The Asian EFL Journal April 2021 Volume 28 Issue 2.1 Senior Editor: Paul Robertson Published by the English Language Education Publishing Asian EFL Journal A Division of TESOL Asia Group www.asian-efl-journal.com ©Asian EFL Journal 2020 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of the Asian EFL Journal Press. No unauthorized photocopying All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Asian EFL Journal. editor@asian-efl-journal.com Publisher: English Language Education (ELE) Publishing Chief Editor: Dr. Paul Robertson Associate Production Editor: Ramon Medriano, Jr. ISSN 1738-1460 Asian EFL Journal Research Articles. Vol. 28 Issue No. 2.1 April 2021 Table of Contents 1 2 3 Foreword ………………………………………………………………………….. 4 Jennifer Yphantides English Foreign Language Teaching and Professional Identity Development 7 Rajesh Arruri, Tlili Saad A Corpus-based Study of Vocabulary Problems in IAU Preparatory Year Students’ Writing …………………………………………………………………….. 24 Mary John Students’ Challenges in Self-Study of an ESL Listening and Speaking Course During the Covid-19 Pandemic ……………………………………... 43 4 Safwan Shatnawi, Abubaker Abdulkarim Alhitty Digital Assessment Management System: The Exam Extractor, from Content Creation to Academic Credibility ………..……………………………….. 66 5 Tara Fryad Henari, Dalal A. Kareem Ahmed Evaluating Educators and Students’ Perspectives on Asynchronous and Synchronous Modes of E-learning in Crisis Education ……….…………………... 80 6 Mohammad Awad Al-Dawoody Abdulaal, Iman El-Nabawi Shaalan Perceptions of Egyptian and Saudi EFL Students towards Blended Learning at the Wake of Coronavirus Pandemic …………………………….. 99 7 Ayman Farid Khafaga, Mohammed Aldawsari The Rhetoric of Persuasive Discourse in the Narrative Genre: A Pragmatic Approach ………………………………………………………..…………… 116 8 Amirullah Abduh, Syarifuddin Dollah, Murni Mahmud, Rosmaladewi Grammatical Errors in Essay Writing of EFL University Bilingual Students: Suggested Strategies for Correction ..………………………………………... 141 Asian EFL Journal Research Articles. Vol. 28 Issue No. 2.1 April 2021 Foreword In this edition we present papers from 8 countries. It is clear to the editors reviewing these papers that the pandemic has opened up many new avenues of research, pre pandemic, pandemic responses and post pandemic responses based on past research. Modes of delivery have been thrust into the spotlight with traditional classroom and pandemic responses being researched to present what the future will look like in second language acquisition teaching and research. Other papers herein also indicate the intense depth of research that global academics are putting into language acquisition research. The first paper, English Foreign Language Teaching and Professional Identity Development comes from Jennifer Yphantides, Soka University, Tokyo, Japan. All academics and teachers will relate to this paper. The thrust of her literature review is EFL teacher identity and how it is shaped not only by personal factors such as upbringing, gender, cultural background, experience as a student, and socio-economic status, but also by the organizations in which teachers work, the students and colleagues in the context, and the expectations set by superiors. This is a valuable work of interest to all in the profession. The second paper, A corpus-based study of vocabulary problems in IAU Preparatory Year students’ writing’ is by Drs. Rajesh Arruri and Tilli Asad from Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. Their corpus-based study examines the categories of vocabulary errors committed by Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU) Preparatory Year Programme (PYP) students. Their findings show students need to be encouraged to use advanced content words, that teaching collocations should be an integral part of the ELT syllabus, and teachers need to deal with students’ confusion which leads them to use inappropriate vocabulary. More consolidating feedback must be provided for the students to stress their awareness of lexical defects. Suggestions for curriculum designers and textbook developers are discussed. 4 The next paper, Students’ Challenges in Self-Study of an ESL Listening and Speaking Course during the Covid-19 Pandemicis, is by Mary John who is a lecturer at the English Language Centre, University of Bahrain. The study describes how students in the ESL Listening and Speaking (LS) Course managed their self- study component. It looked into how students manage their challenges and complete the tasks. The study also determined to study the relationships between students’ virtual attendance and their performance in completion. An interesting finding is that listening skills are found to be less challenging for students in the self-study mode. The fourth paper, Digital assessment management system: The Exam Extractor, from content creation to academic credibility, is presented by Safwan Shatnawi and Mr. Abubaker Abdulkarim Alhitty from the University of Bahrain. The authors have invented a tool for preparing authentic assessment when teaching English as a second language. The Exam Extractor transforms the concept of preparing standardized exams and makes a time-consuming task much faster and the result more professional. The Exam Extractor offers collaborative web-based interfaces for educators. Moreover, it integrates the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, course intended learning outcomes, and quality assurance framework to generate authentic assessments. The fifth paper, Evaluating Educators and Students’ Perspectives on Asynchronous and Synchronous Modes of E-learning in Crisis Education is by Tara Fryad Henari and Dalal A. Kareem Ahmed. The purpose of this research is to identify and compare perspectives of educators and students who participated in both asynchronous and synchronous e-learning during the Covid-19 emergency remote teaching period. Synchronous e-learning was preferred by all students of all levels of education, and although they all thought asynchronous learning was more flexible, they agreed synchronous learning increases motivation, increases understanding of the topic, increases communication with the teacher, enhances critical thinking and is more interesting. The next paper is by Mohammad Awad Al-Dawoody Abdulaal and Iman El-Nabawi Shaalan, Perceptions of Egyptian and Saudi EFL Students towards Blended Learning at the Wake of Coronavirus Pandemic. This research study explored the attitudes of the Egyptian and Saudi EFL students towards blended learning at Port Said and Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz 5 Universities in Egypt and Saudi Arabia respectively. Students’ perceptions reveal interesting traits as to the modes of delivery during the pandemic. The penultimate research paper is co-authored by Ayman Khafaga and Mohammed Aldawsari. This paper is valuable to teacher in SLA teaching for evaluating the use of language and the teachings thereof. The linguistic study of literary texts serves to decode certain stylistic, linguistic, rhetorical and ideological properties pertaining to such texts to the extent that contributes to the general understanding of literary discourse. In the final paper, Grammatical Errors in Essay Writing of EFL University Bilingual Students: Suggested Strategies for Correction Amirullah Abduh, Syarifuddin Dollah, Murni Mahmud and Rosmaladewi from Indonesia carried our research into grammatical errors by university undergraduates in Indonesia. From their analysis of the findings, it appears participants in this study showed grammatical errors such as word choice and word forms, followed by verb forms, spelling, articles, and missing words. To overcome their errors, it is suggested students are encouraged to check how to use certain words in the online corpus database. Besides, using peer group correction can be a helpful strategy to provide feedback for other students’ work. We thank you for reviewing and referencing papers in this valuable edition and look forward to reviewing your follow up research. 6 Asian EFL Journal Research Articles. Vol. 28 Issue No. 2.1 April 2021 English Foreign Language Teaching and Professional Identity Development Jennifer Yphantides Soka University, Tokyo, Japan Bio-Profile: Jennifer Yphantides has been teaching EFL since 1993. Her career has taken her to Europe, The Middle East, and Asia. She has been teaching at the tertiary level in Japan for more than a decade. She has a Doctorate of Education and researches teacher identity and women in higher education leadership. Abstract The focus of this literature review is EFL teacher identity and how it is shaped not only by personal factors such as upbringing, gender, cultural background, experience as a student, and socio-economic status, but also by the organizations in which teachers work, the students and colleagues in the context, and the expectations set by superiors. This review summarizes the primary findings of sixteen key studies on EFL teacher identity with a focus on how EFL teachers develop their professional personae in conjunction with personal factors as well as in reciprocal communication with students, colleagues and organization administrators. The 16 studies are divided into four strands: The intersection of personal and professional identity, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Asian teacher identity, role perception and identity, and teacher-researcher identity development. After summarizing the studies, a brief analysis of each thematic strand will be provided. At the end of the review, conclusions about the current body of research will be drawn and recommendations for future studies will be made. Introduction Studies of teacher identity, particularly in the field of TESOL, have become more ubiquitous in the past decades (Cheung, Said & Park, 2015). Rather than viewing teachers as transmitters of knowledge who operate in the classroom solely based on their understanding of 7 educational theory and practice, there is a broader recognition permeating the profession that individual teachers have an ever-changing identity that is important to study because it influences their motivation to teach and their sense of self-efficacy (Cheung et al., 2015). Teacher identity, which has its roots in pre-service experiences, has a powerful social dimension that has often been overlooked (Kaya & Dikilitas, 2019). The social processes that shape teacher identity over time take place in institutional settings that offer a variety of levels of support to employees and are instrumental in guiding newer teachers as they develop a sense of professional self (Kaya & Dikilitas, 2019). Because identity is not shaped in a linear fashion and it is not coherent or fixed but emergent and changeable, it is important for organizations to be aware of this and to prepare teachers for professional lives of reflection so that their emergent and mutable identities can be shaped in a way that is beneficial to the students, the organization, and the teachers themselves (Cheung, et al., 2015). Empirical Study Summaries Organized by Theme A cursory overview of some of the most recent research as well as some older, seminal studies in this branch of the field indicate that while there is a great deal of thematic overlap, four key strands emerge from the body of scholarship on EFL teacher identity, particularly in the Asian context. The four themes are: the intersection of personal and professional identity, CLT and Asian teacher identity, role perception and identity, and teacher-researcher identity development. Theme One: The Intersection of Personal and Professional Identity In this section, four studies from the Asian context will be reviewed. All are qualitative studies containing a limited number of participants and all clearly demonstrate the connections between a teacher’s personal and professional life. This research indicates how gender, socioeconomic status, experience as a student, and ethnicity all play a role in shaping teacher identity. Additionally, the studies show the complex interplay between these personal factors and the institutional context in shaping a teacher’s identity and suggest that greater support needs to be provided by institutions so that teachers can develop a positive sense of professional identity and a greater sense of self-efficacy. Tsui’s (2007) classic study of Minfang, a male EFL teacher working at a university in China, highlights the critical intersection of family upbringing, wider culture, and position within an organization and how these affect the development of professional identity. In an indepth exploration of Minfang, Tsui (2007) found that identities are formed by constant re8 negotiation of meaning with the organization and the people that work in it. For Minfang, a key issue that needed constant renegotiation was his position as a poor person with “country bumpkin” pronunciation working in higher education in China. In addition to this was Minfeng’s original aversion to communicative language teaching (CLT). Last, was Minfengs’s pursuit of a graduate degree so that he could feel part of a larger community of teachers and increase his cultural capital within his organization. Over time and with a great deal of professional development, Minfeng became one of the most popular teachers at the university. This gradual shift was accompanied by Minfeng’s mental negotiation and renegotiation of his identity, in connection with his students, his superiors, and within a Chinese institution of higher learning. Minfeng had numerous barriers to overcome on the way to becoming a successful teacher with a positive sense of professional identity. He shouldered the burden of doing so by himself and other teachers in his position may have decided to leave the profession. Further questions remain about how Minfeng maintained his motivation to teach and his dedication to the university and the possible ways in which the institution could have been more supportive of him as he developed his identity as a professional teacher who espoused CLT-centered curriculum. While the Tsui (2007) study provided an in depth look at the development of one EFL teacher and how his past upbringing, social class, and gradual professional development shaped his identity as a teacher, Simon-Maeda’s (2004) study looked at several women in teaching EFL in Japan. She used life history narratives as a methodological means of exploring the professional identity development of nine foreign female teachers and while originally intending to focus on how gendered socio-cultural norms affected these women’s identity construction, she found that gender was only one of many parts of a continuously shifting view of self. She also found that as foreigners, the women experienced a plethora of difficulties that shaped their identity as teachers and had a significant impact on their classroom practice. In addition, facing issues as foreign women in the Japanese context, Simon-Maeda (2004) found that ethnicity, socio-economic status, and sexual orientation also shaped teacher experience and, as a result, teacher identity. In her conclusion, Simon-Maeda (2004) focused on how her female participants were able to overcome discrimination at the organizational level by accessing outside support. Doing so was critical to their development of a positive professional identity. The key here is that the participants needed to access support from outside their institutions because, as in the case of Minfang, none was available on the inside. Such a lack of support can cause detriment to the teacher, the students, and the organization as a whole because not all teachers have the skills, opportunities, or motivation to access outside support. 9 In addition to Simon-Maeda’s (2004) seminal research done in the Japanese context, Nagatomo (2015) has also contributed more recently to this area of study. She researched the identity formation of one foreign female EFL teacher in the Japanese context using narrative inquiry. Findings indicated, similar to Simon-Maeda (2004) and Tsui (2007), the connections between the personal lives of teachers which impact on their professional identities. Nagatomo (2015) focused on the gendered personal life of one EFL teacher, Andrea, and how changes in her private life led to a shift in the way her colleagues perceived her. Nagatomo (2015) outlined how Andrea took two consecutive maternity leaves and, despite her pleas for reassurance that her permanent job would not be given to a male colleague, she found that she had been displaced upon her return. She felt that her colleagues doubted her commitment to the job and wondered how she would be able to parent and teach at the same time. Later, when Andrea decided to pursue graduate studies, she faced both mocking from her colleagues and formal complaints lodged against her. These shifts prompted a change in how Andrea saw herself as a professional and caused her to seek employment at a university where she again renegotiated her identity in conjunction with her students, colleagues, and her new institution. More broadly, Nagatomo (2015) found that Andrea’s professional identity shifted in response to institutional changes based on new government policies. These included curricular change like the recent push in Japan for English-only lessons in Japanese elementary schools and English Medium of Instruction (EMI) courses in higher education. Similar to the two previous studies reviewed, Andrea was left to her own devices when shaping her professional identity and she not only lacked institutional support but actually faced push back from her employer that caused her to leave and develop her career elsewhere. In addition to looking at the gendered lives of foreign female instructors in Japan, another of Nagatomo’s (2011) studies examined the professional identity developed over time in Japanese teachers working in the EFL field in Japan. In her research, Nagatomo (2011) used the idea of imagination and how imagination of past lives as students, current student impression, and imagining what is important for current students to learn all shape how teachers develop their sense of self and their professional identity. Nagatomo (2011) made three significant findings. First, that teachers shape their professional identity in part by comparing themselves to their students and considering how their expectations of their students are based on how they remembered the period when they were students themselves. Second, Nagatomo (2011) found that the teachers developed their professional identity in part by imagining how their students perceived them. Third, the teachers shaped their identity by imagining what they think their students are capable of learning or should learn. This study is unique amongst the 10 four in this section because while it does deal with the personal interacting with the development of professional identity, it does not touch upon the interplay between teacher and organization. In this section, the first strand of literature pertaining to teacher identity development, the personal connection with the professional, has been reviewed. The focus was on identity and its link with an individual teacher’s gender, upbringing, socio-economic background, experiences as a student, experiences with students, and position amongst colleagues and within the institution. The literature reviewed in this section allows readers a glimpse into the private lives of teachers and how their personal experiences from their private lives are in constant interaction with their professional contexts as they shape and re-shape their professional identities. The personal details of teachers’ lives have a strong impact on their experiences at work and how they develop a sense of professional self. This professional identity construction is significant as it impacts upon how a teacher operates in the classroom and how she or he interacts with colleagues and within institutions. This research also demonstrates the lack of support teachers have from their institutions in developing a positive sense of professional identity and self-efficacy. The ways in which organizations can be more supportive of teachers is one area that is under-researched. Another vein of inquiry in this area that seems to be under-researched is how teacher identity directly impacts upon pedagogy and how teachers choose or develop classroom materials to foreground issues that they think are important in the EFL classroom, based on an interrogation of the mix of personal and professional identity. This is perhaps one area ripe for future research and, within the Japanese context, Yoshihara (2014) has already begun the exploration of how teachers’ feminist beliefs shape curricular choices and pedagogical practices. However, Yoshihara’s (2014) study also indicated a certain level of exclusion of female teachers in tertiary education in Japan and demonstrated the need for organizations to be more supportive of their staff, particularly female and minority members who tend to face more challenges in the workplace. Theme Two: Communicative Language Teaching and Asian Teacher Identity While the personal is deeply embedded in the development of professional teacher identity, so too is the cultural. As the following studies show, it is often assumed that Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is best practice and that it translates well to any educational context. However, in Asia, where education has traditionally been more teachercentered, CLT can cause friction between teachers and the organizations that employ them. 11 Oftentimes, organizations that provide EFL courses look to the West for best practice. However, teachers’ experiences in the classroom are not always positive when they try to use CLT and they find that students do not respond well to it all the time. As a result, problems develop between the demands of the organization and the needs of the teacher. This prompts a professional identity crisis that teachers need to grapple with. The first example of a mismatch between an organization espousing Western pedagogy in Asia and a teacher who feels the need to use more teacher-centered methods to meet student expectations is Canagarajah’s (2012) autoethnographic study. In it, he explores how he, a nonnative speaker EFL teacher, developed his professional identity in response to feedback given by his organization. In his article, Canagarajah (2012) outlines his experiences as a new EFL teacher and how he was challenged by observers from the United States, invited by his organization to train teachers, about his pedagogical methods. Canagarajah (2012) argued that the communicative teaching method espoused by the observers was not entirely suitable for the South Asian context where students expected their classroom to be more teacher-centered. In addition to this, he argued that while the observers disapproved of his use of Tamil in the classroom, he felt code-switching (mixing) between English with Tamil was more representative of the how the English language is used in the Sri Lankan context. Because of his interactions with higher level organizational representatives, Canagarajah (2012) described the process of identity construction he began where he had to confront finding a balance between CLT which may be more suitable in Western contexts as well and mixing the target language with the local language. Similar to Canagarajah (2012), who wrote about how he personally needed to make sense of how culture impacted on is pedagogical practice, Duff and Uchida (1997), in their classic study on teacher identity in Japan, explored the problematic issues four teachers, two Japanese and two American, faced when attempting to negotiate their socio-cultural identity and their pedagogical practices. The researchers specifically looked at how teachers cope with institutional and curricular demands in teaching American culture in the EFL classroom in Japan. They reported several key findings. First, teachers struggled with how to represent themselves in class because they felt the complexity of their identities and the constant shifting of how they saw themselves as individuals and as practitioners. Second, they noted how the teachers desired to connect their Western-style pedagogy with the Japanese context and had difficulty doing so. For example, like Canagarajah (2012), these teachers felt that a more teacher-centered classroom was, on occasion, more suitable in the Asian context. They also felt that CLT was not always the best approach in all classes. Third, they found that the teachers 12 voiced a need to exert personal control over curricular design in order to respond to their feelings that the nature of American culture is contested and they were not sure of their identity as representatives of a fluid construct. Finally, the researchers found an incongruence between teachers’ direct messages to students about US culture and how they contrasted with those in textbooks, films, and other popular culture artifacts. Canagarajah (2012) and Duff and Uchida (1997) both foreground the contrast between Western pedagogical norms and Asian pedagogical norms and how that friction that prompts a shift in professional identity construction. Gu and Benson (2015) continued in this vein when they conducted research in Hong Kong and mainland China with pre-service EFL teachers. Using focus groups and interviews, the researchers collected data about how the participants were developing their professional identity. Like the studies outlined in the previous section, this research showed that although the process of identity construction was individual, there were also socio-economic factors at play. In addition to this, the researchers found that during teaching practice, participants primarily identified themselves in contrast to the teachers who were meant to be their mentors. They did not want to use traditional teacher-centered methods and instead wanted to try communicative language teaching (CLT). This finding is in contrast to Canagarajah (2012) who stated he felt more comfortable within the boundaries of Sri Lankan cultural norms, rather than transgressing them and pushing students to use more communicative methods and to Duff and Uchida (1997) whose participants felt that student-centered CLT may not always be the best approach to take in the Asian context. One possible reason for this contrast is the fact that Gu and Benson (2015) were researching the identity development of pre-service teachers. Perhaps before getting into the classroom, these teachers might have imagined their future professional selves as progressives who espouse more “modern” methods of teaching. However, when they got into the classroom, they may have realized, as did the participants in Duff and Uchida’s (1997) work, that student-centered CLT may not always be feasible in an Asian educational environment where it tends to be more teacher-centered. As the next study also shows, teachers raised in an Asian educational context may want to challenge the norms of teacher-centered classrooms but they cannot always do so for a variety of reasons. The last study reviewed in this section highlights the identity crisis that can be caused when the Western pedagogy of CLT is encouraged in Asia. Liu and Xu’s (2011) narrative inquiry case study focuses on the outbound trajectory of their research participant, Feng, from her position as an EFL program manager embroiled in a pedagogical reform debate at a Chinese university. The researchers documented Feng’s identity crisis when she was confronted with 13 changing from traditional teacher-centered Chinese pedagogy to that of a more liberal, communicative, Western-style teaching methodology. Feng’s identity crisis within her organization spilled over into her personal life as she attempted to parent her daughter in a more liberal fashion, without success. Finally, Feng could not reconcile the two opposing discourses that were competing to assume dominance of her identity. In the end, she left her position as program director when her organization rejected her nomination for a best practice teaching award and denied her permission to study abroad while on research leave. The above studies all explored the impact cultural norms have on professional identity development. From within the Asian context, it appears as if Western modes of CLT challenge teachers to examine their own ideas of the role they should play in the classroom and what best practice is when it comes to foreign language education. While these studies highlight the identity conflicts participants experience, none of them delve deeply into a discussion of possible resolutions to the conflicts. Instead, they conclude without an in depth examination of potential practical applications and, in the case of Liu and Xu (2011), of a teacher leaving the profession. In future studies, it may be useful to explore how teachers are attempting to resolve identity conflict through communication with students and colleagues, and in conjunction with their institutions in particular. Theme Three: Role Perception and Identity One issue that previous studies imply but do not address directly is that of how teachers’ perceptions of the roles they should play in the classroom shape identity development. In the previous section, teachers found difficulty with the organizational imposition of CLT and this impacted their professional identity because they had to cope with the friction caused between organizational demands and classroom realities. They were forced to negotiate within this conflicted environment and determine how to shape their identity. This friction also occurs when teachers have perceptions of the roles they want to play in the classroom and these perceptions are in conflict with organizational expectations and demands. In this section, the research demonstrates that organizations are often concerned with the business side of things while teachers tend to resist identifying with education as a business and the students as customers to be served. The commodification of ELT in many institutions is causing a professional identity crisis, as is shown in the review of the next four studies. The first example of teachers being in opposition to the business-oriented role their organization wanted them to adopt is that outlined by Farrell (2010) in his research. He focused his longitudinal qualitative case study on English Second Language (ESL) teachers in Canada 14 and their identity negotiation in collaboration with the organization that employs them. He found that teachers identified 16 roles that he further divided into three categories; classroom manager, professional, and “acculturator”. Farrell (2010) posited that the role of acculturator was likely unique to the ESL/EFL situation and one that was significant in professional identity development. In contrast, he found that teachers most wanted to distance themselves from the roles of entertainer and salesperson, pitching programs to students. Although the organization employing the teachers tried to encourage them to entertain students in an effort to maintain or increase enrollment, teachers did not like to identify themselves as entertainers but as language teacher professionals. They were also reluctant to identify themselves as being in support of the organization as a business and viewed the university that employed them as the provider of a valuable public service rather than a private enterprise. Similar to Farrell (2010), Cowie (2011) focused on how teacher identity is shaped in part by the institution in which teachers find themselves working and how expectations of roles are not congruent between teachers and organizations. Cowie (2011) looked at the role of emotions in teacher identity development in the Japanese context. In his qualitative narrative study, he found that within their organizations, teachers are primarily in contact with two groups of people and that this contact has the most profound effect on their identity construction. The first group teachers are in contact with, of course, is students. In their interactions with students, teachers describe the formation of an identity as a caregiver and as a moral guide. In contrast to this, organizations want for teachers to be more like entertainers. The second group of people teachers are most commonly in contact with are colleagues, mostly fellow teachers. In this section, the researcher specifically focused on how teachers communicated amongst each other and with their organization. Cowie (2011) reported that this contact between teachers within the organization caused a great deal of negative emotion, in contrast to the positive emotion of interaction with students. Interestingly, teachers reported that at the root of their negative interactions with colleagues was a lack of institutional support for professional development. Teachers felt that there were no clear guidelines established on the part of the organization about what kind of professional development is most conducive to being rewarded contract renewal and tenure. As a result, teachers felt the onus was on them to build their own professional development networks in competition with colleagues and, in doing so, their identity as EFL teachers in Japan. These findings are reminiscent of those in previous sections where teachers felt a lack of organizational support or a mismatch between organizational demands and classroom realities. 