Increasing Retention of Linguistically-Disadvantaged College Students in South Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 146-180
Author(s):  
Denise Carpenter Mussman ◽  
Venicia F. McGhie
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Historically Black ◽  
English Language ◽  
Academic Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
The Self ◽  
Written Feedback ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Course Assessment ◽  
Historically Black University

This chapter discusses a two-week pre-semester course in English academic language skills to improve learning outcomes of second and additional English language speaking students at a historically Black university in South Africa, a country that faces tremendous challenges with educational inequities. Prof. Venicia McGhie created and organized the program, and Dr. Denise C. Mussman taught the course content. This chapter reports on and discusses the challenges that cause many students to fail or dropout of higher education studies, the curriculum of the pilot course, assessment results, and written feedback from students on which lessons helped them most. The smaller class size, speaking activities, and explicit lessons on grammar and writing all contributed positively to the self-efficacy of the students.

Improving English L2 Writing in Web Communication: Can Peer Feedback Help?

Fachsprache ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 94-121
Author(s):  
Marian Flanagan ◽  
Carmen Heine
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Peer Feedback ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Teacher Feedback ◽  
Written Feedback ◽  
Feedback Process ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Web Communication

As teachers of English as a second language (L2) in web communication, our aim is to help L2 students improve their spoken and written English language skills. Teacher feedback has been shown to do this in some cases. However, only using teacher feedback can put huge pressure on the teacher, both in terms of time and resources. This paper describes and discusses our attempt at introducing peer feedback as an additional way of providing students with feedback on their English writing. Before conducting this study, we did not know if peer feedback would be feasible in our teaching environment or whether it would benefit the students and teachers. Our aim was to establish a status quo of our students’ abilities in providing and implementing peer feedback. We introduced peer-feedback tasks and focused on the types of feedback provided by the students, the phrasing of the feedback, both when implemented and not implemented by the students, and the types of revisions made by the students. Our findings allowed us to develop peer-feedback process guidelines for web communication as a way towards improving written feedback processes in higher education, and hopefully for others to adapt and implement in their own communication classrooms.

A pilot study of Supplemental Instruction for at-risk students at an Historically Black University (HBU) in South Africa

AILA Review ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 52-61
Author(s):  
Constance Zulu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Historically Black ◽  
Kansas City ◽  
Student Perception ◽  
Supplemental Instruction ◽  
Assistance Program ◽  
Historically Black University ◽  
Legal Method ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The University

This article discusses a pilot investigation conducted between February and May 2002. The aim of this investigation was to assess the efficacy of the Supplemental Instruction (SI) program — which has a proven track record elsewhere — at an historically black university in South Africa. SI is an academic assistance program which was developed at the University of Missouri- Kansas City in 1973 by Deanna C. Martin and subsequently adopted countrywide and in other parts of the world. The pilot was conducted on a population of first year law students registered for an introductory module, “Introduction to South African Legal Method and Theory”. Two questions were investigated: 1. Does SI have an effect on students’ mastery of content? 2. Does SI have an effect on students’ perceptions of their mastery of skills? Three measures were used to explore these questions, namely pre and posttests of content mastery; student perception of skill mastery and end of course grades. Although there was no significant difference on the mastery of course content between SI and Non-SI participants, it was found that higher SI attendance rates resulted in slightly higher mean grades, suggesting that SI may have had some impact on the final course end grades. A significant difference at the .03 level was found between the mean grades of students who attended 4 or more sessions and those who attended 1–3 sessions. The investigation also revealed that a number of barriers and challenges need to be addressed for a successful SI program to be implemented at the university.

scholarly journals Student Perceptions of Various E-Learning Components

10.28945/3204 ◽  
2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Buzzetto-More
Keyword(s):  
Learning Community ◽  
Historically Black ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Historically Black University ◽  
Online Submission ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Electronic Technologies ◽  
Comprehensive Study

Learning that is facilitated by electronic technologies, otherwise known as e-Leaming, can be either fully online, mixed mode (also known as hybrid), or web assisted; however, regardless of the delivery method, there are numerous tools and features at the disposal of students and instructors, and it is important for the e-learning community to examine both preferences and usage of these features. This paper presents the findings of a comprehensive study that examined the elearning perceptions and preferences of students enrolled at a historically black university. During this study a series of courses were specially designed to be intensive hybrid learning experiences. The Blackboard CE 6 Course Management System was adopted and paper-less learning experiences created. The results of the analysis indicate that students find course Websites to be helpful resources that enhance the understanding of course content, and that these Websites will continue to have an impact on higher education in the future. The examination of individual e-learning components indicated that students responded favorably to most available features. The strongest preference noted in this study was towards the online submission of assignments, with students overwhelmingly noting that they like having the ability to check their assignment grades online.

