Ebrahim Bamanger is a doctoral candidate majoring in Literacy, Culture and Language Education, with a minor in Instructional Systems Technology and another minor in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University, USA. He is also a doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Instruction at King Saud University. Ebrahim is an instructional designer and Teaching Assistant at Indiana University. Bamanger has been teaching foreign languages for more than five years. His research interests focus on multiliteracies. Bamanger focuses on research explors the integration of innovative technologies in enhancing language learning, and different methods of teaching foreign and second languages across diverse cultures. Address: Indiana, USA
This study examines transnationalism in multicultural children’s
literature with significant Mus... more This study examines transnationalism in multicultural children’s literature with significant Muslim-themed content to investigate whether depictions of Muslim migrant characters in children’s narratives reflect contemporary life in the United States.
Comparison of the Graduate Education between Canada and China, 2020
In this study, a comparison of the graduate education program between Canada and China is present... more In this study, a comparison of the graduate education program between Canada and China is presented. Compared with some developed countries in Europe and America, Canada's graduate education does not start too early. After World War II, especially in recent decades, its graduate education has developed rapidly. The reason is that under the situation of the rapid development of science, technology, and economy in domestic and foreign scale, the Canadian federal government and provincial government gradually realize the importance of graduate education; therefore, they vigorously support and fund graduate education. China's graduate education has started later than Canada's. However, it has developed rapidly in recent years. Canadian and Chinese graduate education have their distinct characteristics with some similarities and some differences. The development history, present situation and problems, training mode and future development of graduate education in Canada and China are compared, and then some suggestions for the development of graduate education in China are presented accordingly.
Virtual World to Motivate Learning: Exploring Arabic EFL Learners' Views Toward Utilizing the Second Life Virtual Game as a Motivational Tool, 2019
This study was intended to explore EFL learners' views toward the use of the virtual Second Life ... more This study was intended to explore EFL learners' views toward the use of the virtual Second Life game as a motivational instructional tool, their opinions on its technical use, and any obstacles they face while using this technology. The participants of the study were forty-one EFL Arab students who were enrolled in English language mainstream of the bachelor's degree at a school of education in the capital city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. At the end of a computer-assisted language learning course exploring the Second Life virtual game, they were asked to complete a questionnaire to gather descriptive data regarding the questions of the study. The results indicated that these EFL learners hold positive views toward the use of the Second Life game as a motivational tool in language learning, although there are some concerns regarding the availability of the necessary technology skills to use the game. The most notable recommendation from the study highlighted the need for teacher encouragement to use digital games to practice the foreign language.
Perception of Teachers and Supervisors on English MM Publications Series for the Intermediate School in the Light of the Curriculum Document in the City of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2020
Evaluation tends to be vital in assessing the efficacy of school curricula. The current study was... more Evaluation tends to be vital in assessing the efficacy of school curricula. The current study was conducted to identify the compatibility of the content of the developed curriculum of the English Language for the intermediate level, MM Publications: Full Blast, with the Curriculum Document, as perceived by language teachers and supervisors. Following a mixed method approach, the analytical descriptive method was implemented to gather the participants' views regarding the new curriculum through the use of a developed questionnaire. In addition, qualitative data was gathered via interviewing a sample of 30 teachers and 15 supervisors. The descriptive data showed a high level of agreement regarding the compatibility of the content of the developed curriculum with the Curriculum Document. However, the analysis of the interviews showed that teachers and supervisors faced some problems when implemented the developed curriculum. Several recommendations and research directions have been outlined based on the study findings.
