Book Review: Motivational currents in language learning: Frameworks for focused interventions
Authors: Zoltán Dörnyei, Alastair Henry, Christine Muir Publisher: Routledge, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-138-77732-3, Pages: 204
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Authors: Zoltán Dörnyei, Alastair Henry, Christine Muir Publisher: Routledge, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-138-77732-3, Pages: 204
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The article introduces the concept of intercultural competence in the contextof teaching the German language in Polish junior schools based on selectedhandbooks tasks which promote the development of certain aspects of this competence.The aim of the article is to reflect on the typology of such tasks and thepossibilities of their implementation in school education.
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Language” was conducted at the International Primary School in Sarajevo, where we met children who often speak two and occasionally three languages. How they acquire and master the language in interesting, and in particular, how they acquire the beginning level reading and writing skills of the Bosnian language. This study attempted to determine whether bilingual students were more proficient or less proficient than monolingual students at developing reading and writing skills in the Bosnian language.
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The paper sets out to present the cultural challenges of teaching ethics in an entry-level course to two groups of Romanian undergraduate engineering students in the 2nd and 3rd year of study at a renowned Romanian technical university. The objective is to show that the Romanian students’ prior ethical values and norms might impede the students’ ability to adapt to foreign business organisational ethical requirements. The paper will also explore the necessity of teaching such a course to engineering students (future employees) in order to familiarise them to the concept of ethics and to the cultural differences existing in terms of ethics between Romania and Western countries.
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The processes of globalization, economic cooperation with foreign countries and job opportunities have increased the need for English for Special Purposes (ESP). However, the ESP curriculum is not in accordance with the demand. The curriculum in use before the school year 2013/2014 was outdated, containing little explanations. Although the new curriculum is slightly improved, it still does not comply with the language demands of various professions. The ESP curriculum analysis has revealed that the topics for ESP syllabus are not developed and detailed enough. The reform of high school education has brought a new profession in our educational system – business administrator, with a new subject – business English. The students study ESP with the elements related to other vocational courses. The goal is to increase students’ self-esteem when communicating in English language. The new curriculum has enabled the use of authentic teaching material related to the profession, so the teaching process is not simply regarded as vocabulary learning. Creating new professions and reforming the existing ones enables the students to participate in the labor market offering them a great number of possibilities.
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The present study aims to determine to what extent learners of Turkish as a foreign language use participles in their writing practices. To attain this goal, a holistic single-case qualitative research design method was adopted with the participation of 30 B2 level learners from two universities in Turkey. The data were collected through demographic information form, sentence completion test (SCT) and written compositions which were analyzed through content analysis technique. Findings revealed that while most of the participants (86.67 %) used participles meaningfully correct, some (10.13 %) used them in wrong forms and few of them (3.20 %) used some other affixes. In terms of genders, it was found that female participants (90.71 %) used participles more accurately than males (83.12 %) in SCT. Analysis of compositions revealed that while most of the participants (83.30 %) used at least one or more participles, some (16.70%) did not use any participle in their compositions. It was also found that while most of the participants (84.40 %) used meaningfully accurate participles, some (15.60 %) did not use participles accurately. It was found that female participants (62.82 %) used participles more accurately than male participants (37.18 %).
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of parent-centered collaborative learning in English language teaching and to sort out the strategies and techniques that might help and contribute students’ language learning process. This qualitative case study examines how parental involvement can play a crucial role in the improvement of EFL learners’ academic and social background in English classes. This study was carried out in a primary school with 5 students from fourth grades English classes and their parents, 7 teachers including 1 native English teacher, 4 Turkish English teachers, the head of the language department and a student counselor at a primary school in Istanbul, Turkey. In order to obtain qualitative data, semi-structured interviews, observations, records of students’ projects/homework assignments. The findings of the study revealed that parents are powerful partners in one’s language development and learning process by contributing academic attainment in terms of sociolinguistic perspectives.
