scholarly journals Evaluating ELF Students’ Speaking Skill at Tertiary Level

IJOHMN ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dr. Fadiel Mohammed Musa
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Total Population ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
First Year ◽  
Tertiary Level ◽  
Speaking Skill ◽  
Explicit Criteria

This study was conducted at a Sudanese university in 2021 at the end of the semester to find out the areas caused problems of speech production. The research paper seeks to answer the question: What area/s of speaking is problematic to students? Fortysix undergraduate students in first year, who were majored in the English programme involved in the test. The total population was hundred students. Analytic rubrics were used for collecting data. Tuan (2014, p. 2) states that analytic rubric“… accesses the examinee’s specific strengths and weaknesses and identifies the particular components of speaking discourse that an examinee needs to develop”. Five explicit criteria were used to test participants; i.e.: grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, cohesion and fluency. The test was conducted by two instructors who gave appropriate marks under each of five rubrics (Table 1 below). The test contents comprised some pictures and topics to speak about. Bar charts were utilized to compare and measure marks obtained by students in analytic rubrics, where each rubric was measured individually. The results revealed that students were weak in all five areas (grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, cohesion and fluency).The highest marks were gained in pronunciation, count 25%, while the lowest marks were obtained in vocabulary, 15% from the total mark allocated for this item. The results conveyed that, this group of participants was weak in all aspects that needed for speech production compared with their level (2nd year undergraduates).

Interlanguage phonology

1994 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takako Toda
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Year ◽  
Tertiary Level ◽  
Timing Control ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Pitch Patterns ◽  
Segment Duration

Abstract This paper presents the results of a study pertaining to the acquisition of timing control by Australian subjects who are enrolled in first-year Japanese at tertiary level. Instrumental techniques are used to observe segment duration and pitch patterns in the speech production of learners and native speakers of Japanese. The observations concern vowels and obstruents based on minimal pairs with durational contrasts, and the results are discussed within the framework of interlanguage phonology. The results obtained from this study demonstrate problems of beginning-level learners, including the underdifferentiation of durational contrasts (Han 1992). From the viewpoint of interlanguage phonology, however, the results seem to indicate that the learners have the ability to control timing and that they try to achieve durational distinctions in their speech production, but that their phonetic realisation is different from that of native speakers.

scholarly journals Developing Instructional Design Model of Speaking Skill for First Year Undergraduate Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1225
Author(s):  
Harpain Harpain ◽  
Dameria Magdalena Sidabalok ◽  
Margaretha Audrey Stefani Cahyani ◽  
Yulfriwini Yulfriwini
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Design ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Instructional Design Model ◽  
Design Model ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Undergraduate Study ◽  
Speaking Skill ◽  
English Speaking

This study was conducted to search for Contextual Teaching and Learning model suitable for developing English speaking skill for first-year students of undergraduate study of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Universitas Bandar Lampung. In teaching speaking, especially for Second Language and Foreign Language Learners, it was assumed that learning speaking by using tailored instructional design model could accelerate student speaking development. The result of this study should construct a model which is suitable for developing English speaking skill in the first year of undergraduate study.

Using Mnemonics to Facilitate Learning of Japanese Script Characters

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Manalo ◽  
Julie Trafford ◽  
Satomi Mizutani
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Pass Rate ◽  
Japanese Language ◽  
First Year ◽  
Educational Setting ◽  
Alphabetic Language

Extra tutorial sessions on the use of pictorial mnemonics to facilitate memorization of Japanese hiragana and katakana script characters, as well as vocabulary words and kanji characters, were offered to university first year undergraduate students taking a beginners’ Japanese language course. 27 students, most of whom were experiencing some difficulties with the course, volunteered to attend. Although the improvement in actual marks that the students evidenced subsequent to attending the sessions did not prove to be statistically significant, a significant improvement in pass rate was found. Furthermore, the students rated the sessions highly in terms of their helpfulness, and the majority indicated that they believed the sessions helped their performance in the course assessments. It is concluded that mnemonic strategies can effectively be employed in facilitating retention of the script of a foreign, non-alphabetic language within a real educational setting. 初心者対象の日本語コースを取っている大学１年生に、日本語のひらがなとカタカナ、及び語彙と漢字の記憶を促進するため、絵を用いた連想法を使った追加授業が提出された。２７名（そのうちのほとんどは、コースにおいて何らかの困難に直面している）が自主的に追加授業に出席した。追加授業出席後、学生の実際の小テストの点の向上には有意差は認められなかったものの、合格率の向上においては有意差は確認された。さらに、追加授業に出席した学生は授業が役立ったと高く評価し、大多数が追加授業がコースの成績の成果に貢献したと思うと述べた。本論は、実際の教育現場で英語のアルファベットを用いない外国語の文字を教える際、連想法を効果的に使用することができると結論づけた。

