رسائل الماجستير اللغات الأجنبية
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Item RETENTION AND ATTRITION IN EFL VOCABULARY LEARNING(University of Algiers 2. Faculty of Arts and Languages, 2013) Tihal, Wafia; Bensemmane, Faiza (Directeur de thèse)The present descriptive and exploratory study aims to explore the effectiveness of Vocabulary Learning Strategies used by final year school students and to test their retention of the target words thereby measuring their vocabulary size. It is based on the works of Oxford (1990) and Schmitt (1997). A vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire adapted from Schmitt’s (1997) taxonomy was used to gather data on the students’ use of five identified Vocabulary Learning strategies : Determination (DET), Social (SOC), Memory (MEM), Cognitive (COG) and Metacognitive (MET) strategies . A Vocabulary Achievement test was used to evaluate their word retention . A questionnaire to teachers was designed to elicit their attitude towards vocabulary teaching and the recall strategies taught for long term vocabulary retention. The results demonstrate that: 1. ‘Shallow’ strategies ( ‘taking notes’, ‘guessing from context’ and ‘asking classmates’) did not cause retention as they did not require manipulation of vocabulary . 2. At a receptive level, students used ‘bilingual dictionary’, ‘guessing from context’ and ’asking classmates’ strategies to comprehend the meaning of unknown words. 3. At a productive level , ‘discovery’ strategies were used. Students avoided strategies involving deep mental processing(such as Keyword Method, Semantic Mapping and Spaced Word Practice )and used strategies which cause attrition. 4. Teachers did not use efficient strategies to help their students increase their word retention. Finally, proposals were made for teachers to improve vocabulary retention in EFL secondary school students.Item Investigating the Use of the Relative Clause by Second Year Students of English in the English(University of Algiers 2. Faculty of Arts and Languages, 2013) Kasbadji Lahoubi, Soraya; Bensemmane, Faiza (Directeur de thèse)The present research tries to investigate the use of the relative clause by twenty-one second year students of English (EFL) at the University of Algiers 2. After several years of teaching this grammatical structure to second year students of the English degree course, I have observed that students have problems using the relative clause, specially the pronouns WHO, WHICH, THAT, WHOM, the possessive WHOSE and the after prepositions such as OF WHICH, WITHOUT WHOM, FOR WHOM. One of the reasons for their difficulties in learning this complex grammatical structure may be the influence of their L1, Arabic. L1 influence has been reported on the acquisition of relative clauses (Lightbown and Spada 2006). And for learners whose L1 does not have a particular clause type such as object of comparison (for example, The person that Susan is taller than is Mary) it is more difficult to use that clause type in English. Thus, Arabic speakers often produce the relative marker and the pronoun it replaces as they do in their own language (for example, The man who I saw him was very angry,), which is quite confusing. This study deals with second year students’ use of the relative clause and tries to identify their problems and to suggest possible solutions. Grammar tests with exercises on the relative clause followed by a questionnaire on the test were given to twenty one of these students. The data from both research instruments were analyzed, as well as the students’ errors made in the tests. The findings are quite interesting and reveal that many but not all the errors are due to L1 (Arabic) interference. The students have demonstrated three main types of problems related to the relative clause: vi - Misuse of the relative pronouns (who, which, whom, that) and of the pronouns they replace ( it, they, him…etc.) - Misuse of the possessive WHOSE and the after-preposition relatives such as OF WHOM and FOR WHICH. - Misplacement of the relative clause in the sentence. The study ends with some suggestions of activities that may improve the students’ understanding of the meaning of sentences containing the relative clause and their use of this somewhat problematic grammatical structure.Item The Impact of Listening Comprehension Strategy Training on First Year English Students’ Listening Ability(University of Algiers 2. Faculty of Letters and Languages, 2012) Khelifa, Mahammed; Bensemmane, Faiza (Directeur de thèse)This study was motivated by the weak results the students of English in the University of Blida have achieved over the last fifteen years. Teachers and administrators alike believe students’ weaknesses are mainly due to their non- effective listening strategies in the listening module, which is key to understanding Academic English needed for their university studies. It was important to understand the students’ listening difficulties and to see if a Training Programme involving Strategy- Based Listening Tasks can improve the students’ listening ability. Therefore, a pre- test (Oxford Placement Listening Test) was administered to a sample class of sixty- four first year students to determine their proficiency level. When it was corrected, only thirty students were singled out and divided into an experimental group and a control group of 15 students each. Both groups were administered a 22 item- questionnaire to identify their listening comprehension problems and their listening strategies. The Experimental Group received Listening Comprehension Strategy Training for twelve weeks. The Programme