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It is an established tradition that in Finnish universities where the Finnish language is taught as the main subject, the Estonian language belongs to the curriculum as a closely related language; the lecturers have mostly been Estonians. At the University of Oulu, founded in 1958, the teaching of the Finnish language as the main subject began in 1966, the position of the lecturer of the Estonian language was established on 1 September 1967. In Oulu, a decision was made to invite the lecturer from Estonia; at other Finnish universities, the lecturers were Estonians who had settled in Finland before or during World War II. The Soviet Union allowed the Estonian lecturers to work in Finland only for one or two, later for three or four academic years. Despite bureaucratic and ideological obstacles, other Finnish universities also began to invite lecturers from Estonia. After the liberation of Estonia from the Soviet occupation, the new lecturer of the Estonian language was elected in 1992 by the regular contest. In total, 15 people have worked as lecturers of Estonian in Oulu from 1967–2016 – eight of them from the University of Tartu and four from Tallinn Pedagogical Institute. The original curriculum included an introduction to Estonian, an intermediate course, a conversational course and a course of Estonian literature. In 1987, the Estonian language and culture became a subsidiary subject in Oulu, it was possible to take basic studies, from 1997 intermediate studies. Well-known Estonian intellectuals were invited to Oulu as visiting lecturers; teaching was also supported by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research. Te Estonian lecturers in Oulu have actively participated in international research and Estonian-Finnish cultural exchange and contributed to the positive image of Estonia in Finland and of Finland in Estonia. The teaching of the Estonian language and culture at the University of Oulu as a subsidiary subject (like in several Finnish universities earlier) was stopped because of a shortage of finances. From the autumn semester of subjects, teaches the introduction to Estonian and intermediate Estonian. Slowly, the teaching of the Estonian language and culture at the University of Oulu is broadening again.
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This paper aims to contribute to our understanding on rater beliefs and views and to promote transparency in rater’s work in the form of reflection. The paper focuses on professional Finnish raters’ beliefs and views of assessing L1 Estonian speakers in the criteria-referenced Finnish language test of the National Certificates of Language Proficiency test system. Finnish raters (N = 27) were asked via email to shortly reflect on what they and easy and what difficult in rating Estonian speakers’ writing and speaking skills in the Finnish language test. The raters reflected on many issues which may or may not have direct influence in their rating thus bringing about assessment issues relating to reliability and validity: rating influenced by views and beliefs outside the established CEFR-based criteria. Content analysis was used to classify and organize the answers. Rater views highlighted the closeness of Estonian and Finnish cultures and language relations, which had both positive and negative impact on their attitudes. The raters regarded this closeness as a merit in that the test tasks and instructions were often easily understandable by the candidates and that the candidates appeared to be trained to taking tests, i.e. had considerable test-taking skills compared to candidates from more distant cultures. As the two languages are closely related, there is also considerable overlap between them, hence the raters pointed out that it was at times difficult to identify whether the candidates were speaking or writing Finnish or Estonian and more importantly whether this influences and should influence their assessment or not. There was negative interference in particular in words, idioms and grammar but in general mistakes made by these candidates were often minor and did not impede understanding. An unsolved issue from the rating perspective was the fact that raters could understand the candidates even though it was not clear which of the two languages was in use. While at the same time individual mistakes were not the focus in assessment but rather understanding the candidate product, the raters wished to point out this fairness issue in rating the skills in a language. The raters generally considered the candidate products easy to read and listen to, thus a common assessment criterion, in fluency was usually fulfilled.
