Abstract The students might have either negative or positive feelings for different components of foreign language process. While positive feelings and emotions support the language acquisition process and push the students to learn the language, negative feelings block the process as they cause the learner to erect barriers to learning a foreign language. In case this process is directed by a teacher who is aware of the barriers of the students and sensitive to them, it is possible to replace negative feelings with the positive ones. The purpose of the current study is to reveal the sources of the negative feelings which hinder EFL learning process of the students in English language preparatory program in Eskişehir Osmangazi University Foreign Languages Department. Case study research design was used in order to examine the phenomenon of underlying reasons of negative feelings students associate with language learning process. Self-reports of the participants constituted the data source of the study. The data of the study was gathered through the interviews conducted with 31 students and 20 English instructors and the data gathered was analyzed inductively. The findings revealed four categories that represent the sources of students’ negative feelings: teacher-oriented negative feelings, classroom oriented negative feelings, and system oriented negative feelings, and student-oriented negative feelings. The results imply a need for instructional design studies targeting to incorporate affective domain variables into teacher education programs and in-service teacher training programs. Also, suggestions for future research are presented.

Theory-first approaches to language teaching research assume that teaching is directed by factors internal to the teachers, i.e., teacher cognition since they weed out contextual constraints as irrelevant. As a result, practitioners enter the profession with little or no knowledge of the culturally valued modes of thought and action. To uncover contextual constraints or context-sensitive parameters, this study collected and analysed interview data through grounded theory procedures. The results show that rather than being directed by generally accepted principles of language teaching, teachers' action is directed by teachers' awareness of parameters, "a set of culturally permissible, though theoretically unjustified acts specified through local exams and teacher evaluation and promotion schemes". To improve practice, teacher education programs should not only develop teachers' conceptual knowledge but also equip them with a critical awareness of contextual constraints, i.e., the parameters of teaching which account for the situated nature of teaching knowledge.

In real life, people are exposed to various listening situations ranging from songs to chatting in social occasions (Ur, 1984). The variety of topics and nature of real-life listening situations put strain on learners of English; therefore, textbooks for language teaching are aimed to reflect these real life situations. However, listening, as stated " the Cinderella skill " by Nunan (1999), is the skill learners experience difficulty, hence low self-confidence, especially in low language levels. This paper aims at sharing ideas about using authentic materials in a language classroom with low level learners of English in a non-English spoken environment to practise listening skills in particular listening for gist and specific information. It is especially low-level learners holding negative attitudes towards listening and expressing frustration even if they listen to it for gist, which results in low self-esteem and self-efficacy. The results show that there is a way to save " the Cinderella skill " by carefully chosen authentic material and well-prepared activities to foster low level learners' listening comprehension as well as self-confidence.

In real life, people are exposed to various listening situations ranging from songs to chatting in social occasions (Ur, 1984). The variety of topics and nature of real-life listening situations put strain on learners of English; therefore, textbooks for language teaching are aimed to reflect these real life situations. However, listening, as stated " the Cinderella skill " by Nunan (1999), is the skill learners experience difficulty, hence low self-confidence, especially in low language levels. This paper aims at sharing ideas about using authentic materials in a language classroom with low level learners of English in a non-English spoken environment to practise listening skills in particular listening for gist and specific information. It is especially low-level learners holding negative attitudes towards listening and expressing frustration even if they listen to it for gist, which results in low self-esteem and self-efficacy. The results show that there is a way to save " the Cinderella skill " by carefully chosen authentic material and well-prepared activities to foster low level learners' listening comprehension as well as self-confidence.

The present study was designed to examine the effects of ARCS motivational model (Keller, 2010) on university prep class students' motivation. For this purpose, ARCS motivational model strategies were inserted to the instructional design via detailed lesson plans which were applied throughout ten weeks. To find out the effects of ARSC model Course Interest Survey (CIS) and Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (IMMS) were administered at the beginning and end of the study. The results of CIS indicated a significant increase since students showed higher course motivation based on the overall CIS results at the end of the study. CIS was evaluated in terms of each ARCS category and a significant difference was observed in all scales. The results showed that the ARCS model inserted language instruction had positive influence on students' course motivation in all categories. As for IMMS results a significant difference in students' instructional motivation scores was found. For a deeper understanding, two subscales of IMMS were assessed separately and the results revealed significant differences in both subscales. Students' instructional materials motivation increased.

This study was an attempt to investigate the effect of input flooding via extensive reading on vocabulary learning of Iranian field dependent versus field independent EFL learners. 100 pre-intermediate female EFL learners with the age range of 17 to 18 from a high school were selected to participate in the study. They were assigned to one experimental and one control group. The homogeneity of the two groups in terms of language proficiency was assured through Oxford Placement Test (OPT) and they were given a Group Embedded Figures Test. In addition, their vocabulary knowledge was determined by comparing their mean scores in a researcher made vocabulary pretest. The 10-session treatment was followed using input flooding via extensive reading for the experimental group while the control group had their own conventional way of learning. At the end of the treatment, they were asked to sit for another vocabulary test as a posttest. The results of data analyses showed that the participants in the experimental group outperformed in the vocabulary posttest. Moreover, both field dependent (FD) and field independent (FI) learners outperformed in their posttest. However, the results of analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups" means on the posttest scores of vocabulary posttest in which the FI group outperformed the FD group. The findings of this study might have implications for students, teachers, and syllabus designers.

This paper describes college students' writing development process during their foreign language classes throughout a semester. Self and peer correction were implemented to promote error awareness along with the use of an error code and error log in a fifth semester class. The results show that both strategies benefited students' writing skills and self-awareness which in turn produced, among other outcomes, the development of critical self-assessment of their writing and responsibility for their own learning. This study highlights the importance of allocating class time for continuous training to allow students to systematize their writing practices.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether teaching vocabulary via collocations would contribute to retention and use of foreign language, English. A quasi-experimental design was formed to see whether there would be a significant difference between the treatment and control groups. Three instruments developed were conducted to 60 participants. The experimental group was taught collocations through lexical approach by means of ten different kinds of activities for ten weeks. On the other hand, the control group was taught in a traditional way, only focusing on word definitions from dictionary, antonyms, synonyms and guessing from the text. The results showed that the participants in the experimental group outperformed the ones in the control group in all of the three instruments. The study also indicated that a period of treatment and exposure to lexical collocations led the treatment group to remember and produce the collocations in the reading courses more appropriately and less deviantly than the control group. This result showed that teaching collocations in the class systematically week by week and scaffolding learners' progress could lead to better learners who can remember and use collocations in their reading comprehension in English.