scholarly journals Error Analysis of Students Essays: A Case of First Year Students of the University of Health and Allied Sciences

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
Benjamin Amoakohene
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Error Analysis ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Communicative Skills ◽  
Daunting Task ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
The University

Writing is considered as a daunting task in second language learning. It is argued by most scholars that this challenge is not only limited to second language speakers of English but even to those who speak English as their first language. Thus, the ability to communicate effectively in English by both native and non-native speakers requires intensive and specialized instruction. Due to the integral role that writing plays in students’ academic life, academic literacy has garnered considerable attention in several English-medium universities in which Ghanaian universities are no exception. It is therefore surprising that prominence is not given to Academic Writing and Communicative Skills at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS). In this paper, I argue for much time and space to be given to Academic Writing and Communicative Skills, a programme that seeks to train students to acquire the needed skills and competence in English for their academic and professional development. This argument is based on the findings that came out after I explored the errors in a corpus of 50 essays written by first year students of  UHAS. The findings revealed that after going through the Communicative Skills programme for two semesters, students still have serious challenges of writing error-free texts. Out of the 50 scripts that were analyzed, 1,050 errors were detected. The study further revealed that 584 (55.6%) of these errors were related to grammatical errors, 442 (42.1%) were mechanical errors and 24 (2.3%) of the errors detected were linked to the poor structuring of  sentences. Based on these findings, recommendations and implications which are significant to educators, policy makers and curriculum developers are provided. This study has implications for pedagogy and further research in error analysis. 

scholarly journals Engaging Students in Error Analysis and Correction: A learner-Centered Approach to Improving Linguistic Accuracy

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 35-49
Author(s):  
Evariste Manirakiza ◽  
Innocent Hakizimana
Keyword(s):  
Error Analysis ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
First Year ◽  
College Of Agriculture ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
New Words ◽  
Writing Class ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
The University ◽  
Animal Sciences

Students frequently commit errors despite spending huge amount of time studying language. This paper discusses a classroom-based teaching inquiry about error analysis and correction. The study focused on the use of simple past in paragraphs. The objectives of the investigation were to understand the extent to which dealing with students’ errors in a leaner-centered classroom improves accuracy in English and to assess students’ attitudes to the approach in language learning. The inquiry involved 62 first-year students from the College of Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Rwanda. Individual and group work, a questionnaire and class observations were data collection tools. Findings revealed that the majority of students significantly improved their writing as a result of analyzing their errors in written work. In addition, students reported that correcting errors together gave them confidence and freedom to explore their language use more freely, to discuss their errors, to learn new words in their field of study, and to avoid repeating error while writing. Class observations showed that students were discussing and listening to each other’s opinions attentively and critically. The researchers concluded that students acquire more language accuracy when they are deeply involved in error analysis as they feel motivated and responsible for their own learning.

scholarly journals Independent learner strategies to improve second language academic writing in an online course

2021 ◽  
pp. 184-188
Author(s):  
Olivia Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Online Course ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Course Work ◽  
Independent Learner ◽  
The University

This article explores how 40 first-year students in a compulsory English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course undertook written tasks during a semester suddenly undertaken online. The university in Japan described here provided on-demand lessons via the Learning Management System (LMS) during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Students prepared three-minute reflective videos as part of their course work describing their strategies to improve their second language (L2) academic writing and their perceptions of how these strategies affected their learning. These videos were transcribed, coded, and analysed. The use of Machine Translation (MT) to proofread work before submission was used by 58% of the participants, of whom 45% report improved assignment grades and higher levels of confidence in their L2 writing skills. Results suggest that learners should be encouraged to use MT for this step in the L2 academic writing process.

scholarly journals Academic Writing and the Internet: Cyber-Plagiarism amongst University Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 112
Author(s):  
Nechita Olivia-Dumitrina ◽  
Montserrat Casanovas ◽  
Yolanda Capdevila
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
The Internet ◽  
First Year ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Copy And Paste ◽  
Faculty Of Education ◽  
Education Psychology ◽  
The University

This research aims to present a number of findings on the perception that university students have on academic plagiarism. Data has been collected on the procedures of copy and paste, paraphrase, translation, as well as the need for citation of resources taken from the Internet. This study was carried out at the University of Lleida (UdL), via an online questionnaire administered to 1150 first-year students. The results show similar figures in the understanding of plagiarism with respect to two procedures: copy and paste (69.3%) and paraphrase (68.3%). In the case of translation, the figure is higher with 82.1% of students considering that translating a text is plagiarism. Regarding the need to cite digital sources, 13.6% argue it is not necessary. When analysing the results according to the different faculties and affiliated schools, no pattern of behaviour has been detected in relation to the typology of the degree students were enrolled in, but a trend towards different behaviours can be observed in the two faculties in which students have received specific training within the framework of subjects of their degrees (Faculty of Nursing and Physiotherapy and Faculty of Education, Psychology and Social Work). In these cases, the figures related to acknowledging plagiarism procedures are higher and so is the percentage of students who say that resources taken from the Internet should be cited. This leads us to conclude, in line with other studies that have dealt with the same subject, that training is key to tackling the issue of plagiarism in higher education.