Correlating entrance data and first year academic performance of students enrolled in the Integrated Master in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Porto

2021 ◽  
pp. 030641902110156
Author(s):  
TMGP Duarte ◽  
AM Lopes ◽  
LFM da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
First Year ◽  
Female Type ◽  
The University ◽  
First Year University ◽  
Over Time

Understanding how the academic performance of first year undergraduate students is influenced by home, personal and institutional factors is fundamental to delineate policies able to mitigate failure. This paper investigates possible correlations between the academic performance of students at the end of high school with their achievements at the end of first year university. Data for students in the Integrated Master in Mechanical Engineering (MIEM) program within the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto are analysed for the period 2016/2017 to 2019/2020. The students’ performance is measured by two metrics and the students are structured as a whole and by groups, according to their gender (Male/Female), type of secondary school (Public/Private), living place (Away/Home) and the rank of MIEM in their application list of options (Option 1/Option 2–6). The information is organized statistically and possible correlations between the data are investigated. The analysis reveals limited correlation between the two metrics, meaning that all students may exhibit good or poor results at the end of first year in MIEM, independent of their status at entrance. An unanticipated pattern is exhibited for the group Option 2–6, since it shows that, despite entering into MIEM without top application marks, the students in this group can perform as well as the others. This behavior is consistent over time.

scholarly journals A virtual alternative to molecular model sets: a beginners’ guide to constructing and visualizing molecules in open-source molecular graphics software

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siripreeya Phankingthongkum ◽  
Taweetham Limpanuparb
Keyword(s):  
General Chemistry ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Molecular Model ◽  
Bond Line ◽  
First Year ◽  
Molecular Graphics ◽  
Model Sets ◽  
Graphics Software

Abstract Objective The application of molecular graphics software as a simple and free alternative to molecular model sets for introductory-level chemistry learners is presented. Results Based on either Avogadro or IQmol, we proposed four sets of tasks for students, building basic molecular geometries, visualizing orbitals and densities, predicting polarity of molecules and matching 3D structures with bond-line structures. These topics are typically covered in general chemistry for first-year undergraduate students. Detailed step-by-step procedures are provided for all tasks for both programs so that instructors and students can adopt one of the two programs in their teaching and learning as an alternative to molecular model sets.

scholarly journals Longitudinal Study of EFL Students Using the Systemic Functional Linguistics Method

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akiko Nagao
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
First Year ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Essay Writing ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Genre Awareness ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Study Participants

This study examined the progress of English as a foreign language (EFL) writers using the instructional framework of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and the communities of practice (CoPs) model. The study participants comprised 11 first-year undergraduate students in Japan with intermediate-level English proficiency who were exposed to SFL in a single EFL classroom (CoP). The participants’ genre understanding and meaning-making decisions when writing discussion essays were studied over two semester-long courses. To do so, their developmental changes were analyzed using pre- and post-instructional writing tasks. In particular, their ability to convey interpersonal meaning, such as through the use of modal verbs, was examined and compared between the pre- and post-tasks. To triangulate the findings, participants’ genre awareness in relation to discussion essays was also examined using in-depth qualitative analysis of their self-reflective texts and peer assessments, based on a grounded theory approach. In the pre-writing task, it was apparent that the learners lacked understanding of the components of discussion essay writing. However, analysis of their post-instructional tasks revealed that most had begun to apply the language components required to convey interpersonal meaning in their discussion genre texts. These results suggest that the changes in learner’s genre awareness and knowledge affected the lexicogrammatical features they used when writing discussion essays. Thus, this study concludes that applying the SFL framework to writing instruction enhanced EFL learners’ awareness of textual meaning and their understanding of the function of discussion essay texts.

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