Turn Taking Patterns of Average Achievers in an Oral Interaction Test

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Y. Tang ◽  
Abdul Halim Abdul Raof
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Communication Competency ◽  
Oral Test ◽  
Turn Taking ◽  
Oral Interaction ◽  
Graduating Students ◽  
Interaction Test

This study aims to investigate the turn taking patterns of final year undergraduate students who are average achievers in an oral interaction test. The scope of this study focuses on profiling the students’ oral interactive ability in terms of their turn taking patterns in a small group discussion. In order to examine this, the oral test of 14 group discussion tasks in the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Test of English Communication Skills (UTMTECS) for graduating students were video recorded after consent was sought from the students before the recording took place. The recordings were then transcribed for analysis using an adapted version of Allwright (1988) model of turn taking patterns. From the transcribed files, it is observed that the average achievers mostly gave turns through ‘Neither’ turn giving pattern and gained turns through ‘Take’ turn getting pattern. From the findings, the average achievers in UTMTECS oral test are profiled as moderate speakers of English language. Nevertheless, they are still able to interact with other candidates in the group discussion with functional level of communication skills. This study also provides more insights into the setting of a benchmark to evaluate graduating students’ oral English communication competency and preparedness for the workplace.

scholarly journals Developing Engineering Communicative Competency through Effective Assessment Methods

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2S9) ◽  
pp. 804-809
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
English Language ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Entry Level ◽  
Engineering Communication ◽  
Communication Competency ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Effective Assessment

A great importance of engineering education over the last decade has been on the development of some very specific non-technical attributes which included communication skills, the ability to function in teams, knowledge of societal and contemporary issues, development of global perspective, and ethics awareness. These non-technical skills complement a strong technical foundation to produce well-rounded engineering graduates who are flexible and adaptable to suit the constantly developing and changing requirements of the workplace. The industry as well as the international and local accreditation bodies have repeatedly highlighted the importance of strong communication skills for engineers entering the workplace [1] – [7]. Industries require a greater number of communication and interpersonal skills for entry-level engineers [8], yet, graduate engineers still lack the required standard of communication skills [9]. Engineering communication competency, especially in the English language is essential for an engineer who aspires to carry out his/her professional practice in the global economy. Similarly, the challenges faced by graduates are to focus on the development of the professional skills in the undergraduate engineering program in order to meet the demands from industries. As such the Malaysian higher education system must produce graduates who can communicate effectively in English. Otherwise, it would lose one of its vital selling points for foreign investors to ensure that the skilled labor forces are sufficient to support internationally competitive commerce and industry and to provide individuals with opportunities to optimize their potentials [10], [11]

scholarly journals Developing academic literacy through self-regulated online learning

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmaline Lear ◽  
Linda Li ◽  
Sue Prentice
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Academic Literacy ◽  
Academic Skills ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Self Regulated Learning ◽  
Learning Logs

This study explores the self-regulated learning (SRL) experiences of international students in developing English language academic literacy essential for successful transition to university. The participants in this study were a small, diverse group of first year undergraduate students who sought academic support from the Academic Skills Centre at an Australian university. They were given the opportunity to independently access an online program, Study Skills Success, over the duration of one semester to develop their academic literacy in English. Data for this study were collected from a pre- and post-program questionnaire, interviews, a focus group discussion, and reflective online learning logs. These sources gathered information regarding the participants’ motivation and attitudes, their online learning experiences and strategy use, and the perceived benefits of SRL online. The findings from this study have implications for supporting the transition of first year students to university by developing essential academic skills through independent online learning.

scholarly journals A Critical Analysis of the Problems in Communicative English Faced by Learners in Engineering Colleges

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 767-771
Author(s):  
Joseph Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
English Language ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Communication Competency ◽  
Extra Curricular Activities ◽  
Class Room ◽  
Teaching Grammar

A critical study is conducted in a premier Engineering college in Tamil Nadu.This Institution enjoys an excellent status in terms of admissions, extra-curricular activities and placement. Meritorious students with high scores in plus two are admitted every year. The institution takes up a series of steps to improve the communication skills of learners. Despite these efforts, many final year students are unfit to be placed due to low proficiency in the basic skills of English language. Hence the study aims at identifying their problems with communication skills, analyzing the causes and suggesting remedies for improvement. Every class room has a heterogeneous group of students from different educational streams such as- CBSE, matriculation and state board. A majority of students have had their schooling in Tamil medium. Further, they hail from different backgrounds, rural, semirural and urban. Technical English is included in the curriculum only in first and second semesters, where concentration is on teaching grammar items. In the fifth semester, every branch of students is given a three hour training per week in the communication lab. The study reveals that the learners indifference and lack of intrinsic motivation is the prime cause for low proficiency. The evaluation system compels the faculty to complete the syllabus from an examination point of view. This is another handicap which prevents the teachers from imparting the required communication competency within the prescribed hours. It is hoped that this study will create awareness among the language teachers to discover more efficient methods to cope up with the learners need.

