together, holistically. Moreover, the parts and their interactions cause new parts to form, along with new structures and new rules of behavior. Complex systems are not static; they are emergent, adaptive, dynamic, and changing (Morrison 2002). ( p.134)
Cvetek (2008) underlines the dynamic and unstable aspect of complexity, arguing that complexity and unpredictability are natural conditions of teaching/learning and need to be taken into account. Cvetek (2008) emphasizes that the implications of ‘complexity’ can impact the daily practice of learners and teachers, suggesting that “even a small change in the behaviour of a constituent of the classroom system – for example, an unexpected remark from a learner, a slight change in the way the teacher conducts an activity – can have a major impact on the course of the lesson and its overall effectiveness (p.250)”. In terms of holism, we can restructure this argument to reconsider the relationship between the parts and the whole. A small change in one atomistic part (here of a lesson) has an impact on all other parts and affects the whole (lesson).
Pappamihiel and Walser (2009) link complexity theory and holism directly: “One of the major tenets of complexity theory is holism … complex systems are comprised of many interacting parts that must be understood together, holistically.” Rowland (2007, p.121) relates the potential impact of small parts of a complex system to nonlinearity. “Nonlinearity refers to situations in which effects are not proportional to causes, in other words, situations in which a small action may have enormous effects” (p.134).
Rowland (2007, p. 121) suggests that one questionable assumption of atomistic intervention is that “interventions in parts are assumed to cause predictable and proportional effects for the whole.” Rowland argues that while complexity is often acknowledged in reporting atomistic interventions, the potentially holistic impacts within a complex system are rarely taken into account when recommendations for intervention and measurement are made. Focusing on independent variables may be useful and necessary, but the implications of recommendations that refer to independent parts of any complex system need to be interpreted in relation to the potential impact on the whole
system (and conversely, how the whole system may impact the parts). In this respect, articles with a relatively narrow focus rarely consider how the atomistic phenomenon they have investigated may impact the curriculum as a holistic entity.
Conclusion
In this brief editorial opinion piece, I have attempted to develop the holistic notion of rational conceptual divergence (Moser, 2002) as an important perspective for journal writing and reviewing. I have attempted to distinguish this view from an ecological perspective (Van Lier, 2002) and considered the relationship between complexity (Pappamihiel and Walser, 2009) and holism. One purpose of presenting this argument is to encourage both authors and reviewers of journal submissions to consider the issue of ‘focus’ in relation to the holistic realities for the field of ESL/EFL. In part two of this paper (to appear in the June 2013 quarterly issue of the Asian EFL journal), I will attempt to show how this perspective pertains to several topics that are frequently addressed in Asian EFL submissions, such as motivation and assessment.
References
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Nunn, R. (2011). Improving method-in-use through classroom observation. The International Review of Applied Linguistics (IRAL) 49 pp. 55-70.
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An Analysis of the Writing Needs of Omani EFL Students for the
Development of Grade 11 English Program
Said Hamed Al-Saadi and Moses Stephens Samuel
Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, Malaysia
Bio Data:
Said Al-Saadi is a head of department in the directorate general of education in Alshrgyeh South, Ministry of Education, in Oman. Currently, he is a doctoral student at the University of Malaya, Malaysia.
Prof. Dr. Moses Stephens Gunams Samuel is a professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education and Deputy Dean for higher studies at the Faculty of Education in the University of Malaya, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Abstract
This article reports a detailed description of the stages of a national large-scale needs analysis in the reform of the grade 11 English language curriculum in Oman. It highlighted the needs analysis practises by using triangulation of multiple sources (students, teachers, supervisors, heads of department, and textbooks) and multiple methods (questionnaires, interviews, content analysis) in the data collection stage to validate the study findings. The actual grade 11 English Language textbooks (n=4) were first analyzed for writing skills content and then contrasted with the perceived needs of 982 students, 64 teachers, 4 supervisors, and 3 heads of department. The findings revealed that a gap existed between the content of the grade 11 curriculum and the perceived needs of the students. The Grade 11 EL curriculum provided little space for students to develop writing competence. The findings related to language innovation/reform were then discussed and implication were made for the grade 11 program aim, principles, teaching methodology, content and teacher training in Oman.
