The Impact of Using Information Gap Strategy on Improving Advanced English Students' Construction of Information Questions in the Arab American University-Jenin
Date
2017-03-02
Authors
Jarrar, Fardous Ismael
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
An-Najah National University
Abstract
This quasi-experimental study, conducted in the summer semester of the academic year 2015/2016 at Arab American University-Jenin (AAUJ), Palestine aimed at investigating the impact of using information gap instructional strategy on improving advanced English students’ construction of information questions. Students' gender, academic level, and specialization were taken into consideration in the data analysis.
To assess the outcomes of this study, pre and post oral tests were given to students of the control and the experimental groups. A class observation was employed on the experimental group as a supplementary tool of the study to help explain the use of the information gap strategy in action. Fifty-four students taking Advanced English course in the English Language Center (ELC) at AAUJ, twenty-seven in each group, comprise the sample of the study.
A significant improvement of the experimental group results in their formation of information questions was apparent, as compared to the results of the control group who was taught in a traditional method without information gap instructional strategy. Moreover, there was no statistically significant difference in the pre-test results of the experimental group regarding gender or specialization but third year students did not show any significant improvement in the post-test, unlike first and second year students.
The researcher recommends the Ministry of Education to train English teachers to use information gap strategy in their classes. A further recommendation is that teachers adapt parts of their textbooks to use information gap exercises. Suggestions are offered for researchers to further investigate EFL/ESL students’ formation and use of information questions. A last recommendation was made to researchers to apply a similar research on child students.