International Linguistics Research

Is Grammar Still Important Learning the English Language on Tertiary Level? The Analysis of Students’ Attitude

Ramunė Vitalija Ilgūnaitienė — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0800

Lecturers of Vytautas Magnus University Institute of Foreign Languages have noticed that students’ English grammar comprehension as well as their interest and motivation for learning it have dropped significantly. It was decided to carry out the research and find the answers to the topical questions. Do students thoroughly understand the importance of grammar in language acquisition context? What are the factors predisposing the diminishing value of grammar? What is the students’ insight into the grammar teaching/ learning process in level C1? The questionnaire was compiled and on the basis of a comparative – quantitative method the conclusions were drawn that students do not think that grammar plays an important role in learning the English language, they suppose that their grammar competence is sufficient to be fluent in English, thus, there is no need to continue learning grammar in level C1. If we do not make an attempt to solve this problem, it might lead to a dangerous outcome- the level of the English language proficiency may fall down drastically.

Predicting Readability of Health Educational Resources for Children Using Semantic Features

Yanmeng Liu — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0800

The success of health education resources largely depends on their readability, as the health information can only be understood and accepted by the target readers when the information is uttered with proper reading difficulty. Unlike other populations, children feature limited knowledge and underdeveloped reading comprehension, which poses more challenges for the readability research on health education resources. This research aims to explore the readability prediction of health education resources for children by using semantic features to develop machine learning algorithms. A data-driven method was applied in this research:1000 health education articles were collected from international health organization websites, and they were grouped into resources for kids and resources for non-kids according to their sources. Moreover, 73 semantic features were used to train five machine learning algorithms (decision tree, support vector machine, k-nearest neighbors algorithm, ensemble classifier, and logistic regression). The results showed that the k-nearest neighbors algorithm and ensemble classifier outperformed in terms of area under the operating characteristic curve sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy and achieved good performance in predicting whether the readability of health education resources is suitable for children or not.

The Role of Native Weaknesses and Cultural Conflicts in Escalating Colonial Supremacy in the Igbo Society, as Perceived in Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe

Momtajul Islam — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0800

The colonial invaders and their repressive means of governance in Africa were not the only reasons that could be solely held accountable for the fall of indigenous African society during the colonial invasion. Native weaknesses, socio-cultural conflicts and hegemony were equally responsible for the falling apart of native social setups when confronted with colonial alternatives. Native people had had their own covert religious and cultural limitations long before the colonizers entered their soil. The colonial powers cleverly used such inherent societal flaws of African people as excuses to impose European religion and traditions on them. Chinua Achebe does not blindly idealize native African traditions in his writings. He frequently narrates his doubts on flawed socio-cultural practices and moral dualities in the native society, too. This paper is an attempt to explore how innate weaknesses of native Igbo people, socio-cultural conflicts and domination in the native society have also made it easier for the colonial administration to prolong their supremacy in the Igbo land, as depicted in Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe. It also elaborates how Ezeulu, the chief priest of god Ulu, falls from dominance in his society because of his intent to execute personal desires which jeopardize his societal role in the Igbo land.

Investigating Iraqi EFL Secondary School Students' Perceptions towards Using Mobile Language Learning Technique

Nisreen Kadhim Khudhair — Fri, 07 May 2021 00:00:00 +0800

Changes in mobile technologies, developments in information technologies and telecommunication, computers programs and expansion of mobile market, likewise have inspired people to make use of these “anytime” and “anywhere” technologies in second language teaching. Use of mobile devices in language teaching has been the focus of language learning studies since language learning necessitates interaction and autonomy which are the key concepts in mobile assisted language learning for learners.

The research aims at investigating Iraqi EFL secondary school students' perceptions towards using mobile language learning technique.

To achieve the aim of the present research, a sample of 40 secondary school students were chosen randomly from many schools .

To fulfill the aim of the study, the questionnaire of students consists of (17) items. After the analysis of the data, the findings indicated that the vast majority of students had had used their mobile phones to study English. Also, they expressed their welcome towards using this technology to study English in the future.

It is recommended to promote the use of mobile learning devices, and encourage students to use mobile as a means of learning and teaching English language in various stages of education.