consisted of strategy- based teaching which developed strategies centred on a framework suggested by Brown (1990: 148). During this time, the control group attended the regular listening sessions with no treatment. To triangulate the results, a semi structuredinterview was carried out with the teachers of the module. After the Training Programme, both groups were given a post- test based on IELTS format. The results revealed that the scores of the Experimental Group were higher than those of the Control Group. They had a significantly higher level of listening proficiency and used more strategies, e.g., listening for key words, inferring and listening for gist than they did before Listening Comprehension Strategy Training. However, no significant difference was found in the use of non- verbal cues and asking for clarification strategies. On the other hand, the Control Group used listening comprehension strategies equally before and after the training, except for predicting and note-taking strategies. Based on these findings, it was suggested that listening teachers should be made aware of strategy- based listening tasks and develop materials based on these results.Item Investigating EFL Students’ Feedback-Handling Strategies in Argumentative Essay Writing(University of Algiers 2. Faculty of Letters and Languages, 2012) Setrallah, Ahlem; Bensemmane, Faiza (Directeur de thèse)Teachers of writing spend considerable time and effort providing students with feedback, hoping that this will help reduce the number of students' mistakes and improve their writing performance. However, they can feel quite disappointed when they realize that their feedback is ignored or does not result in better drafts especially in process writing tasks. Studies done in the field of response to students' writing ( Diab, 2005; Ferris, 1995; Leki, 1991; and Cohen,1987) )demonstrated the importance of feedback for writing in an academic context and the mismatch between teachers' expectations of feedback and students' reaction to it. This study investigates how second year university students of English react to teacher written feedback (TWF),what problems they face dealing with it and what strategies they use to handle it and solve the problems it poses. Three research instruments were utilized to collect data from a sample of six students: questionnaires, content analysis of students' drafts and interviews. The analysis of the results revealed that all six students have a positive attitude to TWF. They found it motivating and tried to take it into consideration whenever they revised their drafts because it seemed to help them improve their writing. However, they all faced problems dealing with illegible teacher's handwriting and unclear comments and symbols. Finally, even when they managed to decode teacher's feedback correctly, many of them did not know how to use this feedback to improve their second and final drafts. The findings of this study showed that the subjects used a number of feedback handling strategies. The latter were classified into three main categories: " Meta-cognitive strategies: making a mental note, relating TWF to previous knowledge about language, and deciding on which mistakes to correct and which to ignore. " Cognitive strategies: reading TWF several times, using a dictionary/grammar book, and replacing the wrong word/verb by a synonym. " Social-affective strategies: asking for the teacher's help or a peer/friend help. The present study emphasizes that students need to be trained on how to use TWF effectively when writing the second drafts of their essays. In addition, they should be actively engaged in feedback provision. Furthermore teachers should take into account students' needs and preferences, negotiate feedback with them in terms of purpose, the way it is presented and how it can best be used to improve their writing.Item READING METACOGNITIVELY(University of Algiers. Faculty of Letters and Languages, 2009) Hamdoud, Amina; Bensemmane, Faiza (Directeur de thèse)The research concern of this dissertation is to highlight the importance of a vital aspect of the psycholinguistic processes in reading: metacognition. The rationale of this study is to display the link between the readers' knowledge of what reading involves i.e. the reading requirements and the strategies used which are basically metacognitive strategies and the type of reading needed for literary texts. This investigation also aims to shed light on the relationship between the readers' use of metacognitive strategies to monitor and regulate the reading process and their reading performance as regards literary texts in the context of this study. The study's theoretical framework is based on the works of Flavell (1978), one of the first theorists to embark on the investigation of the notions of meta-memory and metacognition and to describe metacognition as knowledge and regulation of cognition. Thirty one third year students from the English Department, University of Algiers at Bouzareah were selected for this investigation as well as five literature teachers who provided information about the demands and the strategies needed for reading a literary text. Two questionnaires and a reading task were used in the study to probe the metacognitive aspects present or absent in students' reading of literary texts. The results were compared and showed that the knowledge students possess about reading is not specific to the task per se and does not match the requirements of the reading task. In addition, deficits at the level of control appear to be dominant in students' processing since they lack knowledge about how