Keywords: Needs analysis; writing difficulties; curriculum innovation; implementation needs
Introduction
Needs analysis (NA), by its very nature, is highly context-dependent and population-specific (West, 1994). Most NAs are concerned with needs population-specification at the level of individuals or, most often, learner type (Long, 2005). Recent researchers like Nelson (2000) and Long (2005) stress that what is needed now is a serious effort by applied linguists to identify generalizations that can be made about how to conduct NA for certain populations in certain sectors. The findings about language tasks, genres, and so forth encountered in various contexts are detailed and insightful, however they are often only of use to students in the same or similar context. On the other hand, the findings based on studies of far differing audiences are of great relevance, especially the methodological lessons arising from such studies. For instance, Long (2005) has pointed out that in a modern era, characterized by globalization and dwindling resources, the need for language audits and needs analyses for entire societies are likely to become quite important. Adapting such broad analysis confronts the analyst with some methodological constraints, including scientific sampling, large sample size and the preference of certain methods such as questionnaires, surveys, studies of government publication or documents, and so forth. Prior NA’s literature listened to the students’ needs alone to represent students’ real needs. This study’s novel contribution is its comprehensive data culling of stakeholders’ needs and attitudes towards an Omani EFL programme. Stakeholders are defined as not just students, but also teachers, supervisors, heads of departments etc. Furthermore, findings and rationale for recommendation need to be explicit,
empirically-supported (Waters & Vilches, 2001) and expressed in familiar terms since the primary audiences for findings from the public sector NAs include politicians, economists and other stakeholders. This study contributes to the literature of NA by conducting a large scale analysis at the national level of the writing needs of Omani EFL learners in the public schools, which will provide the framework for conducting NA on a national basis, putting in practice all the methodological issues and making the results of this NA available for public in empirically-supported recommendations.
This article reports on the extent to which the current EL program at Omani grade 11 schools fulfill the writing needs of Omani students. The narrative of our journey is organized as follows: First, we discuss some observations regarding the latest NA articles and relate them to the need for such study. Second, we briefly describe the setting and methods of the needs analysis in terms of the triangulation of source and methods. Third, we examine the findings for each of the three research questions. We conclude by discussing in detail some of the pedagogical implications of the findings for the reform of the Grade 11 EFL curriculum in Oman.
Literature Review
The target populations of many NA studies are typically undergraduate students, for example, Patterson (2001), Al-Busaidi (2003) and Shuja’a (2004) study university students’ language needs, whereas Al-Dugaily (1999) and Al-Husseini (2004) investigate the linguistic needs in college level students. The findings about the language genres, task, and so forth, are often applied to other contexts with the same or similar students. Recent researchers of NA, such as Coleman (1998), Long (2005), Brecht and Rivers (2005) and Cowling (2007), stress the notion of generalization of the NA findings in the societal
level. Long (2005) argues that “what is needed now is a serious effort by applied linguists to identify generalization, that can be made about low best to conduct needs analysis for population A or B in sector C or D, given constraints E or F. (p. 5)” At the societal level, the needs for language are generally defined within very general social goals such as national security, social justice or the like (Brecht & Rivers, 2005). The rationale behind associating language with societal goal is to motivate policy and planning for language education at the national level. Therefore, the current study rejects the Arlington Curriculum Model which states that formal needs analysis can be dispensed with (Connor-Linton, 1996); rather it supports Zohrabi’s (2008) claim that needs analysis is one of many curriculum components that all curriculum designers should scrutinize carefully. Hence, needs analysis must be considered during any curriculum restructuring as it is of a wider context than other crucial curriculum components. In light of this innovation in language Teaching and Needs Analysis, the present research is devoted to a methodology for laying out—to the best extent possible—the analysis of the Omani EFL students’ learning needs in public schools.
As to methodology, two observations can be made in relation to NA procedures. All studies used English students and English teachers as the main sources of information. This complements with current and previous studies’ finding that learners and teachers have a special right when it comes to deciding the content of the course they are to undertake (Brecht & Rivers, 2005; Hutchinson & Waters 1987; Holliday 1992, 1994; Long, 2005; Nunan, 2001). This conclusion is logical because it raises the level of awareness of both parties as to why they are doing what they are doing and leads them to reflect usefully on means and ends. It is also important to note, that, even when learners and teachers are able to provide useful and reliable insight about present or future needs,
better and more readily accessible sources may be available including other stakeholders like language supervisors, graduates of the program concerned, employers, administrators, and so forth. In this light, this study addresses the question posed by Elisha-Primo et al. (2010) whether listening to the students’ needs alone would represent students’ real needs and be the basis for changes which will serve the students’ English needs, by demonstrating a holistic “mixed methods” methodology that is far more comprehensive and valid than a student-only needs analysis. This is achieved by Al-Husseini (2004), who approached 6 groups of sources and Shuja’a (2004) who also approached employers in addition to students and teachers to make the data obtained more reliable and meaningful. Others, such as Al-Dugily (1999), Patterson (2001) and Al-Busaidi (2003) depend on students and teachers as the main/only source for their data collection; the reliability of their findings is in question since involving other relevant sources would have provided more insight into the language involved in functioning successfully in their target discourse.