15 Like Farrell (2010) and Cowie (2011), Hao Xu’s (2013) study focuses on professional identity development at the intersection of individual teacher perceptions and institutional goals and expectations. Hao Xu’s (2013) three-year longitudinal study examined the shift in identity of four Chinese female teachers who trained to work in elementary and high schools in China. All the women studied Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at universities in China and participated in the study while they were pre-service and then when they were in-service. Hao Xu (2013) found that that when the teachers were pre-service, they imagined their identities to be future facilitators in the language classroom, experts in their field, and spiritual guides to students. However, when they began their service as teachers, their concept of identity shifted to people who felt they were losing their English skills, who were exhausted due to repetitive performances, and who were suffering from constantly trying to analyze and solve problems. The researcher further found that not only organizational factors contributed to this newer sense of identity but also external social factors. These external social factors were additionally mixed with elements of personal identity that had previously been established, including life experiences, family background, and the education these teachers had received when they themselves had been in the Chinese school system. Similar to the studies reviewed in the previous section, this research also indicated that when they were preservice, the teachers had positive visions of themselves successfully conducting CLT-style classes and acting as facilitators. However, the reality was much different from what had been imagined. In keeping the exploration of how the perception of roles influences professional identity development, Whitsed and Wright (2015) researched the identity formation of foreign adjunct teachers in higher education institutions in Japan. Blending the concept of liminality with Japanese cultural mythology as theoretical frameworks, the authors explored how the teachers identified as being both part of the Japanese university system as well as falling outside of it. The researchers found that the participants of the study identified themselves as being performers in the liminal space afforded to them in the Japanese system, replete with short term contracts for foreign people. Participants also reported that they felt they were in a liminal place because they thought that the Japanese students and administrators appreciated them only in their capacity as entertaining spokespeople for foreign culture. However, they would not want these teachers to become permanent, viable members of their society. The researchers additionally found that the participants resented being placed in a liminal space and being expected to perform and entertain in that space until the contract period was finished. Teachers reported that the constant requirement to move on to the next liminal space prevented them 16 from forming a more professional identity in which they had increased social capital in their organizations. On the other hand, they enjoyed the opportunity to push their students to think beyond the limits in which that Japanese socio-cultural norms had previously restricted them. Although these studies focus on different aspects of identity and how identity is shaped by personal and organizational factors, their commonality is that teachers tend to see themselves in a pastoral role, caring for students, and shepherding them towards not only language learning goals but also addressing their needs as a whole person. While teachers felt positive identity formation as a result of this aspect of their work, they tended to reject notions of the teacher as a salesperson, as did participants in Farrell’s (2010) study. There is indeed a part of teaching that revolves around entertainment, but it is not necessarily connected to higher enrollment and instead to student engagement and learning. However, it is easy to see from Hao Xu’s (2013) study that performance burnout can occur rapidly and there needs to be pastoral care for teachers as well as for students. Additionally, Whitsed and Wright’s (2015) work showed that EFL teachers at the tertiary level in Japan often see themselves as professionals while their Japanese employers often see them as dispensable and replaceable. This mis-match of perceptions seems to cause problems in professional identity construction and impedes teachers from reaching their full potential. Theme Four: Teacher-Researcher Identity Development As was shown in the review of previous studies, there is often a conflict between teacher expectations and organizational expectations. This conflict causes friction that must be dealt with as teachers develop a professional sense of self. Because teachers are often in conflict with the organizations that employ them, they are usually left to their own devices to negotiate their professional identity. Occasionally, this leads to them changing organizations or dropping out of the profession. One of the more recent demands made by tertiary organizations is that for research. As universities become more competitive and depend on rankings to recruit students, they have become more demanding of their teachers. Recently, there has been a push for ELF instructors at the tertiary level, normally only quipped with Masters degrees, to pursue terminal degrees and become researchers. Many in the profession did not envision themselves becoming researchers but, due to organizational pressure, feel they need to conform to new demands. As the following studies demonstrate, the process of becoming a teacher-researcher has a significant impact on professional identity. One example of this newer vein of exploration is Caihong (2011). She conducted a study to examine how in-service pursuit of of a doctorate degree affects the professional 17 identity of EFL teachers at the tertiary level in China. In her qualitative case study, she categorized four types of changes experienced by the participants that prompted changes in their identity. First, productive changes refer to teachers beginning to see themselves as competent researchers and considering the importance of using research as a means of improving classroom practice. Second, additive changes are those that allow for teachers to be part of two communities; the EFL community as well as the doctoral, subject-based community. However, the third change the researcher found, split identity, indicated that not all teachers were happy to be part of two communities and felt divided between two disciplines. The fourth finding was that of subtractive change. This referred to the expectation of increased social capital on in the workplace that teachers felt they would have access to as a result of completing doctoral studies. Several participants were disappointed to find that their newly minted degrees did not increase their value in the eyes of their employers and, as a result, a partly negative sense of identity developed. While the pursuit of an in-service doctoral degree can cause positive professional identity development, it can also cause problems when the expectations and goals of teachers and their employing organizations are not congruent. Similar to Caihong’s (2011) research, Yueting Xu’s (2014) study reported on EFL teachers at the tertiary level in China who are in the process of shifting their identity from practitioners to scholar-practitioners. This narrative study looked at the professional lives of 104 teachers who were obliged by new organizational policies to conduct more research. The participants reported that they had mixed feelings about their new identities as researchers and felt that since their organizations were prompting them to move in this direction professionally, they wanted to see more institutional support for such endeavors. Yueting Xu (2014) also found that the budding identities of the scholars were fragmented, partly because they felt they lacked the necessary competence to be researchers, were not sure what was expected of them in terms of publications, and felt overall that peer support and mentoring was an important factor in the process of reinventing themselves as researchers but was lacking at the institutional level. Teachers also reported other constraints on their ability to act and identify as researchers, including a lack of time due to punishing teaching schedules and extensive administrative duties. Yuan’s (2016) study also focuses on how new organizational demands on teachers to conduct research and publish academic papers has an impact on professional identity. In this study, the researcher also employed narrative inquiry in examination of one novice EFL teacher in higher education in Hong Kong. The findings show that the teacher experienced difficulty as he attempted to reconstruct his identity as a researcher because he experienced both a push 18 from his organization but also certain constraints. The participant reported that although he wanted to become more qualified and more professional and that he additionally wanted to use research as a mode of improving his classroom practice, he felt that the publish or perish culture of the organization did not allow for the time necessary to explore various avenues for research. He also stated that due to what he perceived as a privileging of quantitative research and theoretical research over practice-oriented research, more friction was caused as he tried to develop this part of his professional identity. Ubaque and Castaneda-Pena’s (2017) recent article reports on EFL teachers’ experience with research and how the foray into more theoretically-based rather than practicebased work serves as a pivotal point on which teachers begin to reshape their professional identity. Like many others, these researchers also employ a narrative methodology in order to delve into three Columbian teachers’ lives and take a deeper look at the professionalization process and how this affects teacher identity. The authors found that teachers tend to have their identities altered not only within their organization but also outside of it. In this case, the organizations had put pressure on the teachers to attain higher level qualifications and to become scholar practitioners. While teachers were initially reluctant to adopt the identity of researcher, they saw the benefits of being able to use research to answer pressing questions about their own classroom practice. They connected this with their already well-established identities of teachers who are change agents and who focus on the moral aspects of their jobs. In this section, studies that examined the impact of teachers becoming scholarpractitioners were reviewed. While this shift to more professionalization is part of the publish or perish culture, it is also positive in the sense that many participants in the studies report they are now better qualified to answer questions about their practice independently. Speaking from personal experience in the Asian context, it now seems essential to pursue a terminal degree in order to be employed as an EFL teacher in higher education. While many EFL teachers enjoy doctoral work and can readily see the impact on their practice, not all teachers believe this is essential and think it could have a negative impact by taking teachers away from classroom work and the pastoral care of students, which is often a central aspect of and EFL teacher’s identity. Conclusions and Future Research This paper summarized some of the key research on EFL teacher identity. The analysis included a categorization of the studies into four main themes: the intersection of personal and professional identity development, CLT and Asian teacher identity, perception of teacher roles and identity, and the newer phenomenon of teacher-researcher identity. While there is a brief 19 analysis after each thematic strand and there are suggested ideas for further research, it is also possible to look at the strands as a whole and, in doing so, note four areas for future studies that emerge. First, no study to date has specifically examined how exactly teacher identity impacts upon pedagogy in a direct way. However, there are several doctoral dissertations on this topic, indicating that it is ripe for further exploration. The most pertinent in the Asian context is by Yoshihara (2014) who examines feminist teacher identity and how teachers’ feminist beliefs have a direct and observable impact on curriculum and classroom practice. However, this is just the beginning of an area ripe for research. Because teacher identity is recognized as a valuable area for research precisely because of its impact on pedagogy and practice, it is important to examine exactly how identity impacts on classroom activities. Second, gender deserves a closer examination in the teacher identity literature. While Simon-Maeda (2004) views gender as one factor in a very complicated web of teacher identity, others, like Yoshihara (2014) and Nagatomo (2011, 2015), isolate gender and examine the gendered identities and experiences of female EFL teachers in the Japanese context. This is important work since women are almost completely missing from professorships and other leadership roles in higher education in Japan (Morley, 2012). Additionally, many Chinese EFL teachers are female. Questions remain about the intersection between gender and professional identity and the impact of gender on pedagogical practice. Third, more and more demands are being placed on EFL teachers. In particular, those working in tertiary-level institutions are often required to study for further qualifications while working full time. How do these additional qualifications impact on teacher identity? Does becoming a researcher shape teachers’ expectations of students and, if so, in what ways? These are questions that remain unanswered. Finally, a key theme that emerges out of this review is the lack of congruence between organizational expectations of teachers and teachers’ visions and expectations of themselves. How can more congruence be created between teachers’ identities and those that their organizations have for them? Related to this is the question of how organizations can better support teachers as they develop professional identity? Clearly, there needs to be a better fit between teachers and the organizations that employ them in terms of the visions they have for roles, identities, and expectations. However, if more congruence is established, how could organizations provide additional support to teachers? This seems to be a key questions since the research shows that the development of teacher identity tends to be a rough and solitary 20 path for many although it has the potential to be far more positive and stimulating, if conducted within the context of a supportive organization, replete with mentors. 21 References Caihong, H. (2011). Changes and characteristics of EFL teachers' professional identity: The cases of nine university teachers. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 34(1) , 3-21. Canagarajah, S. (2012). Teacher development in a global profession: An autoethnography. TESOL Quarterly, 46(2), 258-279. Cheung, Y. L., Said, S. B., & Park, K. (Eds.). (2014). Advances and current trends in language teacher identity research. Routledge. Cowie, N. (2011). Emotions that experienced english as a foreign language (EFL) teachers feel about their students, their colleagues and their work. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(1), 235-242. Duff, P., & Uchida Y. (1997). The Negotiation of Teachers' Sociocultural Identities and Practices in Postsecondary EFL Classrooms. TESOL Quarterly, 31: 451–486. Farrell, T. S. C. (2011). Exploring the professional role identities of experienced ESL teachers through reflective practice. System, 39(1), 54-62. Gu, M., & Benson, P. (2015). The formation of english teacher identities: A cross-cultural investigation. Language Teaching Research, 19(2), 187-206. Kaya, M. H., & Dikilitaş, K. (2019). Constructing, Reconstructing and Developing Teacher Identity in Supportive Contexts. Asian EFL Journal. 21(1), 56-81. Liu, Y., & Xu, Y. (2013). The trajectory of learning in a teacher community of practice: A narrative inquiry of a language teacher identity in the workplace. Research Papers in Education, 28(2), 176-195. Morley, L. (2014). Lost leaders: Women in the global academy. Higher Education Research & Development, 33(1), 114-128. Nagatomo, D. H. (2011). The impact of “imagination of students” in the development of the professional identity of four Japanese teachers of English in Japanese higher education. Asian EFL Journal, 51(1), 63-74. Nagatomo, D. H. (2015). How being an “insider” or an “outsider” shapes EFL teachers’ professional identity: One teacher’s story from Japan. Asian EFL Journal, 17(3), 111-130. Simon-Maeda, A. (2004). The complex construction of professional identities: Female EFL educators in japan speak out. TESOL Quarterly, 38(3), 405-436. Tsui, A. B. M. (2007). Complexities of identity formation: A narrative inquiry of an EFL teacher. TESOL Quarterly,41(4), 657-680. 22 Ubaque, D. F., & Castaneda-Pena, H. (2017). Teacher research: Uncovering professional identities and trajectories of teacher researchers through narrative Research—A Colombian case. International Education Studies,10(3), 35-48. Whitsed, C., & Wright, P. (2015). A bricolage exploration in genkan space: Tengu and adjunct TEFL in the Japanese university context. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 1-23. Xu, H. (2012). Imagined community falling apart: A case study on the transformation of professional identities of novice ESOL teachers in china. TESOL Quarterly, 46(3), 568578. Xu, Y. (2014). Becoming researchers: A narrative study of chinese university EFL teachers’ research practice and their professional identity construction. Language Teaching Research, 18(2), 242-259. Yoshihara, R. (2014). The feminist EFL classroom: Feminist teachers' identities, beliefs, and practices in Japanese universities. Temple University. Yuan, R. (2017). 'This game is not easy to play': A narrative inquiry into a novice EFL teacher educator's research and publishing experiences. Professional Development in Education, 43(3), 474. 23 Asian EFL Journal Research Articles. Vol. 28 Issue No. 2.1 April 2021 A Corpus-based Study of Vocabulary Problems in IAU Preparatory Year Students’ Writing Dr. Rajesh Arruri 1 Department of English Language, Deanship of Preparatory Year and Supporting Studies, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Dr. Tlili Saad 2 Department of English Language, Deanship of Preparatory Year and Supporting Studies, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Bio-profile: Dr. Rajesh Arruri has an MA in English Language and Literature and Ph.D. in Corpus Linguistics. His research interests include ELT, Applied Linguistics, Corpus Linguistics, and Computer Assisted Language Learning. Dr. Tlili Saad has an MA in General and Applied Linguistics and Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from the University of Sfax, Tunisia. His research interests include ELT, Discourse Analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis, Applied Linguistics, Formal Linguistics, Corpus Linguistics, and Psycho Linguistics. Abstract This corpus-based study aims at examining the categories of vocabulary errors committed by Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU) Preparatory Year Programme (PYP) students. Forty-eight General English (30) and EAP (18) writing assignments produced by Health, Engineering, and Science students are collected and quantitatively and qualitatively analysed. Lexical error taxonomy and error analysis procedure are methodologically based on James (1998) and Ellis (1997). Respectively, errors are identified, classified, described and evaluated. 24 First, grammatical and lexical collocations (adjective + noun, noun + noun, noun + verb, verb + adverb, verb + preposition, and verb + expression with preposition) are analysed. Second, lexical weakness and inappropriacy are identified and proceeded. Third, restricted use of vocabulary and inadequate lexical choices (levels of word distribution) are probed and studied. AntConc Software and Oxford Text Checker are used to carry out data-driven analyses. Keywords: vocabulary, problem, written English 1 Introduction Based on longitudinal observations of IAU PYP students’ General English and EAP writing assignments, this study investigates the most common problematic vocabulary issues for the purpose of setting pertinent pedagogical teaching implications. Vocabulary problems such as collocations (lexical and grammatical), lexical inappropriacy, and inadequate lexical choices (limited use of potent vocabulary, out of context diction…, etc.) are the focal points of inspection in this study. Commenting on the importance of vocabulary in the successful writing of L2 learners, Markovic (2017) believes that students are more effective in expressing complex ideas if they are equipped with a rich lexicon. She, on the other hand, states that “with impoverished vocabulary, learners are likely to make both poor lexical choices and lexical errors in their writing” (p. 32). Methodologically, the qualitative approach adopted in this research leans on Ellis (1997) error analysis procedure and on James (1998) error analysis taxonomy. Quantitatively, this study appropriates Oxford Text Checker (2020) which is based on Common European Framework for Reference (CEFR) word use categorization. CEFR classifies word use into A1, A2, B1 and B2 levels starting from the basically common word use to the more proficient. This procedure is backed up by AntConc software appropriated for statistical proceeding. 2 Literature review 2.1 Definition of lexical error Pilar (2011) defines a ‘lexical error’ as a deviation in form and/or meaning of a targetlanguage lexical word. Form deviations for her include orthographic or phonological deviations at the limited level of single words and ignorance of syntactical boundaries which may lead to such errors as false collocations. Semantic deviation, on the other hand, is related to the fact that lexical items are used in contexts where they are misunderstood or misinterpreted ending 25 in violating semantic restrictions (p. 75). Berkoff (1980) refers to this phenomenon when there is ‘incorrect choice of lexical items’, or also when a given semantic feature is breached (p. 10). Hence, the notion of lexical errors encompasses content-oriented or semantic errors and formoriented or structural errors (Hemchua & Schmitt, 2006; James, 1998; Zimmermann, 1987). In relation to the label ‘lexical error,’ some authors (e.g. Laufer, 1990a, 1990b, 1991; Lennon, 1991a, 1991b; Dagut, 1977) do not use a differentiating criterion between diverse categories of errors. They provide an overall classification of errors dividing them into grammar and lexis. James (1998) raises some discussion of lexical errors and suggests a taxonomy built on the contrast between form- and content-oriented lexical errors (pp. 142154). The focus of this research is not on form-oriented errors such as phonology, spelling, and grammatical inappropriacy, but rather on content-oriented lexical errors such as wrong collocations, lexical inappropriacy and misselection, and inadequate lexical choice because of semantic relatedness. One of the problems that leads to students’ failure of using proper and sound vocabulary is the gap between what they are equipped with (linguistic tools) and the requirements of the very linguistic production situation. Pilar (2017) emphasizes the utility of lexical errors to bridge the gap between students’ lexical repertoire and their communicative performance. She states: … they [lexical errors] are useful for learners to realize the gaps between their lexical knowledge and their communicative needs. Calling students’ attention to the lexical errors they produce serves as a way for awareness raising. Learners have to realize and notice the gap between what they want to transmit, i.e. the message they need to get across, and the linguistic or lexical tools they have at their disposal. (Pilar, 2017, p.64) 2.2 Taxonomy of lexical errors 26 Figure 1. Lexical error types (James, 1998, pp. 142−154) Figure 1 above presents differentiation between form-oriented and content-oriented lexical errors with reference to the mental lexicon which is governed by both formal and semantic principles (Hemchua & Schmitt, 2006; James, 1998; Zimmermann, 1987). Form-oriented lexical errors, which are of no relevance to the present study, and content-oriented lexical errors as a target scope of investigation in this research are illustrated in James (1998)’s lexical errors taxonomy standard matrix above. James (1998) categorises lexical errors into two major classes in accordance with form and meaning. Misselection, misformation and distortion are considered to be form oriented whereas confusion of sense relations and collocation errors are semantic content oriented. Meaning related intralingual error analysis provided by James (1998) is practically adapted by this study. It includes those errors such as sense relations confusion (e.g. semantic synonymy) and collocations errors. Identification of errors Description of errors Explanation of errors Evaluation of errors Figure 2. Steps in Error Analysis Research (Ellis, 1997, pp. 15-20) Figure 2 is a representation of Ellis (1997) Error Analysis (EA) procedure which is methodologically adopted by the present research. Ellis (1997) defines EA, as a procedure used by both researchers and teachers which involves collecting samples of learner language, identifying the errors in the sample, describing these errors, classifying them according to their nature and causes, and evaluating their seriousness. Identification, classification, description, and evaluation of errors are the major steps followed in the current study. 27 3 Methodology 3.1 Participants The participants in the current study include sixty students from IAU PYP Engineering and Health tracks. The 60 subjects selected are beginner, intermediate and advanced students. All the participants are non-native Saudi students of English as a foreign language. As shown in Table 1 below, the total sixty students are divided into Engineering Beginners (10), Engineering Intermediate (10), Engineering Advanced (10), Health Beginners (10), Health Intermediate (10), and Health Advanced (10). Table 1 Set Number Number of students Level Assignments 1 10 SET Beginners 1st and 5th 2 10 SET Intermediate 2nd and 4th 3 10 SET Advanced 1st and 5th 4 10 Health Beginners 2nd and 4th 5 10 Health Intermediate 1st and 5th 6 10 Health Advanced 2nd and 4th Total 60 SET and Health 12 Research subjects and respective assignments 3.2 Data collection 3.2.1 Data source The data are collected basically from Blackboard Learn which is an official electronic platform used by the Deanship of Preparatory Year and originally initiated by Oxford University. The selected written pieces are compositions produced by the Science Engineering and Health Track students in first and second term of the 2019-2020 academic year. The data are a production formally and officially submitted by students along the full academic year formative assessments. 28 3.2.2 Selection criteria The data are selected following proper valid criteria. First, this paper has considered the quality of the corpus under study. Importance is given to the validity and reliability criteria of the data source. The written compositions as collected data of analysis are officially produced by the subjects in formal rigorous conditions. Second, this data is quantitatively in correspondence with the research objectives which chiefly revolve around providing reasonable findings and discussions. The number of research subjects and assignments are not only enough as data of analysis, but they practically fit the testing of the research hypothesis and respond to the research problem. 3.3 Data analysis 3.3.1 Quantitative analysis Anthony (2019)’s AntConc and Oxford Text Checker (2020) software are the chosen tools of the quantitative analysis. The data are exported into the software to sort out and arrange students’ lexical production to identify the types of errors and the level of use targeted by this research paper. AntConc is used to count frequencies, and provide wordlists and vocabulary clusters/N-grams serving the identification of the students’ lexical defects pertinent to this study. Oxford Text Checker (2020) sets lexical frequency levels of the students’ vocabulary. Levels are determined contrasted to Oxford 3000 wordlist. 3.3.2 Qualitative Analysis In order to respond to the observed students’ problems with collocations, lexical inappropriacy, and use of weak or inadequate lexical choices, James (1998) taxonomy and Ellis (1997)’s procedure methodologically serve as orientational analytical backgrounds. 4. Results The contents of the tables subsequently presented are derived from Ellis (1997) error analysis procedure. These contents represent the identification, classification and description of committed lexical errors. The tabulated data is followed by an evaluation of the students’ committed errors. 29 Table 2 Health and SET beginners’ lexical errors Health Student Identification 1 Rich teams may pay millions for the players There are teams that brought in the best players but could not 2 achieve any championship. There are some clubs that may bring the best players in order to 2 invest only the player's name. But, other teams can’t make challenge with wealthy teams because, 3 don’t have money and best players. Classification Grammatical collocation Description ‘for’ instead of ‘to’ Lexical collocation ‘achieve’ instead of ‘win’ Dropped grammatical collocation ‘invest player’s name’ instead of ‘invest in…’ ‘make challenge’ instead of ‘meet challenge’ ‘facilitate… needs’ instead of ‘satisfy… needs’ Lexical collocation 4 They are money-dependent teams to facilitate all their needs. Lexical collocation 5 Use the best equipment for training, which poorer teams find hard to afford at it eventually affects player’s performance. Grammatical collocation ‘afford at’ instead of ‘afford to’ 6 Because they need develop and not remain same level. Dropped grammatical collocation ‘remain…’ instead of remain at…’ Lexical collocation ‘achieve’ instead of ‘win’ Repetition (sense relation problem) Synonymy problem: Overuse of the word ‘wealthy’ Use of vocabulary/distribution of words according to Oxford 3000 wordlist CEFR No. of words % of total words A1 61 85% A2 3 4% B1 0 0% B2 8 11% Unclassified 0 0% 7 8 5 Also, they can achieve a lot of championships because they have good players. The best players want to join into the wealthy teams. I like the wealthy teams more than the weak teams. The wealthy teams are often more winning and more successful. The wealthy teams have... Student’s complete written piece 30 Science and Engineering Most old things are rare, because have rare benefit, new things have new benefit. Repetition (sense relation problem) Synonymy problem Student’s complete written piece Use of vocabulary /distribution of words according to Oxford 3000 wordlist CEFR No. of words A1 96 A2 6 B1 3 B2 0 Unclassified 0 When you go to the interview or meet someone you must make a good first impression Lexical collocation ‘make’ instead of ‘give’ Student’s complete written piece Use of vocabulary /distribution of words according to Oxford 3000 wordlist CEFR No. of words A1 158 A2 10 B1 14 B2 0 Unclassified 0 8 Its disadvantages are low quality in preparing food and Low quality in preparation Repetition (sense relation problem) Synonymy problem 9 For example, in government departments can follow up the transactions and private sectors and transactions of sale and purchase as a site Haraj. Repetition (sense relation problem) Synonymy problem 1 2 31 % of total 91% 6% 3% 0% 0% % of total 87% 5% 8% 0% 0% Evaluation The main axes of error classifications adopted in this study are collocations, sense relation (synonymy and antonymy, etc.) and gap between students’ lexical knowledge and the vocabulary needed in their writing. These types of errors are focal points of description and evaluation because they are discovered to be the most recurrent in the students’ written production. All Health and SET Beginner students commit these lexical errors. Collocation is a twofold lexical phenomenon consisting of lexical and grammatical word combinations. Lexical collocations are pairings of nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs [such as conduct research, serious problem, deeply offended] grammatical collocations, on the other hand, are made up of a noun, an adjective or a verb plus a preposition or a grammatical structure [such as ‘to + infinitive’ or ‘that-clause’, e.g. by chance, to recommend that] (Bahns, 1993). With no exemption, Health and SET beginner students show defective collocations. They more often than not wrongly collocate for instance, adjectives with nouns. Student 2 (Health) in table 2 above incorrectly collocated the word championship with achieve instead of ‘win’. Student 3 (Health), likewise, combines ‘challenge’ with ‘make’ rather than with ‘meet’. Wrong grammatical collocations are common lexical errors among beginners. Student 1 (Health), for instance, dropped collocating the preposition ‘to’ with its corresponding verb ‘pay’. He instead used the preposition ‘for’. Normally evident collocations such as ‘afford to’ is missed by student 5 (Health) in the table above. He wrongly joined the particle ‘at’ to the lexeme ‘afford’. Students are discovered to fail retrieving corresponding synonyms from their mental lexicon to solve the problem of lexical redundancy and repetition. They often show monotonous semantic diffusion opting for repetitive lexemes or lexical derivatives. Some of the beginner students in the table above used the word ‘wealthy’, for instance, four times in just three successive sentences. Other students used ‘transactions’ (SET student 9), ‘benefits’ and ‘rare’ (SET student 1) in a monotonous and dull way. This phenomenon can be attributed to the gap between students’ lexical knowledge and their retrieval of the relevant synonyms. Students’ may need to mentally practice how to contextually invoke interrelated words. Some authors in the domain highly recommend to boost the students’ learning collocations and fixed expressions to prevent vocabulary errors and enhance lexical knowledge. (Richards, 2008 as cited in Pilar, 2017, p. 68). SET student 1 and 2 global vocabulary distribution analyses proceeded in Oxford Text Checker (2020) show examples of beginner students who mostly use A1 level words in their written production. Out of 182 total words, student 1 used 158 (87%) A1 level words, 10 (5%) A2 level words, 14 (8%) B1 level words and 0 (0%) B2 level words. Student 2 gives a clear 32 picture of the students’ tendency to use more common vocabulary. 91% of his lexical distribution revolves around A1 level words. Questions herein raised are whether students suffer from weak lexicon or they fail to bridge the gap between what is retained and what is needed to be used. 33 Table 3 Health and SET intermediate students’ lexical errors Health Student Identification 1 He is fair he does not oppress anyone until his enemies. All these qualities enough to make me admire him and make him my role model. I suggest for you to choose someone who you trusted in him or 2 her. 3 in my view, he is the best cooker in the world First of all, my parents my first role model they are love me, 4 take care to me, Effective role model who respect all the views and never 4 choose the favouritism. It is collaboration to teach and correct for most mistakes that 5 happen in our live. Many people choose one or more role model to get inspired 6 from their role models, so I want to talk about my role model in this life. 7 …it is the most difficult university in Saudi Arabia. Classification Inappropriate word choice Inappropriate lexical choice Wrong grammatical collocation Inappropriate lexical choice Wrong grammatical collocation Description ‘until’ instead of ‘even’ (L1 interference) Repetition of the same word ‘make’ instead of going other options such as using ‘consider’ ‘suggest for…’ instead of ‘suggest…’ ‘cooker’ instead of ‘cook’ ‘take care to me’ instead of ‘take care of me’ Lexical collocation ‘choose the favouritism’ instead of ‘show favouritism’ Wrong grammatical collocation ‘correct for’ instead of ‘correct’ Repetition (sense relation problem) Synonymy problem Inappropriate Lexical choice ‘difficult university’ instead of ‘strict university’ 8 In our life, we have a lot of people that are admirable, who have many adjectives that distinguish them from other… Wrong lexical choice ‘adjectives’ instead of ‘characteristics’ or ‘traits’ 8 he is a Muslim man who prays prayer in its time Wrong lexical choice ‘prays prayer’ instead of ‘does prayer’ 9 My first role model is cousin when I saw him sitting on his chair in the job, his job is an engineer. Wrong lexical choice ‘in the job’ instead of ‘at work’ 34 Science and Engineering 1 2 Have you ever seen a country that combines beautiful nature, a strong economy? and has great political weight It is populated by more than 1.3 billion people… You would be surprised if I told that Boxing is one of the earliest sports the humans ever played. After you finish the fight, that is the moment when you discover your naturalistic strength. This physical exertion not only relaxes your body, but also fines a relaxed state of mind. Camp Nou is an inherent factor in these achievements. For instance, when Barcelona lost against “Paris Saint Germain” a French team in the first leg of UEFA champions league four goals without reply 3 Student’s complete written piece 4 5 5 …it is the stadium of Paris Saint Germain and the French national team, the capacity for the stadium is 47929 chairs. Some of these attractions have existed since the time of the Prophet Mohammad… Ministry recommend people respect law during hajj time… Semantic inappropriacy (wrong word choice) Lexical collocation Semantic inappropriacy ‘combines’ instead of ‘contains’ Lexical collocation ‘earliest’ instead of ‘oldest’ Lexical collocation ‘naturalistic’ instead of ‘natural’ Semantic inappropriacy (wrong word choice) Lexical collocation ‘fines’ instead of ‘maintains’ Semantic inappropriacy (wrong word choice) ‘without reply’ instead of ‘to zero’ (L1 interference) (‘bidoon rad’ ‘'‫)’بدون رد‬ Use of vocabulary /distribution of words according to Oxford 3000 wordlist CEFR No. of words A1 153 A2 24 B1 12 B2 3 Unclassified 22 Grammatical collocation ‘capacity for’ instead of ‘capacity of’ Semantic inappropriacy (wrong word choice) Grammatical collocation ‘existed’ instead of ‘had been there…’ 35 ‘great…’ instead of ‘heavy’ ‘populated’ instead of ‘inhabited’ ‘inherent’ instead of ‘intrinsic’ % of total words 70% 11% 6% 1% 10% Dropping ‘that’ after the verb ‘recommend’ Evaluation Health and SET intermediate students’ lexical and grammatical collocation errors are categorically akin to those of the beginners. They, more often than not, wrongly collocate lexical pairs ending in dissonant combinations. Health student 4 in table 3 above, as an example among many, violates the lexical collocation semantic bond by associating the verb ‘choose’ instead of ‘show ’with the noun ‘favouritism’. SET student 2, similarly, fails to provide proper collocations for the lexemes ‘sport’ and ‘strength’ by stating: 1. ‘earliest sport’ instead of ‘oldest sport’ 2. ‘naturalistic strength’ instead of ‘natural strength’. Not only do students fail to provide proper lexical collocations, they also show frequent grammatical collocation errors. Health student 2 produced an erroneous combination of verb with preposition: ‘suggest for’ instead of ‘suggest’. SET student 5, likewise, drops the word ‘that’ which grammatically collocates with the verb ‘to recommend’: “Ministry recommend people respect law during hajj time.” What is suggested, hence, is that the PYP curriculum designers and course book developers give more emphasis on activities and tasks that efficiently arise students’ awareness of such pervasive collocation errors. Lexical errors are not merely limited to collocations, but wrong/inappropriate lexical choices are also among the most commonly committed errors. The sentence “For instance, when Barcelona lost against Paris Saint Germain a French team in the first leg of UEFA champions league four goals without reply” is a case in point showing a wrong lexical choice “without reply” which is caused by L1 interference. Similar to beginner students, A1 level vocabulary used by intermediate students (70%) is the highest. However, they nearly show the same rate of frequency compared to the beginner students. B1 and B2 low rate of occurrences is what matters in this case of study. Students tend to retrieve no challenging context-based diction. They rather opt for most basic lexis. The inclination toward choosing A1 level vocabulary instead of A2, B1 and B2 is a sign of a gap between the students’ lexical knowledge and the requirements of writing. 