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This paper looks comparatively at the Finnish kyl(lä) and Estonian küll, which function as an epistemic adverb and a particle in both languages, and have a common origin in the noun ‘abundance’. Even though the word is mostly used to formulate positive answers, it also occurs in negative utterances. This is the focus of the current paper, which at the same time touches on the complex area of word order. Even though both languages feature more or less free pragmatic word order, the patterns for negative utterances which contain both the negation word ei and kyl(lä)/küll are varied, especially regarding the placement of adverbs andparticles. On the basis of conversational data the study establishes four patterns for Finnish ((X +) ei, en + X + kyl(lä); ei + X + kyllä#; ei + V + kyl(lä) +Y; X +ei + kyl(lä) +Y, where X denotes one or several noun phrases and Y an adverbial) and three patterns for Estonian (X + ei + V (+X) + küll + other; ei + V + küll#(+ other); X/Y + küll + ei + V + other), where only the last one is frequent. Accordingly, Finnish reveals more (flexibility in word order and negation-initial patterns, while in Estonian ei regularly follows küll, which is impossible in Finnish. 'e negation word and the "nite verb have to occur near each other in Estonian but not in Finnish.In order to analyze the interactional functions of these patterns, the conversation analytic method is used which makes it possible to reveal participants’ local understanding of each prior action. 'e study shows that there are two relatively small functional areas where the word order patterns coincide in Finnish and Estonian: in a concessive use ((X+) ei, en + V + kyl(lä)/küll), and when kyl(lä)/küll is used as an utterance-"nal epistemic marker. 'e latter pattern, however, is extremely rare in Estonian and has developed a special implication of ‘as a matter of fact’ in Finnish. In other functions, the word order is di*erent. In particular, in answersto polar questions, the ordering of the negation word and kyl(lä) or küll is the opposite, with negation preceding kyl(lä) in Finnish and following küll in Estonian. While in Finnish the word kyl(lä) functions as an epistemic reassurance for the recipient, in Estonian, the küll + ei pattern is typically used for building contrast with the prior and setting the initial element into focus. Regardless of the phonological and historical similarity, the syntactic patterns for this adverb/ particle are different, which may reject more overarching differences in word order between the two languages – something that remains to be explored. At least when it comes to kyl(lä) and küll, Finnish word order is more flexible, while Estonian displays a distinct grammatical pattern. Accordingly, the function of the “same” epistemic word emerges in a more content-related manner in Finnish, where it expresses speaker certainty, and as more of a syntactic device in Estonian, where it marks another element in the clause as being contrasted. This illustrates the decisive role of interaction and syntactic context in (the development of) word meaning.
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Finnish word order is known to be syntactically relatively free, but it also has many discourse-conditioned functions (Vilkuna 1989: 9) that form part of the linguistic competency of Finnish native speakers. For those learning Finnish as a second language, it can be difficult to recognize which word order is neutral (unmarked) and what interpretation would be triggered using another, rarer (marked) word order in a specific context. In this paper, I concentrate on the Finnish existential (‘there is’) sentences,which were gleaned from the so-called Ceiling corpus (cf. Martin at all. 2010)containing texts written by two groups: adults and school children. %e texts in this corpus were judged as being of levels A1–C2 (adults) and levels A1–B2 (school children) with regard to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The most typical word order of the existential sentences is that in which the theme position of the sentence is occupied by a local or possessive adverbial and the subject of the sentence is post-verbal (AVS for short). %e theme position can also be empty (VS). Both of these word orders are also unmarked. First, I analyzed the variation of the (A)VS word order statistically. %e marked variations of the (A)VS word order become more common, as the writing skills(according to CEFR levels) increase. Statistically highly significant differences were found between the levels A & B as well as between the levels B & C in the adult group. %e variation in the school children group was not statistically significant. I then analyzed more closely the use of the marked SV-order in text context, using the so-called field description of word order (‘sanajärjestyksen kenttäkuvaus’) as presented in the ISK (2004: 1306–1345). (Cf. Vilkuna 1989 for the nearest equivalent of this model in English.) %e unmarked VS-order sentence is sometimes considered as being “theme less” since the theme field is not occupied. If the theme field is empty, the subject in the SV-type sentence could occupy the theme field. But also the so-called pre-field preceding the theme field could be occupied by the subject if the theme field were not really empty. This might seem marginal but could also have an influence on the interpretation of the sentence in context. The text samples reveal that a suitable theme can o(en be found for the empty theme slot – at least in the case of SV-order – in the text preceding this sentence. In this case, the “empty” theme field could be occupied by this continuous theme, and the subject theme) would be in the pre-field. %is word order is clearly marked and brings a contrastive or a convincing tone to the text. The text samples show that at least some of the higher-level L2 Finnish learners are able to use the marked SV order in texts this way quite correctly.The subject of the existential sentences is normally interpreted as a rhemeor “new information”. In some cases, however, the text samples show that the the subject of the existential SV sentence is not actually always a theme in the pre- field: it has been at least indirectly mentioned in the text before and perhaps that is why it rather seems to occupy the themed slot in some SV-order existential sentences. %ere are also some specific verbs with which the SV-order in the existential sentences seems to be well-established without necessarily being the marked order. This, as well as some learning-related issues of word order, requires further investigation.
