Using Cognitive Learning Approaches in Developing EFL strategies in Secondary Schools - Research Proposal Example

Name Tutor Course Date The Effectiveness of Using Cognitive Learning Approaches in Developing EFL strategies in KSA Secondary Schools. Introduction In the past few years, countries in the gulf region and by extension, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), have increased their efforts in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in secondary schools and institutions of higher learning. The use of cognitive academic language learning approach (CALLA) in the development of the most appropriate strategies to enhance listening and comprehension skills on Saudi Arabia have over time been studied and espoused as one of the best techniques to enhance the autonomy and learner-centered context (Gursoy 166). With the increased globalization and technological spread, English has not only gained currency as an important language of communication but has become a very critical instrument of formal communication today (Edwards et al 238). It therefore became very important that the second language acquisition (SLA) programs were introduced in KSA and what followed was to establish the best possible techniques to impart critical knowledge and skills into the learners (McMullen 431). In this regard, researchers have noted that the large discrepancies observed in the performances of EFL students in KSA secondary schools were largely attributable to the use different learning approaches. The students who employed cognitive and metacognitive learning approaches to learning English were found to perform much better in grammar and exhibited skills in writing and comprehension (Bitchner et al 204: Liton 150). This kind of outcomes had implications for the development of an effective, universal EFL curricular: it had to be anchored on cognitive approaches to enhance performance. Investigating efficacy of such techniques set yet another frontier for researchers. Problem Statement This paper seeks to critically investigate the efficacy of using cognitive academic language learning techniques of teaching and learning English in KSA secondary schools. In this endeavor, it is important to establish the perceived influence of cognitive language learning approaches on the performances of students and assess the consequent effectiveness that results from a curricular fabricated out of these approaches. In order to achieve the aim of the study, this was followed suit by a rigorous analysis of the methods to scrutinize them for weaknesses and more so strength. The problem of the best approach to developing EFL learning strategic listening and comprehension skills in Saudi secondary schools has attracted research attention due to the conflicting reasons that have been provided by various researchers who have endeavored to study this problem (Al-Musallam and Ibrahim 152). The teaching and learning of English in Saudi is characterized by a variety of problems. The problems that inhibit the learning process in the institutions are multi-fold, they range from the teacher to student attributes and as encompass the very technical aspects like the specific tenets of English that trouble the students (Alyousef 72). The best learning strategies ought to address all this concerns and should be result-oriented. However, the most critical strategy ought to impart the EFL students with the required skills and knowledge, there is a growing consensus that the ideal method is the cognitive (and metacognitive) approaches but it is the efficacy of this technique that is not immediately clear. This study will assess the effectiveness of the cognitive approaches in imparting EFL secondary school students in KSA with the necessary listening and comprehension skills. Significance of the Study This study is the first of its kind in the sense that it undertakes to ascertain the effectiveness of using cognitive language learning approaches in the development of EFL skills in secondary school students in KSA focusing on the listening and comprehension skills. As such, the study will base its findings (regarding how effective these techniques are) on the level of listening and comprehension skills that cognitive academic language learning approach (CALLA) can impart in secondary school students. This indeed will generate invaluable insights into what ought to compose the ingredients of the best EFL learning strategies as far as piecemeal policies in SLA programs are concerned. Research Questions The major research question that this paper seeks to answers is “How effective are cognitive academic language learning approaches in the development of EFL strategic listening and comprehension skills in KSA secondary school students?’’. The following subordinate research questions will as much serve to guide the course of this study. 1. What other skills do cognitive academic language learning approaches impart in students? 2. Which are the most prevalent strategies that the Saudi students use for developing skills for EFL comprehension and listening? Research Objectives Specific Objectives By the end of this research process, the study should be able: I. To establish the efficacy of using cognitive academic language learning approaches in imparting strategic EFL listening and comprehension skills. II. To espouse the feelings of the students regarding the application of the strategies in (I) above. III. To investigate the vocabulary learning strategies that students use in comprehension. IV. To investigate the various strategies that teachers apply to impart listening and comprehension skills in EFL students. Statement of Ultimate Objective The study seeks to ascertain the efficacy of cognitive-centered learning approaches in equipping students with reading and comprehension skills and use this to generate crucial insights to the learning of English by Saudi secondary school students. This is intended to have curriculum development implications for the English departments in the institutions Literature Review There are quite a number of studies that have been carried out to assess the most effective English learning approaches in KSA learning institutions. Majorities of studies have been able to do this by first analyzing the areas of weaknesses of EFL learners and scrutinizing available strategies to ascertain which amongst