36 Table 4 Health and SET advanced students’ lexical errors Student 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 Health Identification Second, help each other is source to feel happy on your life… Classification Grammatical collocation Student’s complete written piece Student’s use of vocabulary /distribution of words according to Oxford 3000 wordlist Second, positive impression depends in your look and your style. Grammatical collocation you should be polite, and don’t be slang… Inappropriate Lexical use first, you should Use small talk. Inappropriate Lexical use Student’s complete written piece Use of vocabulary /distribution of words according to Oxford 3000 wordlist Although helping people can be protect self of psychological diseases and stay away from Vanity and arrogance… first impression is when you meet someone in the first time. For instance, if you help a tourist he will take good idea of your city and religion. for example, the little kids help each other to walk without any learning or parents ask 37 Description ‘on your life’ instead of ‘in your life’ CEFR No. of words % of total A1 130 87% A2 10 7% B1 3 2% B2 0 0% Unclassified 4 3% ‘depends in’ instead of ‘depends on’ ‘don’t be slang’ instead ‘don’t use slang’ ‘use small talk’ instead of ‘go for small talk’ CEFR No. of words % of total A1 207 78% A2 20 7% B1 13 5% B2 4 1% Unclassified 15 6% Grammatical collocation ‘protect self of’ instead of ‘protect from’ Grammatical collocation ‘meet…in…’ instead of ‘meet…for…’ ‘will take good idea’ instead of ‘will get/have/ a good idea’ ‘…parents ask’ instead of ‘parent’s’ help’ Lexical collocation Inappropriate lexical choice 8 because when you help people usually you expect people help you when you need. Dropped grammatical collocation Science and Engineering Group learning is an educational approach where individuals are Semantic Inappropriacy emotionally, intellectually, and aesthetically engaged in learning from (wrong word choice) each other. ‘expect people help…’ instead of ‘expect people to help’ Inappropriate use of the word ‘aesthetically’ CEFR No. of words % of total A1 231 76% A2 34 11% B1 9 3% B2 10 3% Unclassified 5 2% ‘to’ instead of ‘of’ ‘immense time’ instead of ‘considerable time’ Student’s complete written piece Use of vocabulary /distribution of words according to Oxford 3000 wordlist …there are many advantages to this. Grammatical collocation …they may spend an immense time completing it. Lexical collocation 2 Anime characters often have distinctive facial expressions and a wide variation in physical characteristics such as big eyes, big hair… Lexical collocation ‘big hair’ instead of ‘long hair’ 3 Investing in a tablet of some kind is a valuable investment. ‘investing…investment’ 4 IOS is owned to one single company which is Apple. Apple devices are very popular all over the world due to its operating system. …for an electronic copy on the I pad will benefit in reducing space and eliminating weight. Lexical redundancy and inappropriacy Grammatical collocation Lexical inappropriacy ‘due to’ instead of ‘thanks to’ Lexical inappropriacy ‘eliminating weight’ instead of ‘losing weight’ 1 5 6 38 ‘owned to’ instead of ‘owned by’ Evaluation After studying Health and SET advanced students’ writing assignments, it is discovered that even advanced students commit numerous lexical and grammatical collocation errors. Many of them fail to properly couple words that semantically collocate. They often fail to match the right verb to the right noun. Health student 7 in table 4 above linked the verb ‘take’ instead of ‘get’ to the noun ‘idea’. SET student 1 wrongly used the adjective ‘immense’ instead of ‘considerable’ with the noun ‘time’. SET student 2, similarly, mismatched the adjective ‘big’ with the noun ‘hair’. Instead of ‘long hair’, he used the phrase ‘big hair’. Grammatical collocation errors are, as well, common with advanced students’ compositions. Errors committed by Health students 1, 2, 4 and SET students 1 and 4 are not exclusive examples of advanced students who often miss choosing the right grammatical collocations. Health students 2 and 4 used wrong prepositions with the corresponding verbs: ‘depends in’ and ‘protect self of’. SET students 1 and 4, on the other hand, used wrong grammatical collocations: noun + preposition (‘advantages to’ instead of ‘advantages of’) and verb + preposition (‘owned to’ instead of ‘owned by’). Errors such as lexical inappropriacy and weak vocabulary use are found to be among the most frequently committed. The expression used by Health student 2 ‘don’t be slang’, SET student 1 ‘aesthetically engaged’ and SET student 6 ‘eliminating weight’ are good examples of the diffusion of such lexical errors. Referring to Oxford Text Checker analysis, advanced students showed CEFR levels variation and difference from beginner and intermediate students. A1 level vocabulary 76% (231 words out of 289 words), B1 level vocabulary 3% (9 words) and B2 level words 3% (10 words) reflect the advanced student’s proportionally developed lexical choices compared to his beginner and intermediate peers. However, this remains far insufficient for advanced students of English. Consequently, such results must be inspiring to curriculum designers and textbook developers. 5 Conclusion IAU PYP students’ lexical errors are explored to be varied and widespread. The evident common lexical problem is that all students of all levels produce wrong lexical and grammatical collocations, they fail to choose appropriate vocabulary for the proper writing situation, and they instead resort to repetition. They are, on the other hand, inclined to opt for simplistic dictions by means of CEFR standard. A huge gap between the students’ mental lexicon (knowledge) and the retrieval of the most important and useful vocabulary needed in writing (performance) is explored in all students’ writings. Beginners of both SET and Health tracks 39 show problems with the use of lexical and grammatical collocations, repetition and dramatically weak diction. Intermediate students show the same problems, but they tend to use richer vocabulary than beginners yet still weak. Similar problems are found with the advanced students though, according to Oxford Text Checker 3000 wordlist analysis, showed a tendency toward using fewer A1 level words and more B1 and B2 level words. Figure 3 below summarises the students’ use of vocabulary according to CEFR word classification standard. Students use of vocabulary (CEFR)-All levels 80% 78% 80% 78% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 9% 20% 9% 10% 2% 10% 3% 5% 2% 2% 7% 3% 4% 4% 0% A1 A2 Beginner B1 B2 Intermediate Advanced Unclassified Figure 3. Distribution of students’ used vocabulary (CEFR standard) On the light of the present results, students need to be encouraged by all means to use advanced content words, teaching collocations should be an integral part of the ELT syllabus, teachers need to seriously deal with students’ confusion with sense relations which leads them to use inappropriate vocabulary and more consolidating feedback must be provided for the students to stress their awareness of lexical defects. Curriculum designers and textbook developers may need to put further emphasis on providing syllabi that open up larger scope for activities and tasks that enhance the students’ lexical retention and use. 40 References Anthony, L. (2019). AntConc 3.5.8 (Windows). Tokyo, Japan. Bahns, J. (1993). Lexical collocations: a contrastive view, ELT Journal, 47(1), 56– 63. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/47.1.56 Berkoff, N.A. (1981). Error analysis revisited. In G. Nickel and D. Nehls (Eds) Error Analysis, Contrastive Linguistics and Second Language Learning. Papers from the 6th International Congress of Applied Linguistics. Heidelberg: Groos. 5-17. Council of Europe. (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge: CUP / Council of Europe. Crossley, S.A., Salsbury, T., & Mcnamara, D.S. (2015). Assessing Lexical Proficiency Using Analytic Ratings: A Case for Collocation Accuracy. 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(1990b). Why are some words more difficult than others? Some intralexical factor that affect the learning of words. IRAL 28, 293-307. Laufer, B. (1991). Some properties of the foreign language learner’s lexicon as evidenced by lexical confusions. IRAL 29(4), 317-330. Lennon, P. (1991a). Error: Some problems of definition, identification, and distinction. Applied Linguistics 12(2), 180-195. Lennon, P. (1991b). Error and the very advanced learner. IRAL 29(1), 31-43. 41 Markovic, J. C. (2017). “I Used Them Because I Had to . . .”: The Effects of Explicit Instruction of Topic-Induced Word Combinations on ESL Writers. TESOL International Journal. 12(1), 32. Oxford Text Checker. (2020). Oxford Learner's Dictionary website. Retrieved from: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/text-checker/ Pilar, M. A. L. (2011). Lexical Errors and Accuracy in Foreign Language Writing. In D. Singleton (Ed). Second Language Acquisition. UK: Multilingual Matters. Pilar. M. A. L. (2017). Vocabulary Teaching: Insights from Lexical Errors. TESOL International Journal, 12(1), 64. Retrieved from: https://www.elejournals.com/tesoljournal/tij2017/tesol-international-journal-volume-12-issue-1-2017/ Richards, J. (2008). Moving Beyond the Plateau: From Intermediate to Advanced Levels in Language Learning. Cambridge University Press: New York. Zimmermann, R. (1987). Form-oriented and content-oriented lexical errors in L2 learners. IRAL 25, 55-67. 42 Asian EFL Journal Research Articles. Vol. 28 Issue No. 2.1 April 2021 Students’ Challenges in Self-Study of an ESL Listening and Speaking Course During the Covid-19 Pandemic Mary John English Language Centre, University of Bahrain Bio-profile: Mary John is a lecturer at the English Language Centre, University of Bahrain. She has a Masters in Cross-Cultural Communication (Linguistics) from the National University of Malaysia (UKM) and Master of Business Administration from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. Mary is also a Fellow of Higher Education Academy, United Kingdom. Her research interests range from student motivation, attitude, differentiation in classroom and leveraging the use of technology in the learning of ESL/EFL. Abstract The study intended to describe how students in the ESL Listening and Speaking (LS) Course managed their self- study component. It looked into how students managed their challenges and completed the tasks. The study also determined to examine any relationships between students' virtual attendance and their completion of tasks. Descriptive statistical tools were used to analyse the data. The study found that students were able to cope with challenges in self-study mode with some guidance; there is positive correlation between attendance and task challenges, completion and self-initiative. It was also able to establish there is no correlation between gender and students’ independence level or dependence on instructor in the LS course. Finally, the study confirmed earlier findings on the potential use of movies, songs, YouTube and social media tools by students to improve their LS skills. In summary, most students were able to cope with the challenges as they were supported with materials and instructor guidance. Keywords: listening skills, speaking skills, self-study, self-regulation, Emergency Remote Teaching, attendance 43 Introduction Mastery in English language strengthens one’s competitiveness in the 21st century. To list a few, the language is most sought after for its dominance in aviation, economy, international business, information technology, politics, science, law and literature. There is an established relationship between English language skills and work productivity (Duval-Couetil & Mikulecky,2011; Ardasheva, et al., 2017). The knowledge explosion that Internet has brought along is also another catapult which shot English language to further fame (Kufi & Ozgur, 2009). The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is reported to have the biggest youth population globally, but the region is also ranked the weakest proficiency in the English language based on the TOEFL and IELTS assessments (ICEF Monitor, 2015). The same report also noted that low proficiency in the English language is linked with young graduates lagging in the employment market. This has spurred the MENA countries to place competence in English as a priority skill to boost the competitiveness of their labour market in the global economy. This aspiration has placed higher education institutions in developing countries to play active role in facilitating the government agenda. To combat the weakness in English competency among young graduates, higher education institutions in MENA has placed English as Second Language (ESL) learning as one of the core subjects from early in the undergraduate studies. Since the onset of 21st century, the teaching and learning of ESL has intensified. The outlook on English language as the vehicle to transfer knowledge in global economy is also shared in Asian countries like China, Japan, Malaysia, and South Korea (Muslimin, 2017). With English gaining an increasing functional role, it is notable learning English is no longer to achieve native speaker episteme, but for academia and workplace skills. Statement of the Problem Prior to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the challenges in teaching and learning style of ESL courses included factors like native language interference, exposure to the target language (outside class hours), motivation, learning style (Malana,2018; Parfasar,2018; Sahril & Weda, 2018). The pandemic has brought along additional challenges to teaching and learning ESL in Emergency Remote Teaching (hereafter ERT). Hodges et al (2020, p.6) defined ERT as “a temporary shift of instructional delivery to an alternate delivery mode due to crisis circumstances.” During ERT, all higher education institutions have had to deploy new strategies in the teaching of ESL. 44 In the English Language Centre (ELC) of University of Bahrain, the Foundation Program has been one of the pillars in equipping young graduates in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The ELC offers three proficiency courses: Reading and Vocabulary, Writing and Grammar, and Listening and Speaking skills. Each student spends 13 hours weekly in the face-to-face classroom. The subskills are taught over two levels. Students who gained admission to the university but did not meet the English language requirement must take the preparatory proficiency courses. The pandemic has forced the ELC to make changes on how these courses are to be taught and delivered. Strategic decisions by the management of the institution has created a unique model whereby students would experience both synchronous and asynchronous learning for each skill. In the asynchronous mode, the students have two subcomponents which they must complete to pass the course. One is Blackboard activities which the students are guided with Pacing charts and content materials. Another component is the MyELT which is a web-based learning management system by the National Geographic Learning (NGL). Since all textbooks in the courses are NGLs’ publication, the MyELT is a rich resource added by ELC in the courses. Both these components contribute to 30% and 10% respectively to the final course. The students’ progress is monitored periodically, and weak students are supported with remedials. In this study, the interest is to focus on Listening and Speaking (hereafter LS) skills, which could pose more challenges than other subskills, especially in the asynchronous mode. Teaching and learning of LS skills have often been pushed aside even though listening and speaking skills account for 45% and 30% utilization in real workplace (Palmer, 2014). Hence, it is even more critical that students are accountable for their independent learning and able to manage with this self-study component. In the ELC LS course, they need to complete all tasks, cope with the challenges, attend the synchronous classes as the lessons are interconnected, and initiate practicing listening and speaking on their own. It is best to explore students’ perspectives on their experience to make sense of their learning. Therefore, this study intends to describe how the Level 1 students have generally managed with the LS self-study component in the asynchronous mode. Research Questions In attempting to explain the ELC Foundation Program Level 1 students’ management of the self-study component in the LS course, the study focused on answering the following research questions: 45 1. How did the Level 1 students cope with the LS self- study component? 2. Is students’ synchronous class attendance related to their self-regulation in the LS selfstudy component? 3. Is gender related to students’ independence in the self-study component or dependence on instructor in managing the LS course? 4. What were the extensive activities that Level 1 students participated in to improve their LS skills? Significance of the Study The study would grant a window to LS skills instructors at higher education institutions on students’ coping mechanism with self-study components. The study is also vital, for it would help instructors understand the potential of allowing student autonomy in LS remote learning courses. Besides, the study also sets to understand how students use external resources to improve their LS skills. Literature Review Listening skills is one of the most challenging components to teach in the ESL courses. Listening is a multi-layered process (Bourdeaud’hui et al., 2021); therefore, listening skills are much more complex to be categorized in principles compared to grammar and writing components. This does not undermine the importance of listening; in fact, it is one of the essential factors in the acquisition of the target language (Krashen,1985, as cited in Xu,2011). Listening skills determine the fluency level of speakers, for listening is relevant to all domains of a learner’s life including in academic life (Li & Hasegawa,2014) and the workplace (Brownell, 2002; Spataro & Bloch, 2017). With much significance on listening skills, the teaching of listening skills has not been straightforward. Strategies of teaching listening skills that are predominantly used in ESL classroom are top-down and bottom-up. Vandergrift (2004) highlighted that many L2 learners lack perceptual deficiencies; thus, they often rely on topdown strategies. This is not surprising because phonological and lexical boundaries may appear vague to lower-level learners, requiring L2 listeners to make sense of the reductions and assimilations involved (Kuo, 2010; Renandya & Jacobs, 2016). Another point worth looking at is that academic buoyancy in listening skills is much lower than other skills among students (Saalh & Kadim, 2020). This is evident when considering Richards’ (2015) comment that most classroom materials are not aligned with their intended outcome in real life. Another factor is that in listening skills the assessments do not direct learners towards 46 real world use (Graham, 2006). Lack of authentic resources in listening skills has been most cited as a cause that delays improvement in listening skills among L2 (Walker, 2014). Additional couple of barriers may also contribute to this. Lack of pedagogical approaches and researches in how listening skills can be taught in a more productive plus meaningful manner could have delayed its robustness in the ESL domain (Nunan, 1997 ; Nair, Yew & Kesumawati, 2014) . In a study by Rintaningrum (2018), time constraint and limited practice posed barriers for students to achieve a favourable result. Therefore, high degree of obstacles and challenges could be expected among LS students in managing self-study. It has been the hope that the integration of technology may change this. Vandergrift (2014) anticipated that computer-based learning would grant L2 learners more freedom of independent learning. Technologies advances and the Internet have presented an impressive array of gadgets, websites, learning interfaces and applications for both instructors and students to experience. A powerful observation by Duffy and Cunningham, 1996 (as cited in Küfi & Özgür, 2009) is that technology empowers instructors to shift beyond the traditional role. Instructors can be active collaborators, offer personalized learning, introduce visual and verbal thinking (Matusevich,1995 as cited in Küfi & Özgür, 2009) and facilitate students to achieve their goals. Speaking skills are often taught together with listening skills. Though listening is a receptive skill, and speaking is a productive skill, both are central to what make up oral language. Speaking skills are significant in determining higher education students’ overall competence and performance. In most institutions where English is the dominant languages, intermediate or even lower level L2 learners struggle to develop their skills for intellectual arbitration and knowledge construction. Evans and Morrison (2011) noted that limitations in speaking skills do not only severe delivery of phonological and syntactical aspects, but also affects the content quality. These limitations result in reluctance to verbalize, low self-esteem and constant anxiety on the pronunciation (Tien, 2018; Singh & Kaur,2019). According to Krashen (1981, as cited in Celik & Yavuz, 2015), if learners are over conscious of their output, this could also affect their improvement in skills. It would be interesting to note if learners would be more confident to practice speaking accounting that they have more privacy in self-study. It is also noted that just as in the case of listening skills, the current learning websites offer limited ideal speaking practice for L2 learners in classrooms (Bashori et al.,2020). Development in technologies and the rise of social media have a striking impact on how L2 learners use it to aid their speaking skills. Wang (2017) shared the potential of using WeChat, a social media platform, in increasing the listening and speaking skills at college level. In 47 another study by Banditvillai (2016), online learning along with face-to-face interactions enhanced students’ autonomy, motivation as well as their achievements. It appears that the use of websites along with audio-visual elements not only engages L2 learners, but also helps to support their language development. In both listening and speaking skills, there are limitless possibilities of how L2 learners can explore with technology tools, Internet, and social media platforms to improve their LS skills. Albahiri & Alhaj (2020) highlighted the positive corelation between English spoken discourse and Youtube integration of video elements. Boonkit (2010) in his study listed music, movies, and multimedia websites’ impact on speaking improvement. Lee (2014) also noted the powerful impact of popular song especially on YouTube to improve listening skills. Bajrami and Isamaili (2016) highlighted that video-based materials could increase students’ motivation which prompts them to work on their competence. Interestingly, the Uutiset (2018) reported that Finns and Dutch are noted for being among the best English speakers as a foreign language. Non-dubbed television programmes have been noted to be one of the wise strategies their countries have taken as the learners are used to listening to English. Therefore, it is noted that students would have more opportunities to find external resources suited to their learning style to make up for lack of ideal Internet resources for classroom use. In other words, self-study would allow students to be more resourceful. Since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic on March 11, 2021, ERT rose overnight to substitute face-to-face teaching and learning (Shim & Lee, 2020). It has been impossible for ESL instructors to cover as much as they used in face-to-face classes as they can in remote learning; therefore, instructors do need to make swift yet effective changes in content management and delivery (Iglesias-Pradas et al., 2020). Nevertheless, ESL students who mostly range from A1 – B1 levels (based on Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: CEFR) need clear guidance on how they can continue mastering English in this rather chaotic time. Some tertiary institutions included independent learning in ESL courses during the transition to ERT. Guided self-study is not an irrational strategy; however, students should be supported in self-directed learning through feedback and monitored progress (Meyer et al., 2008). It is important to note that in self-study learning, student accountability increase in achieving learning outcome, especially outside the classroom (Parisi, 2020). Considering self-study as the focal topic of the study, the term self-regulated learning developed by Zimmerman (2005) in educational psychology needs to be addressed thoroughly. The author (Zimmerman, 2005, p.14) defined self-regulation as “self-generated thoughts, feelings, and actions that are planned and cyclically adapted to the attainment of personal 48 goals.” In a higher education setting, self-regulation is an essential skill for students to become better at planning and monitoring their study method and using their resources. In fact, it is also found to be correlated to academic performance (Wang et al., 2021). The study considers Müller & Seufert’s point that computer- based learning could be effective in facilitating self regulation. Although there are not many studies confirming the positive relation between selfregulation and virtual learning as compared to in the face-to-face learning, it is essential to acknowledge encouraging research projects which integrated self-regulation in virtual learning (Santhanam et al., 2008; Wan et al., 2012). Although empowering students’ with self-regulation is a strength that can be leveraged in selfstudy, it is vital that ESL course curriculum considers the limitations that ESL learners, especially those with lower-level proficiency. In the case of ESL courses, self-study plans need substantial guidance from instructors. According to Ley & Young (1998), students may benefit from self-regulating strategies’ advices from their instructors. Additionally, learners can chart their success by choosing and merging strategies to meet the needs in a range of situations by examining the tasks and their own capabilities (Ma & Oxford, 2014; Seker, 2016). Students in proficiency-based ESL courses may not possess the required metacognitive abilities for high self-regulation. Students’ personal motivation and individual self-regulation have considerable impact on their ability to learn autonomously, especially a new content topic (Simonova,2019). Considering that self-regulating strategies are something that could be learned (IranNejad,1990) and not necessarily innate, low level language learners may appreciate guidance completing a goal, monitoring progress, and push factor to achieve the intended learning outcomes (Kim & Linan-Thomson, 2013; Seker, 2016). In a LS course, not much research has been encountered on how self-regulation impacts LS skills. Therefore, the study appreciates findings of Plonsky (2011) and El-Sakka (2016) that act of students using ongoing strategies instruction, in that, high self-regulation has positive corelation with speaking skills. One of the subset of self-regulation strategies is the ability where learner believes he can cope is the learning environment. This element known as self-efficacy determines the learners’ ability to cope with the challenges in completing the course and finally attaining the achievement goal (Getie & Popescu,2020). Protheroe (2004) emphasized that students who have high self-efficacy will be more motivated in terms of effort, managing challenges and use multiple approaches to their learning process. Yabukoshi (2018) noted that both self-regulation and self-efficacy outside classroom hours are pivotal in elevating students to more advance listening skills, in that, using meta-cognitive strategy. 49 Often, the traditional indicator for success in academic achievement is students’ presence in class, or in other words, their attendance. There has not been much attention given on how students attendance affects their achievement and motivation in the course at higher education. It is noted in some studies student attendance is vital for students to succeed (Georg, 2009; Gottfried, 2010 ; Jansen et al., 2010). Credé et al. (2010) study on students’ attendance confirmed positive correlation with students’ grades, but not necessarily linked to students’ characteristics. On the other hand, it is of interest that Kaufmann et al. (2018) findings that attendance had no correlation with achievement. It may also be of interest to note a contrast finding in Lukkarinnen et al’s (2016) study that students who miss class do take the effort to do self-study, and consult external resources. There have been mixed results in relating gender to language learning strategies. Some studies have found that female students are able to employ more strategies (Green & Oxford, 1995; Radwan,2011; Pawlak, 2013 ). It was also highlighted that female students have higher level of self-efficacy in speaking skills (Khatib & Maarof, 2015). In another study by Ataeifar et al (2019), the female students reflect positive attitude in learning speaking skills through mobile apps instruction. On the other hand, a more recent study found that male and female students do not show distinct attitude towards learning English (Orfan & Weijer, 2020) Methodology Type The study was quantitative as it described and investigated the relationship between the variables. The general aim is to understand how students cope with the challenges in the selfstudy component in their LS course. In answering the research questions, the study adopted a synergy between descriptive and correlational methods. Participants The study involved 53 students as sample. The students had passed their semester one in the Foundation Year at the English Language Centre, University of Bahrain. At the point of the study, the students had received their results after semester one final exams. They need to complete one year of English language course (two semesters) which emphasizes on three skills: Reading and Vocabulary, Writing and Grammar, and Listening and Speaking. All of the participants in the sample range between A1 – A2 level in the Common European Theoretical Framework. 50 Instrument The main instrument used in this study was a 15-item questionnaire. The questionnaire employed basic demographic questions in terms of age and gender, dichotomous questions, one open-ended question and two other subscale items. Dichotomous questions were chosen as the participants have limited English proficiency. This type of questions would help them to accurately answer factual questions on their practices and habits in coping with the self-guided study component. The subscale items were a 4- point Likert scale questions. These questions were used for rating on the challenges of self -study component (Extremely Challenging to Extremely Easy) and students’ reflection in completing the LS course self-study component (None to All). The rationale of choosing 4-point scale is based on agreement with Nemoto & Beglar’s (2014) view that this scale is effective with younger respondents who may require minimal effort to understand the questions. Reliability Cronbach’s alpha is widely used in research to measure the internal consistency of the scale item questions. Considering Cronbach alpha is designed to measure attitudes and affective constructs (Taber, 2018), this study adopted the tool. There were two subscales constructed; one for measuring students attitude towards the challenges in the self-guided component, and the other on the affective factor. Both subscale items were less than 10. It was also pointed out that it essential that a study should report all the subscale alphas so that it would be more meaningful to the readers. Taking this into account, the Cronbach’s alpha for attitude based scale items measured at .58, and this is acceptable considering the low number of items ; Griethuijsen et al. (2014) reported that in low subscale items this is a possibility and does not reflect low- reliability of the instrument. This notion is confirmed taking into account that the second subscale item on students’ affective measured at .77, and this subscale has higher number of items than the first. Data Collection The questionnaire was distributed online to students using the Question-Pro, an online survey software. The questionnaire link was emailed the students. They were informed of the purpose of the questionnaire, the confidentiality on the data, the voluntary decision to respond it, and the use of data purely for academia research. Besides the ethical consideration, the researcher’s name and email were included for further details, if required. The questionnaire link remained active between early January to mid-February, 2021. 