scholarly journals A Genre-Based Investigation of the Introduction Sections of Academic Oral Presentations

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Kuldip Kaur Makhtiar Singh ◽  
Afida Mohamad Ali ◽  
Mei Yuit Chan ◽  
Helen Tan
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Oral Presentation ◽  
English Language ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Genre Awareness ◽  
Genre Knowledge ◽  
The University ◽  
Oral Presentations

The academic oral presentation (henceforth AOP) is an important genre for tertiary students across various courses and disciplines in the university. Despite the importance of AOPs for undergraduate students, relatively little is known about this genre. Using Swales’ (1990, 2004) notion of move analysis,  this paper compares the rhetorical structure of the introduction sections of academic oral presentations from two different fields, namely English language and Administrative Sciences. The findings show some similarities in the AOPs whereby the introduction section contained three moves, and their related steps were similar to previous studies on the rhetorical structure of oral presentations but with few variations.  The linguistic features used were also found to be similar in both corpora revealing that students were able to transfer their rhetorical knowledge and linguistic features from one context to another. This study reveals that variation in AOPs is possible in different courses and disciplines. Thus, having genre awareness can help students adapt their genre knowledge to the context.

scholarly journals A Systemic-Functional Analysis of English Language Learners' Writing

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciana C. DE OLIVEIRA
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Lexical Cohesion ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistic ◽  
Clause Combining ◽  
The University ◽  
Passing Score

This article presents a systemic-functional linguistic analysis of two writing samples of the University of California Analytical Writing Placement (AWP) Examination written by English language learners (ELLs). The analysis shows the linguistic features utilized in the two writing samples, one that received a passing score and one that received a failing score. The article describes some of the grammatical resources which are functional for expository writing, which are divided under three main categories: textual, interpersonal, and ideational resources. Following this brief description is the analysis of both essays in terms of these resources.. The configuration of grammatical features used in the essays make up the detached style of essay 1 and the more personal style of essay 2. These grammatical features include the textual resources of thematic choices and development, clause-combining strategies (connectors), and lexical cohesion; interpersonal resources of interpersonal metaphors of modality; and ideational resources of nominalization and abstractions as ideational metaphors. Implications for educational practice and recommendations for educators based on the analysis are provided.

scholarly journals Effects of Creating an English Language Club on Intermediate Learners' Attitudes and Linguistic Achievement

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Ranwa Khorsheed ◽  
Dareen Assaf ◽  
Abdulaziz Al-Dammad
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Team Work ◽  
Remedial Courses ◽  
Text Book ◽  
Short Films ◽  
Personal Skills ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
Linguistic Achievement ◽  
The University ◽  
Oral Presentations

This paper discusses the efforts of a group of ELT instructors at a private Syrian university, Arab International University (AIU), to modify students' attitudes towards general English remedial courses at the Foreign Languages Center (FLC) of the university. After analyzing the results of a questionnaire distributed to clarify the students' linguistic needs and assess their motivation, it was concluded that most students preferred interactive language exercises to theoretical text book activities. Thus, the instructors have resorted to practical methods embodied in establishing an English language club that seeks to fulfill students' needs. The club focused on two motivational activities: reading tabloids and making documentary short films. Consequently, regular weekly sessions were organized to hold these activities. All in all, students' attitudes were greatly enhanced and have become more positive. It was also noted that the students have become self-motivated to the extent of generating new and original ideas that will enrich the English language club at AIU. Furthermore, the students were able to achieve remarkable enhancement on their linguistic skills especially those of reading, writing and speaking in addition to acquiring and improving other personal skills e.g. team work, organizing and planning projects, and communicating ideas via oral presentations.

Engineering Students' Communication Apprehension and Competence in Technical Oral Presentations

2016 ◽  
pp. 371-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noor Raha Mohd Radzuan ◽  
Sarjit Kaur
Keyword(s):  
Oral Presentation ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Communication Apprehension ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Communication Competence ◽  
Public Speaking Anxiety ◽  
Speaking Anxiety ◽  
Oral Presentations

The demand for 21st century engineering graduates to be communicatively competent, particularly in English language, is increasing. Effective communication skills are one of the main competencies listed by the Malaysian Engineering Accreditation Council Policy with the expectation that all Malaysian engineering graduates will master it upon graduation. This involves skills in presenting information to technical and non technical audience through oral presentations. This chapter aims to examine engineering students' communication competence and their level of apprehension in delivering a technical oral presentation. Questionnaires, adapted from McCroskey's (1988) Self-Perceived Communication Competence and Richmond & McCroskey's (1988) Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety, were distributed to 193 final year Universiti Malaysia Pahang engineering students who were preparing for their Undergraduate Research presentation. The results of the study have direct and indirect implications to the teaching and learning of oral presentation skills among engineering undergraduates.