Anxiety in academic speaking situations among EFL majors: a case study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-132
Author(s):  
Biljana Radić-Bojanić ◽  
Jagoda Topalov
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
The Self ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Speaking Anxiety ◽  
Response Variable ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Perceived Difficulty ◽  
Language And Literature

Abstract In the study reported a total of 145 students pursuing the academic title of a BA in English language and literature were tested with the aim of establishing which explanatory variables have the independent power to explain the level of English language speaking anxiety. The instrument used in the study was taken from Yaikhong et al. (2012) and adapted for the purposes of the current investigation. The response variable in the study was the average level of anxiety measured by means of the questionnaire, whereas the explanatory variables included gender, the year of study, the number of presentations students gave during the course of their studies, the grade in language skills, the expected grade, the self-perceived proficiency and the perceived difficulty of the English language. The results reveal that gender, the expected grade and the self-perceived proficiency can account for the variation in the levels of anxiety among students. The paper ends with suggestions of interventions for helping students cope with the negative effects of anxiety on their speaking performance and learning experiences.

Improving English L2 Writing in Web Communication: Can Peer Feedback Help?

Fachsprache ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 94-121
Author(s):  
Marian Flanagan ◽  
Carmen Heine
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Peer Feedback ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Teacher Feedback ◽  
Written Feedback ◽  
Feedback Process ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Web Communication

As teachers of English as a second language (L2) in web communication, our aim is to help L2 students improve their spoken and written English language skills. Teacher feedback has been shown to do this in some cases. However, only using teacher feedback can put huge pressure on the teacher, both in terms of time and resources. This paper describes and discusses our attempt at introducing peer feedback as an additional way of providing students with feedback on their English writing. Before conducting this study, we did not know if peer feedback would be feasible in our teaching environment or whether it would benefit the students and teachers. Our aim was to establish a status quo of our students’ abilities in providing and implementing peer feedback. We introduced peer-feedback tasks and focused on the types of feedback provided by the students, the phrasing of the feedback, both when implemented and not implemented by the students, and the types of revisions made by the students. Our findings allowed us to develop peer-feedback process guidelines for web communication as a way towards improving written feedback processes in higher education, and hopefully for others to adapt and implement in their own communication classrooms.

scholarly journals Academic English is No One’s Mother Tongue: Graduate and Undergraduate Students’ Academic English Language-learning Needs from Students’ and Instructors’ Perspectives

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Li-Shih Huang
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Academic Language ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Academic English ◽  
Support Unit ◽  
Academic Communication

A research project designed to assess English-as-first-language (EL1) and English-as-an-additional-language (EAL) undergraduate and graduate students’ academic language-learning needs in the context of an academic language-support unit was conducted. This paper reports findings pertaining to 370 EL1 students and 88 instructors at the graduate and undergraduate levels. These participants responded to questionnaires, which requested them to rate the importance of academic language skills, to assess their own or their students’ skill status, and to respond to open-ended questions regarding their own or their students’ academic communication challenges. In addition to reporting EL1 students’ perceived needs and assessments of their skills, a comparison of findings between EL1 and EAL contexts is presented. Findings point to a match between instructors and students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels in their perceptions of important academic language skills, but a great divergence in their assessments of students’ competence in those skills. These findings indicate a need to re-examine the divide often made in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programmes regarding divergent needs of EAL versus EL1 learners as well as to determine whether the convergence of their needs can be considered when planning EAP courses or workshops, especially during challenging economic times, when priorities must be set in response to the rise of international EAL student enrolment in English-speaking countries.

Depression among University Students in South Africa

2002 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 725-728 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. L. Pillay ◽  
S. D. Edwards ◽  
S. Q. Gambu ◽  
R. M. Dhlomo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
University Students ◽  
Historically Black ◽  
Beck Depression Inventory ◽  
First Year ◽  
Older Students ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Historically Black University

Of 129 first-year students at an historically Black university students in psychology reported significantly less depression than nonpsychology students, and younger students reported significantly lower scores on depression than older students on the Beck Depression Inventory.

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