Issue 1 Vol 1 (2013)

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Voices in Asia Journal Issue 1 Volume 1, 2013 is available here to download.

ABSTRACT: The Third International Conference of the Faculty of Liberal Arts was organized in order for scholars in Asia to present their experience in teaching English in difference contexts and to allow them to collaborate in order to improve English language learning in the Asian context. It was held at the Salaya Pavilion Hotel, Mahidol University International College (MUIC), January 16-17, 2012. The conference began with addresses by the Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and the Regional Director of English Learning for the U.S. embassies in Southeast Asia. They stated that as English is now a global language and a lingua franca, it is no longer confined to native language geographical territories. It was hoped that presentations and thematic discussions on various ELT issues would also be organized to find areas of collaboration for further projects.

Nuchwana Luanganggoon

The Third International Conference of the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Mahidol

University, in Cooperation with the American Embassy’s Regional English Language

Organization and the Voices in Asia Committee

ABSTRACT: Projects in Linguistics and Language Studies provides basic knowledge about many aspects of linguistics, ranging from psycholinguistics, first-language acquisition and development, second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, historical linguistics to conversation analysis (CA) and some other linguistics-related issues. The book begins with an introductory chapter (Chapter 1) giving an overview on doing a research project: which area to choose, how to plan and manage time, where to find resources, what to do as a researcher, and what to consider when setting up databased research. The authors have divided the book into four parts: Part I—Areas of study and project ideas (Chapters 2-11), Part II—Techniques for collecting data (Chapters 12-16), Part III—Tools for data analysis (Chapters 17-20), and Part IV— Presenting your work (Chapters 21-24).

Wipapan Ngampramuan

Projects in Linguistics and Language Studies: A Practical Guide to Researching

Language

ABSTRACT: Nowadays, vocabulary learning is considered for a number of students one of the most challenging language components. Accordingly, students are not aware that a significant amount of their vocabulary is learned effortlessly given that enough input is provided. This type of vocabulary is learned incidentally. In other words, the learning of the target vocabulary is not formal and explicit. This paper presents a literature review discussing the results of what various studies have found on incidental vocabulary learning. It also tries to show the conditions that should be present for the learning to occur.

Bouchra Kachoub

Incidental Vocabulary Learning in Second Language Acquisition

ABSTRACT: This article describes a doctoral study on the variety of Arab English known as 3arabizi/Arabish, which occurs commonly in computer-mediated communication (CMC). The research context is a series of discussion forums on mahjoob.com, a Jordanian website where, alongside 3arabizi/Arabish, English and Arabic are both used. The study explains the process of developing a multi-lingual corpus from the forum data. It then focuses on the occurrence and use of 3arabizi/Arabish, English, and Arabic according to text type, topic, and poster profile. It also discusses the stylistic and topical features of these three languages. The study concludes with an examination of an on-line debate where the three languages are used strategically by posters to portray distinct identities and ideologies. 3arabizi/Arabish, English, and Arabic are found to carry out distinct functions and roles for their users.

Robert Michael Bianchi

Arab English: The Case of 3arabizi/Arabish on Mahjoob.com

ABSTRACT: This paper investigates if and how job advertisements for English language teachers discriminate against candidates with particular backgrounds. Based on an analysis of 77 advertisements (42 from East Asia and 35 from the Middle East), the paper identifies seven factors that are included as key requirements in these advertisements. A number of these factors, such as age, gender, nationality, nativeness and race, are ―biographical‖ in nature and may be used to discriminate against particular populations of candidates. While discriminatory issues were observed in advertisements from both East Asia and from the Middle East, there were some differences between the two regions. The findings of this study suggest that the discriminatory practices that the field has been trying to eliminate are still visible and that more work needs to be carried out to make TESOL an equitable profession.

Ahmar Mahboob & Ruth Golden

Looking for Native Speakers of English:

Discrimination in English Language Teaching Job Advertisements

ABSTRACT: This paper introduces a new English Language Teaching (ELT) method, called the Talk Show Method (TSM). In this method, the teacher and students participate in an imaginary television program. The teacher hosts the program in which one of the students is a guest speaker who is an expert in a specific area. The other students can choose to be members of the studio audience or home viewers who are allowed to call in or write to the host in order to ask questions, criticize, or share ideas. As a learner-centered method, TSM provides an opportunity for the learner to participate in an engaging, non-threatening, and novel experience of learning. This paper discusses TSM principles and procedures as well as materials and concludes with a review of its advantages and challenges.