scholarly journals UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS ON EXTENSIVE READING STRATEGY IN VOCABULARY CLASS

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 534
Author(s):  
Kristian Florensio Wijaya
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Reading Strategy ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Extensive Reading

AbstractVocabulary is one of the essential elements of English Language Teaching. It is therefore important to ensure that the students are able to obtain sizable vocabulary knowledge during their academic performance. Extensive reading strategy played a major role in that process. Two research problems were proposed in this study. The first is to know the effectiveness of extensive reading strategy in vocabulary class. The second is to discover the significant improvement of English Language Education students’ vocabulary knowledge through extensive reading strategy. In this qualitative study, three research instruments: observation, classroom survey, and focus group discussion were employed. Qualitative content analysis was implemented to draw meanings out of the data gathered. Five major findings were as follows: (a) ELESP students viewed vocabulary as an important element in English language mastery (b) Loved reading extensively (c) Had limited time to read (d) Lose their reading motivation easily (e) Suggested regular checking of vocabulary books.Keywords: vocabulary, extensive reading strategy, qualitative content analysis

scholarly journals Massive Open Online Courses : En Route to Communication Skills Acquisition

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melor Md Yunus ◽  
Haida Umiera Hashim ◽  
Harwati Hashim
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Skill Acquisition ◽  
English Language ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Massive Open Online Courses ◽  
Skills Acquisition ◽  
Massive Open Online ◽  
Good Communication

Technology has its own forte and has been making its waves through the educations’ heart among educators and especially young learners. In conjunction to the waves of technology and the era of globalization, there is also a demand for excellent communication skills among today’s younger generations especially university students. University students are expected to be well equipped with proficient English language and outstanding communication skills which is what they are currently lacking at. Therefore, a specific Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for English for Communication is designed and developed to provide learners with the ladder towards good communication skills. This study is a design and develop research of study which consists of twenty-two undergraduate students in a public university and the whole duration of this study is fourteen weeks altogether. The particular well developed MOOCs then later implemented to the learners and learners evaluation on the course are taken into consideration. This study intended to accommodate students with Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and to investigate the learners’ perceptions on the use of MOOCs in helping them to develop good communication skills. This study also evaluated the developed MOOCs’ usability and the students’ interaction level during learning along with the impacts of particular developed MOOCs towards their development of communication skills. The findings gathered have proven that this particular developed MOOCs of English for Communication has helped learners to further improve on their communication skill acquisition that would help them to be a better critical thinker and an autonomous learner.

scholarly journals Sociocultural Factors Involved in the Oral Competency of the ESL Students at Graduate Level

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sadia Ayub
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Language Communication

The current research is aimed to highlight the obstructing sociocultural factors that influence the undergraduate students’ English language communication skills in Pakistan. Undergraduates’ English language communication skills are strongly affected by various sociocultural factors such as the environment, cultural variation, societal rank, and self-identity. In particular, the current research emphasizes the interconnectedness of language and culture and their influence on the English language communication skills of the undergraduate students. The investigation was carried out in the public institutions of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. It was based on simple random and cluster random sampling. Forty highly proficient ESL / EFL instructors and 498 ESL students contributed to the current investigation. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were followed throughout the research. Data analysis revealed that among all the contributing factors, the environment was the most prominent factor, which affected the learner’s oral competency. The overall conclusion is that sociocultural issues affect the learners’ communication skills in Pakistan where English is most often the third language. The study also recommends that instructors should recognize the source(s) of language anxiety to facilitate the learners and to make the language acquisition process more successful.

scholarly journals English Language Component of the Mature Students’ Entrance Examinations into Ghanaian Universities: Placement, Diagnostic or Both?