them best addresses the identified problems. Listening and comprehensive skills have been identified among the most challenging skills to impart in Saudi learners of English (Khan 1255). There are empirical studies that have endeavored to establish the extent of effectiveness of using cognitive techniques in breeding a variety of skills, including listening and comprehension, in Arab learners of English. In a study undertaking an analysis of phonetic, syntactic and morphological errors committed by students learning English in King Khalid University, it was found out that when an integrative approach encompassing cognitive and metacognitive techniques was employed, certain technical errors committed by students were alleviated. The study noted that in the absence of such scenarios, English learners at the institution could not substitute certain consonant and vowel pronunciations equivalent to those of Arabic since they were not in the Arabic phenotypic system and therefore had to rely on the usually less perfected knowledge in L2. This also showed that the students particularly had difficulties in these basic skills due to their initial difficulty to perceive certain English terms correctly owing to the use of affective approaches in teaching English (Al-Badawi 536: Fageeh 106). Researchers, while investigating the language learning strategies applied by EFL students in Saudi Arabia, particularly those students in the intensive English Learning context SLA programs, have established that the students, who were stratified between the low and medium strata, showed preference for cognitive and more so metacognitive oriented strategies (Alhaisoni 116). This further confirmed the findings of Hong-Nam & Leavell (413), Echevarria (109) and Shmais (42) who espoused that students prefer cognitive approaches to learning English because it equips them with fundamental tenets of the language in a more direct manner. The outcomes of these studies showed that in general, most Arab learners of English showed a very high preference for the strategies that embody both cognitive and metacognitive skills over and above all the other available strategies so far as acquisition of competencies in EFL classes. In the quest to assess how cognitive- and metacognitive-oriented approaches were effective in imparting learners with certain skills in SLA programs, researchers in this discipline developed an interest in coming up with an all-inclusive learning strategy by studying the perceptions of the students in Saudi universities who had majored in English as well as the teacher’s perceptions on the efficacy of ELF strategies in second language acquisition programs. The outcomes showed that perceptions of the students towards the learning process were particularly in favor of cognitive-based ELF learning strategies (Javid et al 67). The application of alternative strategies was attributed to the several grammatical errors and the students’ lack of vocabulary while speaking or writing in English (A1zar and Saeidi 169). This observation was also made by Alhazmi (51). In particular, it was found out that on average, the ordinary Saudi university student is only able to learn a total of about 100 words every year, which is mostly attributed to unfavorable perceptions towards the language learning process coupled with EFL strategies that do not encourage intensive reading and comprehension skills. Existing body of literature have espoused cognitive approaches in learning English as the best approach to address the technicalities that confront KSA students of EFL. In a research paper undertaking a case study of the Arab English learners with special attention on the learning strategies on the phonological processes and phonotatics, it was found out that the greatest problems facing the learning of English in the learning institutions in the Arab countries were personality, age and the use of non-cognitive learning strategies (Krishnan et al 869: Alsamadani 52). Empirical findings have also shown that particular English syllables are hard for the Arab learners of English to comprehend. Moreover, the teaching techniques employed in the higher institutions of learning bred some pronunciation mistakes that could be forecasted for the learners with respect to some English words (Mujiono et al 47). As a result, scholars have come up with an array of conclusions regarding the learning strategies that ought to be employed by the Arab learners of English in the tertiary institutions. It is espoused that for the learning process to breed the desired outcomes, it is first important that curricular designers came up with a system that acquainted the students with patterns of English syllabus that were similar to those of the Arab languages (Khan 1258). Next, it has been recommended that at the elementary level, the learners ought to be taught beginning with the short syllables of English after which long English syllables complete with cognitive algorithms would follow suit (Thorne and Reinhardt 159). The other recommendation that cuts across the literature is that the learning process adopted ought to draw contrast between the patterns of syllables of English and the native language with a particular attention to the fundamental differences (Abidin et al 124). The recommendations listed touch on aspects of cognitive and metacognitive techniques either expressly or by inference. In general, the materials reviewed espouse cognitive-fabricated techniques of learning as very effective in equipping the learners in KSA ELF learning institutions with fundamental as well as crucial skills albeit in the interplay of other intervening factors which can affect its efficacy altogether. Research Hypotheses From the literature review provided in the preceding section, this study adopts the following research hypotheses to be tested in the subsequent section. The hypotheses identified are categorized into the main hypothesis and the subordinate hypotheses as below. Main Hypothesis: Cognitive academic language learning approaches (CALLA) are very effective in developing EFL strategic listening and comprehension skills in KSA secondary school students. Subordinate hypothesis. Intervening factors influence the efficacy of Cognitive academic language learning approaches in equipping students with the required EFL skills. Methodology This section provides the