51 Data Analysis The study used the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) software to conduct the data analysis. The analysis was based on descriptive statistics tools to answer the research questions. Mean and Standard Deviations are observed to understand students’ coping ability with challenges and completion of Self Study. The Pearson’s r was used to describe the relation between synchronous attendance and students’ regulation level. Chi-Square test was used to determine if gender is related to students’ ability to work independently in Self-Study or their dependence on the instructor in the LS course. Findings Research Question 1: How did the Level 1 students cope with the LS self- guided component? To report on how students coped with the challenges in Self Study and their completion level, descriptive statistics was used. Analysis of the data on sample population (n=53) revealed the following findings. Table 1 Descriptive Statistics of Students’ Challenges in Self-Study Students’ Challenges n Mean Standard Deviation listening skills 53 2.90 0.67 speaking skills 53 2.73 0.77 In Table 1, the mean score for students’ challenges in listening skills is reported as (M=2.90, SD=0.67) indicating that majority of students were able to “Manage with Help.” As for speaking skills, the (M=2.90, SD=0.77) also indicates large number of the students did “Manage with Help” Table 2 Descriptive Statistics of Students’ Completion in Self-Study Students’ n Mean Standard Deviation Tasks (no marks) 53 1.23 0.42 Blackboard 53 1.63 0.71 My ELT 53 1.42 0.93 Completion 52 In reference to Table 2, the students’ completion in tasks with no marks indicates (M=1.23, SD=0.42); strong completion level, Blackboard tasks which contribute 30% marks to the LS course has a (M=1.63, SD=0.71); average completion level, and MyELT that is 10 % of the course outputs a (M=1.412, SD=0.93); moderate completion level. Generally, all three items show students leaned to completion. Research Question 2: Is students’ synchronous class attendance related to their self-regulation in the LS self-guided component? To understand the relationship between students’ synchronous class attendance to their level of self-regulation in the LS course, the Pearson correlation coefficients were used. Table 3 Relationship between students’ attendance and self-regulation Attendance Challenges Completion Self-Initiative .290* .486** .487** **Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2 tailed) Based on Table 3, there was a significantly low positive relationship (r = .290, p< .01) between students’ synchronous class attendance and the challenges they faced. A more moderate signification positive relationship between attendance and students’ completion on all SelfStudy tasks was also noted (r = .486, p< .05). In terms of self-initiated activities, the analysis (r = .487, p< .05) indicated a significant moderate positive relationship too. Research Question 3: Did gender play a role in students’ dependence on instructor guidance in managing the LS course? In examining the relation between gender and their ability to work independently throughout the course, a chi-square test was performed. 53 Table 4 Gender Relation with Independence on Self-Study n Gender Independence on Self-Study Instructor Guidance (%) tasks (%) Male 19 50 30 Female 34 50 70 ꭓ² (1) = 1.99, p = .158 In Table 4, p = .158 indicated that p is greater than .05. In other words, gender is not related to students’ independence on self- study tasks or on instructor guidance throughout the LS course. Research Question 4: What were the extensive activities which the Level 1 student participated in to improve their listening and speaking skills? Figure 1 External Activities to Improve LS Skills 25 20 15 10 20 21 5 5 3 2 2 0 None Movies Movies and Movies Interactions songs Youtube Social with people All Figure 1 outlines the types of external activities that the Level 1 students used to improve their listening and speaking skills in general. Among the 53 students, 21 students chose movies, 5 students used movies, YouTube, social media platforms, 3 students used movies and songs, two students used interactions with family, friends or at workplace, two students used a wide 54 range of activities listed here. On the other hand, 20 students did not use any external activities to work on their LS skills. Discussion The study highlighted that students were generally able to manage their self-study in the course. They have done it with the assistance of their course guides, materials and collaboration with their instructors, and course mates. In comparing both the listening and speaking skills, the students found that listening skills is less challenging that the speaking skills. As all the listening skills are done by students on their devices, i.e., laptop, tablet or mobiles, there are possibilities that students are more comfortable with independent learning as anticipated by Vandergrift (2014). Another possibility is that listening activities require passive interaction (Astorga-Cabezas,2015), so students perhaps faced less anxieties in task completion. On the other hand, speaking skills appeared more challenging for the students. In self- study, students’ tasks would have required them to record their speech or presentations. In the case of lower level L2 learners, speaking skill could have produced some extent of anxiety among L2 learners as stated by Celix and Yavuz (2015); thereby, students with higher level of selfregulation and self-efficacy would execute it successfully as reported by Polinski (2011) and Sakka (2016). In self-study, students needed to work on their speech production which takes substantial amount of effort to achieve desired results in pronunciation, fluency, and accuracy. Speaking skills can cause much apprehension for students as found by Tien (2018), and Singh and Kaur(2019). Hence, the findings in this study confirm that speaking is a much more challenging skill for self-study than listening skill among L2 learners of lower self-regulation. The findings suggested that students were able to complete all their tasks in the self-study mode. In both the Blackboard and the MyELT activities, majority of students completed the activities. More students completed the MyELT tasks compared to the Blackboard activities. The students were aware that MyELT is an external program that is integrated in their course, and they realize that missing a deadline or even missing the task altogether would not entitle them to any grace. Therefore, students had a higher self-regulation in completing external component than the internal self-study component. It is also interesting to note that students were most motivated to complete all tasks which required no marks in the course. Additionally, the study has revealed that attendance does correlate with students’ challenges, self-study tasks completion and self- initiative. The results show that attendance in synchronous classes were vital in supporting them to manage their work. The more students attended the classes, the better they were in coping with the challenges. Even more, the attendance had 55 higher bearing on the students’ completion in the self-study tasks. Simonova (2019) noted that ESL learners may not have the adequate self-regulation and motivation to allow them total selfreliance especially in managing new content. Therefore, it makes sense that students needed the instruction, guidance, counsel, and pastoral support that synchronous learning was offering them in the LC course. Most importantly, attendance had the strongest correlation with selfinitiative. Hence, this finding supports Ley and Young’s (1998) view that instructors’ presence could boost with self-regulation strategies. These findings are in line Georg (2009), Credé et al. (2010), Gottfried (2010) and Jansen et al. (2010) that student attendance are correlated with their achievement. If gender has been a consideration for language learning strategies in earlier studies (Green & Oxford,1995; Radwan,2011; Pawlak, 2015 and Khatib & Maarof, 2015), the findings from this study does not reflect the same. In fact, it concurs with the more recent study by Orfan and Weijer (2020) that both male and female students display no relationships with their level of autonomy in managing the self-study tasks. Additionally, gender did not strike any dependence on instructors’ guidance. The study also appreciates the final finding that close to two-third of the students in the sample population have made the attempt to initiate activities around external resources to improve their listening and speaking skills. Movies seem to have a very strong impact on them; audiovisual elements are powerful as noted by Uutiset (2018), and Albahiri and Alhaj (2020). Besides movies, music, Youtube and social media tools were also favoured by the students which confirmed earlier findings by Lee (2014), Bajrami and Isamaili (2016), and Wang (2017). Noting that almost one third students had no self-initiative to improve their listening and speaking skills, it clear that self-efficacy is vital in helping students to adopt multiple approaches (Prothereo,2014) in achieving their goals. Conclusion The study has described that in the Covid-19 pandemic phase or likewise crisis era, asynchronous mode appears to be an instrumental mode of learning among ESL students, especially in the Listening and Speaking skills. Self-study has a wide potential in guiding students to hone their LS skills. Lower-level ESL students at higher education institutions can be given more autonomy to work through their class tasks and course work, with the condition the latter is aligned with course objectives and learning outcomes. It is also a significant point in the study that listening skills are found to be less challenging for students for students in the self-study mode. The opportunities that technology grant to work on their own pace allows 56 students to achieve higher cognitive abilities and confidence. Another important aggregate point of this study is that structured instructor guidance helps lower- level ESL students to manage the LS course more effectively. Limitations and Further Studies For further studies, it would be useful to compare how students’ challenges and completion level in both the synchronous and asynchronous modes. The distinction derived from such study would help Listening and Speaking skills to be elevated from its current backseat position in the teaching and learning of ESL skills. Also, the study was unable to explore the selfregulation strategies used by the students. This is another potential area to explore. The current pandemic era has disrupted the teaching and learning of ESL. The innovative approaches and pedagogies invented through the endless possibilities of virtual learning is the silver lining in this crisis. 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Sakhair, Bahrain Bio-profile: Dr. Safwan Shatnawi: Dr. Safwan currently works at the University of Bahrain. While working in Higher Education, Safwan has accumulated over 17 years of academic experience, this includes, course design, course development, assessment, moderation, and feedback. This complements his technical skills where Safwan's background is very much in software design and online development. He is also a member of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Safwan does research in Data Mining, Ontology Learning, Databases, and AI. Mr. Abubaker Abdulkarim Alhitty: Mr. Alhitty is a lecturer and coordinator of the English Foundation Programme at the English Language Center, University of Bahrain. He has an MA in Translation and Interpretation from the University of Salford, UK, and a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Bahrain. His areas of interests and expertise are in e-Learning and curriculum design. He is the co-founder of the Exam Extractor, a digital assessment management tool and also a Microsoft certified educator. He has developed several programmes & courses that serve the students’ language development and encourage autonomous learning. Abstract Authentic assessment is a critical factor in teaching/learning processes. The complexity, content, meaningfulness, appropriateness and reliability of assessment elements are the pillars underpins authentic assessment. Preparing authentic assessment when teaching English as a 66 second language is vital to make sure deep learning is occurring and learners master vocabulary, reading, writing, listening, and grammar skills. The Exam Extractor transforms the concept of preparing standardized exams and makes a time-consuming task much faster and the result more professional. The Exam Extractor offers collaborative web-based interfaces for educators. Moreover, it integrates the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, course intended learning outcomes, and quality assurance framework to generate authentic assessments. This effective hybrid system provides a reliable measure of student progress and offers a more objective and sustainable method of assessment that will lead to academic credibility and pedagogical effectiveness. The system offers user-centered solution by adopting rigorous user experience design approach. The authors used both quantitative and qualitative analysis for validating the system and measure its effectiveness and usefulness. Keywords: Assessment, Exam Management software, Educational Systems Introduction The University of Bahrain promotes student-centred teaching and learning and moved towards outcome-based education (OBE). However, many factors influence the language learning process and students enrolled in courses such as English for Academic Purposes (EAP) or English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses, often find it challenging to obtain the specified level. As a result, The University of Bahrain launched its new foundation program at the start of the academic year 2017-2018 in order to adopt a teaching and learning system that was constructive, efficient and sustainable. The program serves all secondary school graduates whose level in English is less than B2 where the main subjects they study are English courses Nallaya (2012). The English Language Center runs the program and aligned the curriculum to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The emphasis has shifted to assessment practices that will allow students to demonstrate their ability to perform real-life tasks at standards described in the quality assurance and accreditation code. According to Lineman et al. (2020); Lynch (2003) there is a need for moving from standardized objective testing toward authentic, performance-based testing, since authentic assessment has a direct impact on both the teaching and learning process. Assessment is a key element in the teaching and learning process. Assessment practices should send the right signals to students about what they should be learning and how they should be learning it. Assessment can be formative or summative; while the former focuses on giving feedback for the students during their learning process i.e., constructive learning, the latter aims 67 to measure how well students have learned what they were supposed to learn Biggs (2011). The Exam Extractor is a system for generating summative assessments. Students consider summative assessments to define the actual curricula, and usually, they study what they think assessments will test them on. However, educators consider intended learning outcomes as the pillars that the teaching/learning process completely revolves around. The students’ perspective about assessment is known as backwash. Lewis Elton coined the term backwash (1987:92). Teachers consider backwash a negative side effect of assessment. It occurs in examdominated systems where students learn some exam-taking strategies that lead to surface learning. However, teachers can turn backwash to be positive when they design authentic exams based on what students should learn; by building both teaching and learning activities based on the course intended learning outcomes. Developing a course intended learning outcomes is the first step in building a curriculum for academic programs and an essential step in all educational quality assurance frameworks including the Bahrain National Qualification Framework (NQF). On the other hand, The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is an international standard for describing language ability and was established by the Council of Europe (Council of Europe, 2011). It is used around the world to describe learners’ language skills, with many language examination boards linking their exam results to the CEFR scale Yannakoudakis et al. (2018). Each skill has descriptors for reading, writing, vocabulary, and listening skills. The English Language Center adopted the CEFR as a reference for teaching/assessing students who study courses offered by the center. Another procedure in the quality assurance process is the exam moderation process; this requires subject experts to audit all exam questions and to align these questions to both the CEFR standards and the course intended learning outcomes. Technology plays a variety of roles in supporting assessment in Education. Educators have used software systems to collect assessment materials and data, generate reports about students’ performance, and support strategic and operational decisions Pellegrino and Quellmalz (2010). Much automated software exists that helps teachers in creating test banks and generating exams with different versions based on either randomization or Bloom’s taxonomy levels B and Immanuel (2015); Naik et al. (2014); Pandey and Rajeswari (2013). However, these systems are general, and they lack the CEFR and quality assurance standards mapping. In addition, there is no workflow for the moderation process. The authors created the Exam Extractor to fill this gap and to offer a collaborative web-based platform for building, auditing, and generating exams with different roles and functionalities in each role. Moreover, the system was extended to allow students to take the exams in online settings in response to the Covid-19 pandemic 68 and its precautionary procedures. Features to maintain academic integrity interweaved in the online module and this gives us the opportunity to run the program smoothly in sustainable teaching/learning process, to make sure that we achieved the intended learning outcomes and to collect more information about how students learning and their preferences which results in big data repository for future analysis and foresights. Modernity and Innovation The authors designed the system to fulfil the requirements of the English language courses requirements. It integrates the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, quality assurance framework, and authentic exam requirements. Although there are a plethora of exam-building systems that allow teachers to build and manage exams, these systems are general and do not integrate the aforementioned framework. The system is unique and innovative since the authors designed it intensively around the English Language Center’s requirements, and they held multiple sessions to improve the user interface and give the users the best experience for building authentic exams to measure students’ proficiency according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Moreover, the authors presented the system at the second International Conference Foundation Programs: Innovation and Technology “Shaping the Future of ELT” to academic faculty and learning management systems providers; As a result, the authors integrated their feedback and suggestions into the system. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the features added to the online module to maintain the academic integrity based on the academic staff and the quality assurance and accreditation requirements as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic gave novelty to the system during the early time of the pandemic. Aims and Educational Outputs The main goal for the system is to generate authentic assessments aligned to the quality assurance framework and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Following are the main objectives for the system to achieve the system goal: a) Guides teachers in preparing authentic exams for English language courses according to educational standards. b) Maintains quality assurance standards and guidelines. c) Automates the internal exam moderation process and reduces moderation management overhead. 69 d) Generates multiple version exams that are both authentic and equivalent in their difficulty levels. e) Saves redundant efforts of building and managing exams. f) Builds several question banks and provides mock exams for students. g) Allows business continuity in the online settings in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Sustainability The system is directly related to the UN sustainable development goals (SDG 4, SDG 9, and SDG 12). SDG 12 is related to environmental sustainability that calls for urgent actions to ensure that current material needs do not lead to the over-extraction of resources or the degradation of environmental resources. Moreover, it should include policies that improve resource efficiency, reduce waste and mainstream sustainability practices across all sectors of the economy. The system reduces paper waste and ensures that the used materials do not lead to the over-extraction of resources. The system improves the quality of teaching/learning processes that linked to the quality of teaching goal (SDG 4). The system facilitates sustainable and resilient infrastructure development through enhanced technological and technical support for educators. Many definitions exist in the literature to describe economical sustainability. However, since this project doesn’t aim to generate financial profitability for the founders, the following definition was selected which truly reflects the real contribution of the project: “The value you add to the society you work in.” (Financial services company, SIGMA workshop participant, January 2001). The system offers educational values, indirect and direct cost-cutting for the institution, and better experience for both students and instructors. The main contribution added relates to the educational values and mainly the generation of authentic exams that truly reflect what extent our students learn, based on the best educational practices. The system also guides the junior instructors in the process of writing questions and grabs their attention to quality assurance guidelines, the English language constituents, and authentic questions creation. Direct cost-cutting occurs in terms of the reduction of stationery cost. However, the more important element is the indirect cost that comes from saving faculty members time and effort in building authentic exams. The system runs at a minimal cost since the development, management, and maintenance of the system are being carried out by the founders’ knowledge and skills without any additional cost. The only cost is the web hosting cost that is insignificant. 70 Methodical and planning The authors adopted the System Development Life Cycle approach to develop the Exam Extractor system. Starting from the planning phase, the authors focused on a user-centred approach, and considered the requirements of teachers, moderators, and coordinators. Then, the authors started by analysing the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and identified the available levels, skills, and available descriptors. After that, the national (Bahrain) quality assurance and accreditation requirements were analysed. Next, the authors analysed the internal exam moderation policies and identified the moderation process requirements. Finally, the authors identified the users’ requirements for building a user-centred interface. Based on that, the authors designed the database schema and identified the different roles that teachers can play in the system which are Teacher, Moderator, and Coordinator. Finally, we reflected the students and online settings requirements in the database and interface design. The authors adopted the prototype development approach to develop the system. It starts with the teacher role; the authors presented the teacher interface to the English language teachers and collected their feedback. As a result, the authors finalized this module and made sure that users will get the best user experience. After that, the authors presented the moderator module to the moderators in the English Language Center. Based on their feedback; the authors totally redesigned this module. The moderators requested a voting system for approving questions where each question needs two approvals to move to the test bank or two rejection votes for excluding the question from the system. Finally, the authors built the coordinator module. This module allows coordinators to build exams and generate word documents that contain exams, answer keys, and map the exam to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, and link each question to one of the courses intended learning outcomes. The following section describes the system and identifies the roles and functionalities in each role. System Description The Exam Extractor is a web-based application that allows all assessment stakeholders to manage different types of questions that are aligned to both CEFR and NQF standards, verify the quality of these questions (test moderation), and generate exams to make sure that deep learning occurs. The system offers three different views according to the teacher roles, that are teachers, moderators, and coordinators. Figure 1 shows the main system processes and the data 71 stores that hold the assessment parts. The system was extended to allow students to sit for the exams in online settings as a response to the Covid-19 precautionary measurements. Fig. 1: Exam Extractor Data Flow Diagram Configuration and settings The configuration process starts by storing all the ERFC standards information to the system including levels, skills, and descriptors for each skill. The system stores the quality assurance framework standards. Next, the system stores the mapping of the course intended outcomes to the ERFC standards. Finally, it stores teachers’ information and their roles. By default, all users have the “Teacher” role when they register to the Fig. 1: Exam Extractor Data Flow Diagram system. On the other hand, the system administrator assigns other roles. When all configuration details are available in the system, teachers can log in and start building assessment parts. Teacher Processes The system offers a multi-tabs interface for the teacher, where each skill in the CEFR standard has an interface that allows the teacher to add multiple-choice, True/False, and open-ended 72 questions with their answer keys. Teachers can edit their contribution if a question needs any editing. Figure 2 shows a screen snapshot for the multiple-choice questions interface. It shows the CEFR standards (Level, Skill, Descriptor, and Unit). For both reading and listening parts, the system offers rich text editing note pad that allows the teacher to edit the text in a way similar to word processing software. Figure 3 envisioned teachers’ interface for adding/editing passages for the reading skill. Other question types have similar interfaces to add/edit these questions and its answers. Fig. 2: Teachers Grammar Multiple Choices Questions Interface Fig. 3: Teachers Multiple Choice Reading Questions Interface 73 Moderator Processes The Exam Extractor allows moderators to view all teachers’ contributions. Analog to the teacher view, it offers a multi-tabs interface that allows moderators to edit these contributions, approve them, or reject contributions. When rejecting a question, the moderator is able to give feedback and justification for rejection to the teacher responsible for creating the question. Each assessment part needs two votes for either to approve or reject it. Once any contribution is approved, it goes to the test bank where it will be a candidate for test questions. Figure 4 shows a sample of the question moderation process. We designed this interface after running several user experience sessions/surveys. The system keeps track of all interactions for every contribution; this information will be used for auditing purposes, generating reports about the system, and for getting insight and foresight about assessment in the centre. Fig. 4: Question Moderation Feature Coordinator Processes Coordinators are responsible for collecting approved questions, identifying skills and descriptors for compiling exams, mapping these questions to the course intended learning outcomes and preparing answer keys for these questions. The system helps coordinators in achieving these tasks through menu-driven lists. The coordinator simply selects the level, skill, descriptor, and number of questions that he/she would like to include in the exam. Figure 5 shows the exam generation feature available for coordinators. After building exams’ skeletons, the system will randomly select questions based on the selected criteria. It will generate a 74 Microsoft Word Document that includes the exam questions, answer key, mapping of these questions to the course intended learning outcomes, and mapping to the CEFR standards. Figure 6 shows a sample of a grammar exam mapping feature. Coordinators can save these exams to the system for further analysis. They can generate multiple versions for the exam. Fig. 5: Exam Generating Feature Fig. 6: Exam Mapping Feature 75 Student Interface In response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the precautionary measurements which forced the university to switch to the online teaching and banned the students from physically accessing the university facilities, the authors developed an interface for the students to sit for the exams online. The system allows authorized students to sit for the exams and uses different approaches to maintain the academic integrity by randomizing questions and question pools based on the exam criteria and disable browsers’ add-ons and online translation from accessing the exam contents. It is intuitive that all exams are both password and time controlled. Reporting The system generates a variety of reports for each role. These reports aim to give teachers, moderators, and coordinators feedback about the exam management processes in order to identifies possible opportunities of improvement at each stage. Although these reports are not part of the primary objectives for the system, the system users requested to have these reports to enhance their experience in using the system. The authors added this feature as part of improving the User Experience design. Evaluation and Follow up The survey and questionnaire tool were used to evaluate the system. A standard questionnaire was used to evaluate the usability, efficiency, and performance of the system. The questionnaire was sent to a group of lecturers who used the system for a year. Their role in the system was as teachers, moderators, or coordinators. A total of 24 users (59% response rate) responded. Usability can be defined as the ease of use of a system for a particular class of users carrying out specific tasks in a specific environment, 78% of the respondents agreed that the system enabled them to make exams faster, while 4% disagree and 21% neither agree nor disagree. On the other hand, 87% of the users agree that the system made the process of creating/managing exams easier, 8% neither agreed nor disagreed and 4% disagreed. One of the main objectives of this system is to generate authentic exams. 50% of the respondents agree and found the system reliable to guide them into generating authentic exams. However, 17% disagreed and 33% neither agreed nor disagreed. The respondents have a different level of experience in the higher education field. As a result, new lecturers found the system as a toolkit for aligning questions to the course intended learning outcomes and the CEFR standards. In addition, for the ease of use, 100% agree that the system is easy to use. In terms of performance and user experience, 84% of the respondents were satisfied with the user interface, while 8% 76 were dissatisfied and 4% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. Two open-ended questions were included, which allowed the users to give general feedback about the system and to specify negative points in the system. In the feedback section, nine comments were received; the users mainly would like to see more reports in the system about their contributions such as which questions have been approved/rejected with feedback. However, for the negative points in the system, three comments were received. These comments related to the interface to add more visual aids and one concern was about the workflow in the system. Analysis and Results The Exam Extractor system guides English language lecturers in the process of building test banks to generate authentic assessment parts. It offers collaboration space for lecturers, moderators, and coordinators to generate exams that are mapped to both the quality assurance standards and the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The system is scalable where it can accommodate more lecturers, moderators, coordinators, standards, and courses. The system currently serves 53 lecturers in the English Language Center at the University of Bahrain who play different roles. They generated almost 700 different types of questions. Moderators approved these questions with 8% rejection rate. The system gave reports for lecturers, moderators, and coordinators about these questions. Finally, Coordinators generated authentic exams for students to make sure deep learning occurred. Generally, the users were satisfied with both the usefulness and easiness of the system and gave positive feedback about the system in the survey sent to them for the purpose of evaluating the system and deciding the next milestone for the system. Discussion and Future Directions The system generates authentic assessment and guides lecturers, moderators, and coordinators during the assessment plan, design, and generate processes through a collaborative environment. There are other exam management systems in the market. However, this system is novel in terms of integrating the quality assurance framework, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, and exam moderation in one web-based portal. Currently, the system is limited to the Bahrain National Quality Assurance Framework and serves English courses in the A1 and B1 levels of the CEFR bands. However, the system is scalable, and more levels can easily be added. The next stage for the system is to add student modules where students can practice extensive reading through the system, take adaptive informative assessment, and which offers feedback for students and lecturers about the learning 77 process. The final stage is to transfer the system into a full open learning management system for English courses. 78 References B, T. and Immanuel, A. (2015). Framework for automatic examination paper generation system. International Journal of Computer Science Trends and Technology, 6(1). Sasikala Nallaya (2012) Overcoming English Proficiency Challenges through Needs Assessment. The Asian ESP Journal. Summer Edition 2012 Biggs, J. B. (2011). Teaching for quality learning at university: What the student does. McGraw-hill education (UK). Lineman, M., Ha, P., Sanders, S., Shim, H.