Gender and Language

2021 ◽  
pp. 161-177
Author(s):  
Didem Koban Koç
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
The Other ◽  
First Year ◽  
Teaching Program ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings

The present study investigated gender differences in the use of linguistic features as well as the social meanings attached to those differences. Academic essays, written by 44 (22 male, 22 female) first-year undergraduate students enrolled in the English Language Teaching program at a government university were analyzed with respect to the use of linguistic features (adjectives, empty adjectives, intensifiers, linking adverbials) as well as the number of words and sentences used by the students. The results showed that, in comparison to males, females used more adjectives, intensifiers, and words. Males, on the other hand, used more empty adjectives and linking adverbials than females. Based on the results, pedagogical implications are discussed, and recommendations are provided in order to increase teachers' awareness of gender differences and improve students' writing skills.

An exploration of the relationship between undergraduate students’ library book borrowing and academic achievement

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 382-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yakup Çetin ◽  
Vivian Howard
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Positive Correlation ◽  
Circulation Patterns ◽  
Undergraduate University Students ◽  
Library Book ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

This exploratory study examines book circulation patterns among undergraduate university students at an English-language University in Istanbul, Turkey, in order to investigate the relationship between students’ academic achievement and discipline of study, gender and book borrowing habits. Overall, this study supports the important role of the academic library’s print book collection in supporting and contributing to student success and demonstrates a significant positive correlation between undergraduate students’ level of academic achievement and the number of books they borrowed from the university library. This positive correlation was found for students in all faculties and fields of study, but was strongest for students studying qualitative disciplines and was particularly strong for students enrolled in English as a foreign language programmes.

scholarly journals Professional writing: Description of the writings of social workers in Botswana

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-402
Author(s):  
Unity Nkateng ◽  
Sue Wharton
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
Teaching Writing ◽  
Professional Writing ◽  
Support Unit ◽  
University Of Botswana ◽  
The University

The main purpose of this study is to identify the professional writing needs of undergraduate students studying social work in the University of Botswana. In order to do this, it seeks to analyse the types of texts produced by social workers in their professional setting, to find out what relationship exists between the writing done by professional social workers and the writing taught in the dedicated English Language Support unit at the University of Botswana, and to explore the similarities and differences between the documents written by the students and those produced by professional social workers. It also examines current approaches to teaching writing in the University, with the aim of identifying the writing needs of social work students and exploring how these can be effectively addressed.

scholarly journals Analysing the Situation of ESL Teaching and Learning in Large University Classes in Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 250
Author(s):  
Abdul Hameed Panhwar ◽  
Shah Nawaz Barich ◽  
Syed Khuram Shahzad
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Esl Teachers ◽  
Large Classes ◽  
Language Support ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Large Size ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The University

The present study is based on a chapter of the PhD project conducted by the main researcher. It aims to explore the ESL teaching and learning practices in a Pakistani university by focusing on difficulties perceived and confronted by learners and teachers, and solutions suggested by them. One of the most significant issues at the university is large classes-exceeding to 100 and more students on average. The main researcher, being an ESL teacher at the target university, faced the same problem of large size and found it difficult to teach these classes. He embarked on analysing the situation so that he might come across some solutions through the suggestions and experiences of the ESL teachers and students of the same university. The design of the study is descriptive and the results of the present study come from the quantitative data collected through student and teacher questionnaires. The Student-participants were 300 undergraduate students from various major subjects attending English language support classes and 22 ESL teachers teaching these English language support classes at different institutes of the university. The data were analysed descriptively and presented with help of the boxplots. The views, commonly held by teachers are supported by the study’s findings i.e., large classes are likely to endorse teacher-centred approaches of teaching; very little significant student-student and teacher-student interaction is practised because of the inadequate physical environment; majority of learners remain off-task and appear to be unruly and they are given little, if any, feedback on their in-class and home tasks. Conversely, many teachers and learners reported that the adoption of group/pair work is likely to be an effective technique to use in these classes. Albeit a few teachers revealed having adopted group work infrequently, none used it all the time.