description of the data that was used in this paper and outlines the techniques that were utilized in the collection and analysis of the data including samples of the instruments used to collect data. Research Design This paper adopts the use of mixed methods. Based on the objectives outlined in the first section of this paper, both methods will be critical to the endeavor of this paper. Quantitative techniques come in handy as they enable detachment of the researcher from the outcomes (Bryman 112) and crucial attributes can also be measured objectively (Verd 22). Moreover, this paper seeks to capitalize on the combined advantages of both qualitative and quantitative techniques while reducing as much as possible the negative effects of both methods. The approach adopted here was instrumental as it enabled the use of qualitative techniques just as espoused by Klenke (33) to facilitate the prediction of the variations in the response variable of the study while simultaneously allowing for the collection, measurement and analysis of data using the quantitative techniques, which are typical for such tasks (Muijs 21). Data and Data Collection Instruments This study utilized both secondary and primary time series data. For some variables, panel data was obtained and incorporated together with the pooled time series data. The data obtained relate to the period between December 2014 and May 2015 in which 1018 respondents were interviewed. Time series and panel data was suitable for this study since it is critical to observe how the use of cognitive structured approaches correlated with performance in listening and comprehension. The data, which is 75% secondary data, was collected using a systematic review of documents conducted by experts who were assisted by school administrators in the selected institutions as well as field surveys in which questionnaires were used. Content analysis was also used to obtain data from secondary sources and subsequently perform a cross-tabulation of the aggregated results. This method of scrutinizing and analyzing secondary data was used since it is a robust method in circumstances that involve analysis of figures and interpretation of tabulated outcomes (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). Moreover, this secondary sources review technique has always been found to provide an in depth analysis and refinement of already existing data (Klenke, 2008). Population and Sampling The target population for the study composed of all secondary schools in KSA. The sample frame encompassed all students and teachers in the institutions but the sample of 1018 was drawn from the teachers and students in the English departments of the selected secondary schools. The sample size (n=1018) was made that large since large sample sizes reduce estimation errors (Fuller 12: Sim and Wright 261). Data Analysis The study employed factor analysis to manipulate the data with the identified controls to test the hypotheses generated from the literature review. The primary data collected from the field using questionnaires was fed into computer software in specific formats with coding mechanisms for attributes and subsequently analyzed using SPSS Software, which is the most appropriate statistical software for analyzing data with potential source of multicollinearity (Nourisis 33). This process also enabled the identification of the variables of study as they manifest from the analysis of the obtained data. It is important to note that in as much as data is an empirical procedure; it is guided by the theoretical background of a study, which singles out the anticipated variables of the model (Ramsay 39). The results of this manipulations of data was necessary produce descriptive statistics regarding the data which include the mean, standard deviation, goodness of fit, the t-statistic and other statistical measures of dispersion and relationships. Validity and Reliability Validity of the current study was improved by making sure that the objectives and aims of the study were operationalized and clearly defined which is what guarantees research credibility (Roberts et al 43). The goals and objectives of the study were also matched with the assessment measures in order to ensure that they are relevant to each other. Additionally, the measures obtained in the current study were compared to other studies to identify any possible differences in these measures. Statistical software was employed in the coding and analysis of data with safeguards to ensure safe storage of data for verifiability of outcomes and triangulation. Conclusion This paper endeavored to assess the effectiveness of using cognitive academic language learning approach in developing EFL strategic listening and reading comprehension skills in secondary schools on KSA. In this respect, an extensive literature review was conducted in which the materials reviewed were selected based on credibility and verifiability of outcomes. The outcome from the literature review largely indicated that previous empirical investigation supports the hypothesis that cognitive learning techniques are indeed very effective in equipping EFL students with listening, reading comprehension and other skills that English learners ought to acquire. Moreover, it was revealed that there are other intervening factors, which can influence outcomes of cognitive learning approaches. The methodology adopted for the study has also been explained in details and checks for validity were also established to ensure a credible and robust research paper. Research Project Time Schedule (2015) Period Research Activity Week One June 24-July 3 Preliminary literature review. Week 2 & 3 July 6-July 20 Selecting literature for review. Conducting Literature review and formulating the hypothesis for the study. Week 4, 5 & 6. August 2- August24 Coming up with a sampling design. Conducting a field reconnaissance to familiarize with the area. Identifying target respondents. Conducting a preliminary survey to test data collection tools. Improving on the mistakes identified Week 7 & 8 August 27- September 10. Actual collection of data: Distribution of questionnaires and interviews are conducted to their conclusion. Content Analysis Week 9 & 10 September 12- September 26 Coding of data Data Entry Data Analysis Week 11, 12 & 13. 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