-S., and Vercoe, T. (2020). Evaluation of a trial project for the creation and total integration of English in a mid-sized private university in Korea. Asian EFL Journal, 24(3). Lynch, R. (2003). Authentic, performance-based assessment in esl/efl reading instruction. Asian EFL journal, 5(4):1–28. Naik, K., Sule, S., Jadhav, S., and Pandey, S. (2014). Automatic question paper generation system using randomization algorithm. International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR), 2(12):192–194. Pandey, S. and Rajeswari, K. (2013). Automatic question generation using software agents for technical institutions. International Journal of Advanced Computer Research, 3(13):307–311. Pellegrino, J. W. and Quellmalz, E. S. (2010). Perspectives on the integration of technology and assessment. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 43(2):119–134. Yannakoudakis, H., Andersen, Ø. E., Geranpayeh, A., Briscoe, T., and Nicholls, D. (2018). Developing an automated writing placement system for esl learners. Applied Measurement in Education, 31(3):251–267. 79 Asian EFL Journal Research Articles. Vol. 28 Issue No. 2.1 April 2021 Evaluating Educators and Students’ Perspectives on Asynchronous and Synchronous Modes of E-learning in Crisis Education Tara Fryad Henari College of Applied Studies, University of Bahrain Dalal A. Kareem Ahmed English Language Centre, University of Bahrain Bio-profile: Tara Fryad Henari is a lecturer in the University of Bahrain for the past fifteen years. She completed her MSc in Managing Business with IT from the University of Salford and is a fellow of the AHE. Besides her academic duties she is involved in mentoring in the Unit for Teaching Excellence and Leadership and has been actively involved in creating and updating programs in her college. Her research interests include social responsibility, education and entrepreneurship. Dalal A. Kareem Ahmed is an English Language Lecturer with 15 years’ experience working in the tertiary education sector. Her areas of interest and expertise are in e-Learning, integration of technology in the ESL classroom and the appropriate use of smart phones in the classroom to enhance student achievement. She has organized four international conferences on Foundation programs and English Language Teaching and Learning. She espouses the idea of integrating lifelong learning skills in the EFL classroom. She played a vital part of the successful implementation of micro-credential skills for foundation students. She also promotes the use of Blockchain digital badging to formally recognize students’ life-long and employability skills. She is a fellow of The Higher Education Academy (HEA) -UK. Abstract The purpose of this research is to identify and compare perspectives of educators and students who participated in both asynchronous and synchronous e-learning during the Covid-19 80 emergency remote teaching period. Identifying the students preferred way of e-learning, aims to guide educators during the current and future crises in course designing. Two surveys were distributed, targeting educators and students who participated in asynchronous and synchronous e-learning. The levels of education were categorized into primary, secondary and university. Both surveys consisted of close ended questions focusing on six teaching and learning factors. The research identified that students from all levels of education preferred synchronous learning. The preference was aligned with the perspective of school educators, however, university educators believed university students preferred asynchronous learning. The misalignment occurred in university educators believing students will have a higher motivation and a better understanding of the subject if asynchronous learning was applied, however this was not the case. This research aims to guide educators in selecting a mode of elearning in crisis education. Keywords: Asynchronous, synchronous, e-learning, emergency remote perspectives, education, higher education, school, course design, crisis education teaching, Introduction E-learning has been evolving for decades and the adoption of e-learning has been increasing over time. Until recently educational institutes have been comparing the costs with it benefits on determining whether to wholly embrace it. With the advent of Covid-19, the luxury of making the choice was abolished. E-learning was no longer a choice made by the educational institute nor the student, but by an unforeseen situation. Suspending face-to face classes was elongated in many countries, leaving e- learning as the only option (Abduh, 2021). Many educational institutes have now adapted to new educational methods and used e-learning for the first time (Kitishat et al., 2020). E-learning is defined as the delivery of education through various electronic media (Liao & Lu, 2008; Koohang & Harman, 2005). During the Covid-19 period, e-learning, which is also referred to as emergency remote teaching, is a temporary shift of instructional delivery to an alternate delivery mode due to a crisis situation (Hodges et al., 2020). Colleges were forced to upgrade their technological means and shift to online education. In delivering courses electronically, educators based their teaching methods on experiential and experimental procedures, whilst both asynchronous and synchronous e-learning were embraced. Asynchronous learning is when students are not limited in time or space in order for the learning to happen, whilst synchronous learning is the opposite in the sense that it is limited 81 by “real time” although the students are also spread over different geographical locations, they are restrained by a specific time to engage with instructors and peers (Cleveland-Innes, 2018) As e-learning continues, and different teaching methods have been tried, the goal now is to identify the most preferred method of e-learning from both the educators and the students’ perspective and identify if their perceptions are similar. Recognizing students’ perception plays a major role in understanding best modes of learning. Accordingly, students’ perception on asynchronous and synchronous reflects what best works for them in the given situation of Covid-19. Morgan and Houghton (2011) believe that engaging students in curriculum design at different levels gives students “ownership” and a better “understanding about the nature and purpose of their learning experience” (HEA, 2011). Modals of education that reflect students’ perceptions have proven to enable educators to form a developed understanding of effective forms of learning activities (Karns, 2005). Having a clear idea on how students perceive the model of learning has a great impact on designing and consequently executing a course. Hence, this research aims to identify the perceptions of both the educator and students, which will assist in the design of courses in the future, especially in the case crisis education. The research consists of two surveys targeting all level of educators and students. The respondents for both surveys have been classified into primary, secondary and university levels. Literature Review Asynchronous E-Learning Martin & Oyarzun (2017) define asynchronous learning as “A course where most of the content is delivered online and students can participate in the online course from anywhere at any time.” Learning happens in a medium outside the classroom and with no face-to-face interactions. Media such as “text, images, recorded audio, and recorded audio/video” are used to convey the teacher’s message (Mick, 2015). Most teachers, whether pro e-learning or anti e-learning, have used some type of asynchronous learning by simply sending an email or posting material on a digital platform. With an asynchronous mode, learning is unconstrained by time and space. The traditional classroom transforms into a digital platform that can be accessed by students regardless of their geographical location. Researchers have proved that this form of teaching personalizes students’ education. It allows the students to tailor to their preferred way and time of acquiring 82 knowledge. Researchers believe that asynchronous modes of education have many benefits one of them being convenience (McDonald, 2016). Students favor this method because of its “asynchronous nature, combining education with work, family, and other commitments” (McDonald, 2016). Using online resources in students’ knowledge acquisition enhances students’ autonomy. Students learn to take charge of what they need for their learning process. Students’ autonomy has been described as “a capacity – for detachment, critical reflection, decision making and independent action” (Little, 1991). Through digital mediums students are given “the opportunity to develop their own critical, creative and problem-solving skills and autonomy in learning.” (Gavranović, 2017). Another benefit suggested by McDonald (2016) is that of individualism. A student takes control of his own learning by setting goals and choosing what to learn, how to learn and when to learn. Students in this case have chosen to be perceived as “individuals” rather than “homogenous groups” by their instructors (Beyth-Marom et al., 2005). It gives students a chance to evaluate, reflect and “refine” their participation before sharing it (Hrastinski, 2008). Although in this method of learning, a student may be flexible with the time he chooses to learn in, but he usually spends more time on the contribution. Having more time to respond usually results in a more thoughtful response opposed to a spontaneous response to a given situation or task (Salihefendić, 2020). A student will need 6 minutes to give a face to face response that consists of 600 words, while to convey the same amount of words through email, an hour is needed (Kock, 2005). The individualism associated with asynchronized learning is not always perceived as a benefit. Many scholars worry that with the lack of direct interaction with teachers or peers, students may feel isolated from the learning communities. Students were seen to fail to work in collaborative discussions (Kock, 2005). Success in an asynchronized learning environment is linked to students’ motivation. Without an inner drive to do the work, it may result in “accumulation of a workload” and pending tasks. Hence, the benefits of asynchronized learning “is likely to be heavily influenced by the attitudes of the individual” (Ranasinghe,2019). Other researchers believe that although asynchronous e-learning modes appeal to learners, test scores have proven that it has not “yielded superiority over conventional methods” (Chauhan et al., 2019). 83 Synchronous E-Learning In order to maintain an effective face to face learning environment in a virtual environment, many teachers resort to live sessions known also as synchronous learning. Synchronous learning is online or distance education that happens in real time (Staff, 2018). Classes take place according to a schedule and the instructor meets the students to deliver the lesson, hence the only difference from a regular classroom is that the class is in a virtual setting. It is the interaction “of participants with an instructor via the Web in real time”. It is the best modal to “humanize” a virtual setting, giving students hands on learning experience, instant feedback and the opportunity to collaborate with other students yet without the constriction of space (Murray, 2007). Murray (2007) also believes that “The roots of synchronous e-learning derive from three main influences: the classroom, the media, and the conference”. He also emphasizes that online interactions can be considered as “synchronous modals” of engagement only if “learning” is involved. The word synchronous in Latin means simultaneous- and in the learning environment it refers to simultaneously in the classroom, Redmond (2007) notes that “the virtual classroom” should have a “whiteboard area, synchronized web browser, application sharing, text chat, hand raising, questions and answers, feedback, attendance list and an agenda for the class.” Redmond also presents three perspectives to a successful synchronous learning mode; “student, lecturer and administrator”. The student’s perspective is reflected by software, hardware, audio level and students’ attitude. The lecturer perspective is the creation of new material appropriate for a digital platform rather than mimicking the material used in a physical setting of the classroom. Lecturer delivery, sound and pace also needs to be maintained in the virtual classroom. The third perspective highlighted by Redmond is that of administration. Before setting up a synchronous modal, the administration of an institute needs to consider, costs, licensing, proper faculty training, software and hardware (Redmond, 2007). Although a synchronous setting is similar to a regular face to face physical setting of learning, many researchers find drawbacks in this mode of teaching. Having a high number of students, which is a common case in online courses, minimizes interaction between the student and their educator on one hand and between the student and their peers on the other hand. When associated with asynchronous modes, teachers feel that the amount of work is doubled because of the posted material preparation and consequently give less efforts to the online sessions. Meanwhile, students feel that they need the live sessions to support their learning (James & Pagel, 2016). Other disadvantages of synchronous modes are “technical problems with hardware, software, set-up, or connections, too little learner engagement or interactivity, 84 facilitators are not usually skilled in synchronous remote delivery techniques, and bandwidth limitations.” (Murray, 2007). Covid-19 Impact on Education Covid-19 was first identified in Wuhan China December 2019. In a few months it spread around the globe resulting in the worst pandemic this generation has ever witnessed. The disease hit the health system around the world hard and destroyed economies far worse than the economic recession of 2008. The Education sector was not exempted from the negative impact of this virus. With only one priority for governments; the wellbeing of its citizens, drastic decisions were made to close educational institutes around the globe. By mid-March billions of students were forced to part schools because of the pandemic and according to UNESCO 72.4% (1.26 billion) of students around the world have been affected by the closure of their educational institutes. Governments and educational authorities around the world have turned to e-learning in order to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the learning process of students. There was one set goal to “Provide a high-quality learning experience to every child within a remote learning environment” (Krueger, 2020). This situation was not foreseen by anyone around the globe and took everyone by surprise. Educators and atudents found themselves in the middle of a critical situation, many of them were not armed with the appropriate skills to win this battle. Like medical practitioners, educators were put under a spotlight and were given one goal to achieve “education must go on”. There was no time for trial and error nor was there time for a debate of whether or not online education is beneficial. Educators transformed their methods of teaching overnight, a process which usually takes years. Educational institutes globally proved their strength and resilience in no time. With the situation being as is, educational institutes around the globe deduced that the crisis cannot be perceived by one institute or one country. Educationists needed to shape their understanding of the situation by trusting and following “world views”. This crisis according to Briggs (2020), Editor in Chief of Asia Pacific Journal of Health, needs to embrace a “world or global view to understand our contemporary context and to better understand the strategies that we and other governments are implementing”. Local institutes adopted these “world views” and implemented them in an apt way. Researchers and educators extended their 85 concerns beyond the current crisis to the consequences of this educational disruption in the long run. Ms. Stefania Giannini, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education believes educators need to “build up the longer-term resilience of education systems.” (Huang, 2020). Educators and faculty members were not the only ones struggling with these drastic changes, students around the world were deprived of all face-to-face physical learning environments and a virtual system of education was imposed upon them without their consents. There were no choices to be made by the students on how they preferred to acquire their knowledge. Students were burdened with emerging challenges that they have never encountered before, and they had minimum support on how to overcome them. Low or no connectivity was one of the major challenges faced by students during this period. Internet connection and the availability of digital devices that ensured the continuity of education for many students was an ongoing obstacle. UNESCO reports state that this issue is more persistent for undergraduates and that higher education students have “more connectivity”. Like educators, students were also overwhelmed with content that was never designed to be taught virtually which requires much more discipline from the students’ side than regular classrooms. The ball was now in their field more often and they needed to tackle it without the existence of a coach. Methodology Two surveys were distributed with close ended questions, the first to students and the other to educators. The target was all levels of educators and students who faced e-learning during the Covid-19 period. The purpose of the surveys was to help identify the most preferred method of e-learning from both the educator and the student’s perception. The respondents were asked to identify if they undertook both asynchronous and synchronous modes of learning and a comparison of their perspectives for each was considered. This research groups the students based on three levels of education: primary, secondary and university. Primary being students between the age of 6-12, secondary being those in school at the age of 12 or more, and university covers all tertiary levels. The same grouping has been applied for educators and the level of education they teach. The surveys ask students and educators to identify their insight of their preferred method of teaching from the student’s perspective, using six factors. The six factors, which can be seen below are related to the teaching and learning environment. 1. Flexible learning: Flexible learning can relate to flexibility related to time, content, entry requirements and instruction approach and resources (Collis & Moonen, 2012). This research focuses on flexibility regarding time. 86 2. Increases motivation in learning: Motivation in learning can be categorized as intrinsic and extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is external factors that stimulate the learners. Some of these factors can be teachers’ behavior, learning topics, learning teaching processes (Selvi, 2010). This research focuses on the learning teaching processes, asynchronous and synchronous learning modes. 3. Increases interest: Having an interest in a topic can be categorized into two: individual interest and situational interest. Individual interest is more long term, whilst situational interest is temporary and situationally bound (Harackiewicz & Hulleman, 2010). The research focuses on situational interest. 4. Increases understanding of subject: The survey focuses on what method increases the understanding of the subject from a students’ perspective. 5. Easier communication with the educators: Communication was identified as the main factor that drives success in distance learning, based on existing research it is clear that when the level of interaction is inadequate or nonexistent, learners often feel isolated and an overall degradation of the learning experience can take place (Howland & Moore, 2002, Ortiz-Rodrigue, 2005). The goal of the research is to identify whether asynchronous or synchronous e-learning modes enables easier communication. 6. Enhances critical thinking: Critical thinking is considered an objective of various disciplines and is of high importance for students’ success, which can be adopted online (Macknight, 2000). Results The two surveys were analyzed separately. The results were then compared, identifying if the perception of both groups of respondents were similar. Analysis of the Students’ Perspectives The student’s survey, which was distributed internationally had a total of 628 respondents, with most respondents being from the Gulf Region, United Kingdom and the United States. It was identified that the number of respondents who experienced both teaching modes: asynchronous and synchronous e-learning was 357, 56% of the respondents, with the majority being of university level (Figure 1). When asked their preferred mode of teaching, 59% of the respondents preferred synchronous, this preference is comparable for all levels of education with 56% of primary level students, 70% of secondary level students and 59% of university level students. The reasoning of their preferences is homogeneous across all levels, with 87 students believing it increases their motivation, increases understanding of the topic, increases communication with the teacher, enhances critical thinking and is more interesting. On the other hand, all believe Asynchronous e-learning are more flexible. Details per level can be seen in Table I and a comparison of all levels can be seen in Table Ⅱ. Analysis of the Educators’ Perspective The educator’s survey, which was distributed internationally, had a total of 124 respondents with most respondents being from the Gulf region and the United States. It was identified that the number of respondents who implemented both teaching modes: asynchronous and synchronous e-learning was 73, 59% of the respondents, with the majority being university educators (Figure 2). When the respondents were asked which mode of teaching, they believed students favored, 52% believed asynchronous was the preferred mode, this was agreeable with university educators with 60% of the respondents. However, this was not comparable over all levels of education, as 85% of the primary and 67% of the secondary level educators believed synchronous teaching was more beneficial for the students. The majority of all levels of educators believed synchronous teaching is more interesting, results in easier communication and enhances critical thinking for the student and asynchronous teaching is more flexible. On the other hand, university level academics believe asynchronous teaching motivates the students and helps them understand their subject more, in contrast to primary and secondary educators who believe the opposite. Details per level can be seen in Table Ⅲ and a comparison of all levels can be seen in Table Ⅳ. Comparison of Educators and Student’s Perspectives The research identified that students from all levels of education preferred synchronous learning over asynchronous, as the majority agreed it: increases motivation, increases interest, increases understanding of the subject, enhances communication and enhances critical thinking. The preference of synchronous learning was consistent with educators’ perception for primary and secondary levels, as were their reasons (Tables Ⅴ and Ⅵ). However, for university level, the perceptions of the two groups of respondents were unaligned. Synchronous learning was preferred under the student’s perspective, whilst the academic’s perspective for students was asynchronous learning. The academics believed the students would gain a higher understanding of the course and increase their motivation. In contrast, students had the opinion these factors were achieved through synchronous learning (Table Ⅶ). 88 Discussion The results of this research reveal that all students are in favor of synchronous learning during crisis education. This may be due to the tendency that asynchronous e-learning lends itself to more independent students who are willing to take control of their learning. However, the majority, if not all of the sample in this study did not choose to study online and therefore synchronous e-learning probably appealed to them due to its resemblance of the real face to face classroom they are acquainted to. Primary and secondary level educators had the same perspective as the students; however, this was not the case for university level educators. This discrepancy could be due to their agreement with literature, in which McDonald (2016) states that asynchronous learning encourages individualism, allowing students to take control of their learning, which in return enhances their learning. However, the success of asynchronous learning is related to motivation, and although the academics’ perception is asynchronous learning leads to higher motivation, students need intrinsic motivation for this mode of learning to be successful (Ranasinghe, 2019). Asynchronous learning was imposed on the students and it was not an option, resulting in the level of intrinsic motivation being low, if not non-existent. Conclusion During the uncertain times of Covid-19, students were introduced to crisis education, which involved different e-learning modals. Students were exposed with no preparation mentally or technically, and educators were forced to make rapid decisions on the continuation of education, as successfully as possible. In doing so, educators implemented asynchronous and synchronous e-learning. Courses were designed with no time for research, and were implemented based on limited resources, that were not designed for e-learning. In case of further crisis education, this research was conducted to identify if students prefer asynchronous or synchronous e-learning, and if educators had the same perspective. Synchronous e-learning was preferred by all students of all levels of education, and although they all thought asynchronous learning was more flexible, they agreed synchronous learning increases motivation, increases understanding of the topic, increases communication with the teacher, enhances critical thinking and is more interesting. This inconsistency of educators and students' perspectives at university level may lead to demotivating learners and increase their anxiety (Songhori, 2012). Hence, the results indicating 89 students' preferences can be taken into consideration in designing courses in the future as incorporating students’ views in the design positively affects their learning (Makela et al., 2014). Further Research This research investigated the perceptions of the educators and students; however, it did not look at the actual outcome and which method of learning generates a better outcome. Further research could look into the concept if perceptions of students are aligned with positive outcomes. Future studies could also focus on measuring the level of interaction and engagement a student shows in both synchronous and asynchronous learning environment. Further research could also involve investigating the perceptions of students for different subjects. A study highlighting the skills self-obtained by students in order to acquire knowledge is also a topic worth exploring. 90 References Abduh, M. (2021). Full-Time Online Assessment during Covid-19 Lockdown: EFL Teacher’s Perceptions. Asian EFL Journal Research Article. Vol. 28 Issue No. 1. Beyth-Marom, R., Saporta, K. & Caspi, A. (2005). Synchronous vs. Asynchronous. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, pp.245-262. Briggs, D. (2020). Corona Virus (COVID – 19). Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management, 1. Chauhan, V., Kalra, J., Kalra, V. Negi, G., & Aggarwal, P. (2019). 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Professional Teaching Articles –Vol. 62. 93 Appendix Tables TableⅠ: Method preferred for each factor as per level of education- A student’s perspective Primary Secondary Agree Disagree Neutral Agree Disagree Neutral Factors Flexible Synchronous e-learning. Asynchronous e-learning Makes me more motivated to Study Synchronous e-learning. Asynchronous e-learning More interesting Synchronous e-learning. Asynchronous e-learning Helps me understand the topic more. Synchronous e-learning. Asynchronous e-learning Enables easier communication with the teacher. Synchronous e-learning. Asynchronous e-learning Enhances my critical thinking. Synchronous e-learning. Asynchronous e-learning University Agree Disagree Neutral 62.96% 11.11% 80.95% 0.00% 25.93% 19.05% 50.00% 50.00% 80.00% 20.00% 100.00% 59.06% 6.43% 100.00% 74.38% 4.96% 34.50% 20.66% 57.14% 0.00% 55.56% 3.70% 42.86% 40.74% 50.00% 16.67% 20.00% 0.00% 33.33% 80.00% 60.82% 10.53% 49.59% 11.57% 28.65% 38.84% 77.78% 3.70% 38.10% 28.57% 18.52% 33.33% 83.33% 8.33% 40.00% 0.00% 8.33% 60.00% 59.65% 11.70% 54.55% 10.74% 28.65% 34.71% 66.67% 11.11% 90.48% 0.00% 66.67% 11.11% 22.22% 9.52% 22.22% 83.33% 8.33% 80.00% 0.00% 8.33% 20.00% 71.07% 7.44% 62.57% 9.36% 21.49% 28.07% 70.37% 11.11% 57.14% 0.00% 18.52% 42.86% 75.00% 8.33% 20.00% 40.00% 16.67% 40.00% 69.59% 9.94% 47.11% 13.22% 20.47% 39.67% 55.56% 3.70% 38.10% 23.81% 40.74% 38.10% 50.00% 25.00% 40.00% 20.00% 25.00% 40.00% 55.37% 14.88% 51.46% 9.94% 29.75% 38.60% Table Ⅱ: A Comparison of Method preferred for each factor as per level of education- A student’s perspective Primary Asynchronous The student believes this method to be more Flexible e-learning The student believes this method it makes them more Synchronous emotivated to their study. learning Synchronous eThe student believes this method is more interesting learning The student believes this method helps them Synchronous eunderstand the topic more. learning The student believes this method makes Synchronous elearning communication easier with the teacher The student believes this method helps them enhance Synchronous ecritical thinking. learning 94 Secondary Asynchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning University Asynchronous e-learning Synchronous elearning Synchronous elearning Synchronous elearning Synchronous elearning Synchronous elearning Table Ⅲ: Method preferred for each factor as per level of education- An educator’s perspective Primary Agree More flexible for my students Synchronous e-learning. Asynchronous e-learning Makes the students more motivated to Study Synchronous e-learning. Asynchronous e-learning More interesting for the students Synchronous e-learning. Asynchronous e-learning Helps the students understand the topic more. Synchronous e-learning. Asynchronous e-learning Enables easier communication with me. Synchronous e-learning. Asynchronous e-learning Enhances their critical thinking. Synchronous e-learning. Asynchronous e-learning Secondary University Disagree Neutral Agree Disagree Neutral Agree Disagree Neutral 66.67% 0.00% 100.00% 0.00% 33.33% 0.00% 66.67% 83.33% 50.00% 0.00% 0.00% 100.00% 50.00% 0.00% 66.67% 0.00% 33.33% 100.00% 83.33% 0.00% 33.33% 16.67% 0.00% 0.00% 60.87% 4.35% 91.18% 0.00% 34.78% 8.82% 100.00% 0.00% 33.33% 33.33% 0.00% 33.33% 60.87% 13.04% 61.76% 2.94% 26.09% 35.29% 0.00% 0.00% 83.33% 66.67% 0.00% 33.33% 16.67% 0.00% 60.87% 8.70% 47.06% 11.76% 30.43% 41.18% 16.67% 100.00% 0.00% 0.00% 83.33% 66.67% 16.67% 0.00% 0.00% 33.33% 60.87% 8.70% 76.47% 8.82% 30.43% 14.71% 83.33% 0.00% 16.67% 100.00% 0.00% 0.00% 83.33% 66.67% 16.67% 33.33% 0.00% 0.00% 73.91% 4.35% 55.88% 11.76% 21.74% 32.35% 50.00% 0.00% 0.00% 100.00% 50.00% 0.00% 83.33% 66.67% 16.67% 33.33% 0.00% 0.00% 43.48% 4.35% 38.24% 8.82% 52.17% 52.94% Table Ⅳ: A Comparison of Method preferred for each factor as per level of education- An educator’s perspective The educator believes this method to be more Flexible The educator believes this method makes the student more motivated in their studies. The educator believes this method is more interesting for the student The educator believes this method helps the student understand the topic more. The educator believes this method makes communication easier for the student The educator believes this method helps the student enhance critical thinking. 95 Primary Asynchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Secondary Asynchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning University Asynchronous e-learning Asynchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Asynchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Table Ⅴ: A Comparison of Method for preferred for each factor for Primary level- A students and educator’s perspective Students Perspective Asynchronous The student believes this method to be more Flexible e-learning The student believes this method it makes them more Synchronous emotivated to their study. learning Synchronous eThe student believes this method is more interesting learning The student believes this method helps them Synchronous eunderstand the topic more. learning The student believes this method makes Synchronous ecommunication easier with the teacher learning The student believes this method helps them enhance Synchronous ecritical thinking. learning Educators Perspective Asynchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Table Ⅵ: A Comparison of Method for preferred for each factor for Secondary level- A students and educator’s perspective Students Perspective Asynchronous The student believes this method to be more Flexible e-learning The student believes this method it makes them more Synchronous emotivated to their study. learning Synchronous eThe student believes this method is more interesting learning The student believes this method helps them Synchronous eunderstand the topic more. learning The student believes this method makes Synchronous elearning communication easier with the teacher The student believes this method helps them enhance Synchronous ecritical thinking. learning 96 Educators Perspective Asynchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Table Ⅶ: A Comparison of Method for preferred for each factor for University level- A students and educator’s perspective Students Perspective Asynchronous The student believes this method to be more Flexible e-learning The student believes this method it makes them more Synchronous emotivated to their study. learning Synchronous eThe student believes this method is more interesting learning The student believes this method helps them Synchronous eunderstand the topic more. learning The student believes this method makes Synchronous ecommunication easier with the teacher learning The student believes this method helps them enhance Synchronous ecritical thinking. learning 97 Educators Perspective Asynchronous e-learning Asynchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Asynchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Synchronous e-learning Figures Figure 1: Preferred method of teaching – A students’ perspective. Figure 2: Preferred method of teaching – An educators’ perspective. 98 Asian EFL Journal Research Articles. Vol. 28 Issue No. 2.1 April 2021 Perceptions of Egyptian and Saudi EFL Students towards Blended Learning at the Wake of Coronavirus Pandemic Mohammad Awad Al-Dawoody Abdulaal Department of English, College of Science and Humanities, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University Al-Kharj 11942, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Port Said University, Egypt Iman El-Nabawi Shaalan Department of English, College of Science and Humanities, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, AlKharj 11942, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia College of Humanities, Al-Azhar University, Egypt Bio-prodile: Mohammad Awad Al-Dawoody Abdulaal is lecturer of linguistics at the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Port Said University, Egypt. In 2019, he was appointed as an assistant professor of linguistics at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, College of Science and Humanities. His flagship publications include “A Shift from a Monoglossic to a Heteroglossic View: A Metalinguistic Stego- Translanguaging Lens Approach”, “ A Cross-linguistic Analysis of Formulaic Language and Meta-discourse in Linguistics Research Articles by Natives and Arabs: Modeling Saudis and Egyptians” and “A Diagnostic Chomskian View to Arabic Asymmetry”. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5471-5149 Abstract This research study explored the attitudes of the Egyptian and Saudi EFL students towards blended learning at Port Said and Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz Universities in Egypt and Saudi Arabia respectively. Further, this study investigated the effects of gender on the students’ perceptions. A questionnaire devised in a Google Form was employed to collect data from 87 Egyptian and 60 Saudi EFL students. Results showed that the Egyptian EFL students at Port Said University have negative perceptions towards all blended learning approaches and 99 techniques. The students claimed the inefficiency of these methods to compensate the traditional face-to-face learning. The Saudi EFL students, on the other hand, were totally content with it as they could keep learning without passively influencing their businesses and family affairs. Results also showed that there were significant differences in participants' perceptions of blended learning attributed to gender. Over 58 % of the Egyptian EFL females (m = 22.84) rejected blended learning, whereas 78% of the Saudi EFL females (m =17.73) expressed their sheer satisfaction with this approach. Keywords: Blended learning, PSAU EFL students, PS EFL learners, Blackboard learning Introduction Blended learning, which combines traditional place-based classroom methods and online educational materials, is nowadays considered a mainstream approach to education in higher and lower educational institutions (Marinagi & Skourlas, 2013; Fuchs, 2010). This style of education, in which students receive the academic message via electronic and traditional face-to-face media, became a must after the outbreak of Coronavirus at the end of 2019. Blended Learning involves a wide range of teaching strategies and methods that integrate instructor-led classroom activities with student- directed and computercentered learning programs. Blended learning is sometimes called “hybrid learning” or “mixed mode instruction”. It is highly advantageous as it gives students more elasticity to customize their learning experiences (Soliman, 2014; Holland, 2019). Blended learning is highly indispensable as it breaks down the conventional walls of learning and teaching that that don't suit all students at the same time (Hwang & Arbaugh, 2009; Tynan & Lamont-Mills, 2013). Now, with access to present-day technologies and resources instructors can tailor the learning experience for each single student. Despite the indispensability of the blended learning, it has some cons. First, it makes instructors overwork; second, students may experience some cognitive overload; third, plagiarism always destroys the noble purposes of blended learning; and finally, technology in some cases is challenging rather than useful (Jiang & Li, 2012; Hamad, 2017; Abduh, 2021; Abdulaal, 2021a&b). The different views over blended learning in Egypt and Saudi Arabia motivated the researcher to examine the attitudes and the perceptions of some Saudi and Egyptian EFL male and female learners from different university levels. The debatable views are likely attributed to being an innovative approach to teaching and learning, combining both the strengths of 100 electronic and virtual learning with the positive aspects of the conventional ways of teaching (i.e., face – to – face lecturing) 2. Theoretical Framework and Review of Literature The mixed mode instruction got its reputation and real emergence at the end of 2009 in most countries including Egypt and Saudi Arabia (Güzer & Caner, 2014). In 2010, blended learning began to be recommended by many researchers, inasmuch as it has some benefits for the learners, such as (1) meeting the students’ needs, (2) enhancing different learning opportunities, (3) offering student-centered activities, and (4) giving the students human and electronic feedback. These strengths and positive aspects made decision makers and researchers in 2012 in Egypt and Saudi Arabia think of hybrid learning and its potentialities as an outstanding model of learning now and in the near future (Utami, 2019; Abdulaal, 2020). Some researchers attributed the rapid emergence of the hybrid learning to the fact that mixed mode instruction basically promotes the principles of constructivism (i.e. a theory stating that learners should construct their knowledge rather than passively take in information in a conventional way). The collaboration and the team work, upon which social constructivism is grounded, gave the blended learning the push it needed at the wake of coronavirus outbreak. The positive aspects of blended learning made the researchers keen to identify the influence of this approach on some variables, for instance students’ academic achievement. They found that blended learning contributed to improve the EFL learners’ academic achievement more than other traditional approaches (Ceylan & Kesici, 2017; Musabirov, Pozdniakov, & Tenisheva, 2019; Choy & Quek, 2016). Researchers also examined the instructors' attitudes towards mixed mode learning. They found that the learners and instructors valued the dimensions and aspects of blended learning and had a highly positive perception of it; however, the learners needed more time to know how to use it effectively (Thu & Minh, 2020; Harrison, 2021). Some studies investigated the obstacles and challenges that encountered some countries and universities while implementing the blended learning approach. There were two basic challenges of applying mixed mode learning in Saudi higher education. These obstacles included (a) the adaptation of this innovative approach in the traditional university culture and (b) finding the right design and time to introduce this approach (Alebaikan & Troudi, 2010). 101 Sait et al. (2003) conducted a research study on the influence of Internet on Saudi instructors and students. They found that approximately most instructors and learners realized and had positive attitudes towards the potential of hybrid learning. This study affirmed the indispensability of training programs to expedite the absorption of the new teaching and learning approach. Further, this study recommended that technology should be supplemental to traditional teaching rather than a replacement. EL-Deghaidy and Nouby (2008) conducted a study on the efficiency of a blended learning cooperation – based approach upon pre-service teachers’ attitudes to e-learning and cooperativeness. Twenty-six mathematics pre-service teachers, enrolled in an Egyptian university formed the study’s experiential and control groups. Pre and post-tests were administered to the subjects in the two groups in a quasi-experimental design. The study found that pre-service teachers in the experimental group have much higher academic achievement levels in their post-test, and attitudes to the e-learning approach compared to those of the control group. Similarly, Abdelmeneim et al. (2000) and Tamim (2018) conducted studies about the perceptions of university learners in the Middle East particularly in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. The results revealed that the study subjects had positive perceptions of blended learning and believed that it led to female empowerment. 4. Research problem and questions Hybrid learning has lately become an innovative technique in higher education in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, due to its resilience and convenience to all types of students. However, its influence on students and their academic performance is still a matter of debate, particularly for Egyptian and Saudi students. Moreover, there is very limited research into the scope of learners’ perceptions specially in the Middle East region. Therefore, this study attempted to fill in this gap, by raising the following question: “How do Saudi and Egyptian students perceive blended education especially during the Coronavirus pandemic?” This question raised the following sub-questions: (a) How do male and female Egyptian University learners perceive blended learning at the wake of the spread of coronavirus? (b) Are there any significant differences among the Egyptian university learners related to gender? (c) How do male and female Saudi University learners perceive blended learning at the wake 102 of the spread of coronavirus? (d) Are there any significant differences among the Egyptian university learners related to gender? 5. Research methodology The study integrates two research designs: (a) descriptive and (b) correlational. The rationale lying behind employing this mixture of designs is that these two designs always give profound realization to the discriminations existing among both the dependent and independent variables. In addition, a quantitative design was used to collect numerical data from a questionnaire employed to find answers to the questions raised above. This questionnaire was disseminated online to increase the response rate. 5.1 The study sample This study sample consists of 87 Egyptian university learners belonging to Port Said University (43 males and 44 females; 35 fresh graders and 52 sophomores) and 60 Saudi university students (38 fresh male students and 22 female sophomores). The participants were chosen randomly as the questionnaire was sent via WhatsApp groups. The questionnaire was designed in a Google Form to expedite the process of data collection and to augment the number of respondents. In this research study, the data collected via using a five-point Likert scale. Steven K. Thompson’s equation (See 1 below) was used to calculate the sample size. (1) 𝑛 = N p(1−p) (𝑁 −1)(d2/𝑧2) + 𝑝(1− 𝑝) Where n is sample size; N= Population size; z = confidence level at 0.95%; d = error proportion; p= probability 5.2 The instrument structure The items of the study questionnaire have been built after surveying the relevant review of literature. It comprised two main sections: demographic data (gender, age, and academic level) and the learners’ perceptions to blended learning. Every item was measured using a fivepoint Likert scale. It is a kind of psychometric scale in which participants define their level of agreement and disagreement to each statement typically in five points: (1) Strongly disagree; (2) Disagree; (3) Neither agree nor disagree; (4) Agree; and (5) Strongly agree. 103 5.3 Validity and reliability of the research tool To test the validity of the questionnaire, it was submitted to a jury of eight university specialists in educational technology at Cairo, Suez and Ain Shams Universities in Egypt, in addition to three experts majoring in measurement and assessment. Most of their comments revolved around rephrasing some items. Their suggestions and comments were taken into account before writing final draft of the questionnaire. To test the questionnaire reliability (i.e. the consistency of the research measure), the researcher administered a pilot study and employed the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient. The Cronbach’s Alpha value of ≤ 0.60 is regarded not reliable, whereas that of ≥ 0.70 is considered totally acceptable. The research tool comprised 43 items and the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.878, and it revealed that the questionnaire had an appropriate internal consistency. The questionnaire reliability was further examined via the testretest techniques on a pilot study that comprised 16 EFL learners from Port Said and Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz Universities in Egypt and Saudi Arabia respectively. There were two weeks between the pre-test and the post-test, and the results were measured via Pearsons' Correlation Co-efficient, which scored 0.874., and it was totally appropriate for the goal of the study. Seeking the external validity and representativeness, the researcher randomly selected the participants. 6. Results Out of 256 EFL learners only 147 completed the online questionnaire (43 males and 44 females from Port Said University and 35 fresh males and 25 females from Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University. Most participants (83.5%) were using the services of the Learning Management System of their universities through their cell phones (63.4%) and laptops (36.6%) with an online access given to them by their universities. Results showed that the participants of the study became familiar with Blackboard and Google Classrooms a few weeks immediately after being enrolled at their universities as each university convened some workshops to familiarize the learners with the services they could get from these online facilities. At the beginning of the questionnaire, the PS and PSAU EFL students were asked the following question: “When do you resort to blended learning systems?” As table (1) and figure (1) show, 47% of the Egyptian EFL learners depend on blended learning when they are committed to a full time job, whereas 51% of the Saudi EFL learners use hybrid learning when they want much flexibility in studying. The results also showed that 13% of the PS EFL learners favored blended learning if they lived far away from the campus, in comparison to 12% of the PSAU EFL 104 learners. Table1. The responses of PS and PSAU EFL participants “When do you resort to blended learning systems?” PS F 11 41 15 19 1 87 [1] - When I live far away from the university [2] - When I am committed to a full time job [3] - When I need to spend much time with my family [4] - When I need much flexibility in studying. [5] - Other reasons Total PSAU % 13% 47% 17% 22% 1% 100% 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 F 9 19 5 38 3 74 % 12% 26% 7% 51% 4% 100% “When do you resort to blended learning systems?” PS F PS % PSAU F PSAU % 1 2 3 4 5 Question number 1: What are your perceptions towards blended learning at your university? To answer this question, the questionnaire items were divided into the following sections: The first section surveys the participants’ attitudes towards the role played by their university instructors in monitoring and facilitating the blended learning process. The second section surveyed the participants’ perceptions towards the benefits they received from blended learning. Table2. PS EFL Participants' attitudes of instructors’ roles within blended learning Items Instructors gave me the required feedback Instructors used asynchronous sessions constructively PowerPoint presentations were helpful Instructors helped me to use several ways not only exams I liaised with my instructors at any time Instructors replied fast to my questions about the courses SD D N A SA 33 (38%) 21 (24%) 13 (15%) 9 (10%) 11 (13%) 10 (11%) 41 (47%) 12 (14%) 13(15%) 11 (13%) 11(13%) 22(25%) 31(36%) 11(13%) 12(14%) 23(26%) 10(11%) 12(14%) 13(15%) 32(37%) 22(25%) 10(11%) 12(14%) 11(13%) 9(10%) 27(31%) 24(28%) 12(14%) 15(17%) 29(33%) 105 The instructors gave summaries, proposed questions, and further readings which enriched my course knowledge. 11(13%) 22(25%) 25(29%) 16(18%) 13(15%) As table (2) above showed, the Egyptian EFL learners took umbrage from the blended learning during the coronavirus pandemic and they attributed this embitterment to their EFL instructors. As the table illustrates, 38% of the participants blamed their instructors for not giving them the required feedback on time, whereas only 13% of the participants agreed that the instructors succeeded to run asynchronous sessions and 25% of the learners viewed the PowerPoint presentations prepared by the instructors as not advantageous as expected in addition to 33% of the subjects held the instructors liable for not varying the assessment methods and insisting on avoiding all online evaluation techniques. The high rate of those who could not liaise with their instructors via Google Classroom (37%) enforced the sense of umbrage the learners took because of the blended learning. However, the imperfect instructor – learner communication could be attributed to the chronic bad net speed. The late responses of the instructors to the learners’ queries constituted a substantial factor that made the students feel dissatisfied with the blended learning experience (See figure 1). 100% 50% 0% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 The instructors gave summaries, proposed questions, and further readings which enriched my course knowledge. Instructors replied fast to my questions about the courses I can liaise with my instructors at any time Blackboard or Google Classroom Instructors helped me to use several ways not only exams PowerPoint presentations designed by instructors were helpful Figure 1: Egyptian EFL instructors’ roles in blended learning As table (3) below showed, the Saudi EFL learners are highly pleased with blended learning during the coronavirus pandemic and they attributed this pleasure and elation to the 106 efforts exerted by their EFL instructors. As the table (3) illustrates, 67% of the participants lauded their instructors for giving them the required feedback on time, and 53% of the participants agreed that the instructors managed to run asynchronous sessions. Furthermore, 56 % of the learners viewed the PowerPoint presentations prepared by the instructors as advantageous and profitable as expected. Like PS EFL students, 46 % of the subjects held the instructors liable for not varying the assessment methods and insisting on avoiding some online evaluation techniques. The high rate of those who could liaise with their instructors via Blackboard (61%) enforced the sense satisfaction the learners experienced because of the blended learning. This crucial difference between Saudi and Egyptian EFL learners can be attributed to the perfect net speed that the Saudi learners enjoyed during the pandemic. The prompt responses of the instructors to the learners’ queries constituted a substantial factor that made Saudi EFL students feel satisfied with the blended learning experience (See figure 2). Table 3. PASU EFL Participants' attitudes of instructors’ roles within blended learning Items Instructors gave me the required feedback Instructors used asynchronous sessions constructively PowerPoint presentations designed by instructors were helpful Instructors helped me to use several ways not only exams. I can liaise with my instructors at any time via Blackboard or Google Classroom Instructors replied fast to my questions about the courses. The instructors gave summaries, proposed questions, and further readings which enriched my course knowledge. SD D N A SA 4 (7%) 11(18%) 5 (8%) 24(40%) 16 (27%) 9(15%) 8(13%) 11(18%) 17(28%) 15(25%) 7(12%) 5(8%) 14(23%) 17(28%) 17(28%) 20(33%) 8(13%) 12(20%) 7(12%) 13(22%) 12(20%) 14(23%) 6(10%) 5(8%) 23(38%) 11(18%) 4(7%) 6(10%) 19(32%) 20(33%) 4(7%) 6(10%) 11(18%) 22(37%) 17(28%) 107 The instructors gave summaries,… Instructors replied fast to my questions… Series5 I can liaise with my instructors at any… Series4 Instructors helped me to use several… Series3 PowerPoint presentations designed by… Series2 Instructors used asynchronous sessions… Series1 Instructors gave me the required feedback 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% Figure 2: Saudi EFL instructors’ roles in blended learning As shown in table 4 below, approximately from 28% to 34% of the participants disagreed that blended learning made them self-learners. In addition, 45% of the students believed that hybrid learning did not ameliorate their language skills. However, about 38% of the EFL learners agreed that the blended learning was much more time - saving than the traditional teaching and learning approach; 59% of the respondents believed blended learning facilitated their commitment to their part-time jobs. Approximately 62% of the respondents joined their respective universities as they enhanced this learning system, and 45% compared to 39% believed that blended learning system was less costly than traditional one. It may be attributed to the fact that not all Egyptian students could afford smart phones and laptops. Table 4. PS EFL Students' perceptions of the benefits of the blended learning approach Items Hybrid learning made a me a self – dependent EFL student Blended learning ameliorated my soft skills. Blended learning is not time wasting as traditional one. Hybrid learning is so flexible that I can attend my apart-time job. I enrolled in my university because it enhanced this learning system Hybrid learning system is less costly than traditional one SD D N A SA 30 (34%) 24 (28%) 15 (17%) 8 (9%) 10(11%) 13 (15%) 39 (45%) 8 (9%) 14(16%) 14(16%) 13 (15%) 20 (23%) 29 (33%) 12(14%) 14(16%) 14(16%) 11(13%) 10 (11%) 22 (25%) 30 (34%) 10(11%) 12(14%) 11(13%) 20(23%) 34(39%) 14 (16%) 25(29%) 14(16%) 16(18%) 18(21%) 108 50 40 30 20 10 0 Hybrid learning Blended learning Blended learning is Hybrid learning is I enrolled in my Hybrid learning made a me a self – ameliorated my not time wasting so flexible that I university because system is less dependent EFL soft skills. as traditional one. can attend my it enhanced this costly than student apart time job. learning system traditional one SD D N A SA Figure3. PS EFL Students' perceptions of the benefits of the blended learning approach As shown in table 5, approximately from 22% to 35% of the participants agreed that blended learning made them self-learners. In addition, 25% of the students believed that hybrid learning did ameliorate and brush up their soft skills. However, about 58% of the EFL learners agreed that the blended learning is much more time - saving than the traditional teaching and learning approach; 66% of the respondents believed blended learning facilitated their commitment to their part-time jobs. Approximately 52% of the respondents joined their respective universities as they enhanced this learning system, and 62% believed that blended learning system is less costly than traditional one. It may be attributed to the fact that all Saudi students could afford smart phones and laptops. Table5. PASU EFL Students' perceptions of the benefits of the blended learning approach Items SD D N A SA Hybrid learning made a me a self – dependent EFL student 9 (15%) 11(18%) 6(10%) 21(35%) 13(22%) Blended learning ameliorated my soft skills. 7 (12%) 8(13%) 12(20%) 15(25%) 18(30%) Blended learning is not time wasting as traditional one. 5 (8%) 7(12%) 13(22%) 11(18%) 24(40%) Hybrid learning is so flexible that I can attend my apart- time job. 6(10%) 9(15%) 5(8%) 17(28%) 23(38%) I enrolled in my university because it enhanced this learning system 9(15%) 8(13%) 12(20%) 16(27%) 15(25%) Hybrid learning system is less costly than traditional one 8(13%) 7(12%) 8(13%) 18(30%) 19(32%) 109 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% SD D N A Hybrid Blended Blended Hybrid I enrolled in Hybrid learning learning learning is learning is so my university learning made a me a ameliorated not time flexible that I because it system is less self – my soft skills. wasting as can attend enhanced costly than dependent traditional my apart this learning traditional EFL student one. time job. system one SA Figure2. PASU EFL Students' perceptions of the benefits of the blended learning approach Question number 3: Are there any significant differences among Egyptian EFL respondents attributed to their gender? To answer this question, the means and standard deviations of the males and females were employed and a t- test of independent samples was conducted (see table 6). As it can be noticed in table (6), the means of the F group was higher than that of the M group. To examine whether the differences in means between the two groups were statistically significant, a t-test for independent samples was calculated (See Table 7) Table 6. The mean and standard deviations of PS EFL males and females Gender N Mean Std. deviation Male 43 18.251 0.3233 Female 44 22.84 0.2660 Std. error mean 0.0569 0.0417 Table 7. T-test for independent samples (males and females) t-test for Equality of Means t 95% Confidence Interval of the Sig. Mean Std. Error Difference df (2-tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper 91 0.012 4.589 0.08326 0.15495 0.14582 Equal variances 0.005 assumed Average Equal variances 0.005 78.55 not assumed 0.012 4.589 0.08463 -0.15802 0.15892 Table 7 reveals that there were statistically significant differences between two groups because the level of significance (0.012) is less than (α = 0.05). It indicated that there were significant 110 differences between males and females, in favor of females, in their perceptions towards blended learning. Question number 4: Are there any significant differences among Egyptian PASU EFL respondents attributed to gender? To answer this question, the means and standard deviations of the PSAU EFL males and females were employed and a t- test of independent samples was conducted (see tables 8&9). As it can be noticed in table (8), like the PS EFL learners, the mean of the F group was higher than that of the M group. To examine whether the differences in means between the two groups were statistically significant, a t-test for independent samples was calculated (See Table 9). Table 9 reveals that there were statistically significant differences between two groups because the level of significance (0.011) is less than (α = 0.05). It indicates that there were significant differences between males and females, in favor of females, in their perceptions towards blended learning. Table 8. The mean and standard deviations of PASU EFL males and females Gender N Mean Std. deviation Std. error mean Male 38 15.23 0.2253 0.0578 Female 22 17.73 0.3610 0.0416 Table 9. T-test for independent samples for the differences in perceptions of BL among PASU EFL males and females t-test for Equality of Means 95% Confidence Interval of the Sig. Mean Std. Error Difference t df (2-tailed) Difference Difference Lower Upper Equal variances 0.006 81 0.011 2.5 0.09326 0.16491 0.24582 assumed Aver age Equal variances 0.006 68.55 0.011 2.5 0.08963 -0.17801 0.25892 not assumed Conclusion This study investigated the perceptions of the Egyptian and Saudi EFL students towards blended learning at PS and PSAU in Egypt and Saudi Arabia respectively. Further, this study investigated the effects of gender on the students’ perceptions. The Egyptian EFL learners took umbrage from the blended learning during the coronavirus pandemic and they attributed this embitterment to their EFL instructors; 38% of the Egyptian participants blamed their instructors for not giving them the required feedback on time, whereas only 13% of the 111 participants agreed that the instructors succeeded to run asynchronous sessions and 25% of the learners viewed the PowerPoint presentations prepared by the instructors as not as advantageous as expected. In addition, 33% of the subjects held the instructors responsible for not varying the assessment methods. The high rate of those who could not liaise with their instructors via Google Classroom (37%) enforced the sense of umbrage the learners took because of the blended learning. However, the imperfect instructor – learner communication could be attributed to the chronic bad net speed. The late responses of the instructors to the learners’ queries constituted a substantial factor that made the students feel dissatisfied with the blended learning. The EFL female students were much more dissatisfied with the blended learning than the males. The Saudi EFL learners, especially females, were highly pleased with blended learning during the coronavirus pandemic and they attributed this pleasure and elation to the efforts exerted by their EFL instructors; 67% of the participants lauded their instructors for giving them the required feedback on time, and 53% of the participants agreed that the instructors managed to run asynchronous sessions. However, 46 % of the subjects held the instructors responsible for not varying the assessment methods and insisting on avoiding some online evaluation techniques. The high rate of those who could liaise with their instructors via Blackboard (61%) enforced the sense satisfaction the learners experienced because of the blended learning. 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Vol. 28 Issue No. 2.1 April 2021 The Rhetoric of Persuasive Discourse in the Narrative Genre: A Pragmatic Approach Ayman Farid Khafaga* Department of English, College of Science and Humanities, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Suez Canal University, Egypt * Corresponding author Mohammed Aldawsari Department of English, College of Science and Humanities, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia Bio-profiles: Ayman Farid Khafaga is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the Department of English, College of Science and Humanities, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia. He is also an Associate Professor of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Suez Canal University, Egypt. His academic interests include computational linguistics, e-learning, (critical) discourse analysis, linguistic stylistics, pragmatics, and semantics. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9819-2973 Mohammed Aldawsari is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the Department of English, College of Science and Humanities, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia. He got his PhD degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Southampton, UK. His research interests include language teaching methodologies, approaches of teaching foreign language skills, second and foreign language teaching and learning, sociolinguistics, global Englishes, and discourse analysis. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4164-0341 Abstract This paper investigates the rhetoric of persuasive discourse in one of the distinguished narrative genres in English literature: George Orwell’s Animal Farm. This is conducted by offering a linguistic analysis of the pragmatic strategies effecting persuasiveness in Orwell’s novel. The 116 paper’s main objective, therefore, is to explore the different pragmatic devices used to produce persuasive discourse in the selected novel. In so doing, this paper scrutinizes to discuss the concepts of rhetoric (Charteris-Black, 2005) and persuasion (Lakoff, 1982; Pardo, 2001; Jowett & O'Donnell, 1992), by drawing analytically upon a pragmatic approach manifested in five pragmatic concepts: directive speech acts, rhetorical questions, back-channel support, gapbridging, and interruption that are linguistically relevant to the study of rhetoric and persuasion. The research questions are: first, what are the different pragmatic devices employed to communicate a persuasive discourse in the selected novel? Second, to what extent is the pragmatic approach relevant to the linguistic analysis of the narrative genre? Two main findings are reported in this study: first, certain pragmatic strategies are utilized to produce persuasive discourse only at the character-character level of discourse. Second, despite the fact that the pragmatic approach of analysis is much more pertinent to conversational genres, it is linguistically evidenced in this paper that the same approach proves analytically relevant to the study of narrative texts. Keywords: rhetoric, persuasion, pragmatics, Orwell, Animal Farm 1. Introduction Literature has always been a fertile soil for linguistic and stylistic analysis. The linguistic study of literary texts serves to decode certain stylistic, linguistic, rhetorical and ideological properties pertaining to such texts to the extent that contributes to the general understanding of literary discourse. This type of linguistic analysis can be conducted by adopting different linguistic approaches, including the lexical, semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic levels of analysis. That is, it can cover the different units of discourse: the word, the sentence and the utterance. This paper, therefore, attempts to explore the rhetorical strategies of persuasive discourse in George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1944), by offering a linguistic analysis of the pragmatic strategies effecting persuasiveness in Orwell’s novel. The term rhetoric means speaking or writing effectively (Hirschberg, 1999). It constitutes the skillful use of language purposefully; that is, to utilize the linguistic expression with all its forms to persuade, argue for and/or against, inform, as well as to create some sort of motivation on the part of readers/listeners towards particular objectives. This rhetorical use of language not only appeals to emotions, by activating an emotive style of language, but also serves to realize shared values and/or logic among participants in the communication process, either in real world interactions or in fictional discourse (Simpsom, 1997; Stark, 1996). Fictionality here 117 does not mean that the linguistic analysis is confined to the world of fiction that does not exist in reality; however, this linguistic analysis, which is conducted on literary (and of course fictional) discourse, aims to create a cognitive link between the situations used for the linguistic analysis and what occurs in reality (Fowler, 1981; Khafaga, 2017a). Writers have always employed rhetoric in their writing in order to capture their readers’ attention when they want to communicate important ideas. Significantly, persuasion is one principal type of rhetoric employed by writers and speakers to achieve a positive attitudinal behavior on the part of their addressees (Sandall, 1977). Persuasion can linguistically be manifested in different linguistic devices. Among these tools are those that are pragmatically-based. A persuasive discourse can be produced purely (truth-based), manipulatively (deception-based) and/or coercively (violence-based). Each type comprises a specific technique of discursivity and targets particular purposes, which, sometimes come in conformity with the speaker only and some other times fulfill the needs of both speakers and hearers. The current study scrutinizes to focus on exploring the pragmatic strategies used in Orwell’s Animal Farm to achieve the different types of persuasion in such a narrative genre. The main objective of this paper, therefore, is to explore the different pragmatic devices used to produce persuasive discourse in the selected novel. In so doing, this paper attempts to approach the concepts of rhetoric (Charteris-Black, 2005) and persuasion (Lakoff, 1982; Jowett & O'Donnell, 1992), by drawing analytically upon a pragmatic approach represented by five pragmatic concepts, including directive speech acts, rhetorical questions, back-channel support, gap-bridging, and interruption, which are linguistically relevant to the study of rhetoric and persuasion in the selected novel. The research questions are: first, what are the different pragmatic devices employed to communicate a persuasive discourse in the selected novel? Second, to what extent is the pragmatic approach relevant to the linguistic analysis of the narrative genre? The answer of the paper’s research questions serves to emphasize two things: first, the incorporation of the different levels of analysis in linguistic studies; in the case of this paper, these are the rhetorical (persuasion), the linguistic (pragmatics), and the literary (Orwell’s Animal Farm); and, second, the relevance of applying a pragmatic approach to the linguistic investigation on the narrative genres. The remainder of this article is divided into the following sections. Section 2 presents a theoretical background as well as theoretical preliminaries to the whole study, by offering discussion concerning the notions of rhetoric, persuasion, and its types and argumentation. 