Refining Contrapuntal Pedagogy: Reflections on Teaching Warsan Shire’s “Home” and W.H. Auden’s “Refugee Blues” to First-Year Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget Grogan
Keyword(s):  
Racial Identity ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Poetic Voice ◽  
Teaching Poetry ◽  
Approach To Teaching ◽  
The University ◽  
The Way

This article reports on and discusses the experience of a contrapuntal approach to teaching poetry, explored during 2016 and 2017 in a series of introductory poetry lectures in the English 1 course at the University of Johannesburg. Drawing together two poems—Warsan Shire’s “Home” and W.H. Auden’s “Refugee Blues”—in a week of teaching in each year provided an opportunity for a comparison that encouraged students’ observations on poetic voice, racial identity, transhistorical and transcultural human experience, trauma and empathy. It also provided an opportunity to reflect on teaching practice within the context of decoloniality and to acknowledge the need for ongoing change and review in relation to it. In describing the contrapuntal teaching and study of these poems, and the different methods employed in the respective years of teaching them, I tentatively suggest that canonical Western and contemporary postcolonial poems may reflect on each other in unique and transformative ways. I further posit that poets and poems that engage students may open the way into initially “less relevant” yet ultimately rewarding poems, while remaining important objects of study in themselves.

Criteria and indicators associated with adaptation to the educational process of first-year students at the university

2021 ◽  
pp. 87-93
Author(s):  
Evgeniya N. Popova
Keyword(s):  
Research Topic ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
First Year ◽  
Higher Education Research ◽  
Adaptation Process ◽  
Adaptive Potential ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Self Development ◽  
The University

The issue of adaptation of modern first-year students to the educational process at the university is one of the current pedagogical tasks. Successful adaptation significantly affects the quality of received education, the degree of formation of personal and professional qualities, contributes to the development of motivation, self-education, and self-development. The purpose of the research is to substantiate the criteria, indicators, and levels of adaptation of first-year students to the learning process at the university. The material for the study was the domestic scientific sources of studying the peculiarities of the adaptation process of students to educational activities in higher education. Research methods: analysis and generalization of psychological-pedagogical and educational-methodical literature on the research topic. We determine as the main criteria for the adaptation of first-year students to the university, the adaptive potential and professionally important qualities of students, consider these concepts, their structure, and their basic properties. On the basis of the analysis and generalization of the existing indicators of the implementation of the adaptive potential, we formulate the author's indicators for determining the level of its development. The degree of formation of professionally important qualities of students are low, medium, and high levels of development of emotional intelligence, negative communicative attitude, intellectual lability, and stress tolerance.

Analsis e-learning status in Palestinian universities, a case study of Palestine Technical University KadoorieTulkarm

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 154-178
Author(s):  
Heba Almbayed
Keyword(s):  
Learning System ◽  
Simple Random Sample ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Academic Level ◽  
Computer Course ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Technical University ◽  
Palestinian Universities ◽  
The University

The study aimed to analyze the reality of e-learning at Palestine Technical University-Khudouri/Tulkarem, and to identify the most important challenges facing students when using the education system, as well as to analyze the extent to which university students interact with the e-learning system, and to show the differences between the average opinions of the study sample on e-learning according to the study variables due to the nature of the study, the descriptive analytical approach was used, in order to reach practical results, and to achieve and analyze the reality of e-learning  a questionnaire consisting of (34) paragraphs was designed, where the study community consisted of (6,559) students, and a simple random sample of (522) students was taken, and the questionnaire was distributed electronically because it was not able to be distributed manually due to the prevailing conditions _ the spread of the Corona pandemic- at the time of the preparation of the study. The results of the study showed that (63.136%) of the researched believe that the reality of e-learning at the university suffers from different problems. The study indicated that (87.97%) among respondents, complaints have increased in the e-learning system after the Corona pandemic and that (81.36%) among the researchers, the infrastructure was one of the most barriers in e-learning. While (63.934%)of the researched that e-learning has a role to play in achieving Interaction among students, as the results of the study showed no differences Statistically significant to the reality of e-learning according to the gender variable, and there are no differences depending on the variable of the scientific qualification except in the field of e-learning reality, there are also no differences Statistics according to the variable of the academic level ,except for the field of Interaction with students. In the light of the results of the study, a series of recommendations were made, the most prominent of which were: 1.Include an e-learning system item in The computer course assigned as a university requirement for first-year students 2. Provide opportunities to train and develop the capabilities of all educational parties to use and apply E-learning.

scholarly journals Bridging the Gap: Understanding the Differing Research Expectations of First-Year Students and Professor

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meg Raven
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
Research Students ◽  
Time Required ◽  
Instruction Strategies ◽  
Research Instruction ◽  
The University

Objective: This study sought to better understand the research expectations of first-year students upon beginning university study, and how these expectations differed from those of their professors. Most academic librarians observe that the research expectations of these two groups differ considerably and being able to articulate where these differences are greatest may help us provided more focused instruction, and allow us to work more effectively with professors and student support services. Methods: 317 first-year undergraduate students and 75 professors at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, NS were surveyed to determine what they each expected of first-year student research. Students were surveyed on the first day of term so as to best understand their research expectations as they transitioned from high school to university. Results: The gulf between student and professor research expectations was found to be considerable, especially in areas such as time required for reading and research, and the resources necessary to do research. While students rated their preparedness for university as high, they also had high expectations related to their ability to use non-academic sources. Not unexpectedly, the majority of professors believed that students are not prepared to do university-level research, they do not take enough responsibility for their own learning, they should use more academic research sources, and read twice as much as students believe they should. Conclusions: By better understanding differing research expectations, students can be guided very early in their studies about appropriate academic research practices, and librarians and professors can provide students with improved research instruction. Strategies for working with students, professors and the university community are discussed.

scholarly journals Alcohol and substance use among first-year students at the University of Nairobi, Kenya: Prevalence and patterns

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (8) ◽  
pp. e0238170
Author(s):  
Catherine Mawia Musyoka ◽  
Anne Mbwayo ◽  
Dennis Donovan ◽  
Muthoni Mathai
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
The University
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