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The aim of the present study is to research bilingual Finnish-Swedish and Swedish-Finnish adolescents’ code-switching in Haparanda, Stockholm and Helsinki. In this article, the main focus of the investigation is on the integration of embedded nouns and verbs in intra sentential code-switching from the point of view of grammar. "e article investigates whether the code-switching is governed by a Finnish or Swedish grammar, and how Swedish words are integrated into Finnish syntax and vice versa.The theoretical framework is found in the field of code-switching research and grammatical aspects of language alternation. A central interest of researchers on code-switching grammar is the grammatical constraints on where codes witching can occur in a sentence and where it is not possible because of violating the syntactic structure. "e present analysis of code-switched sentences is also concerned with Pop lack’s equivalence constraint, which predicts that codes witches will tend to occur at points where the juxtaposition of elements from the two languages do not violate a syntactic rule of either language. The primary data was collected in 2014–2016 among bilingual adolescents at three junior high schools in Haparanda. The secondary data was collected in 2014 at a Swedish junior high school in Helsinki and in 2015–2016 at two Swedish-Finnish junior high schools in Stockholm. The data consists of video and audio-recorded group and pair conversations. All the recordings were made outside lesson times. The analysis of the collected conversation data is qualitative.The results of this investigation show that code-switching between Finnish and Swedish is mainly governed by Finnish grammar and Finnish is used in the different noun cases, regardless of the matrix language. Embedded Swedish nouns adopt Finnish inflectional endings in code-switching in Haparanda and Stockholm. However, there are also some exceptions, especially in the conversational data from Stockholm, where the nouns also can be in the base form or follow Swedish syntax. Also, in the conversational data from Helsinki, it is not the matrix language, i.e. Swedish, but the embedded language, Finnish, that provides the case suffixes for the embedded Finnish words. Expressions of the locality are an exception: a prepositional phrase in code-switching can be made up of a Swedish preposition and a Finnish noun in the base form in the Helsinki data. Swedish verbs are incorporated into the Finnish syntactic frame in the data from Haparanda. When a Swedish verb is incorporated into Finnish syntax, the verb gets a Finnish verb marker, e.g. an infinitive marker. In the Helsinki data, too, Finnish embedded verbs inspect in Finnish for tense, mode and person in code-switching. Code-switching actually tends to occur at points where the two languages have equivalent surface structures, although it is also possible at points where Finnish and Swedish have different surface structures, as in negative sentences.
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The paper presents how corpus sentences can be used in learners’ lexicography and in data-driven language learning. Tere are two methods for the automatic selection of corpus sentences suitable for language learners: machine learning methods and rule-based methods. The paper focuses on the rule-based methods and describes them through the example of a tool called GDEX (Good Dictionary Example) (Kilgarriff et al. 2008). GDEX helps automatically select sentences suitable for language learners. It takes into account certain parameters: sentence and word length, threshold of Low-frequency words, keyword position, the absence and presence of certain words etc. .e paper introduces the parameters of Estonian GDEX configuration and discusses which parameters need to be studied further. The paper also introduces the new corpus Estonian NC GDEX, aimed at language learners. The corpus contains only sentences that meet the requirements for Estonian GDEX con"generation. In the sentences, there are no low-frequency words, vocabulary is controlled (no slang, vulgarisms or profanities occur), and all sentences are full sentences and contain verbs. At the moment, the new corpora are accessible only in the corpus query system Sketch Engine (Kilgarriff et al. 2004). In future, it will be possible to integrate it into dictionary portals aimed at language learners.