118 Section 3 provides the theoretical and analytical framework of the study, by shedding light on the five pragmatic concepts selected for the analysis, including directive speech acts, rhetorical questions, gap-bridging, back-channel support, and interruption. Section 4 is the methodology of the paper, which briefly displays the description of the selected data and the way it is collected, as well as the analytical procedures adopted in the analysis process. Section 5 offers the analysis of the selected data. Section 6 discusses the findings of the article. Section 7 is the conclusion of the study, which is entailed by some suggestions for further studies in the field. 2. Theoretical Background Despite the fact that persuasion, rhetoric and argumentation may be thought to be interrelated, there is a slight difference among the three terms which may determine the meaning, method, and the goal of each one. Charteris-Black (2005) perceives rhetoric as a type of art whose core concern is to persuade others. He argues that both persuasion and rhetoric appear to be inseparable, but the essential difference between the two terms lies in the idea that is that rhetoric constitutes the act of communication from the part of hearers, whereas persuasion is entirely based on the intention of the speaker/writer and the successful outcomes of the communication process. He maintains that rhetorical discourse is described as successful only when it is persuasive. Such persuasiveness is measured by the degree to which the anticipated purposes beyond rhetorical discourse are realized. Rhetoric then may fail to achieve its purposes if it is not persuasive; that is to say, rhetoric is preconditioned by its persuasiveness degree. According to Heinrichs (2007), the modes of persuasion constitute three rhetorical appeals, which encompass the extent to which the speaker appeals to the hearers. These rhetorically-based linguistic devices include ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos refers to the way of presentation, the personal credibility of the speaker, his/her good character, his being qualified to speak, and his/her ability to have an access to discourse. In this type the speaker delivering the message has to be credible enough to guarantee the communication of his/her message to the audience. Pathos, being the second rhetorical mode, comprises the appeal to audience emotions by using clear language as well as emotive language that in turn serves to stimulate their potential towards the acceptance of the speakers’ argument without objection. As for logos, it represents the quality of argument on the part of speakers and the reasoning and evidence to construct his/her speech by using facts and statistics; logos also constitutes the tight relationship between claims and the evidence that one is using. 119 Persuasion has been tackled by many linguists and sociolinguists, including Brembeck and Howell (1952), Whately (1963), Bryant (1972), Lakoff (1982), Jowett and O'Donnell (1992), Pardo (2001), Pinto (2004), Johnson-Cartee and Copeland (2004) and Charteris-Black (2005), among others. Whateley (1963, p. 39), for example, defines persuasion as a science which consists of "finding the appropriate arguments to prove what one wants to claim". Bryant (1972) also clarifies that persuasion refers to the process wherein specific ideas are attuned to people, on the one hand, and people are adjusted to particular ideas, on the other. For Lakoff (1982), persuasion is the intentional employment of different communicative tools to influence the behavior and attitudes of others. Lakoff’s argument is also accentuated by Jowett and O' Donnell (1992), who considers persuasion as an interactive process which includes two parties: a message sender and a message receiver, where the former attempts to affect the latter. Furthermore, Pardo (2001) approaches persuasion as an act of convincing others of what a person wants. This act of persuading or convincing serves to influence what Simons (2001, p. 7) calls as “the autonomous judgments and actions of others.” All these definitions revolve around one main idea: persuasion is a communicative process whereby speakers try to adjust, change, and influence others' attitudes to suit their own desires. Pardo (2001) argues that that persuasion is concerned with argumentation and closely linked to it. However, he states that both persuasion and argumentation are not the same; he relates the two concepts to the idea of intentionality to persuade, which is inherited in persuasion but is missed in argumentation. Consequently, the difference between persuasion, argumentation and rhetoric lies in the realization of intention. Persuasion, unlike argumentation and rhetoric, is clearly intentional. Within the framework of politics, the importance of persuasion lies in its ability to influence others’ behavior and to shape their responses in a way that copes with the persuader's views. To create such an influence on the part of the recipients, the persuader, according to Charteris-Black (2005) tries to confirm specific existing beliefs, or to change them totally. The main goal of any persuasive discourse, therefore, remains in realizing the complete compliance and submission on the part of recipients. This has been emphasized by Sornig’s (1989, p. 96) contention that the persuader's main goal is “to make his victim give up his own viewpoint and embrace that of the rhetorician,” and to “get the recipient identify himself with the views proffered”. According to Dennis Wrong (cited in Pardo, 2001, p. 97), there are different ways of influencing people: (a) by the use of force (coercion), (b) by manipulation, and (c) by persuasion. To Pardo (2001), the type of persuasion is determined by the form of argument and the way it is employed in any act of communication. Accordingly, persuasion may takes 120 different forms; it may be merely for persuasion; that is, for achieving purposes of the interest of both persuaders and recipients; it may by be for manipulation; and it may be for coercion (i.e., rhetorical coercion). Persuasion of the first type depends on the rhetorical dimension of power, uses facts as its rhetorical input, and targets the desires of both persuaders and persuades (Pardo, 2001). Pinto (2004, p. 654) perceives manipulation as one distinct type of persuasion. He maintains that this type of persuasion hides its real face behind the curtain of power, particularly rhetorical power. This means that the persuader attempts to hide the effect he wishes to produce in a way that does not allow the persuadees to understand the real target beyond the persuader's message. Harre' (1985) points out that in cases of manipulation, the hearer seems unconsciously ignorant of the influences practiced upon him. Manipulative persuasion is usually based on lies, brainwashing, and falsification, and targets the complete submission on the part of the persuadees. Sometimes, persuasion depends on the idea of coercion by stimulating fear, launching threats, and violence. This type is called coercive persuasion and is based on both the rhetorical and physical dimensions of power (Pardo, 2001). Persuasion is necessarily linked to power and therefore it always entails some degree of it. The point at which persuasion becomes manipulation or coercion depends on the degree of power (Pardo, 2001). This relationship between persuasion and power allows for the activation of ideology within discourse; both power and ideology are main components within the persuasiveness process (van Dijk, 1997). Significantly, the power used to control others' minds and behavior so that they will act as the persuader wants needs certain ways to persuade (Billig, 2003). That is, instead of giving orders, persuaders can use other devices to persuade their recipients. In this case, “compliance is based not on an implicit threat, but rather on arguments or other forms of persuasion” (van Dijk, 1997, p. 18). Within the framework of persuasion, those who are powerful (rhetorically or physically) tend to persuade, manipulate and / or coerce their recipients by influencing their minds and limiting their freedom of action (Galbraith, 1983). Powerful participants usually control the course of discourse and have the ability to limit the discourse rights of others by using strategies of, persuasion, manipulation, or coercion. It is noteworthy to mention that not all forms of power are realized through using force. Speakers can use some other discursive devices to exercise their power. These devices may adopt different dimensions rather than the physical, for example, financial, political or rhetorical ones. Thus, the study of power within the framework of persuasion concentrates on analyzing the influence of the powerful over the powerless. This influence may appear either physically, that is, in the form of coercion, which is supported by Partington (2003, p. 127) 121 when he defines power in this context as “a description of social institutions where the powerful are able to openly coerce the less powerful,” or cognitively, that is, in the form of persuasion and manipulation, which is reinforced by van Dijk (1996, p. 85) who states that “much modern power in democratic societies is persuasive and manipulative rather than coercive (using force), or incentive”. 3. Theoretical Framework This study uses a pragmatic approach to investigate the persuasive discourse in Orwell’s Animal Farm. The pragmatic approach is concerned with the study of linguistic communication in context (Blum-Kulka, 1997), or as Mey (1993, p. 5) puts it, pragmatics is the science which studies language in relation to its users. Yule (1996a) also argues that pragmatics is mainly concerned with the intended meaning of the speaker. He clarifies that meaning within the scope of pragmatics may be visible, that is explicitly conveyed, or invisible, which is inferred from the semantic expressions. Pragmatics, for him, seeks to arrive at the invisible meaning even if it is not actually written or uttered in discourse. The pragmatic level of analysis adopted in this study covers analytically five strategies: (i) directive speech acts, (ii) rhetorical questions, (iii) back-channel support, (iv) gap-bridging, and (v) interruption. Each of these strategies will be briefly reviewed in the following lines. In terms of directives, they are one linguistic manifestation of speech acts. Speech act theory was introduced in the work of many language philosophers, including Austin (1962); Searle (1969, 1979); Grice (1975); Thomas (1995), Yule (1996a, 1996b); Short (1996), among others. Short (1996) suggests that in the communication process, the uttered words are not only said, but, they require some sort of action as well. These actions which are performed by utterances are called 'speech acts' and are considered one crucial element that creates a connection between utterance meaning and the context where it is delivered (Leech & Short, 1981). Yule (1996a, p. 47) clarifies that in English, speech acts “are commonly given more specific labels, such as apology, complaint, compliment, invitation, promise, or request”. Fowler (1991a, 1991b) also proposes that a speech act requires the performance of an action if it is produced in appropriate conditions and under suitable conventions. Austin (1962) states that the action performed by producing an utterance will consist of three related acts: (1) locutionary act, which is the basic act of utterance, (2) illocutionary act, which is performed via the communicative force of an utterance and (3) perlocutionary act, which depends on the circumstances and tends to have an effect. Searle (1979, p. viii) further classifies speech acts into five types: “assertives, directives, expressives, commissives, and 122 declaratives”. According to Ryckebusch and Marcos (2004, p. 884), 'assertives' are descriptions of the state of the world; 'directives' are utterances that aim at getting one's partner to do something; 'expressives' state the speaker's attitude about the state of the world; 'commissives' commit the speaker to perform some future action; 'declaratives' are propositions that modify the state of the world by the sheer fact that they are uttered by a person of appropriate status. Rhetorical questions are the questions that do not seek an answer, but rather instigate a further response on the part of discourse recipients (Thomas, 1995; Hirschberg, 1999). This type of questioning serves as discursive motivators that stimulate both the potential and participation of addressees (Khafaga, 2019). They are also active tools of persuasion employed in discourse, particularly within the field of politics. Sometimes, Khafaga (2020) argues, rhetorical questions play the role of declarative speech acts; that is to say, they are utilized to tell information not to ask for it. In this regard, Sottilo (2004) argues that rhetorical questions function to generate a framework for new information sought by the language user. They are used to influence others’ attitudes and behaviors towards the addresser’s argument; they are asked not to be answered, but to create effect. In literature, the same holds true for this type of questions; they are effective devices of a persuasive discourse. Writers of fictional discourse mainly use them to communicate particular ideas that strengthen their ideological position beyond their works. As for the strategy of Back-channel support, Pridham (2001) suggests that when participants tend to show that they are supporting each other's arguments and share mutual understanding in conversation, then they exercise a back-channel support strategy. Pridham maintains that this strategy is one of the techniques initiated by one discourse participant towards another with the intention to emphasize agreement on what has been said, and to activate the initiation and continuation of further speaking. Yule (1996a, p. 75) postulates that the strategy of back-channel support describes the situation wherein speakers need further support on the part of their conversational partners, which indicates that they are listening. He clarifies that there are many ways of showing that recipients are listening to what is communicated by the speaker. Among these ways are 'head nods', 'smiles', and other facial expressions and gestures but 'back-channels' is the most common vocal indication of doing so. Yule (1996a) maintains that back-channel strategies indicate that there is no objection on the part of listeners concerning what the speaker is saying. Sometimes recipients say nothing verbally, but they support the speaker's utterances nonverbally; that is, by nodding their heads or make any sort of gesture. This is called “nonverbal back-channel” (Delin, 2000, p. 93). 123 Concerning Gap-bridging, it is a pragmatic ploy used in discourse to achieve solidarity and coherence between discourse participants. This strategy is always active in the discursive situations wherein one discourse participant is more powerful than his recipient(s), and when the powerful tries to narrow the gap so as to facilitate his arguments with others and achieve his intended goals. In many cases, this strategy is realized by many linguistic tools, including the use of specific terms of address, such as adjectives that carry positive connotations. Bridging the gap can also be conducted through the use of certain pronouns, such as the use of the inclusive ‘we’ (Fairclough, 1989). Interruption, according to Fairclough (1989), is a discursive device which enables a more powerful participant to put constraints on the contributions of a less powerful one. It occurs when one participant interrupts another in order to control his/her contributions. Interruption is closely related to the notion of power because only powerful participants are able to constrain the contributions of the powerless. These constraints are preconditioned with finding an appropriate access to discourse. Fairclough (1989) argues that interruption may occur directly (e.g., by cutting the participant's speech), and indirectly (by selecting the discourse type). Fairclough (1989) emphasizes that interruption violates the discursive norms of turn-taking which is closely related to the notion of power. Turn-taking sometimes occurs in conversations between equals and some other times between unequals. The form of turn-taking between equal participants is managed on a turn-by-turn. Fairclough (1989, p. 13) explains that "the person speaking may select the next speaker; if that does not happen, the next speaker may take the turn; if that does not happen, the person speaking may continue. In this form of turn-taking between equals "all participants have equal rights at each point in the formula - to select others, 'select themselves', or continue" (Fairclough, 1989, p. 134). 4. Methodology 4.1. Data: Collection, description and rationale The data of this study encompasses one novel constituting the literary narrative genre: George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1944). The novel consists of ten chapters. The analysis is conducted on the character-character level of discourse, by focusing on the conversational turns between the characters in the novel throughout the whole text. Also, a frequent reference to the ideological message of Orwell is incorporated throughout the analysis of the selected data. The reasons why Orwell’s novel is selected to undergo the current linguistic analysis are: First, the novel contains a large number of conversational turns that carry linguistic devices employed dexterously to convey particular persuasive purposes. Second, the selected novel is a type of 124 the narrative texts exhibiting certain pragmatic functions on the character to character level of discourse. Third, regardless the fact that the discourse in Animal Farm is fictional, the incidents and the conversational turns of the characters mirror different situations that can be applicable to situations in reality. Fourth, the novel emphasizes the relevance of the pragmatic approach to the analysis of narrative fiction, as is demonstrated in the analysis part below. Thematically, the novel attempts to “expose the lie which Stalinist Russia had become” (Welch, 1980, p. 31). For Orwell, Russia “was supposed to be a socialist Union of States, but it had become a dictatorship" (Woodcock, 1984). Stradling (1984) also states that Orwell's purpose goes beyond the particular example of the Russian Revolution. In Animal Farm, Orwell criticizes something inherent in all revolutions, the theme which is also stressed by Brown (1984, p. 49) who argues that the novel deals with “revolution in general”. The novel, therefore, “is intended as a satire on dictatorship in general”. Welch (1980, p. 48) argues that the theme of Orwell's Animal Farm is closely related to its purpose. He maintains that the main idea the novel presents is that “political ideals collapse, to give way to tyranny” (Welch, p. 48). The idea which dominates Orwell's mind in Animal Farm is that "political idealism can turn sour” as is the case in Russia after the 1917 Rebellion (Welch, p. 48). For Sedley (1984, p. 161), the main theme Animal Farm tackles is that “through revolution a human (that is a capitalist) oppressor will simply be replaced by an animal (that is a proletarian) oppressor”. 4.2. Procedures The methodological procedures adopted in this study consist of three stages: the first stage presents a general reading of the selected novel in order to highlight the situations in which the characters in the discourse of the novel use certain persuasive and rhetorical tools in order to affect a change in the response of addressees. This stage ends with marking numerous conversational turns that attempt a persuasive discourse. For analytical purposes, only samples of these turns are selectively extracted for the analysis. The second stage constitutes the linguistic analysis of the selected extracts, by marking the type of persuasion each conversational turn carries as well as the pragmatic meaning attempted beyond their surface semantic one. In this stage, many pragmatic devices contributive to the persuasive process in the discourse of the novel have been revealed. As for the third stage, it shows the linguisticallybased connection between the pragmatic level of analysis, the narrative genre, and persuasion so as to demonstrate the relevance of applying the pragmatic approach to the analysis of narrative texts. Importantly, all the italicized emphases made in the selected extracts are not in the original text; they are conducted by the authors for analytical reasons. 125 5. Analysis 5.1. Directive speech acts The directive speech acts are employed in the discourse of the selected novel to influence a persuasive response on the part of addressees. Old Major, uses this strategy to inform the other animals directly to end Man’s oppression. Consider the following extracts: Extract (1) Remove man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and over work is abolished forever. (Animal Farm, p.9, henceforth AF) Extract (2) Get rid of Man, and the produce of our labor would be our own…and above all, pass on this message of mine to those who come after you, so that future generation shall carry on the struggle until it is victorious. (AF., p. 10) Extract (3) And remember also that in fighting against Man, we must not come to resemble him. Even when you have conquered him, do not adopt his vices. (AF., p. 12) The above extracts show Old Major’s attempts to persuade the animals to revolt against Man and to end his oppressive regime. He believes that to be direct is the best way to achieve his goals, so he uses the directives in remove Man, get rid of Man, pass on this message and don’t adopt his vices. He tries to motivate them to struggle against Man represented in Mr. Jones. Addressing the animals via direct orders leaves them no freedom to disobey. Major addresses them directly to be sure that they will grasp the meaning of his message without any hesitation. The three utterances in the above extracts express the enmity of Man and emphasize the need to expel him from the farm. This expulsion of Man is the main goal of Old Major’s long speech. Interestingly, the same use of the directive mood can also be perceived as a politeness strategy, that is, a face-threatening act via the bald on-record strategy. This strategy is also communicated through the use of the imperatives, both in the affirmative and the negative forms. The style adopted here by the character of Old Major is considered a form of rhetorical logic (Fisher, 1987a, 1987b), through which reasons for the necessity of the expulsion of man from the farm are communicated. Such a rhetorical logic manifests itself in Old Major’s clarification of the reasons and results beyond the necessity to expel Man from the farm. This adopts four ordered stages on the part of Old Major: first, by providing the reasons of expulsion, which is apparent from the statement that Man is the root cause of hunger and over work; second, by showing the required action, which is channeled to the animals by the directive mood in get rid of Man; third, by demonstrating the expected results when Man is removed 126 from the farm in the produce of our labor would be our own; and, finally, by advising the rest of animals not to adopt his (Man) vices. This rhetorical logic is not only based on offering cause and effect, but also on delineating the anticipated brilliant future of animals that follows afterwards. Crucially, what Old Major uses is a rhetorical type of discourse that aims at stimulating the potential of the animals towards action. He uses logic, facts, and past experiences in an attempt to influence the animals’ behaviors persuasively. Here, Old Major’s persuasive discourse is a pure type of persuasion since it targets the benefits of both the speaker and the listeners. 5.2. Rhetorical Questions Rhetorical questions are one of the pragmatic strategies which are used to produce the different types of persuasion: pure, manipulative, and coercive. They are polite ways of presenting requests and dominating others’ minds and directing their thinking to obey and submit to the speaker's argument. Notice the following. You cows that I see before me, how many thousands of gallons of milk have you given during this last year? And what had happened to that milk…..Every drop of it has gone down the throats of our enemies. And you hens, how many eggs have you laid this year, and how many of those eggs ever hatched into chickens? The rest have all gone to market to bring in money for Jones and his men. And you clover, Where are those four foals you bore? Each was sold at a year old. (AF., p. 9) Old Major’s rhetorical questions, how many thousands of gallons of milk have you given last year?, what had happened to that milk?, how many eggs have you laid this year? and Where are those four foals you bore? Serve to instigate the animals to accomplish the rebellion against Man. He tries to direct their minds to the real fact of their lives under Mr. Jones’s regime. Major’s questions then carry an indirect message for the animals that they should revolt against Man in order to lead a happy life. Major does not expect any answer but he tries to communicate the idea of rebellion to the animals, to arouse their thought, and to drive them to act in a way that serves to achieve his intended purpose. Here, rhetorical questions are used to achieve pure persuasion. Another important rhetorical question which is delivered in the discourse of inequality is the question would you like to see Jones Come back?, which is asked by Squealer whenever the pigs try to coerce the other animals into accepting something that runs counter to the principles of animalism. This question is employed as a threat which forces the animals to obey 127 whatever the pigs demand even if it violates the seven commandments of animalism. The aforementioned question is used three times in the discourse of inequality. In all situations, the question is not asked to open a channel of communication between Squealer and the other animals as questions are always used for, but it is employed to force the animals to accept the pigs’ argument. It is also noticed that the pigs use this question to end an argument they start to justify a violation they commit. Here are the situations in which the question is employed. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back! ….Surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back? (AF., pp. 32-33) Squealer tries to justify the pigs’ seizure of the milk and apples. He entails his justification with the rhetorical question, surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?, which attempts to motivate the animals to accept the current situation without any objection. Squealer’s rhetorical question is employed to gain the animals’ obedience since it makes a link between Mr. Jones’s return and the pigs’ seizure of the milk and apples. The animals find themselves torn between two difficult options: either to accept the pigs’ violation or to be governed by Jones again. The two resolutions are more difficult than each other, but as they tasted Jones’s oppressive rule, they virtually come to accept Squealer’s argument that the pigs need both milk and apples in order to be able to organize and run the farm. Notice the following: “Now if there was one thing that the animals were completely certain of, it was that they did not want Jones back” (AF., 33). By using the rhetorical question, would you like to see Jones come back? Squealer offers the animals no alternative resolution except submission to the pigs’ demands. Further, Squealer’s argument comes to justify the abolishment of the Sunday morning meetings. His utterance, surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back? aims to force the animals to submit to Napoleon’s decision to abolish the Sunday morning meetings. Again, Jones’s return is linked to the animals’ acceptance or refusal to Napoleon’s decision. Shocked and terrified by the mere idea of Jones’s return, the animals submit to the decision without any objection: “Certainly the animals did not want Jones back; if the holding of debates on Sunday morning was liable to bring him back, then the debates must stop” (AF., p. 50). The animals’ compliance then is due to their fear of Jones’s return and not due to the assumption that they are persuaded of Squealer’s argument. They are coerced to submit: “You would not rob us of 128 our repose, would you, comrades? You would not have us too tired to carry out our duties? Surely none of you wishes to see Jones back?” (AF., p. 60). The same question is asked again by Squealer to end his argument in which he tries to justify the pigs’ violation of one of the commandments which forbids sleeping in beds for animals. Squealer’s utterance, Surely none of you wishes to see Jones back? is to demand the animals’ obedience and to compel them to accept such violation without any protest. Once again the animals find no way except to submit: “The animals reassured him on this point immediately, and no more was said about the pigs sleeping in the farmhouse beds” (AF., p. 60). It is obvious that in all previous situations, Squealer neither seeks an answer for his question nor tries to open a conversation with the animals. He attempts to coerce them to act in the way he wants. His questions carry an implicit threat of the possibility of Jones’s return which leaves the animals no freedom to choose, so they blindly decide to submit to the pigs’ violation. The mere mention of Jones brings about their submission. It is important to mention that the animals’ stupidity and ignorance play a role in their manipulation. They do not try to ask the pigs how Jones could return to the farm. They only absorb what they are told without any discussion which facilitates the pigs’ task to manipulate them. Using such rhetorical questions, then, aims to achieve both manipulative and coercive persuasion. 5.3. Gap-bridging Gap-bridging is another pragmatic ploy used in both the discourse of equality and the discourse of inequality to narrow the gap between the speaker and his recipients. Old Major uses this strategy to emphasize the animals’ unity and equality. Three words are employed to realize this goal: equal, brother, and comrades. Major overuses the three words in the discourse of equality to create a feeling of equality and brotherhood in the animals’ minds so as to make them believe that there is no distinction or advantages merited by one animal over another. It is a feeling of solidarity that contributes to the accomplishment of the rebellion and the removal of Man. Notice the following: 1. All animals are comrades. (AF., p. 11) 2. All animals are equal. (AF., p. 12) 3. We are all brothers. (AF., p. 12) Major’s comrades, equal, and brothers serve to break the borders between the animals. He tries to narrow the gap between him and the other animals to be easy for him to persuade them of 129 what he wants. Major’s words aim to remove any hindrance that may impede the animals’ understanding or make them reluctantly receive his words. The same strategy is also employed by Squealer in the discourse of inequality to achieve manipulative persuasion. Squealer starts the majority of his arguments by the word 'comrades' to emphasize the principle of equality between the pigs and the other animals. The abundance of using the word 'comrades' in the discourse of inequality reflects the pigs’ hypocrisy. They use the word to manipulate the animals into accepting what the pigs demand. In most situations in which Squealer and Napoleon start their speech with the word 'comrades', they follow it with a number of violations which emphasize the pigs’ superiority over other animals. Thus, gapbridging is employed to achieve manipulative persuasion (discourse of inequality), as well as pure persuasion (discourse of equality). 5.4. Back-Channel Support Squealer uses the back-channel support strategy to win support for Napoleon. This strategy is employed to achieve manipulative persuasion. Consider the following extract: Our leader, comrade Napoleon, announced Squealer,…has stated categorically...that Snowball was Jones’s agent from the very beginning…Ah, that is different! said Boxer. If comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right. That is the true spirit, comrade! cried Squealer. (AF., p. 71) Squealer is talking to Boxer regarding Snowball’s part in the battle of the Cowshed. Boxer believes that Snowball “fought bravely” (AF., p. 70), while Squealer tries to minimize Snowball’s part proclaiming that he fights on Jones’s side. Boxer seems to be suspicious of Squealer’s argument, but Squealer, who understands the nature of Boxer’s belief, which is based on “I will work hard” and “Napoleon is always right,” makes use of such a belief to persuade Boxer of Snowball’s treachery. Squealer tells Boxer that Snowball was Jones's agent from the very beginning. Believing in Napoleon’s character, Boxer says if comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right. At this moment comes Squealer’s back-channel support for Boxer’s words, his utterance that is the true spirit, comrade! Serves to prove Napoleon’s credibility and tends to manipulate the other animals into adopting Boxer’s same spirit. Squealer attempts to be clearly supportive to Boxer’s utterance which influences the rest of animals to absorb what he is proclaiming against Snowball. 