Efficiency of flipped classroom with online-based teaching under COVID-19, 2020
ABSTRACT
Due to the spread of COVID-19 worldwide, a large number of universities
had to close the... more ABSTRACT Due to the spread of COVID-19 worldwide, a large number of universities had to close their campuses. To maintain teaching and learning during this disruption to the traditional teaching, most universities have adopted online teaching model. The current study aimed at investigating the efficacy of various online teaching modes as well as comparing a proposed combined model of online and flipped learning to other online and traditional models. The Learning under COVID19questionnaire was designed and administered to undergraduate engineering students at Chengdu University of Information Technology (CUIT). The questionnaire included five parts: demographic questions, frequencies of online courses, types of online courses, the communication and Q&A in online classes and the effect of online classes, as well as the effect of combined model learning. The results of the study showed that, students were dissatisfied with online learning in general, and they were especially dissatisfied with the communication and Q&A modes. In addition, the combined model of online teaching with the flipped learning improved students’ learning, attention, and evaluation of courses.
Virtual worlds for collaborative learning: Arab EFL learners' attitudes, 2019
In the Arab world, there is a lack of research investigating the use of virtual games to support ... more In the Arab world, there is a lack of research investigating the use of virtual games to support learning English as a foreign language (EFL). The aim of this study was to examine EFL learners' attitudes towards the integration of the Second Life virtual game as a collaborative instructional tool. A descriptive inquiry method was followed, and data gathered using a questionnaire that had been tested for validity and reliability. Forty-one undergraduates, enrolled in two computer-assisted language learning classes, at a school of education represent the study sample. Findings indicated that the majority were in favor of using virtual worlds as collaborative learning contexts. Moreover, it is recommended that further studies consider a qualitative design that makes use of in-depth observations and interviews to explore learners' attitudes about the integration of this technology in an EFL context.
The purpose of the present study was to determine whether giving English as a foreign language le... more The purpose of the present study was to determine whether giving English as a foreign language learners podcast lectures in addition to the traditional lectures help them to enhance their English language writing, and to explore and discover useful information regarding the adoption of podcasting as a learning or training tool in order to better understand and improve learning and teaching methods. This study was conducted with fifty five level two male students at the scientific section of the Preparatory Year in King Saud University. They were assigned into the experimental and control group randomly. The experimental group listened to podcast lectures as well as the in-class traditional lessons. Meanwhile, the control one was given traditional classroom lessons only. To assess the performances in the pre- and post-tests, analytic scoring rubric was used. To answer the research’s questions, a within group two paired samples t-test was computed. In addition, a survey questionnaire was administered to the podcasting group to explore their attitudes towards using podcast instruction to improve writing ability.
The results showed that the students in the experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group. There was a significant decrease in spelling, punctuation and capitalization errors. Questionnaire’s results reported that EFL learners in the experimental group mostly conveyed positive attitudes. The current study recommended that EFL learners need to be familiarized and trained with the use of podcasting technology in language learning in order to get better gains. EFL teachers are suggested to integrate podcasting lectures into their EFL writing teaching.
Keywords: Mobile learning, Podcasting, Writing accuracy, Attitudes.
The effect of planning time on the fluency, accuracy, and complexity of EFL learners’ oral production , 2015
The provision of pre-task planning time for second language speech tasks holds some promise as a ... more The provision of pre-task planning time for second language speech tasks holds some promise as a way to promote the focus on form in tandem with meaning-focused instruction. This study explored the effect of planning time on EFL learners’ task-based oral performance. The participants were 52 Saudi high school students from Riyadh, divided randomly into experimental and control groups and asked to perform the task respectively with five minutes’ pre-task planning and without any planning time. The performances were recorded and transcribed to measure the fluency, accuracy, and complexity of the speech production. T-test results showed that pre-task planning participants significantly outperformed the non-planners. Thus, this study indicated that when learners are given pre-task planning time they are able to produce more fluent, accurate, and complex language than those asked to start doing the task immediately, without planning time. The study did not find any evidence of trade-off competition between fluency, accuracy, and complexity. The study recommended that language learners need to be familiarized with planning time and teachers are required to be trained with planning time activities in order to get better gains. Overall, these results provided important pedagogical implications and suggested useful future research directions.
