scholarly journals An Evaluation of Two Parts in an ESP Textbook for Engineering Students: A Case Study of Sudan International University

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (12) ◽  
pp. 162-171
Author(s):  
Osama Mohamed Ahmed Abdulwahab Ahmed (Osama Wdidi)
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
University Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
International University ◽  
Descriptive Method ◽  
Language Type

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the English Language Textbook that is used for university students in a faculty of engineering. This textbook is called “SIU English Language Course ‘C’”, which is taught for engineering students in the first two semesters at Sudan International University. The main purpose of this evaluation is to analyze the textbook in order to see whether it is suitable for the engineering students. The researcher used the descriptive method in this study and used the questionnaire which is distributed for a sample taken from the students of engineering, this sample consists of (90) engineering college students. Besides, there was another questionnaire for a sample of (9) instructors who teach the same textbook. There are two aspects in the textbook that the researcher focused on to be analyzed; they are the skills and the language type. From the responses of the two questionnaires there was a common agreement from both the students and teachers was revealed and they were highly satisfied about the two aspects in the evaluated textbook. Based on the above, the findings of this study have shown that the majority of the students and instructors agreed that the skills which are used in this textbook are very satisfied and their designs suit the engineering students. On the other hand, they also agreed that textbook is quite satisfactory in terms of its language type.

scholarly journals An Analytical Evaluation of ESP Textbook for Engineering Students in Sudanese Universities A Case Study of Sudan International University SIU English Language Course, C

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 164
Author(s):  
Osama Wdidi
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
University Students ◽  
Analytical Method ◽  
English Language ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Arabic Version ◽  
Analytical Evaluation ◽  
International University ◽  
The University

The current study is conducted to evaluate the English language textbook used for university students who specialized in engineering; the case study of this research is the textbook which is indorsed to teach English to the university students of engineering college at Sudan International University. The main objective of this evaluation is to analyze the textbook to recognize whether it suits the engineering students. The adopted method for this study was descriptive analytical method. The researcher used the questionnaire, (an Arabic version) for a sample of (90) engineering college students. The findings of the study have shown that an overwhelming majority of the students agreed that the layout of the textbook is perfect and its design is suitable. Besides, they acknowledged that textbook is quite satisfactory in terms of its activities. Based on the above findings, the researcher comes to the conclusion that the textbook which is taught in this university, with all these positive views is definitely a favorable and useful textbook for the engineering students and at Sudan International University.

scholarly journals Demotivating Factors of Indonesian College Students to Learn English as A Foreign Language

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Reza Anggriyashati Adara
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
University Students ◽  
Intrinsic Motivation ◽  
Mixed Method ◽  
English Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
English Speaker ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Method Approach

Investigating demotivating factors can help teachers to avoid them and provide more insights on sustaining learners’ interest in FL learning. The present study aimed to analyse demotivating factors in FL learning. To obtain the findings, the present study applied a mixed method approach. A set of questionnaires adapted from Sakai and Kikuchi’s (2009) questionnaires were distributed to thirty eight university students whereas interviews were conducted to three of them. The findings indicated teacher’s competence and lack of intrinsic motivation as the most salient factors that caused demotivation among the participants. In this consideration, teachers were perceived as incompetent by the participants when teachers have poor English pronunciation and do not provide communicative classrooms. On the other hand, lack of intrinsic motivation was indicated by the loss of students’ interest in learning and their goal to be an English speaker. Providing a communicative classroom with a fluent teacher as well as promoting students’ interest in English language and culture seem to be the solutions to reduce students’ demotivation. [Penelitian tentang faktor-faktor yang menurunkan motifasi (demotivation) dapat membantu para guru untuk menghindari factor-faktor tersebut dan memberikan wawasan untuk mempertahankan minat peserta didik dalam pembelajaran bahasa asing. Penelitian ini menganalisis faktor demotivasi dalam pembelajaran Bahasa asing. Untuk memperoleh jawaban dari beberapa pertanyaan, penelitian ini menerapkan pendekatan metode campuran. Seperangkat kuesioner yang diadaptasi dari model Sakai dan Kikuchi (2009) didistribusikan kepada tiga puluh delapan mahasiswa sedangkan wawancara dilakukan terhadap tiga dari mahasiswa tersebut. Temuan menunjukkan bahwa kompetensi guru dan kurangnya motivasi intrinsik merupakan faktor yang paling menonjol yang menyebabkan demotivasi di antara para peserta. Dalam hal ini, guru dianggap tidak kompeten oleh para peserta ketika guru memiliki pelafalan bahasa Inggris yang buruk dan tidak menyediakan ruang kelas yang komunikatif. Di sisi lain, kurangnya motivasi intrinsik ditunjukkan oleh hilangnya minat siswa dalam belajar dan tujuan mereka untuk berbicara dalam bahasa Inggris. Menyediakan ruang kelas yang komunikatif dengan guru yang fasih serta mempromosikan minat siswa dalam bahasa dan budaya Inggris tampaknya menjadi solusi untuk mengurangi demotivasi siswa]