best to do it i.e. namely the use of alternative, appropriate strategies. All the above things considered, the study calls for training first year university students to monitor and regulate their own reading process since it is the basic skill through which they learn. This can be achieved if they are able to detect their own failures and attempt to find solutions for them. Prior to use, the students ought to possess the knowledge required to control the process effectively.Item Exploring English Language Teachers’ Teaching Style(University of Algiers. Faculty of Arts and Languages, 2009) Sail-Terki, Hind; Bensemmane, Faiza (Directeur de thèse)The present study is an attempt to investigate the teaching style of ten university language teachers teaching in the English department of Saad Dahleb University at Blida. It tries to identify the most dominant teaching style of these teachers and to see how aspects of learner-centredness operate within this dominant teaching style. This study is exploratory. It makes use of three research instruments: two questionnaires to teachers and a questionnaire to students. The aim of using questionnaires is to assess the teachers' dominant teaching style from both teachers' and students' perspectives and to examine how learner-centred teaching principles are reflected in their teaching style. The questionnaire designed for teachers and for students include 26 items and it was adapted from an instrument initially used by Rong et al. (2005), called the Adapted Principles of Adult Learning Scale (APALS). After analysing the responses of teachers' and students' questionnaires and comparing them, we noticed that teachers and students have matching views regarding the teachers' dominant teaching style. According to the teachers questioned, 7/10 teach in a traditional way while 9/10 also teach in a traditional way from the students' point of view. But the analysis of teachers' 'traditional' style of teaching revealed some learner-centredness that was evident from the teachers' responses to the 26 items of the APALS questionnaire and from their responses to the 6 questions of the second questionnaire. The findings revealed that there are some learner-centred elements in the teachers' instruction in the sense that they tried to relate learning to students' experiences and establish a climate of trust between them and the learners. In addition, the students were encouraged to ask questions and get involved into discussions and debates especially in the Literature modules. One implication of these findings is that teachers should be encouraged to adopt a more learner-centred teaching style. According to recent research, self-reflection plays an important role in identifying and modifying teachers' personal teaching style (Grasha 1996, Conti 2004). So, we provided three self-reflection activities suitable for university teachers of English. These self-reflection activities may help to identify the attitudes, values and beliefs that teachers associate with their teaching practices and to find alternatives and better their teaching style.Item THE EFFECT of TEACHER FORM-FOCUSED FEEDBACK on EFL LEARNERS`ACCURATE USE of the SIMPLE PAST in COMPOSITION WRITING(University of Algiers. Faculty of Arts and Languages, 2007) Herizi-Mili, Nassira; Bensemmane, Faiza (Directeur de thèse)This study examines the relationship between teacher form -focused feedback and the development of EFL learners' accuracy in composition. Basically, it addresses one main research question: what is the effect of the teacher form–focused feedback on EFL learners' accuracy in using the simple past tense in composition writing? The study adopts a combination of methods (descriptive, experimental and comparative) and multiple research instruments (pupils' written data, pre-and post questionnaires and pre and post grammar tests). We used ten secondary school pupils as experimental and control subjects and examined their performance in three narrative essays and the revisions they made as a result of teacher’s form-focused feedback and unfocused feedback over four weeks. In addition, we examined the extent to which learners made use of teacher correction and the effect of grammar correction on the development of the experimental subjects’ accurate use of the simple past tense (the focused form in teacher correction). The results obtained from the experimental group were compared to those of the control group who received unfocused correction. The study also investigates the relative delayed effects (two weeks after the experiment) of form-focused feedback on learners’ accuracy in the focused structures by examining and comparing subjects’ use of the simple past in the first and second term essays, on one hand, and their scores in the pre and post grammar tests on the other hand. The present study's findings seem to lend support to the effective positive role of the form-focused feedback in improving learners’ accurate use of the focused forms in writing in the short term. As for the relative delayed effect, the type of feedback under scrutiny was found to be more effective in improving learners’ accuracy in the focused forms in grammar oriented- tasks than in composition writing. According to the subjects’ responses to the post questionnaire, conditions such as students’ need to develop their writing accuracy, a positive attitude towards correction and motivation to repair their errors, teacher’s form-focused feedback and the ample time learners need to write and revise their writings were found to be helpful for learners to make more beneficial use of teacher feedback.Item