Recent trends in teacher education have focused on exploring teachers’ beliefs. Earlier studies h... more Recent trends in teacher education have focused on exploring teachers’ beliefs. Earlier studies have shown the important influence of teachers’ beliefs on teaching practices. The present study was conducted to explore the beliefs of Saudi EFL teachers about the significance of teaching English reading strategies. The study aimed also to find the influence of these beliefs on their classroom teaching practice. The participants of the present quantitative study were twenty seven Saudi EFL teachers, teaching in different schools in Riyadh. The questionnaire results were collected and the data was analyzed by the use of SPSS program. In the analysis process, the mean for each item was calculated as well as the standard deviation. Then, the results of the teachers’ beliefs and the actual practices were correlated to find the relationship between them. The results, based on questionnaire data, showed that in-service EFL teachers clearly placed great emphasis on the significance of teaching reading strategies. Teachers were found to believe that the most important teaching reading strategies are: “To guess the meaning of the ambiguous vocabulary” (Mean 4.62), “To explain vocabulary items” (Mean 4.48), “To scan the text” (Mean 4.48) and “To ask questions to check the comprehension of the text” (Mean 4.44), whereas they believe that “To translate words into Arabic” (Mean 2.14) is the least important one. The findings of the current study concluded that what in-service teachers do believe about the efficient strategies of teaching reading, significantly correlates with what they really do in classrooms. The findings suggested that in order to change classroom’ practices, EFL teachers need to change what they believe about these practices. Keywords: teachers’ beliefs, EFL, reading strategies
This study examines transnationalism in multicultural children’s
literature with significant Mus... more This study examines transnationalism in multicultural children’s literature with significant Muslim-themed content to investigate whether depictions of Muslim migrant characters in children’s narratives reflect contemporary life in the United States.
Comparison of the Graduate Education between Canada and China, 2020
In this study, a comparison of the graduate education program between Canada and China is present... more In this study, a comparison of the graduate education program between Canada and China is presented. Compared with some developed countries in Europe and America, Canada's graduate education does not start too early. After World War II, especially in recent decades, its graduate education has developed rapidly. The reason is that under the situation of the rapid development of science, technology, and economy in domestic and foreign scale, the Canadian federal government and provincial government gradually realize the importance of graduate education; therefore, they vigorously support and fund graduate education. China's graduate education has started later than Canada's. However, it has developed rapidly in recent years. Canadian and Chinese graduate education have their distinct characteristics with some similarities and some differences. The development history, present situation and problems, training mode and future development of graduate education in Canada and China are compared, and then some suggestions for the development of graduate education in China are presented accordingly.
Virtual World to Motivate Learning: Exploring Arabic EFL Learners' Views Toward Utilizing the Second Life Virtual Game as a Motivational Tool, 2019
This study was intended to explore EFL learners' views toward the use of the virtual Second Life ... more This study was intended to explore EFL learners' views toward the use of the virtual Second Life game as a motivational instructional tool, their opinions on its technical use, and any obstacles they face while using this technology. The participants of the study were forty-one EFL Arab students who were enrolled in English language mainstream of the bachelor's degree at a school of education in the capital city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. At the end of a computer-assisted language learning course exploring the Second Life virtual game, they were asked to complete a questionnaire to gather descriptive data regarding the questions of the study. The results indicated that these EFL learners hold positive views toward the use of the Second Life game as a motivational tool in language learning, although there are some concerns regarding the availability of the necessary technology skills to use the game. The most notable recommendation from the study highlighted the need for teacher encouragement to use digital games to practice the foreign language.
Perception of Teachers and Supervisors on English MM Publications Series for the Intermediate School in the Light of the Curriculum Document in the City of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2020
Evaluation tends to be vital in assessing the efficacy of school curricula. The current study was... more Evaluation tends to be vital in assessing the efficacy of school curricula. The current study was conducted to identify the compatibility of the content of the developed curriculum of the English Language for the intermediate level, MM Publications: Full Blast, with the Curriculum Document, as perceived by language teachers and supervisors. Following a mixed method approach, the analytical descriptive method was implemented to gather the participants' views regarding the new curriculum through the use of a developed questionnaire. In addition, qualitative data was gathered via interviewing a sample of 30 teachers and 15 supervisors. The descriptive data showed a high level of agreement regarding the compatibility of the content of the developed curriculum with the Curriculum Document. However, the analysis of the interviews showed that teachers and supervisors faced some problems when implemented the developed curriculum. Several recommendations and research directions have been outlined based on the study findings.