The second observation, in relation to the methodological aspect, is that questionnaires and interviews are the most dominant tools used in all studies (see Table 2.3). Al-Dugily (1999) uses them as the only tool for data collection in his study. It is commonly noticed that many of the NA studies in teaching English as a second language (TESL) are carried out via semi-structural interviews, or more commonly questionnaires, for instance, Aguilar (2005), Choo (1999), Abdul Aziz (2004), Keen (2006), Davies (2006), Vadirelu, (2007), Taillefer (2007), Cowling (2007) Cid, Granena and Traght (2009) and Spada, Barkoui, Peters, So and Valeo (2009). Yet, they are not the only resources in most of NA research. Recently, NA studies such as Al-Husseini (2004), Shuja’a (2004) and Patterson (2001), focused their NA by using multi method approach “Triangulation” to, as
Patterson (2001) puts it, “both clarify the meaning and increase the validity” of the research findings. Triangulation is a procedure used by NA researchers to enhance the readability of their interpretation of their data (Long, 2005). It involves the use of multiple-data-collection methods and may also involve the incorporation of multiple data sources, investigators and theoretical perspectives (Aguilar, 2005). The rationale behind the notion of applying triangulation techniques is to contribute to the trustworthiness of the data and increase confidence in research findings. Based on this assumption, the present study considers triangulation of methods and sources as a main research principle that is going to be practically carried out to gain a clearer picture of students’ English language learning needs.
In addition, some studies lack an implementation vision such as Al-Dugaily (1999) and Patterson (2001), while other studies, such as Al-Husseini (2004) and Shuja’a (2004) used the finding to propose and suggest developmental modification in the target context. Implementation has become an important component of NA in recent years. Much research on innovation and implementation has appeared in the last two decades, such as, Holliday and Cooke (1982), Holliday (1994), Waters and Vilches (2001), Bosher and Kmalkoski (2002) and Cowling (2007). The notion “implementation needs” is based on the importance of constructing an understanding on how to implement NA findings and recommendations in the stage of planning (Al-Husseini, 2004). The current study is taking the implementation needs into consideration by suggesting and proposing changes into the current Grade 11 English language program in Oman The needs analysis has demonstrated both the complex network of elements that play a significant role in determining the needs of Omani EFL students, and the unavoidable necessity to set priorities. To develop the current EL program in Grade 11, it is believed that the language
uses identified by this empirical study should be regarded as learners’ target language needs on which the Grade 11 EL curricula should be based.
Based on the understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the former studies, the present study tries to take advantage of the development in NA theories by expanding the focus to consider different approaches of NA and by focusing on a national/societal-level needs analysis and implementation needs. It also triangulates theories, methods and sources in order to sustain a more meaningful, valid and reliable information. It is hoped that the present study will help in understanding and developing the state of English language teaching in this part of the world and to put in practice the innovations of NA as suggested by Long (2005) and Cowling (2007).
Objectives of the Study
The following research questions guide this study:
• What are the writing skills developed in the current English language course book in grade 11 of Omani schools?
• What are the English language writing needs of Omani students in grade 11 as perceived by students, teachers, supervisors and heads of department?
• To what extent are the students’ EL writing needs met by the content of English language course book in grade 11 of Omani schools?
Methodology
Triangulation of data collection techniques and source of information are considered crucial factors in needs analysis (Brecht & Rivers, 2005; Coleman, 1998; Cowling 2007;
Long 2005; Richards, 2001). Therefore, multiple sources, such as, students, teachers, supervisors, heads of departments and the grade 11 textbooks were used for the purpose of data collection. In addition, varieties of data were gathered and compared using multiple methods such as questionnaires, interviews, and content analysis. The two types of data collected in the present study (qualitative and quantitative) allowed for two types of triangulation (Krohn, 2008): methodological triangulation (multiple data gathering procedures) and data triangulations (multiple source of information).