scholarly journals Prevalence and severity of academic burnout in college students during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Seperak-Viera ◽  
Manuel Fernández-Arata ◽  
Sergio Dominguez-Lara
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
University Students ◽  
Emotional Exhaustion ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
The Other ◽  
Academic Life ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Academic Burnout ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
High Level

Background: Academic burnout (AB) is an insidious process characterized by the feeling of emotional exhaustion due to the demands of academic life. Despite its impact on people's health, its prevalence has not yet been reported in Peru. The objective was to estimate the prevalence of AB, based on the emotional exhaustion experienced by university students, and the differences according to the student's year of study and sex. Method: Participants were 341 college students (76% women) from several institutions who were enrolled between the second and fourth year-of-studies. The Emotional Exhaustion Scale was used to measure students' AB. Results: The prevalence of AB was described by percentages and the comparison between groups was performed with effect size measures. The results reveal BA levels at a high level (31.4%) and risk (11.7%). On the other hand, women score higher than men in BA, but no differences were found according to the year of study. The association with anxiety and depression was moderate. Conclusions: The prevalence of academic burnout was significant, and it is associated with anxiety and depression.

scholarly journals Demotivating Factors of Indonesian College Students to Learn English as A Foreign Language

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Reza Anggriyashati Adara
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
University Students ◽  
Intrinsic Motivation ◽  
Mixed Method ◽  
English Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
English Speaker ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
Method Approach

Investigating demotivating factors can help teachers to avoid them and provide more insights on sustaining learners’ interest in FL learning. The present study aimed to analyse demotivating factors in FL learning. To obtain the findings, the present study applied a mixed method approach. A set of questionnaires adapted from Sakai and Kikuchi’s (2009) questionnaires were distributed to thirty eight university students whereas interviews were conducted to three of them. The findings indicated teacher’s competence and lack of intrinsic motivation as the most salient factors that caused demotivation among the participants. In this consideration, teachers were perceived as incompetent by the participants when teachers have poor English pronunciation and do not provide communicative classrooms. On the other hand, lack of intrinsic motivation was indicated by the loss of students’ interest in learning and their goal to be an English speaker. Providing a communicative classroom with a fluent teacher as well as promoting students’ interest in English language and culture seem to be the solutions to reduce students’ demotivation. [Penelitian tentang faktor-faktor yang menurunkan motifasi (demotivation) dapat membantu para guru untuk menghindari factor-faktor tersebut dan memberikan wawasan untuk mempertahankan minat peserta didik dalam pembelajaran bahasa asing. Penelitian ini menganalisis faktor demotivasi dalam pembelajaran Bahasa asing. Untuk memperoleh jawaban dari beberapa pertanyaan, penelitian ini menerapkan pendekatan metode campuran. Seperangkat kuesioner yang diadaptasi dari model Sakai dan Kikuchi (2009) didistribusikan kepada tiga puluh delapan mahasiswa sedangkan wawancara dilakukan terhadap tiga dari mahasiswa tersebut. Temuan menunjukkan bahwa kompetensi guru dan kurangnya motivasi intrinsik merupakan faktor yang paling menonjol yang menyebabkan demotivasi di antara para peserta. Dalam hal ini, guru dianggap tidak kompeten oleh para peserta ketika guru memiliki pelafalan bahasa Inggris yang buruk dan tidak menyediakan ruang kelas yang komunikatif. Di sisi lain, kurangnya motivasi intrinsik ditunjukkan oleh hilangnya minat siswa dalam belajar dan tujuan mereka untuk berbicara dalam bahasa Inggris. Menyediakan ruang kelas yang komunikatif dengan guru yang fasih serta mempromosikan minat siswa dalam bahasa dan budaya Inggris tampaknya menjadi solusi untuk mengurangi demotivasi siswa]

