No abstract

Although many studies have investigated writing apprehension among students of different education levels during the last decades, several of its aspects have remained uninvestigated in different contexts. One of these contexts is North Cyprus. For this reason, this study aimed to measure the level of writing apprehension experienced by English as a foreign language (EFL) postgraduate students at this particular context when writing in English. The study also tried to explain whether variables such as age, gender, academic level, and socioeconomic status were correlated with writing apprehension. To achieve these aims, the researchers adopted Daly and Miller’s questionnaire called Writing Apprehension Test. A total of 37 EFL postgraduate students belonging to different ages, genders, academic levels, and socioeconomic statuses took part in the study. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS program to reveal whether there was a significant correlation between the aforementioned variables. Mean scores, standard deviations, Pearson correlation, frequencies, and percentages were employed to reveal the results. The study demonstrated that, though almost nearly half of the students were highly apprehensive, the majority of them experienced a moderate level of apprehension when writing in English and the relationship between writing apprehension levels and the variables was not statistically significant, that is, the results showed that age, gender, academic level, and socioeconomic status did not have any influence on writing apprehension.

As a consequence of these, EFL educators should use an out-of-class flipped classroom model for writing, if they give priority to their EFL students’ attitudes towards the writing models on account of having an effective writing course.

PurposeResearch advocates for the use of good teaching practices and approaches while integrating technology in digitally enhanced learning. This is on the premise that previous studies on mobile learning have neglected this aspect of technology integration resulting in numerous challenges. Moreover, there is evidence in the literature showing a scarcity of studies on the use of mobile learning in teaching productive skills. On the other hand, linguists recommend the use of responsive lesson design frameworks in language teaching, claiming effectiveness in teaching all language skills. However, responsive lesson design frameworks are yet to be implemented in a classroom setting. To bridge these gaps in scientific literature, our study decides to utilize the CAPE framework as a good teaching method for improving the productive skills of students in mobile-based instruction.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilizes a mixed-methods research design with an experimental approach. Post-tests and interviews were employed to elicit information from the student-participants on the objective of the study.FindingsFollowing the analysis of the collected data, notable findings were obtained. While there was evidence to show that the students perceived m-learning as boring and ineffective when incorporated with a traditional lesson framework, our study unveiled that students showed a different perception when incorporated with the CAPE framework.Practical implicationsOur study unveils that integrating responsive lesson frameworks with m-learning improves the speaking and writing skills of students.Originality/valueThis study provides empirical evidence to show the role of good teaching practices like integrating responsive LDFs and mobile learning in improving the productive skills of students. This study is the first to investigate the integration of CAPE and mobile learning in enhancing expressive skills.

Errors are inevitable in the foreign language learning process. They are indications to educators of the unlearnt knowledge and problematic areas of the learners. For this reason, it is important to investigate and classify the most frequent errors produced by non-native speakers of English. The present research investigated the spoken errors of university level learners. A classifi cation of spoken errors using the Common European Framework for Language's (CEFL) (2001) on the communicative language competences was developed to shed light into the diffi culties which learners experience in their learning progress. Data were collected from 40 EFL learners through in class observations and recordings. The results of revealed that the most prevalent errors were produced in the main category of linguistic competences. Within the linguistic competence the most prevalent errors were produced in the sub category of lexical competence followed by grammatical competence, functional competence, phonological competence, sociolinguistic competence, pragmatic competence and lastly semantic competence. The fi ndings have implications for educators to understand the problems which learners encounter and set more realistic expectations for themselves and their learners.