Participants
A stratified sampling technique was used to select 982 EFL students and 46 EL teachers teaching English in grade 11 schools. Also 4 EL supervisors and 3 heads of department (supervision and curriculum department) were purposely selected due to their limited number from the Ministry of Education in Oman. The random students’ and teachers’ sample are drawn from four out of eleven educational regions of the entire Sultanate. These four regions were Muscat, Al-Sahrqyah South, Al-Batenah South and Al-Batenah North. According to the current study, the Omani students are divided into regions, and each region is divided into schools, the schools are sub-divided into male and female schools. A stratified sampling technique was used to randomly select the study samples as shown in Table 1, which shows that 982 students participated in this study; divided into 524 male students and 458 female students studying English in grade 11 of Omani schools, whereas teachers were divided into 34 male and 30 female teachers teaching grade 11 EL program.
Table 1
Students’ Profile in Terms of Gender and Regions
Region Total Muscat AL-Batyneh North Al-Batyneh South Al-Sharqyeh Gender Male 119 103 124 178 524 Female 43 126 121 168 458 Total 162 229 245 346 982
As to the specific features or key characteristics shared by Omani EFL students, all regions adopt the same language program. In other words, they have the same course books, assessment style, resources, and so forth. The students in all Omani regions share the same background characteristics: Omani, boys and girl, aged between 16 to 18 years, in grade 11. Each of the eleven regions can represent the others in terms of philosophy, contents, objectives, needs, students and teachers. Because of these similarities, the data was collected from four out of the eleven regions.
Questionnaire
The current study used questionnaires to collect information from students and teachers in the Omani public schools. Questionnaires are widely used in educational researches as a technique to identify attitudes and perceptions (Cowling, 2007; Faillefer, 2007; Kawepet, 2009; Krohn, 2008; Read, 2008; Shuja’a, 2004; Spada, Barkaoui, Peters, So, & Valeo, 2009). The EL teachers’ survey was written in English, while the students’ survey was in Arabic for two reasons. First, it was easier for students to understand in their native language. Second, the questionnaire’s statements were complex and responding to them in English might make it more difficult for students to fully grasp the intent of the
survey. The questionnaires were first written in English and then translated into Arabic. Two procedures were taken to ensure the accuracy of the translation. First, the source version of the questionnaires was translated into Arabic and then the Arabic version was translated back into English by the researcher and other language specialists from the Omani Ministry of Education who were familiar with English and Arabic. The back translation was for two purposes, to ensure that the original intent of the source questionnaire was maintained and to make a comparison between the Arabic and English versions.
The students’ and teachers’ questionnaires consisted of three sections. Section one collected the demographic information about teachers and students. It is worth saying that the personal information like gender and school type were not considered as study variables; rather they provided information about whether the questionnaires were distributed to a sufficiently varied sample to represent the study population. Section two included the language writing needs. These data were based on self-reports on the type and frequency of writing skills and sub-skills that the students practice. The writing skills were chosen for their documented importance in the skill literature. This included 23 items (refer to the appendix) representing skills and sub-skills, which students were asked to indicate on a scale of frequency about how often they face difficulty doing item one during their study. In developing this test, I consulted the following studies in needs analysis: Graves, (2001), Al-Busaidi (2003), Al-Husseini (2004), Al-Syabi (1995) and from my own experience as an English teacher and supervisor.
Piloting the Questionnaire
distributed among five ELT specialists from Sultan Qaboos University and the Ministry of Education. Other copies were distributed among PhD students studying in University of Malaya, Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Their contribution was to comment on the language of the students’ questionnaire and its suitability for the Omani post-basic education students. They were also requested to comment on the design and its fitness. They were advised to simplify the language and explain some of the terms used in the questionnaire. The overall outcome of this pre-piloting step was more simplification of the items involved in the questionnaire. The pilot study was carried out in Al-Sharqyeh South region.