THE ANALYSIS OF THE READING MATERIALS IN “ENGLISH ON SKY 2” TEXTBOOK BASED ON SCHOOL-BASED CURRICULUM FOR GRADE VIII STUDENTS OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurul Hidayah Siregar And Masitowarni Siregar
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Junior High School ◽  
English Language ◽  
Junior High ◽  
Social Function ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
School Based ◽  
Reading Materials ◽  
Text Types

This study attempts to describe the conformity between reading materials in English on Sky 2 Textbook for grade VIII students’ of junior high school and the requirements of School-Based Curriculum in the aspects of indicators, text types, social function, rhetorical structure, and linguistic features. It was designed as documentary analysis in the form of descriptive qualitative research. The data of this study were reading materials collected from English on Sky 2 Textbook published by Erlangga in 2007. Based on the analysis of those aspects, it was found that the aspect of indicators gains 81.66% conformity, the aspect of Text types gains 66.66% conformity as the six text types required by School-based Curriculum are not all presented in the textbook, the aspect of social function gains 37.5 % conformity, moreover, the aspect of rhetorical structure gains 100% conformity, and the aspect of linguistic features gains 100% conformity. From the data obtained, the total conformity between the textbook and the requirements of School-based Curriculum attains 77.16% conformity. This number is categorized as good according to Nurgiyantoro’s Criterion Referenced Evaluation. Therefore, this textbook is appropriate to be used by both teachers and students in English language teaching, particularly in teaching reading as this textbook has already followed the instructions and the requirements of School-based Curriculum.

scholarly journals Exploring the Genre of Academic Oral Presentations: A Critical Review

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuldip Kaur ◽  
Afida Mohamad Ali
Keyword(s):  
Oral Presentation ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
The Body ◽  
Analysis Approach ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Multimodal Analysis ◽  
The University ◽  
Oral Presentations ◽  
Academic Genre

Conducting Academic Oral Presentation (AOP) is an endeavour for undergraduates although it is a key academic genre for undergraduates.  Despite its importance, there remains a paucity of studies on this oral genre in the Malaysian context as shown in the body of the literature. This paper provides a critical review of the literature on AOP and discusses the advantages and limitations of the previous studies to date on this oral genre. The literature shows most studies that adopt the genre analysis approach typically analyse only one section of the oral genre.  These studies have not examined the AOP rhetorical structure in totality.  Moreover, studies on multimodal analysis of AOP comparing the verbal and non-verbal modes are limited. Only few studies have attempted to examine the juxtaposition of the moves, linguistic elements and the visuals.  AOPs are ubiquitous for the students across various courses and disciplines in the university and past studies have also compared the differences between disciplines (Zappa-Hollman, 2007; Morita, 2000).Thus, realizing the importance of AOP, clearly there is a necessity to conduct more research in this area in the local context.  

scholarly journals Use of Digital Technological Tools among Undergraduate English Language Learners in Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Maheen Tufail Dahraj ◽  
Hina Manzoor ◽  
Mahnoor Tufail
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
English Language ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Undergraduate Level ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Technological Tools ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

Technology has become an important source for enhancing the knowledge of the students. Apart from the non-academic purposes, the use of technology for the academic purposes also has greater impact on the process of learning specifically on tertiary education. Therefore, it has become essential for higher education institutions to focus on the available opportunities for integrating technology in the academic setting. The developing countries like Pakistan, however; are facing some major challenges in technology integration due to the unavailability of sufficient financial resources. Hence, this study explores the use of digital technological tools at undergraduate level in one of the public sector universities of Pakistan. The study also examines the impact of the medium of instruction and respective discipline of the tertiary level students on the use of technology. For this purpose, an online survey was conducted from 200 undergraduate students studying in four different disciplines in the university. The findings revealed that the majority of the students at the undergraduate level have accessibility to smartphones, laptops or desktop computers in the university but only a few students use these available technological tools for learning purposes. Smartphones were determined to be the most easily available technological tool while the students generally do not prefer carrying their laptops to the university. Besides this, the students also reported having limited technological knowledge and skills for the digital tools to be used for educational and learning purposes. However, a greater percentage of the students were willing to participate in training sessions for learning.

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