Efficiency of flipped classroom with online-based teaching under COVID-19, 2020
ABSTRACT
Due to the spread of COVID-19 worldwide, a large number of universities
had to close the... more ABSTRACT Due to the spread of COVID-19 worldwide, a large number of universities had to close their campuses. To maintain teaching and learning during this disruption to the traditional teaching, most universities have adopted online teaching model. The current study aimed at investigating the efficacy of various online teaching modes as well as comparing a proposed combined model of online and flipped learning to other online and traditional models. The Learning under COVID19questionnaire was designed and administered to undergraduate engineering students at Chengdu University of Information Technology (CUIT). The questionnaire included five parts: demographic questions, frequencies of online courses, types of online courses, the communication and Q&A in online classes and the effect of online classes, as well as the effect of combined model learning. The results of the study showed that, students were dissatisfied with online learning in general, and they were especially dissatisfied with the communication and Q&A modes. In addition, the combined model of online teaching with the flipped learning improved students’ learning, attention, and evaluation of courses.
Virtual worlds for collaborative learning: Arab EFL learners' attitudes, 2019
In the Arab world, there is a lack of research investigating the use of virtual games to support ... more In the Arab world, there is a lack of research investigating the use of virtual games to support learning English as a foreign language (EFL). The aim of this study was to examine EFL learners' attitudes towards the integration of the Second Life virtual game as a collaborative instructional tool. A descriptive inquiry method was followed, and data gathered using a questionnaire that had been tested for validity and reliability. Forty-one undergraduates, enrolled in two computer-assisted language learning classes, at a school of education represent the study sample. Findings indicated that the majority were in favor of using virtual worlds as collaborative learning contexts. Moreover, it is recommended that further studies consider a qualitative design that makes use of in-depth observations and interviews to explore learners' attitudes about the integration of this technology in an EFL context.
The purpose of the present study was to determine whether giving English as a foreign language le... more The purpose of the present study was to determine whether giving English as a foreign language learners podcast lectures in addition to the traditional lectures help them to enhance their English language writing, and to explore and discover useful information regarding the adoption of podcasting as a learning or training tool in order to better understand and improve learning and teaching methods. This study was conducted with fifty five level two male students at the scientific section of the Preparatory Year in King Saud University. They were assigned into the experimental and control group randomly. The experimental group listened to podcast lectures as well as the in-class traditional lessons. Meanwhile, the control one was given traditional classroom lessons only. To assess the performances in the pre- and post-tests, analytic scoring rubric was used. To answer the research’s questions, a within group two paired samples t-test was computed. In addition, a survey questionnaire was administered to the podcasting group to explore their attitudes towards using podcast instruction to improve writing ability.
The results showed that the students in the experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group. There was a significant decrease in spelling, punctuation and capitalization errors. Questionnaire’s results reported that EFL learners in the experimental group mostly conveyed positive attitudes. The current study recommended that EFL learners need to be familiarized and trained with the use of podcasting technology in language learning in order to get better gains. EFL teachers are suggested to integrate podcasting lectures into their EFL writing teaching.
Keywords: Mobile learning, Podcasting, Writing accuracy, Attitudes.