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The article focuses on different ways of expressing iterative or durative action in Russian and Estonian. Comparing original Russian texts to their translation in Estonian, it is noticeable that in Estonian one has to use more linguistic features to express iterative or durative action than in Russian. In order to express those meanings in Russian, it is very often enough to use a verb in the imperfect tense, while all other possible instruments (such as adverbs, reduplication of verbs, whole context, etc.) just have a supporting function. Meanwhile in Estonian, for example, adverbs can play the most significant role in expressing iterative or durative action and without them, the sentence can be understood in more than one way. In the article, numerous examples of iterative or durative action are presented and analyzed. It is shown that both languages have some similar ways of expressing those meanings: for example, adverbials, context, reduplication of verbs, tenses, semantics of the verb etc. But there are also some tools that remain specific to one language; for Russian this is mainly verb tense, and for Estonian one can point to the object case and a construction of the verb to be (olema) + inessive form of the supine. The results of this analysis could be used in teaching Russian and Estonian, but also in the theory and practice of translation.
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Previous studies have proven that Finns reading an Estonian text use many different strategies to and the meanings of cognate words. In this article, the factors aspecting the Estonians’ ability to understand Finnish are described. It is well known that external similarity promotes intelligibility, but on the other hand, “false friends” can cause misinterpretations if the context does not prevent them. On the other hand, certain concepts connected on the basis of different semantic relationships can contribute to the emergence of correct translation. When dealing with phraseology units the first word primes the occurrence of the second word (target). It is assumed that in the foreign language text the prime, if recognizable in L1, helps to infer the target. In order to test these assumptions, Estonian informants had to translate a short Finnish text into Estonian and explain their choices of translation equivalents for certain words. Most test participants are aged over 20, some of them were 1st-year high school students. None of them had had formal instruction in Finnish. The results show that, on the one hand, the relation between hyponyms and hypernyms and, on the other hand, the chain of cause and consequence facilitates the finding of the meaning of the unknown word. However, the translation is mostly based on external similarity of unconnected lexical items which can result in success or failure. The informants justify their proposals for translation equivalents with that kind of similarity but they also rely on the structure of semantic fields and conceptions of coherent texts. The qualities of semantic relations are not bound to the affinity of Estonian and Finnish but to some universal “regularities”, another sort of similarity.
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In this paper, I describe the landscape of Hungarian language in Japan and analyze problems that occur. I describe my teaching experience at a Japanese university and suggest an effective manner of teaching a minor language, in terms of both goal setting and methodology. Specifically, I present a potentially effective pedagogy to instruct minor languages, which I have adopted in my bilingual booklets projects. Bilateral activities between language learners and target language speakers are utilized in this the project, which ultimately promotes language learning motivation.