Behavioral flexibility in Belief-Desire- Intention (BDI) architectures

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-377
Author(s):  
Adel Saadi ◽  
Ramdane Maamri ◽  
Zaidi Sahnoun
Keyword(s):  
Critical Review ◽  
Practical Reasoning ◽  
Behavioral Flexibility ◽  
The Other ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Simple Experiment ◽  
Bdi Agents ◽  
Popular Approach ◽  
Other Hand

The Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) model is a popular approach to design flexible agents. The key ingredient of BDI model, that contributed to concretize behavioral flexibility, is the inclusion of the practical reasoning. On the other hand, researchers signaled some missing flexibility’s ingredient, in BDI model, essentially the lack of learning. Therefore, an extensive research was conducted in order to extend BDI agents with learning. Although this latter body of research is important, the key contribution of BDI model, i.e., practical reasoning, did not receive a sufficient attention. For instance, for performance reasons, some of the concepts included in the BDI model are neglected by BDI architectures. Neglecting these concepts was criticized by some researchers, as the ability of the agent to reason will be limited, which eventually leads to a more or less flexible reasoning, depending on the concepts explicitly included. The current paper aims to stimulate the researchers to re-explore the concretization of practical reasoning in BDI architectures. Concretely, this paper aims to stimulate a critical review of BDI architectures regarding the flexibility, inherent from the practical reasoning, in the context of single agents, situated in an environment which is not associated with uncertainty. Based on this review, we sketch a new orientation and some suggested improvements for the design of BDI agents. Finally, a simple experiment on a specific case study is carried out to evaluate some suggested improvements, namely the contribution of the agent’s “well-informedness” in the enhancement of the behavioral flexibility.

Reframing and Wisdom within Proverbs

2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Tracy ◽  
Nicholas Greco ◽  
Erika Felix ◽  
Donald F. Kilburg
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Grade Level ◽  
The Other ◽  
Proactive Coping ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Reading Grade Level ◽  
Thinking Strategies ◽  
Difficult Situations ◽  
Silver Lining

Many proverbs seem to convey wisdom because they help people to reframe life's predicaments. Positive reframes, such as Every cloud has a silver lining, often draw positive implications from adverse circumstances (cf. “positive reappraisals,” “gain frames”). In contrast, negative reframes, such as All that glitters is not gold, provide helpful warnings about difficult situations, and therefore encourage proactive coping (cf. “problem-focused coping”). This study examined the validity of the distinction between positive and negative reframes and whether the distinction applies to proverbs. Six judges categorized 199 proverbs as positive or negative reframes. Results showed that the positive reframes were rated by college students as more pleasant, conceptually simpler, and more familiar than the negative reframes. Further, proverbs that were composed by students were of higher quality when they were positive rather than negative reframes. On the other hand, positive and negative reframes occurred similarly often among the 199 proverbs, and did not differ consistently in rated truth, rated imagery arousal, or reading grade level. We concluded that many proverbs can be regarded as positive or negative reframes, which constitute basic thinking strategies that help people cope with life's challenges.