The effect of planning time on the fluency, accuracy, and complexity of EFL learners’ oral production , 2015
The provision of pre-task planning time for second language speech tasks holds some promise as a ... more The provision of pre-task planning time for second language speech tasks holds some promise as a way to promote the focus on form in tandem with meaning-focused instruction. This study explored the effect of planning time on EFL learners’ task-based oral performance. The participants were 52 Saudi high school students from Riyadh, divided randomly into experimental and control groups and asked to perform the task respectively with five minutes’ pre-task planning and without any planning time. The performances were recorded and transcribed to measure the fluency, accuracy, and complexity of the speech production. T-test results showed that pre-task planning participants significantly outperformed the non-planners. Thus, this study indicated that when learners are given pre-task planning time they are able to produce more fluent, accurate, and complex language than those asked to start doing the task immediately, without planning time. The study did not find any evidence of trade-off competition between fluency, accuracy, and complexity. The study recommended that language learners need to be familiarized with planning time and teachers are required to be trained with planning time activities in order to get better gains. Overall, these results provided important pedagogical implications and suggested useful future research directions.
Recent trends in teacher education have focused on exploring teachers’ beliefs. Earlier studies h... more Recent trends in teacher education have focused on exploring teachers’ beliefs. Earlier studies have shown the important influence of teachers’ beliefs on teaching practices. The present study was conducted to explore the beliefs of Saudi EFL teachers about the significance of teaching English reading strategies. The study aimed also to find the influence of these beliefs on their classroom teaching practice. The participants of the present quantitative study were twenty seven Saudi EFL teachers, teaching in different schools in Riyadh. The questionnaire results were collected and the data was analyzed by the use of SPSS program. In the analysis process, the mean for each item was calculated as well as the standard deviation. Then, the results of the teachers’ beliefs and the actual practices were correlated to find the relationship between them. The results, based on questionnaire data, showed that in-service EFL teachers clearly placed great emphasis on the significance of teaching reading strategies. Teachers were found to believe that the most important teaching reading strategies are: “To guess the meaning of the ambiguous vocabulary” (Mean 4.62), “To explain vocabulary items” (Mean 4.48), “To scan the text” (Mean 4.48) and “To ask questions to check the comprehension of the text” (Mean 4.44), whereas they believe that “To translate words into Arabic” (Mean 2.14) is the least important one. The findings of the current study concluded that what in-service teachers do believe about the efficient strategies of teaching reading, significantly correlates with what they really do in classrooms. The findings suggested that in order to change classroom’ practices, EFL teachers need to change what they believe about these practices. Keywords: teachers’ beliefs, EFL, reading strategies
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Papers by Ebrahim Bamanger
literature with significant Muslim-themed content to investigate
whether depictions of Muslim migrant characters in children’s
narratives reflect contemporary life in the United States.
Due to the spread of COVID-19 worldwide, a large number of universities
had to close their campuses. To maintain teaching and learning during this
disruption to the traditional teaching, most universities have adopted
online teaching model. The current study aimed at investigating the
efficacy of various online teaching modes as well as comparing a
proposed combined model of online and flipped learning to other
online and traditional models. The Learning under COVID19questionnaire was designed and administered to undergraduate
engineering students at Chengdu University of Information Technology
(CUIT). The questionnaire included five parts: demographic questions,
frequencies of online courses, types of online courses, the
communication and Q&A in online classes and the effect of online
classes, as well as the effect of combined model learning. The results of
the study showed that, students were dissatisfied with online learning in
general, and they were especially dissatisfied with the communication
and Q&A modes. In addition, the combined model of online teaching
with the flipped learning improved students’ learning, attention, and
evaluation of courses.
The results showed that the students in the experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group. There was a significant decrease in spelling, punctuation and capitalization errors. Questionnaire’s results reported that EFL learners in the experimental group mostly conveyed positive attitudes. The current study recommended that EFL learners need to be familiarized and trained with the use of podcasting technology in language learning in order to get better gains. EFL teachers are suggested to integrate podcasting lectures into their EFL writing teaching.
Keywords: Mobile learning, Podcasting, Writing accuracy, Attitudes.
important influence of teachers’ beliefs on teaching practices. The present study was conducted to explore the
beliefs of Saudi EFL teachers about the significance of teaching English reading strategies. The study aimed also
to find the influence of these beliefs on their classroom teaching practice. The participants of the present
quantitative study were twenty seven Saudi EFL teachers, teaching in different schools in Riyadh. The
questionnaire results were collected and the data was analyzed by the use of SPSS program. In the analysis
process, the mean for each item was calculated as well as the standard deviation. Then, the results of the
teachers’ beliefs and the actual practices were correlated to find the relationship between them.