130 4.5. Interruption Limiting the discourse rights of other animals through interruption is a ploy used in Animal Farm by the sheep in the discourse of inequality to produce both coercive and manipulative persuasion. This strategy manifests itself in the sheep’s bleating which is produced in critical moments in which the pigs commit any violation of the seven commandments, and try to distract the animals from this violation. The sheep’s bleating is delivered then to suppress the other animals who try to challenge the pigs’ dictatorship and oppression. The sheep used to bleat the maxim “four legs good, two legs bad” (AF., p. 31) which Snowball, after much thought, announces that the seven commandments are reduced to this single maxim which in turn “contained the essential principle of Animalism” (AF., p. 31). The only aim beyond the sheep’s bleating of “four legs good, two legs bad” is to disperse the animals from completing their speech: At the meetings Snowball often won over the majority by his brilliant speeches, but Napoleon was better at canvassing support for himself in between times. He was especially successful with the sheep. Of late the sheep had taken to bleating ‘four legs good, two legs bad’ both in and out of season, and they often interrupted the meeting with this. It was noticed that they were especially liable to break into ‘four legs good, two legs bad’ at the crucial moments in Snowball’s speeches. (AF., p. 43) The sheep’s bleating intends to leave Snowball no opportunity to complete his argument. It ends any possible contact that may take place between Snowball and the other animals before its birth. It becomes clearly apparent that the sheep’s bleating is skillfully planned by Napoleon who was better at canvassing support for himself in between times. The sheep’s bleating is also used to silence the other animals’ protests and to suppress any possible objection against the pigs. This is clearly shown after any violation to the commandments. When Napoleon declares that “the Sunday morning meetings would come to an end” (AF., pp. 48-49), young porkers “uttered shrill squeals of disapproval” (AF., p.49). At this moment, the sheep start to interrupt with bleating to give the other animals no chance to object or just to speak: “Then the sheep broke out into a tremendous bleating of ‘four legs good, two legs bad! Which went on for nearly a quarter of an hour and put an end to any chance of discussion” (AF., p. 49). Again when Napoleon decides to abolish 'Beasts of England', some animals try to protest against this decision. In order to end their objection before it begins, the 131 sheep start their usual interruption to suppress the other animals. Filled with fear, the animals do not utter a single word in order to avoid the pigs’ revenge. Frightened though they were, some of the animals might possibly have protested, but at this moment the sheep set up their usual bleating of ‘four legs good, two legs bad’ which went on for several minutes and put an end to the discussion. (AF., p. 77) Once more, when Napoleon announces that “once a week there should be held something called a spontaneous demonstration, the object of which was to celebrate the struggles and triumphs of Animal Farm” (AF., pp. 97-98), some animals try to object but, the sheep use their bleating interruptions to silence them: The sheep were the greatest devotees of the Spontaneous Demonstration, and if anyone complained (as a few animals sometimes did, when no pigs or dogs were near) that they wasted time and meant a lot of standing about in the cold, the sheep were sure to silence him with a tremendous bleating of ‘four legs good, two legs bad’! (AF., p. 98) Even when the maxim four legs good, two legs bad is violated near the end of the story when the pigs start to walk on two legs like humans, the animals are shocked and when they try to object, the sheep silence them providing the pigs with all support needed to suppress any protest. Their bleating is modified from four legs good, two legs bad to be four legs good, two legs better, which is delivered to reinforce the pigs’ new situation: Then there came a moment when the first shock had worn off and when, in spite of everything-in spite of their terror of the dogs….they might have uttered some word of protest. But just at that moment, as though at a signal, all the sheep burst out into a tremendous bleating of ‘Four legs good, two legs better!’ … It went on for five minutes without stopping. And by the time the sheep had quieted down, the chance to utter any protest had passed, for the pigs had marched back into the farmhouse. (AF., pp. 113114) Thus the sheep’s interruption which dominates the discourse of inequality aims to limit the discourse rights of other animals, to leave them no freedom to complete their arguments, and to suppress any objection or protest. These interruptions also tend to coerce the animals and 132 manipulate them into submission and acceptance of the pigs’ selfish purposes and arrogant decisions. 6. Findings and discussion The pragmatic analysis of the persuasive discourse in Orwell’s Animal Farm identifies three types of persuasion: pure persuasion, manipulative persuasion and coercive persuasion. The three types depend on the element of power, with its rhetorical and persuasive dimensions. The criteria upon which the three types are classified and judged are represented in the rhetorical input required for the process of persuasion, such as techniques, strategies, and arguments; and the pragmatic output resulting from such a process which is represented in the salient goals of persuaders. Table 1 below shows the different pragmatic strategies employed in the discourse of the selected novel, the type of persuasive discourse for each strategy, as well as both the rhetorical input used and the pragmatic output sought beyond each of the five pragmatic strategies under investigation. Table 1. Pragmatic strategies of persuasive discourse in Orwell's Animal Farm Pragmatic strategy Type of persuasive discourse Rhetorical input Pragmatic output Directive speech acts Pure Logic and facts Free-will behavior Rhetorical questions Pure Logic and facts Free-will behavior Manipulative Lies and brainwashing Controlled-will behavior coercive Rhetorical violence Pure Logic and facts Free-will behavior Manipulative Lies and brainwashing Controlled-will behavior Back-channel support Manipulative Lies and brainwashing Controlled-will behavior Interruption Manipulative Lies and brainwashing Controlled-will behavior Coercive Rhetorical violence Gap-bridging 133 The analysis of the selected data also showed a number of findings as follows: First, pure persuasion uses arguments which depend on facts, logic and past experiences. Its main concern is to illuminate the recipients into adopting an attitude which serves their benefits. This type of persuasion is based on the rhetorical dimension of power, and serves to produce a recipient who has the freedom to choose and to decide for him/herself even if his choice achieves the persuader's needs. Second, Manipulative persuasion exists when misleading or irrelevant information is presented in ways which decrease the public's understanding of the addressed issues (Menz, 1989). This type of persuasion makes use of arguments that depend on lies, falsification, and brainwashing. Manipulative persuasion is also based on the rhetorical dimension of power. Its primary concern is to manipulate the recipients into complete compliance to the persuader's views even if these views contradict the recipient's own interests. This type produces a controlled-will recipient who is rhetorically manipulated to adopt the persuader's attitudes. Third, Coercive persuasion is the only type of persuasion which is based on both the physical and rhetorical dimensions of power. This type employs violence, whether directly or indirectly, to coerce the recipient into submission to the persuader's needs. Coercive persuasion produces a controlled-will recipient who is enforced to comply with the persuader's views. The element of power is evident in the three types of persuasion. They have two characteristics in common: the first is that all of them attempt to change the persuadees’ perceptions and attitudes, and the second is that they are nonreciprocal. Fourth, both manipulative persuasion and coercive persuasion are addresser-oriented benefit types of persuasion; that is, they are destructive types of discourse because their ultimate goal is to achieve the persuader's needs even if it goes against the persuadees' interests. These types also kill the ability of choice on the part of the recipient and decrease his participation in decision-making process. Conversely, pure persuasion is addresser/addressees-oriented benefit type of persuasion because it aims to achieve the goals and desires of both the persuader and the persuadees. It is, therefore, a constructive type of discourse since it develops the recipient's ability to be an active member in his society who has the ability to participate in the political process. Further, Orwell's Animal Farm tackles two types of discourse: the discourse of equality and the discourse of inequality. Both manipulative and coercive persuasions are highly representative in the discourse of inequality, whereas pure persuasion is the dominant characteristic of the discourse of equality. Fifth, this study identifies four types of discourse in the selected works. Each type is characterized by different linguistic features which are relevant to the production of persuasion. 134 Orwell's Animal Farm tackles two types of discourse: the discourse of equality and the discourse of inequality. Both manipulative persuasion and coercive persuasion are highly representative in the discourse of inequality, whereas pure persuasion is the dominant characteristic of the discourse of equality. This indicates that Orwell succeeded in employing the appropriate linguistic devices which cope with the appropriate type of discourse. Sixth, the study further exposes some manipulative tactics which depend on the use and misuse of language in an attempt to immunize people against the tyrannical use of language, and to stimulate them to struggle against dictatorship, combat the oppressive use of language, and resist all forms of inequality. It also enables the public to discover the different strategies of persuasion whereby speakers and writers try to influence the public for their own advantage. The study, therefore, emphasizes the crucial role of discourse in the reproduction of dominance and inequality, which correlates with van Dijk’s (1993, 1996) argument that the manipulative use of language serves to produce and reproduce the different forms of domination in discourse. 7. Conclusion This paper has provided a pragmatic analysis of the rhetoric of persuasive discourse in George Orwell's Animal Farm. The analysis identified five pragmatic strategies that are highly indicative in communicating a persuasive discourse in the selected novel. These include directive speech acts, rhetorical questions, back-channel support, gap-bridging, and interruption. The five marked strategies depend on the rhetorical dimension of power to convey particular persuasive messages beyond the surface propositional meanings of the utterances used on the character-character level of discourse in the selected data. These pragmatic devices serve to achieve three different types of persuasive discourse in the selected novel: pure persuasive discourse, which makes use of logic, facts, and white arguments that rhetorically target the desires and needs of the two parts of the persuasive process, that is, speakers and recipients; manipulative persuasive discourse, which is based on lies and brainwashing, and totally depends on the rhetorical dimension of using the word; and coercive persuasive discourse, which refers to the use of both rhetorical and physical dimension of power. Crucially, in both manipulative and coercive types of persuasive discourse, the ultimate goal of the argument is the realization of the needs of the powerful participant in the discursive process, without any considerations to the recipients’ benefits (research question No. 1). The analysis has also evidenced the indicative employment of the pragmatic analysis on narrative discourse. This is clearly shown on the character-character level of discourse; that is, through the conversational turns occurred between characters within the whole narrative 135 discourse of the novel. Thus, pragmatics can operate indicatively on the different types of literary texts, not only with the conversational genre. This in turn serves to accentuate the fact that literary texts, for Khafaga (2017), can be deconstructed by means of using various linguistic levels of analysis to communicate different interpretations of the same text (research question No. 2). For future research, other levels of analysis, such as the lexical, the semantic, and the syntactic can be employed in the analysis of the narrative genre with the intention to compare between the different linguistic levels of analysis in terms of the extent to which they are linguistically relevant to the study of these texts or not. 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Syarifuddin Dollah is a Professor at English Education and former Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Literature in Universitas Negeri Makassar, Indonesia. Murni Mahmud is a professor at English Literature, Faculty of Languages and Literature, Universitas Negeri Makassar, Indonesia. Rosmaladewi is a senior lecturer at Polytechnic Pertanian Negeri Pangkep, Indonesia. Abstract This paper explores grammatical errors in students’ essay writing and strategies for correction in a higher education institution. This is an error analysis case study reported five students' essays were used to respresent large group of students participating in this research. The research shows that each participant in this study has different types of errors that participants 141 encountered during essay writings. More importantly, there are several strategies to correct students' grammatical errors: using an online corpus database, teacher corrective feedback, and using peer correction working group. The implication for these strategies is that students are familiar with the proper and natural use of English after working with the online corpus. Besides, teachers can use their peers as a mentor for correcting other students’ work. These two important strategies have pedagogical and social implications in students’ learning and can become models for correcting other student's assignments. Keywords: strategies, errors analysis, grammar, essay writing, Indonesia Introduction The grammatical error is one of the vital language elements that becomes a debatable issue in language learning. By identifying grammatical errors, educators can help students to use grammar and rules accurately. Also, by studying the errors, learners can identify their strengths and weakness in language and grammatical use. Therefore, this study of grammatical errors is essential to be investigated further. Globally, researchers have investigated the grammatical errors in many forms: the errors in the headline (Khodabandeh, 2007) and students' errors in the Arabic ESP context (Milewski, 2007). Many researchers in Indonesian contexts have explored grammar errors. For example, research conducted in a private university in West Java focusing on grammatical errors in academic writing (Limengka & Kuntjara, 2013). Besides, several other researchers have focused on grammatical errors in junior high school students’ writing (Mustafa, Kirana, & Bahri, 2017). Despite these studies, they still recommend conducting further studies especially errors and strategies for correction. Within the Indonesian context, research on error analysis has covered many aspects of writing and language learning. Kusumawardhani (2018) investigated the error analysis of derivational morphemes in EFL academic narrative writing the essay texts and identified that the mastery of morphemes can reduce the errors made by students in a narrative piece of writing. Sihombing, Nissa, and Estrelita (2016) explored the errors produced by university students in teaching English as a foreign language. They identified that most students produced errors in grammars, morphemes, and combinations of phrases. Besides, Yusnitasari and Suwartono (2020) identify top-ten grammar mistakes made by students in Indonesian higher education and those problems occur when students perform writing tasks. The investigations show that as non-native speakers of English, students frequently produce errors. What is missing from 142 the previous research is that none of the research provides effective ways and strategies to correct students ‘errors in writing tasks. There is limited information on the identification of errors and strategies used to reduce writing errors at university levels. Therefore, this study fills this knowledge gap by exploring error analysis in university students' essay writings and their strategies for error correction. Literature Review The literature review contains two important sections: the concept of grammatical errors and previous studies on essay grammatical errors. The concept of grammatical errors Errors are related to the construction of rules which do not necessarily reflect those of the mother tongue or target language (Richards, 2014). The errors are caused by several factors including language transfers, intra-lingual interference, modality, sociolinguistic situation, and age (Richrads, 2014). About this study, the grammatical errors relate to the misused application of grammatical rules. Grammatical errors refer to the misuse of grammatical elements in any type of language application. The grammatical errors may include verb-agreement, parts of speech, collocation, verb-form and tenses. Therefore, grammatical errors in this study relate to the incorrect application of any grammatical rules in any language activities. Previous studies on grammatical errors in essay writing Among ubiquitous studies in language and grammatical errors, we review the four most essential studies that strongly relevant to the current paper. They are errors in Nigerian secondary school contexts (Okoro, 2017), the frequency of grammatical errors in writing (Mohaghegh, Zar, & Shariati, 2011), and errors in advanced learners in preparing research proposals (Mardijono, 2015). First, Okoro (2017) investigated the incorrect use of English in the Nigerian secondary school contexts. The study identified more than five hundred essays from secondary school students. The study identified several types of errors including verb form, misuse of the verb, verb agreement, and punctuation. The reasons why students committed errors is due to first language interference, intra-lingual transfer, and lack of students ‘awareness in applying English use. This study has implications for teachers of English where the well-prepared teachers regarding teaching materials can minimize the misuse of words in essay writing. 143 Second, Mohaghegh et al., (2011) explored the frequency of the grammatical errors: preposition, relative pronoun, article, and tense using the translation task. This study employed a quantitative research design with a total of 60 translation products. The translation tests use English and Persian languages. The finding of the study reveals that all students misused prepositions, half of them misused relative pronouns, and error in articles and tenses. Therefore, this study concluded that students were not aware of the use of the preposition. Hence, teachers should pay attention to the use of prepositions correctly by providing systemic and well-structured activities. Third, Mardijono (2015) analyzed grammatical errors in seventeen research proposals in Indonesian private universities. The analysis employed linguistic taxonomic guidelines. The findings reveal that the most common types of students’ errors relate to morphological and syntactical error domains. This study implies that teachers need to be aware of the advanced use of English to reduce the error production in writing English language research proposals. Further study of corrective feedback can help students to learn advanced elements of English. Fourth, Napoles (2016) investigated about the estimated amount of grammatical errors. This study focused on several major categories: an increasing number of errors, accuracy, and errors, and the impact of grammatical errors. The finding indicated there is a notable difference in the type of individual errors, accuracy and have substantial implications for pedagogical applications. Some of previous research suggested several ways of providing corrective feedback for grammatical errors. Ellis (2009) have suggested the importance roles of teachers for corrective feedback of errors, the time to provide corrective feedback, the appropriate ways of giving corrective feedback, and suggested strategies for corrective feedback. Guibangguibang (2020) provides one of the effective ways to reduce grammar errors in written tasks is to provide oneto-one oral feedback and correction for students. Rosmaladewi and Abduh (2017) provide the suggestion for correction through collaborative works. The collaborative strategy is divided into two groups: a) collaborative pair correction and b) collaborative work among teachers and tutors to provide error correction towards students' written tasks. Even though the several studies have investigated errors in language and grammar use of English, there is still a need to explore grammatical errors in students' essay writing papers. This is due to essay writing is one of the key elements in an English international test. This study is significant because students can predict the types of errors they produce and the number of errors. 144 Research Method Research design This study is multiple case study research. The case refers to the phenomenon that is being investigated (Yin, 2011). The case to be investigated in this study is the phenomenon of grammatical errors produced by students, even though they have enough input and lessons for grammar because they have exposed to English since high schools. The reason for applying multiple cases is that this research investigates more than one participant. This multiple case study aims to analyze the contents of students' essay writing. Trilling & Jonkman (2018) describe that content analysis of the case relates to approaching among scholars to the computational analysis of media or writing content. The case study research application allows researchers to provide both quantitative and qualitative data (Yin, 2014). This research depicts both quantitative and qualitative findings. Participants of the study Despite 100 students participating in this study, this research article only reports five bilingual participants. Within the multiple case study design, the researchers are allowed to report multiple individuals that can be used as multiple cases in the research (Yin, 2014). The main reason for choosing five participants is that there are some commonalities of grammatical mistakes produced by all participants. Because of these similarities, the researchers chose five of them that different semesters and different levels of students. Procedures of data collection The procedures were, firstly, students given a topic to read a week in advance. Then students have to write an essay based on the topics that were given. They were provided one hour to complete a minimum of 250 words essay. To write a proper paper for publication, a learner at least has to master four crucial components of the language: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Among these skills, one of the key criteria to determine the proficiency of learners is writing ability. This writing ability is delivered at four levels in the English department at some Indonesian universities: writing I, II, III, and IV. The research conducted at a public university in Indonesia indicated that students have scored below 500 for written expression and many students were unable to write 250 words of the essay within one hour. For this reason, this paper explores some grammatical errors in students’ essay writing. 145 Then, the five participants (AA, BB, CC, DD, EE) were asked about effective ways to correct their writing. The semi-interviews last between 15 and 30 minutes in length. The five student participants are categorized as bilingual students because they can speak and write in both Indonesian and English in many different contexts. Data analysis Data were analyzed and modeled through Ms. Excel's application. Then, the diagram and figure were placed into the paragraph writing. The result of Ms. Excel's analysis is quantitative forms relating to the types of errors in grammar. The semi-interview data as qualitative analysis form relating to the strategies for error corrections were categorized based on the most frequent themes that appear in the transcriptions. The presentation of findings depicts each participant when compared among them in the discussion section. Findings AA, participant one Each participant in this study has different types of errors that participants encountered during essay writings. Participant one has three major clusters of grammatical errors. The first major error faced by participant one was punctuation and spelling. The second major errors faced by participant one were verb forms, articles, misused of words, prepositions, singular and plural forms, and capitalization. Finally, the grammatical errors including redundancy, word form and subject/verb agreements, (see Figure 1 for details). 146 Redundancy Wrong/Misused Word Verb Form Word Form Article Subject/Verb Agreement Word Choice Singular/Plural Form 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 Number of errors Figure 1: Grammatical error of participant one BB, participant two Participant two has three major clusters of grammatical errors. The first major errors faced by participant two were singular and plural forms, word choice, and missing words. The second major errors faced by participant two were verb forms, articles, articles, verb tense, and redundancy. Finally, the grammatical errors include spelling, capitalization, and subject/verb agreements, (see Figure 2 for details). 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Figure 2: Grammatical error of participant two 147 CC, participant three Participant three has four significant clusters of grammatical errors. The first major error faced by participant four was word choice. The reason was perhaps a student learns how to use words from dictionaries rather than natural contexts of how lexis is used. The second major error faced by participant three was verb forms, misused words, and articles. The third category of the grammatical errors included redundancy, word form, and subject/verb agreements. The final category was word orders, spelling, and missing words (see Figure 3 for details). Participant three seemed to have grammatical errors that reflect on morphological forms of words. ERRORS Redundancy, 5 Missing word, 4 Wrong/Misused Word, 8 REDUNDANCY MISSING WORD WRONG/MISUSED WORD CAPITALIZATION VERB FORM SPELLING WORD FORM MISSING SPACE ARTICLE WORD ORDER SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT PREPOSITION WORD CHOICE VERB TENSE SINGULAR/PLURAL FORM Verb Form, 12 Spelling, 3 Word Form, 12 Article, 7 Word Order, 1 Subject/Verb Agreement, 4 Preposition, 4 Word Choice, 21 0 5 Verb Tense, 6 Singular/Plural Form, 6 10 15 20 25 Figure 3: Grammatical error of participant three DD, participant four Participant four has three major clusters of grammatical errors. The first major errors faced by participant four were punctuation and spelling. The second major errors faced by participant four were verb forms, articles, misused of words, prepositions, singular and plural forms, and capitalization. Finally, the grammatical errors including redundancy, word form, and subject/verb agreements, (see Figure 4 for details). 148 Punctuation Wrong/Misused Word Verb Form word form Article Subject/Verb Agreement Word Choice Singular/Plural Forms 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Figure 4: Grammatical error of participant four EE, participant five Participant five has three major clusters of grammatical errors. The first major errors faced by participant five were punctuation and spelling. The second major errors faced by participant five were verb forms, articles, misused of words, prepositions, singular and plural forms, and capitalization. Finally, the grammatical errors include redundancy, word form, and subject/verb agreements, (see Figure 3 for details). 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Figure 5: Grammatical error of participant five 149 The total grammatical errors of the five participants 70 58 60 48 50 38 40 30 20 33 28 29 25 31 27 24 22 16 16 15 15 11 10 0 0 Figure 6: The total grammatical errors of the five participants Each participant in this study has different types of errors that participants encountered during essay writings. Participant one has three major clusters of grammatical errors. The first significant error faced by a participant was punctuation and spelling. The second significant errors encountered by participant one were verb forms, articles, misused of words, prepositions, singular and plural forms, and capitalization. Finally, the grammatical errors including redundancy, word form, and subject/verb agreements. Strategies for grammatical error corrections The strategies to correct students’ grammatical errors in essay writing are as follows: The first strategy for error correction is that peer-correction. Teachers create peer group corrections of each mistake made by students. The step is that each peer group consists of three or four students, and one of them becomes the leader. Each leader will head the group and each participant will provide feedback on other students’ essay writing. From these peer working, students feel relaxed and enjoy working with their peers. If they cannot provide a correct answer, they may the teacher for appropriate correction. Peer group working is a form of collaborative work strategy (Rosmaladewi & Abduh, 2017) that establishes a mutual partnership in learning particularly working on grammatical errors. 150 Further, Ellis (2009) has suggested the importance for corrective feedback of errors: recast, repetation, request for clarification, explicit correction, elicitation, and paralinguistic signal. These strategies are also applied for error corrective feedback in EFL bilingual students. These strategies are seen as effective in the context of teachers’roles in providing corrective feedback. Table 1: Teachers’ corrective feedback Tyeps of corrective feedback Recast Repetation Clarification request Explicit correction Elicitation Paralinguistic signal Example S: I am interested to try to do the research on T: to condut the research. I am interested to conduct the research on S: anxiety is speaking English T: anxiety IN speaking English S: What are the factors make the year eight student of SMPN 2 Barombong anxious in speaking English? T: make? S: in home T: Not in home, at home S: I was born June T: I was born…(in June). S: I eat pizza yesterday T: I ate pizza yesterday (the teacher looked at the students’s eyes and face) The other strategy is for students to check the use of certain words within the English corpus databases. In this strategy, students perform several activities: a. Students identify the number of errors in their writing b. They classify the errors from the most common to the least number of errors c. They place the grammar or words into the corpus online database to check how the word is used. d. The search of the word uses takes place within the corpus. e. The corpus database provides the options of the correct and naturally used of the words based on the highest percentage of the word uses f. Students can check the correct word uses based on their errors. Discussion From this study, it appears that the most common types of grammatical errors found in students' essay papers are morphological and syntactical errors. This finding seems similar to what has been found in a previous study by Mardijono (2015). This research indicates that how to form correct words and how to use certain words are the most common morphological and 151 syntactical forms of mistakes that occur in this writing. The possible reason for this similarity of types of errors is due to the participants in both studies being students from non-English speaking backgrounds. Those students are not familiar with the appropriate context of the use for certain grammatical English components due to the number of English lessons they receive is not sufficient enough for them to be able to master grammar accurately. The types of grammar errors in this study rest on the interference of the first language. This language interference echoes the work of Okoro (2017) who study the incorrect use of grammar in Nigerian students' essay writing papers. One of the main reasons for this error is that students have lack awareness of the use of certain grammar and words in English. Besides, students have lack knowledge on the correct and natural use of grammar. This is due to the lack of correct input they receive in English lessons both inside classroom and outside schools. The lack of correct input is due to the availability of competent English teachers particularly those who master the use of correct grammar and words seems not many found in the English as foreign language contexts. This research finding has a similar implication with the previous study (Okoro, 2017) that studies the teachers of English should prepare themselves with effective examples and models of using certain grammar correctly within different contexts of use. Further, word choice becomes one of the highest percentages of errors in essay writing. The finding of this study is similar to the work of Napoles (2016) investigating the number of grammatical errors. This study focused on the accuracy of word use which is similar to the choice of a word using this study. The difference is that the previous study more focuses on the most frequent accuracy of words, while this study concentrates on the errors made by students naturally in their essay writing. One of the most important features for the finding of this study is that this research focuses not only on identifying errors, but also provides suggestions for corrections. As we are aware that, not many previous investigations have revealed the suggestion for correcting the grammatical mistake of students. This aspect of study contributes to the understanding of errors on one hand, and, on the other, the possible suggested strategies for error correction of students' essay writing papers. The strategies for correcting grammatical mistakes through the web-based corpus can enhance the bilingual competence of students (Dangan & Dela-Cruz, 2021; Nadir & Auzarmi,2 021), the assurance of writing quality, and intercultural minded individuals (Abduh, Wello, & Rosmaladewi, 2021), and intercultural context of the use of words (Arifin, 2021). Therefore, the findings of this study have contributed to the understanding root cause of grammatical errors and possible suggested strategies for grammatical error correction. 152 Conclusion From the analysis of the findings, it appears that participants in this study show grammatical errors such as word choice and word forms, followed by verb forms, spelling, articles, and missing words. To overcome their errors, students are encouraged to check how to use certain words in the online corpus database. Besides, using peer group correction can be a helpful strategy to provide feedback for other students’ work. Even though they studied grammar for four semesters, they still encountered a large number of grammatical errors in their writing. The limitation is that these findings are only focused on grammatical errors. Therefore, it is essential to conduct further research and observation of students’ errors in morphology, phonology, and spelling errors. It is recommended that research involving wider stakeholders and students including both oral and written language production can provide a comprehensive understanding of errors of language production. Pedagogical implications This study has both theoretical and practical educational implications. Theoretically, this study uncovers the errors and the types of errors produced by students. Further studies that encompass overarching elements of language errors in language learning and acquisition both from university contexts and from primary and secondary school contexts are important to be further explored. It is important that identifying errors, teachers can find the appropriate strategies to teach grammar and language use both inside and outside classroom contexts. Practically, understanding and identifying errors can assist educators in preparing English language lessons and provide specific extra attention to certain elements of language and grammar. Educators can also provide some suggested ways to correct grammar and errors via face to face and online platform Acknowledgment This research article is funded by Ministry of Research and Technology/BRIN. For the correspondence of this article, please contact amirullah@unm.ac.id 153 Dr. Amirullah Abduh, Email: References Abduh, A. Wello, M.B., & Rosmaladewi. (2021). Strategies to Improve Intercultural Communication Knowledge of Business English Students in an Indonesian Higher Education. Asian Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Education, 1 (1), 60-68 Arifin, (2021). 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