Vahid Nimehchisalem

The Talk Show Method in the ESL Classroom

ABSTRACT: This study investigates the implementation of a self-assessment program in writing by intermediate EFL students at a university in Thailand. The students in the control group did not have self-assessment training. The students in the experimental group, on the other hand, were trained to self-assess their essays using self-assessment checklists and guidance sheets. All the essays were graded by two native speakers. Then the student participants and the native speakers were interviewed. All of them also answered questions in reflective journals. The results from the data collected from the participants’ interviews, reflective journals and the essay scores were triangulated to find out how the participants perceived the benefits of self-assessment in writing, what the differences were between the participants who had selfassessment training and those who did not, how the students’ writing was affected by self-assessment, and what the common obstacles to students’ self-assessment in writing were.

Somchoen Honsa, Jr.

Self-assessment in EFL Writing: A Study of Intermediate EFL Students at a

Thai University

ABSTRACT: This article describes a technology-supported deliberate vocabulary learning study, involving students enrolled in various university preparation programs in Qatar. In this study, which uses a within-sample design, the students’ vocabulary was pretested at the beginning of the academic year. Having identified the most useful vocabulary for this group of learners, both the instructor and the students designed interactive flashcards, using an online tool called WordChamp. The learning outcomes were tested under three conditions: 1) learning vocabulary without cards, 2) learning vocabulary with teacher-designed cards and 3) learning vocabulary with selfdesigned cards. At the end of the semester, the vocabulary test was administered again, establishing not only a statistically significant improvement in target vocabulary learning, but a significant difference in the effectiveness of the three approaches. While both the contrast procedure and learning with teacher-designed cards were similarly effective, learning with self-designed cards was less effective, at a statistically significant level.

Marina Dodigovic

Vocabulary Learning with Electronic Flashcards: Teacher Design vs. Student

Design

ABSTRACT: The main aim of this paper is to illustrate some ways in which learners of a language may engage in the monitoring and assessment of what they are learning. Traditionally it has been held that a learner cannot, for logical reasons, have much to say in such matters. The basic argument of that position is that self-assessment is subjective and therefore unreliable and of little value. This paper represents a challenge to this view. While it is true that a person’s estimate of his/her own ability is inherently subjective, that does not necessarily mean that it is unreliable, or that it is unimportant or without value. Both theoretical work and practical advances indicate that subjectively grounded assessment can yield reasonably dependable results, as well as have other positive effects. In this paper, I will first briefly review some theoretical arguments and research findings which have contributed to the development of self-assessment practices and will then deal with the practical side of the approach. In so doing, I will describe some concrete selfassessment strategies and materials and indicate how they have been presented and used, both in classroom work and in assessment more generally. Finally, I will sum up the most important points of my paper and formulate some arguments that challenge the competing and fairly common view that students should not have a role in the assessment of something they are still learning.

Mats Oscarson

The Challenge of Student Self-assessment in Language Education

ABSTRACT: The present study is an attempt to apply Roland Barthes’ narrative codes to Buried Child, one of the most celebrated plays by Sam Shepard. The purpose of the study is primarily to examine Barthes’ narrative codes in the genre of drama. The significance of the study is in its potential to add to the body of knowledge concerning the multilayered nature of literature and the role of readers in the interpretation of literary texts. This study can also give insights to readers on how to read the texts more attentively in order to detect the signs or codes and consequently reach new meanings which in turn will add to the enjoyment of reading. The importance of the study lies in its ability to one more time reveal the rich, broad, and evasive nature of literature and the way in which different readers of a text can discover multiple underlying meanings, the traces of which are left on the surface of the text.

Mehrzad Mozaffarzade

Roland Barthes’ Narrative Codes in the Reading of Sam Shepard’s Buried

Child: A Reader Response Approach