The results, based on questionnaire data, showed that in-service EFL teachers clearly placed great emphasis on
the significance of teaching reading strategies. Teachers were found to believe that the most important teaching
reading strategies are: “To guess the meaning of the ambiguous vocabulary” (Mean 4.62), “To explain
vocabulary items” (Mean 4.48), “To scan the text” (Mean 4.48) and “To ask questions to check the
comprehension of the text” (Mean 4.44), whereas they believe that “To translate words into Arabic” (Mean 2.14)
is the least important one.
The findings of the current study concluded that what in-service teachers do believe about the efficient strategies
of teaching reading, significantly correlates with what they really do in classrooms. The findings suggested that
in order to change classroom’ practices, EFL teachers need to change what they believe about these practices.
Keywords: teachers’ beliefs, EFL, reading strategies
literature with significant Muslim-themed content to investigate
whether depictions of Muslim migrant characters in children’s
narratives reflect contemporary life in the United States.
Due to the spread of COVID-19 worldwide, a large number of universities
had to close their campuses. To maintain teaching and learning during this
disruption to the traditional teaching, most universities have adopted
online teaching model. The current study aimed at investigating the
efficacy of various online teaching modes as well as comparing a
proposed combined model of online and flipped learning to other
online and traditional models. The Learning under COVID19questionnaire was designed and administered to undergraduate
engineering students at Chengdu University of Information Technology
(CUIT). The questionnaire included five parts: demographic questions,
frequencies of online courses, types of online courses, the
communication and Q&A in online classes and the effect of online
classes, as well as the effect of combined model learning. The results of
the study showed that, students were dissatisfied with online learning in
general, and they were especially dissatisfied with the communication
and Q&A modes. In addition, the combined model of online teaching
with the flipped learning improved students’ learning, attention, and
evaluation of courses.
The results showed that the students in the experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group. There was a significant decrease in spelling, punctuation and capitalization errors. Questionnaire’s results reported that EFL learners in the experimental group mostly conveyed positive attitudes. The current study recommended that EFL learners need to be familiarized and trained with the use of podcasting technology in language learning in order to get better gains. EFL teachers are suggested to integrate podcasting lectures into their EFL writing teaching.
Keywords: Mobile learning, Podcasting, Writing accuracy, Attitudes.
important influence of teachers’ beliefs on teaching practices. The present study was conducted to explore the
beliefs of Saudi EFL teachers about the significance of teaching English reading strategies. The study aimed also
to find the influence of these beliefs on their classroom teaching practice. The participants of the present
quantitative study were twenty seven Saudi EFL teachers, teaching in different schools in Riyadh. The
questionnaire results were collected and the data was analyzed by the use of SPSS program. In the analysis
process, the mean for each item was calculated as well as the standard deviation. Then, the results of the
teachers’ beliefs and the actual practices were correlated to find the relationship between them.
The results, based on questionnaire data, showed that in-service EFL teachers clearly placed great emphasis on
the significance of teaching reading strategies. Teachers were found to believe that the most important teaching
reading strategies are: “To guess the meaning of the ambiguous vocabulary” (Mean 4.62), “To explain
vocabulary items” (Mean 4.48), “To scan the text” (Mean 4.48) and “To ask questions to check the
comprehension of the text” (Mean 4.44), whereas they believe that “To translate words into Arabic” (Mean 2.14)
is the least important one.
The findings of the current study concluded that what in-service teachers do believe about the efficient strategies
of teaching reading, significantly correlates with what they really do in classrooms. The findings suggested that
in order to change classroom’ practices, EFL teachers need to change what they believe about these practices.
Keywords: teachers’ beliefs, EFL, reading strategies