Evaluation of the teaching competencies of english teachers in Jordan from multiple perspectives(2012) Alhishoush, Mohammad M.; Bensemmane, Faiza (Directeur de thèse)The study aimed at evaluating the current situation of the teaching competencies of secondary English teachers in Jordan by showing multiple perspectives, namely the students', the English supervisors' and those of the teachers themselves. Moreover, the researcher analyzed the content of the training materials of a number of teacher training programs offered by the Ministry of Education during the last 15 years for evidence of the teaching competencies that secondary English teachers actually need. A number of instruments were used for data collection that included 3 questionnaires, interviews with experienced teachers (teachers and supervisors) and training program content analysis table. The three questionnaires and the content analysis table consisted of 40 essential specialized teaching competencies for English language teachers. These competencies were in 4 categories: " Subject knowledge and proficiency based competencies: Items 1 -12 " Cultural knowledge competencies: Items 13 - 18 " Teacher/ students relationship competencies: Items 19 - 24 " Instructional competencies: Items 25 - 40 The interview, on the other hand, consisted of one question in which the interviewees were asked to suggest a number of teaching competencies that they consider necessary or important for secondary English teachers in Jordan. The results of the study have shown the following: " The teachers' rating of their teaching competencies was very high in most of the teaching competencies except in 'cultural competencies' which were rated clearly lower than the rest of competencies. " The teachers' rating of their teaching competencies did not change according to their sex, qualifications or teaching experience for most competencies, though significant differences were found at the level of ? ? .05 between the males and the females in favor of the 'females' in 'instructional competencies', and in favor of the longest experience' for 'cultural competencies'. " The students' rating of the teaching competencies of their teachers was relatively low in 2 areas when compared to their teachers' perceptions of their teaching competencies, namely 'instructional competencies' and 'cultural competencies'. " The students rating did not change according to their sex except for 'cultural competencies' where significant differences were recognized in favor of the males. " The supervisors rating of the teaching competencies of the teachers was clearly low in the four categories when compared to the teachers' own rating of their teaching competencies, regardless of the sex of these supervisors, their qualifications or their experience. " The results of the interviews with experienced teachers emphasized 24 teaching competencies as most important for English teachers in Jordan. The most frequently selected competencies of these were 'teaching speaking skills', 'teaching writing skills', and 'classroom management'. " The results of the content analysis of the training programs were consistent with those appearing in the other questions where 2 categories, namely 'cultural competencies' and 'subject knowledge competencies', were clearly lower than the rest of competencies. This indicates that the training programs offered to teachers need to provide more materials that can help teachers in these two areas. In general, the results of the study have shown that teachers need help in a number of teaching competencies. Therefore, the study suggests a new model based on the findings of the study which can be a core of future training program for English teachers in Jordan as well as for assessing their performance.Item The Apprenticeship of leadership in EFL secondary classroom(University of Algiers 2 - Faculty of Arts Languages, 2012-06) Hachelaf, Ahmed Abdelhakim; Bensemmane, Faiza (Directeur de thèse)This study was conducted in order to investigate what leadership characteristics Algerian secondary school teachers of English demonstrate, and how leadership is distributed in their classrooms. It tries also to shed light on the factors that may enable or constrain such an endeavour. This mixed method study investigates the distributed leadership by gauging the directness/ indirectness of influence exercised by four EFL teachers using the FIA (Flanders' Interaction Analysis). It was triangulated by gauging the perceptions of eighty students of these observed teachers using the questionnaire instrument and interviewing the observed teachers to obtain their self-perceptions on leadership. Both qualitative and quantitative data revealed that the Algerian EFL teachers demonstrate some leadership skills but lack many of the concepts and components of participatory leadership such as cooperation and shared decision making. Although survey findings indicate that students generally consider their teachers as role models, their views and perceptions reveal that teachers tend to maintain control over many of the decisions and dominate in their classrooms. Data from the observation procedure reveal that the most recurrent practice teachers do is lecturing. They exercise direct rather than indirect influence. Interviews revealed that teachers tend to consider themselves as democratic leaders and open to dialogue, the fact that is not always reflected in their behaviours. Undoubtedly, teachers need to develop as leaders and pass on leadership skills to their learners in order to empower them to become autonomous leaders who lead successful and productive lives.