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 201
Author(s):  
Ramos Asafo-Adjei ◽  
Ernest Kwesi Klu ◽  
Albert Agbesi Wornyo
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
English Language ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Entrance Examinations ◽  
Mature Students ◽  
Survey Approach

One way that Ghanaian universities admit undergraduate students is an examination organised for candidates who are twenty-five years and above. This examination is known as the Mature Students’ Entrance Examinations (MSEE). This paper argues that the English language component of the MSEE should not only be used for placement purposes, but, also, for diagnostic purposes. A desk survey approach to research was adopted involving 43 relevant literature which were reviewed and synthesised. The study indicates that academic writing, referred to as Communication Skills, falls under the domain of English for Academic Purposes in an English as a Second Language setting like Ghana. It is further advanced that Communication Skills is essential for the performance of students in school. The paper, therefore, argues for the English language component of the MSEE to be used not only for placement purposes but for diagnostic purposes. The study recommends that the latter approach should be included since it will help improve the performances of students in Communication Skills.   Received: 4 March 2021 / Accepted: 6 May 2021 / Published: 8 July 2021

Engaging Undergraduate Students in Child Language Research

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-16
Author(s):  
Jade H. Coston ◽  
Corine Myers-Jennings
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Student Growth ◽  
Process Data ◽  
Research Knowledge ◽  
Research Dissemination ◽  
Language Sampling ◽  
Language Research ◽  
Language Sample Analysis ◽  
Turn Taking ◽  
Assessment Techniques

To better prepare the professionals and scholars of tomorrow in the field of communication sciences and disorders (CSD), a research project in which undergraduate students collected and analyzed language samples of child-parent dyads is presented. Student researchers gained broad and discipline-specific inquiry skills related to the ethical conduct of research, the literature review process, data collection using language assessment techniques, language sample analysis, and research dissemination. Undergraduate students majoring in CSD developed clinical research knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for future graduate level study and professional employment. In addition to the benefits of student growth and development, language samples collected through this project are helping to answer research questions regarding communicative turn-taking opportunities within the everyday routines of young children, the effects of turn-taking interactions on language development, and the construct validity of language sampling analysis techniques.

British Council’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Students’ Manual: A Critical Analysis of the Coursebook Taught at Pakistani Universities for Academic Purposes (EAP) Students’ Manual: A Critical Analysis of the Coursebook Taught at Pakistani Universities

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Teaching Principles

English for Academic Purposes course focusing on the academic language needs of students is a subfield of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). It is a type of specialized course to integrate specific subject matter, language content, and material based on learners’ needs. The study aims to evaluate the British Council’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP) coursebook in terms of content, sequencing, learners’ autonomy, motivation, feedback and focus on language skills. Furthermore, the study tries to provide a general perception of the usefulness and effectiveness of the coursebook for undergraduate students. The EAP Students’ Manual coursebook is used as a primary source for the data collection. The researcher has chosen Nation & Macalister (2010) model of language teaching principles to analyze and discuss the data. The study found the coursebook a useful, effective and an appropriate source of English language learning in terms of the investigated aspects of the book. The findings report that the coursebook provides practice and practical usage in all domains of the academically required English language skills. It helps the students to build language competency and to be more independent learners. In addition, it provides an opportunity to the learners to think in the target language, use the language more practically and learn it in a natural type of environment. The study concludes and suggests that the content needs to be supplemented with English language audios and videos presenting the students relevant documentaries and helping material in order to make the coursebook and the learning process more useful, effective, interesting and motivating. Furthermore, the study recommends that while choosing /designing a coursebook for a certain course, it needs to be evaluated following the various criteria and language-teaching-principles suggested by different language researchers.

Needs Analysis and Teachers' Perceptions: A Study of the English Undergraduate Students

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Needs Analysis ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Visual Aids ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Classroom Activities ◽  
Teaching Aids

Needs Analysis in the context of language-learning-teaching is an important process to design a certain course and syllabus. It helps course designers to set objectives, choose content, method of instruction, appropriate teaching aids, and classroom activities for different courses. This paper reports the perceptions of the researchers on the English language learning needs of the English undergraduate students of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Sheringal, Pakistan. The data is based on the researchers’ personal experience and first-hand observation of the population as the researchers have been teaching in the target context for about a decade. Furthermore, the researchers have always been in discussion with their students and colleagues about the target students’ English learning needs, preferred learning styles, motivation in learning English, interest, strengths/weaknesses, and attitude toward English learning in the target setting. Learners’ assignments, exam answer sheets, and presentations have also been used is a source of data collection. A needs analysis model proposed by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) has been applied in order to analyze the data. The results show that the students lack well grammatical sentences, have poor spellings, capitalization problems, limited vocabulary, unaware of collocations, poor/slow reading comprehension, and lack of effective presentation skills. Furthermore, most of the students have a lack of involvement in classroom activities and feel shy about speaking the English language. It was reported that the provision of authentic material, interesting activities, suitable audio-visual aids, relevant texts, language labs, and other logistic arrangements can better help them in learning the English language. The findings demonstrate that the students wished to have a learner-centered-course that helps them excel in their academic life and learning the English language.

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