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Revision is an integral part of the writing process according to John R. Hayes and Linda S. Flower’s (1980; Flower & Hayes 1981; Hayes et al. 1987; Chenoweth & Hayes 2001; Hayes 2012) writing model. The model incorporates the nature of revision, its function and the cognitive processes involved. The writing process can also be analyzed according to revision taxonomies created as a methodological tool to assist researchers in their study of revision. Writing process models show the reasons behind revisions, whereas taxonomies reflect the impact of revision of the written text. The current article presents an overview of writing process revisions according to the writing model and focuses on the revisions made by native Russian-speaking learners of Estonian as a second language (L2) based on a multi-dimensional revision taxonomy (Stevenson et al. 2006) as well as the taxonomy of Eva Lindgren and Kirk P. H. Sullivan (2006 b). While earlier research has focused on the comparison of revisions made in first and second/foreign language writing, the present study aims to describe revisions made in the writing of native Russian-speaking learners of Estonian as an L2, across A2, B1, B2 and C1 proficiency levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The text produced by 34 participants provided the source of the study’s data, which were collected with the computer keystroke logging program Script Log. The written texts were rated by two experts as belonging to the following CEFR levels: A2 (4 texts), B1 (13), B2 (13), and C1 (4). The online revisions were analyzed by action (substitutions and additions), orientation (typing, form and conceptual revisions), location (pre-contextual and contextual revisions) and domain (below-word, below-clause, clause and above), and further compared across the proficiency levels. The results show that writing across all proficiency levels is characterized by a large number of revisions, with B2 level having the greatest number. The great number of revisions at B2 level demonstrates progress in proficiency, as evidenced by a decrease in revisions at C1 level. As language proficiency increases,more attention is paid to text supplementation, and additions alongside substitutions followed deletions. Across all proficiency levels, the learners face difficulty first in formulating content and then in producing the appropriate form, whereas at the A2 level the learner focuses almost equally on conceptual and form revisions; with growth in proficiency conceptual revisions become dominant.
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This paper explains, firstly, how a tool called Good Dictionary Example (GDEX) (Kilgarriff et. al 2008) scores corpus sentences and helps the lexicographer automatically select the best examples for dictionaries. Secondly, the training datasets containing example sentences from the Estonian Collocations Dictionary (ECD) are introduced. Thirdly, the paper focuses on different parameters of good dictionary examples.Most of the paper is based on an analysis of the training datasets and an evaluation of the previous GDEX configurations. For evaluating the configurations, the graphical user interface GDEX Editor was used. Based on the results of statistical analysis and on the evaluation of different configurations, a new configuration 1.4 is introduced. There are 16 new parameters implemented in GDEX 1.4.The main parameters of GDEX 1.4 are as follows: the desired sentence is a full sentence; sentence length is 4–20 tokens; the sentence contains a verb; it does not contain low frequency words or words from the blacklist; the optimal length is 6–12 tokens; sentences containing more than 1 adverb, pronoun, proper name, numeral, conjunction, comma, more than 2 verbs and sentences containing certain pronouns are penalized.The output of GDEX 1.4 can be applied to the ECD project and to create a web interface SkELL for learners of Estonian.
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The article is devoted to the clarification of the question of the possibility of correlation between the concepts of language-game and the language trend, which is carried out on the example of modern transitive Russian intransitive verbs. Said correlation is concretized by elucidating the possibility of a gradual transition from a language-game to the transitivity of intransitive verbs to the empirically confirmed tendency of their transition. The opinions of the researchers of the language-game concerning the possibility of manifesting such a tendency are supported by examples that show the gradual transition of the language-game into the transitivity of intransitive verbs into the corresponding linguistic tendency.
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One of the main indicators of the effective learning of the language in the process of learning a foreign language is the learner's speaking skill. There are many physical, cognitive and psychological factors that influence the development of speech skill. The most important of the psychological factors is self-efficacy, which is the intrinsic feasibility of one's ability to perform the behaviors expected of him / her in a particular context. The aim of this research is to determine the speaking self-efficacy of the students who learn Turkish as a foreign language. In the study, it was quantitatively and qualitatively examined whether the students' self-efficacy levels differed in terms of various variables. The sample of the study consisted of 20 students at B1 level students who studied Turkish as a foreign language at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Turkish and Foreign Language Research and Application Center in 2016-2017. As a quantitative data collection tool, "Speech Self Efficacy Scale", developed by Sallabaş (2013) and validity and reliability study was carried out was used. For the qualitative data, the open-ended research questions were directed to the students and the whole universe was reached. The quantitative data collected in the study were analyzed by SPSS 21 statistical package program and the qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis. As a result of the research, it has been determined that the students are above the average of the self-sufficiency status but not at the desired level due to factors such as vocabulary, lack of linguistic knowledge, duration, anxiety.
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