The aim of this study was to examine foreign language classroom anxiety and motivation to speak in English as a foreign language with respect to gender and grade level as well as their effects on students' EFL performance. The research sample comprised 160 (middle and high school) students. Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and the Speaking Motivation Scale were used to collect the data. The results showed that foreign language classroom anxiety and intrinsic motivation were negatively associated with each other, while extrinsic motivation and a motivation were significantly positively associated with foreign language classroom anxiety. Even though there was an insignificant difference between the males’ and females’ motivation to speak English as a foreign language, foreign language classroom anxiety was significantly affected by gender. The outcomes of a one-way MANOVA revealed that grade level had no effect on the combined dependent variables of foreign language classroom anxiety, while it had a significant effect on speaking motivation. Furthermore, the findings indicated that overall intrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation were significant predictors of the students’ EFL achievement, whereas communication apprehension as a foreign language classroom anxiety factor was in a negative association with the students’ EFL achievement. The study provides instructors with guidelines on how to make their classrooms an environment conducive to the development of higher levels of speaking motivation and lower levels of anxiety with the aim of improving their students’ performance.

The present study investigated the impact of English as the global language on Bosnian with a particular focus on the use of English words among adult Bosnian speakers. Thus, the survey was administered to 200 participants to get an insight into their preferences for native Bosnian words, foreign English words and adapted English words. The analysis revealed that English has gained a prominent status in Bosnia and Herzegovina, not rarely being preferred over the native structures with a similar or equivalent meaning. Furthermore, filling lexical gaps does not seem to motivate borrowing, but rather a wish to transmit a message of a more modern lifestyle.

ABSTRACT Not being subject to various restrictions common to more formal contexts and thus establishing complete control, users are ready for a considerable investment in the target language use, in this case the English language use, on social sites. Their investment here is motivated by the desire to assume the identity of a global citizen, the identity of unique individuals deserving the attention of the target social group. In that attempt they start playing with language, foreign and multilingual language play presenting appropriate means of creating the desired identity positions. The present study, exploring the use of English by young adult Bosnian speakers on Facebook and Instagram and the reasons underlying it, aimed at investigating the aforementioned claims. Using English the participants tried to show they possess the attributes associated with English as the global language, such as modern, trendy, omnipresent, etc. Moreover, they seemed to find being both local and international, traditional and modern, and above all unique and creative more important than being correct following native-like norms. The study is expected to broaden the understanding of the interrelation between the language use and identity negotiation, and contribute to awakening a stronger interest into the potential of language play.

Understanding learners’ epistemological beliefs as one of the core segments underlying one’s learning experience is of cardinal importance both from the point of conveying as well as acquiring new knowledge. In English language teaching studying language learning beliefs has aroused a widespread research interest, with its genesis found in the seminal paper by Horwitz (1987), whose instrument (BALLI) was employed to collect the data in the present paper. In the under-researched context of Bosnia and Herzegovina the current study explores language learning beliefs of 233 elementary school and university students, taking into account the main and interaction effect of three factors: gender, grade and educational level. Through ANOVA and MANOVA statistical analyses, the results revealed an insignificant main effect of gender and grade on the BALLI while the latter significantly affected one of the subscales. Conversely, educational level demonstrated a significant main effect on both the BALLI and one subscale. Most importantly, the study showed interesting interplay of the three factors on the shaping of learners’ stances. These findings bring a significant realization of the complexity of the beliefs as well as their ever-changing nature with relevant pedagogical implications for the field of second language acquisition.

Language learning beliefs create a considerable impact on the students' behavior, and thus greately affect the final learning outcome. Therefore, there exists a compeling need to explore learners' beliefs, and in particular to specify the stances of those more successful learners, to provide accordingly a better learning envoronment for all students. The aim of the current paper was to investigate the language learning beliefs among Bosnian university students, and to focus on the differences that exist between the groups of the participants based on their self-evaluated proficiency level. A one way ANOVA revealed no significant differences in the overall BALLI, whereas a significant difference was observed in one of the five subscales. The present study findings might be used to provide ground for the future improvement of language learning and teaching in a foreign language context similar to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Despite its importance being acknowledged in a plethora of studies, developing reading strategies appears absent from many classrooms, which justifies a considerable research interest in this topic. The present study aims to investigate how gender, nationality, and grade point average affect the frequency of the usage of different types of reading strategies among Bosnian university students. The research sample comprised 228 students studying at three universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The analysis revealed moderate to high awareness of reading strategies, the problem-solving strategies being most frequently used. A three-way ANOVA showed a significant main effect of gender as well as a significant interaction effect of Nationality × Grade Point Average on The Survey of Reading Strategies questionnaire. Moreover, a three-way MANOVA revealed that gender had a significant main effect on the combined variables, namely global, support, and problem-solving reading strategies. Similarly, the interaction effect of Nationality × Grade Point Average was significant on the three combined variables, while the interaction effects of Grade Point Average × Gender and Grade Point Average × Nationality proved significant only on the Problem-Solving subscale. The current study is expected to contribute to understanding the reading strategy use in a foreign language context, and to inspire educators to recognize the importance of their use in the classroom.

Abstract: The presence of the English language in various domains of everyday life cannot be neglected, since it is easily encountered in politics, social networks, media and newspapers worldwide, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, where especially the conditions of the post-war period contributed to the need of learning it. Even though English is widely present as a foreign language in elementary and high schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina, its acquisition has not been largely investigated.  The current paper aims at exploring students’ and teachers’ perceptions regarding the development of language skills in English, as an important aspect of acquiring a language and one of the key prerequisites for its successful use.

: In the modern society people are exposed to English almost all the time and everywhere. English is heard on TV, read in books, people from different countries communicate with each other in this language. Therefore, it is not surprising that the need for studying the effects of the exposure to English on the developing of English language proficiency has arisen. This paper examines the exposure of Bosnian students to the English language outside of the classroom and provides a comparison between private and public schools, as well as between elementary and high schools. Another aspect of investigation are the perceptions of Bosnian teachers and students regarding the use of the mother tongue (L1) in EFL classrooms. With the switch from grammar-translation method to communicative approaches, the role of L1 in English language learning classrooms has become highly disputed, and the current paper attempts to shed light on this issue..

This paper deals with teaching management of different learning styles students use in the EFL classroom. It explores various types of learning styles and it provides directions that can help EFL teachers in better understanding of various learning preferences and in responding to different types of learners. Different types of learners are also treated in this paper. In addition to theoretical explanations for every type of learner mentioned, different methods and approaches are incorporated, together with suggestions for activities suitable for particular learners. The last part of the paper is a study of Bosnian teenagers’ learning styles and their implication in teaching. The aim of the study was to investigate major learning styles of Sarajevo teenagers and how they affect their learning. The results and analysis of the study are presented at the end of this paper.

Abstract English is taught as a foreign language in elementary and high schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH). However, since the number of English classes per week is very limited they should be utilized in the best possible way to produce proficient users of English. Nowadays, when language proficiency is viewed as one’s ability to speak and write in the target language and not about it, the need for the proficiency evaluation in schools arises. The present study attempts to shed a spot of light on this issue, investigating two very common ways of assessing students’ knowledge in schools, namely tests and writing assignments. Hence, through the interviews with English teachers and the analysis of students’ tests and writing assignments, the current paper explores the ways in which these two measures are realized, the tasks they consist of, the type of linguistic knowledge they are used to evaluate, their levels of difficulty, and the type of corrective feedback teachers provide on both of them. The results suggest that teachers on both measure rather students’ explicit than their implicit knowledge, focusing much more on accuracy than fluency development.