The piloting was to find out the general legibility of the study. It provided information about the extent to which participants were co-operative and keen to help in finishing the questionnaire. It also helped in testing the study’s trustworthiness in terms of the validity and reliability of the study instrument. Almost 100 students were randomly selected for piloting the questionnaire from four different schools consisting of 50 male students and 50 female students. Students were given the Arabic version of the questionnaire. The researcher himself administered the pilot run to the piloting sample group to gather information regarding the time it took the students to complete the questions, the clarity of the instruction, the ambiguity of the questionnaire items, the requirement to include new topics, and the difficulties encountered in questionnaire adaptation. The pilot questionnaires were collected back immediately. The pilot run gave the researcher useful hints and clues to discover loopholes and inaccuracies in the questionnaire. Only 80 copies of the questionnaires were found suitable to be analyzed and 20 were rejected due to incomplete answers. These 80 copies were divided into 30 male students and 50 female students. This step was followed by an analysis of the subjects' responses to the
questionnaire to ensure more reliability and validity of the scale as explained below.
The Questionnaire Reliability
An indicator of the trustworthiness in the quantitative research tools is the instrument's reliability. It indicates that the developed questionnaire would give the same results if it measures the same thing (Neuman, 2001). The proposed questionnaire's reliability was estimated by the Internal Constancy Approach. This approach was based on calculation of the correlation coefficient between each item score and the score of the whole scale. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used, and the reliability statistic was .939 which is considered as significant and indicates that the all items included were reliable. Educators like Likert and others (1934) agreed that a reliability coefficient between .62 and .93 can be trusted.
The Questionnaire Validity
Before being able to conclude that this study was trustworthy and ethical, however, some more detailed aspects of the issue must be considered. A qualitative study cannot accomplish its most basic functions if the researcher has not established trust and reciprocity in the field. Therefore, to examine whether the developed instrument would report valid scores, the validity of the instrument was studied (Neuman, 2001) using content validity, which is the extent to which the questions on the instrument are representative of all the possible questions a researcher could ask about the study content (Creswell, 2005). The main rationale behind using this form of validity was that the possibility was high that the involved experts would know and could comment on the investigated topic since the students’ linguistic needs are familiar to them. It would have
been less useful if the research theme related to assessing personalities or attitudes’ scores. In order to make use of the panel of judges’ or experts’ feedback regarding the extent to which the new scale measures the writing competences needed by Omani students, the questionnaires were handed to 12 arbitrators from Oman, Yemen and the UK. They were addressed formally in a letter asking them to read the items and determine the suitability of each item to measure students’ linguistic needs and provide their comments regarding the clarity of the items, thoughts and presentation and to comment on the translation (if included). This step resulted in changing some of the terms in the questionnaire to more simplified language to facilitate understanding. It also has resulted in limiting the scope of this study to analyze the writing competence needed by Omani students to enhance their academic standard, so some of the items, which were classified as irrelevant skills were deleted.
Data Analysis
Content analysis as a systematic and objective research method was used in collecting data for research question one. A task-based analysis was used to analyse the English language tasks, skills and sub-skills embedded in the grade 11 English language teaching materials. The content analysis revealed data about the kind of writing tasks embedded in the current Grade 11 EL course books. It provides wide scope and more thoughts on what went on rather than what was said to go on, as in questionnaire or interviews.
As to the questionnaires finding, descriptive statistic were used to analyse the respondents’ answers by implementing the SPSS software. The descriptive statistics were used to indicate the percentage and the frequency distribution of the respondents’ answers. Measures of central tendencies (mean and median) and independent sample t- test were
used to analyze the data for the research questions 2-3. Interviews’ data were analyzed by close study of the transcripts to identify what interviewees say about their attitudes and perceptions about the current English curriculum and the needed writing skills and sub-skills to improve students’ linguistic competencies in English. After conducting the interviews, the analysis started with the transcribing of the audio cassettes.
Results and Discussion
The findings and the analyses are organized according to the research questions. Question one, and three, are analyzed based on themes addressed in the questions. Whereas, question two is examined based on the perceptions of the different participants because they have different responsibilities and, therefore, different views.
The Actual Writing Skills Included in the Current Grade 11 EL Textbooks
The first research question analyzes the present learning situation (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987) by identifying the writing skills and the sub-skills found in the English language textbook through the use of content analysis. Perhaps the most important source of present-situation data in designing an EL syllabus is the analysis of authentic texts (Richards, 2004). Content analysis enhances the readers’ and the researcher’s understanding of what is the exact content of the grade 11 course book by making explicit the patterns of writing skills choices found in the current textbooks.
