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Test of Orals is an aspect of English Language, a requisite subject for Nigerian secondary school students to pass at a credit level before gaining admission for university education. However, increasing failure in the performance of the Nigerian secondary students in the English Language has been attributed to the consistent poor performance in the aspect of Test of Orals. Consequently, this mixed-methods research examined the effect of the discussion method of teaching on the Nigerian secondary students’ performances in the Test of Orals. An intact class of 24 students were pretested, and then posttested after an intervention. Students’ performances in the pretest and posttest were quantitatively analysed via paired sample t-test. This was followed by collecting qualitative data from the tested students by interview on how they perceive the effect of the discussion method of teaching. While the quantitative result generally revealed that the discussion method of teaching was effective in improving the students’ performances in the ‘Test of Orals’, the qualitative result revealed that the intervention programme was effective as it made the English Language course interesting. Thus, it is recommended that discussion method of teaching can be used to help students improve their performances in ‘Test of Orals.

This study investigated the concept of politeness as perceived by Iranians in their social interactions from the perspective of politeness theory, especially politeness 1 that views politeness as judgments of other people’s behaviour. Data were collected using open-ended questionnaires and a focus group discussion. While 190 Iranians responded to the questionnaire, 6 teachers of English participated in the group discussion. Data were coded and analysed using thematic analysis. The results reveal that a taxonomy of five verbal strategies and eight non-verbal strategies, along with their sub-strategies, are used by Iranians in their social interactions. This taxonomy contributes to the discipline of politeness from the sociocultural perspectives. The study partially supports the politeness theory of Brown and Levinson (1987) as in this study new politeness strategies were discovered, while embracing multiple perspectives for the conceptualization and practice of politeness.

Previous studies have examined benefits of collaborative writing, but the effectiveness of collaborative planning in academic writing courses has not been adequately addressed. Thus, this study examined Chinese-speaking ESL pre-university students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of collaborative planning in an academic writing course in the Malaysian ESL context. This study is a qualitative research in which data were collected using journal writing. The students in an academic writing course were requested to keep journals throughout the course. Specifically, they were requested to write about collaborative planning in terms of its effectiveness, challenges they faced, and suggestions for its improvement. Data were coded and analysed thematically. The analysis of the data revealed that Chinese-speaking ESL pre-university students perceived collaborative planning as an important instructional approach in which they could share ideas, develop their writing skills, and build their self-confidence. The study also showed that the students encountered some challenges, which resulted from their unfamiliarity with this approach. Suggestions for the improvement of collaborative planning given by the participants reveal that they enjoyed working collaboratively in groups at the planning stage of writing.

This cross-sectional study examined the effects of English language proficiency on Jordanian EFL students’ production and comprehension of apology strategies. The participants were 270 Jordanian EFL learners and 90 native speakers of English. Data were collected using Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) and Multiple-choice Discourse Completion Test (MDCT). Descriptive statistics and the Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient (rho) test were used to analyse the data. Results showed that Jordanian EFL learners’ production and comprehension of apology strategies is influenced by their levels of English language proficiency. A small to large negative correlation relationship was reported between Jordanian EFL learners’ language proficiency and the production of explicit apology strategies and non-apology strategies. On the other hand, the study revealed a small to medium positive correlation relationship between Jordanian EFL learners’ language proficiency and the production of less-explicit apology. The study also showed a significant correlation relationship between proficiency and the comprehension of apology strategies. Thus, teachers of English at Jordanian schools may need consider focusing on classroom activities that can help EFL learners enhance their pragmatic knowledge of apology strategies.

Studies on teacher written feedback in Second Language (L2) contexts have not given adequate attention to learners’ emotional responses towards teacher written feedback. Thus, this study examined the relationship between emotional responses of EFL university students towards teacher written feedback and students’ success of revisions. Data were collected using think-aloud protocols, students’ written texts, and semi-structured interviews. To obtain students’ emotional responses towards teacher written feedback, grounded theory was employed to analyse think-aloud protocols and semi-structured interviews. Teacher written feedback was tabulated and categorised using a coding scheme which was developed based on Straub and Lunsford (1995) and Ferris (1997). Students’ success of revisions was analysed using an analytical scheme based on Conrad and Goldstein (1999). The results revealed that EFL university students’ emotional responses include acceptance of feedback, rejection of feedback, surprise, happiness, dissatisfaction, disappointment, frustration, and satisfaction . Some emotional responses could be attributed to harsh criticism, negative evaluation, and miscommunication between teachers and their students. The study also revealed that emotional responses can affect students’ understanding and utilisation of teacher written feedback.

The present paper reports a qualitative case study of investigating EFL students’ affective reactions to and perceptions of their teachers’ written feedback. In addition, the study reported here also focuses on contextual factors that may influence students’ reactions to and perceptions of their teachers’ written feedback. Data were collected using multiple methods that included semi-structured interviews, think-aloud protocols, teachers’ written feedback, and students’ written essays. Results of data analysis revealed that EFL students showed some variations in their affective reactions to their teachers’ written feedback. The students perceived their teachers’ written feedback as useful and very important for the development of their writing skills. The students wanted their teachers to focus on all aspects of written texts when they provide written feedback. Contextual factors such as students’ past experience, teachers’ wording of written feedback, students’ acceptance of teachers’ authority, and teachers’ handwriting have their impact on EFL students’ affective reactions to and perceptions of their teachers’ written feedback