Comedy and the Performative Politics of Brexit

2021 ◽  
pp. 652-664
Author(s):  
James Brassett
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Important Case ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Political Consensus ◽  
Everyday Resistance ◽  
Sociological Approaches

The chapter engages the outpouring of Brexit comedy as an important case study of the politics of humor. On one hand, the literature on comedy and politics has identified the subversive potential of jokes as a form of everyday resistance. On the other hand, sociological approaches have emphasized the role of stereotype and humiliation in jokes as part of a disciplinary function of humor. Building on these insights, the chapter reads prominent debates within comedy about Brexit as a vernacular form of politics. Jokes and satire perform and reperform discourses of identity. The chapter argues we should rephrase “Brexit comedy” or “the comedy of Brexit” as a socially consequential practice that teases at the (changing) social and political consensus.

scholarly journals Motivation and Autonomy in Learning English as Foreign Language: A Case Study of Ecuadorian College Students

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Cevallos Bravo ◽  
Eder A. Intriago ◽  
Jhonny Villafuerte Holguin ◽  
Gustavo Molina Garzon ◽  
Luis Ortega Arcia
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
English Language ◽  
English As Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Attitudes ◽  
Correct Pronunciation ◽  
Different Levels

This quantitative research aims to examine how different levels of motivation relate to frequency of occurrence of autonomous language learning activities undertaken by undergraduate students. Eight hundred and sixty-two college students from 10 vocational training programs of a public university located in Ecuador, South America, participated in this study. Spratt’s questionnaire that regards ‘autonomy and motivation’ as a cyclical interaction in the language learning process, was updated by the researchers, adding digital education elements. The data were analyzed using the program SPSS v24.0.0 The results showed that there was a significant relationship between: the language learning stimulation generated by professors and the participants’ learning attitudes. In addition, it was determined that the most frequent language practices in which the participants showed greatest autonomy were: listening to songs in English language, worrying about the correct pronunciation, and noting down interesting words or expressions in English.

scholarly journals DIGITAL LITERACY OF SOCIAL MEDIA USERS IN MEDAN CITY IN FACING HOAX

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (15) ◽  
pp. 97-113
Author(s):  
Yovita Sabarina Sitepu ◽  
Hendra Harahap ◽  
Februati Trimurni
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Global Democracy ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Quantitative Descriptive ◽  
Descriptive Method

Hoax and digitalization have become a threat to global democracy. During this pandemic, WhatsApp in collaboration with the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) has been successfully taken down 1, 759 hoaxes spreading on social media. Thus hoax content is circulating from January 23 to October 18, 2020. This study examines the literacy capability of social media users in Medan City in facing misinformation (Hoax). The purpose of this study is to describe the knowledge of social media users in Medan City regarding hoaxes; describing the process of spreading hoaxes among social media users in Medan City, as well as to identify the types of hoaxes mostly received and spread by social media users. The quantitative descriptive method is used in this study The samples of this study amount to 250 respondents selected in the accidental method. The results obtained from the aforementioned respondents show that respondents agreed that hoax is ‘a deliberate fake news. They stated that they had not been forwarding ‘splashy news’ that they received and do fact-check. On the other hand, when asked about why the ‘splashy news’ was forwarded, the respondents reasoned that they received the news from someone they trusted. In addition, the respondents each stated that they thought the news was useful as they believed the news to be true. The types of hoaxes most frequently received include lucky draws, socio-politics, governance, and health.

scholarly journals STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF USING “DICTIONARY POCKET” AS A MEDIUM TO IMPROVE THEIR VOCABULARY MASTERY

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 319
Author(s):  
Titi Mariah ◽  
Yanti Yusanti ◽  
Ula Nisa El Fauziah
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Learning To Read ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Descriptive Method

Vocabulary known as an essential skill for learning to read, speak, write and listen. It is important to find the appropriate technique in order to improve students’ vocabulary mastery. The researchers did research with focuses on students’ perception towards using “dictionary pocket” in order to improve their vocabulary mastery. It was conducted using a qualitative descriptive method. To collect the data, the researchers use the instruments of an open-ended questionnaire and interview section. The samples were 36 students of second grade from Broadcasting major at SMK Negeri 1 Cimahi. The result of the questionnaire shows that it was found that almost all of the students feel that with learn vocabulary can be easier when they use the technique of remembering dictionary pocket. They also agree that dictionary pocket is an appropriate technique which is used to learn vocabulary. In the other hand, the result of interview shows, the students concede that they are feel helped and being motivated. It can be sum up that dictionary pocket is suitable to strengthen their vocabulary mastery. Dictionary pocket is useful enough because it can help them when they forget the word.

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