Grade 11 EL textbooks are titled ‘Engage with English’, which aim at teaching English as a foreign language to Omani students in the public schools. The course book and workbooks are divided into two books for two semesters. Each book is divided into five themes and each theme is classified into five different units. Each of the five units
focuses on particular language skills, namely reading, grammar, vocabulary, listening & speaking and writing. At the end, there are two optional pages on ‘Across culture’ and ‘Reading for pleasure’. They were designed as stand-alone units which can be used in class or for self-study. The workbook mirrored the framework of the course book. It is also divided into two books for two semesters. The activities involved in the workbook include writing and further language practice activities. By the end of each theme, there are review pages which provide revision activities for grammar and vocabulary included in the theme as well as wordlist activities and a personalization activity. A grammar reference section and wordlist and a function language review are also provided at the back of the workbooks. In addition, the workbook contains a writing section, where students complete free writing assignments and extended writing tasks.
New approaches to second and foreign language teaching instructions require NAs to be conducted using unit of analysis. The unit of analysis in the current analysis was task-based analysis. Long and Norris (2000), Long (2005) and Ferch (2005) advocated that task based needs analysis allows coherence in course design. The rationale for doing task based analysis rather than linguistic analysis was because the task analysis usually offers more insights about the students’ needs compared to ‘usages’ modelled in grammar based language teaching materials. It revealed more than the text based analysis about the dynamic qualities of target discourse (Long, 2005). Task based NA readily lend themselves as input for the design of language syllabus or course.
The findings of the textbooks analysis identified the main writing skills and sub-skills included in ten themes found in grade 11 English language textbooks. The skills and sub skills are listed in Table 2, which presents a summary of the finding of the writing skills and sub-skills included in grade 11 EL textbooks in both semesters.
Table 2
Summary of the Content analysis Findings of the Writing Tasks Included in Grade 11 EL Textbooks
Themes Semester 1 Semester 2
1 Write an email
Review writing process
Write their own poem using the given cues
Use non-defining relative clause Use the given adjective to write comparative and superlative forms Write a short profile or
biography 2 Recognize written instructions
Edit a written text Paragraph sequence Write a process text
Write a film review
Write a true statement about your partner
Use certain verbs to write about your life
Write about your television habits 3 Write a holiday post card
Complete a postcard with words to describe a holiday
Write a description of a tourists resorts
Produce a brochure for tourist resort
Write an application letter Rewrite given sentences using yet, already, just…
Write up jumbled words as complete sentences
Make a list of things that you do every day.
Unjumble the letters to words of certain type
4 Write a letter of complaint Write yes no question Correct the given sentences
Write their prediction about themselves or their lives
Link ideas together in a written text in a variety of ways
Write an essay introducing contrasting arguments 5 Links words together in a written text
Write an essay about the advantages and disadvantages
Free writing about opinion based on discussion
Review text editing Write a festival report Write passive sentences
Unit five of each theme emphasized development of students’ writing skills. Almost all included writing tasks requiring students to write for a purpose rather than writing for the sake of writing. Repeatedly, students were referred to the process involved in writing
before starting to accomplish any writing task. Different genres of writing were highlighted in every theme, such as vocational and academic genres, which provided the space for practising different genres that can build solid foundation of writing skills. Students were exposed to the different stages of the writing process from reading a model text to free writing. Examples of the writing purposes found in grade 11 EL textbooks were to write an email, holiday postcard, description of a tourist resort, letter of complaint, short profile or biography, film review, application letter, and a festival report.
During the analysis, it was noticed that writing tasks were separated at the back of the workbook and students had to refer to that section whenever they want to perform any writing tasks. This created the feeling with teachers and students that writing was not an essential task to be mastered because what was kept at the back of the book was supplementary material or glossaries. It also impressed upon the teachers that writing was not given sufficient attention in the new textbooks as discovered during the teacher interviews. Although the analyzed material provided a chance to practise different writing genres, they should be more creative and have stimulating activities to focus students’ attention on the things to be learned. Hobelman and Wiriyachitra (1995) stressed that writing material should be interesting, related to students’ interests, practical and related to real world tasks.
The findings of research question one can be fed back into the grade 11 EL program and can also work as a foundation for material developers, for two reasons. First, the analytical methodology applied here provided real world or real life task analysis, which offered more insights about the students’ needs through comparing what is presented to them and their perceived priority as in research question two. Second, the task based NA findings are the bases for Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT), which as described by
