SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW: USING ENGLISH MOVIES TO DEVELOP ESL LEARNERS’ SPEAKING CONFIDENCE

Can English movies improve ESL learners’ speaking confidence? What are the suggested ways to implement English movies in acquiring speaking confidence for ESL learners? The main goal of the review is to study how English movies can aid ESL learners in higher education who struggle with speaking confidence. The search phrases used in these databases were “English movies” AND “confidence” and “English movies” AND “speaking” in order to acquire a list of relevant research. The first aspect that we will discuss in this review is the issue of low speaking confidence that is usually caused by language anxiety, lack of self-esteem and fear of judgement among other reasons. The articles collected represent language learners from different age ranges such as young kindergarten learners until university level learners. In addition to that, we will also investigate further into the research from the databases available for English movies that can be utilized as instructional aid for ESL learners to acquire speaking confidence. To find relevant research publications, four databases were used: ProQuest, Science Direct, Scopus and JSTOR. The review was carried out by using the UMS Library's access to subscribed databases. As part of this systematic review, we devised a search strategy to collect relevant literature. Researchers over the years have differing opinions on the current situation. The majority of the study indicates that language learners often struggled from speaking anxiety and fear of public speaking whether it is due to judgement of others or their own limited speaking abilities. We have mapped the literature to enable readers to understand the lessons from past literature that can be learned as well as provide a future agenda to the issue.

The impact of instructional aids on academic achievement of biology students in higher institutions of learning in Potiskum Local Government Area, Yobe State

In this study, attempts was made to examine the influence of audio-visual instructional aid on students’ academic achievement in Biology in some selected higher institutions of learning in Yobe State. There is an urgent need to improve the quality of education to bridge the gap between developed and developing nations, and audio visual instruction is considered as a necessary tool for this purpose the objectives of the study was to identify the forms of instructional aids provided in higher institutions, to determine the utilization of instructional aids by teachers of higher institutions of learning, to determine the impact of instructional aids on academic achievement of Biology major students in higher institutions of learning to identify the challenges associated with instructional aids used by Biology teachers in higher institutions of learning in Potiskum Local government area Yobe state. The population of the study comprises of 500 Biology students’ from the following schools, Federal College of Education (technical) Potiskum and College of administration Management and Technology (CAMTECH) Potiskum. Twenty (20) Biology teachers representing the entire population of biology teachers in the two institution was used in the study. The instrument for data collection was Biology achievement test (pat) and structured questionnaire. Fifteen (15) items Biology achievement test (pat) was constructed from topics in the Biology curriculum. The data collected was analyzed using mean, standard deviation. Scores of different groups was computed. Results of the experimentation was used to answer research question. The result shows that the schools lacks functional audio materials for teaching biology at efficient level, the mean and standard deviation of 3.48 and 1.65 is an indication that there is no functional audio materials for effective teaching and learning Biology in the selected institutions. Where there is poor or no available audio materials the rate of utilization is basically not feasible. Similarly audio visual materials are not in use. the use of instructional materials in teaching Biology in the selected higher institutions shows a positive result, it is obvious that electricity and access to the instructional aid is not a problem in the schools but the main challenges faced by the teachers are inadequate lecture period that will warrant the use of audio-visual materials in teaching, poor or no constant monitoring of the lesson by the school administrators, lack of instruction assistant to help the teachers in fixing this gadgets before and during the lecture has contributed immensely to poor academic performance of the students in the selected higher institutions respectively. Technical know-how is a factor of concern poor knowledge of the gadgets by the teachers and the assistant is also a point of concern.

Incorporating Virtual Reality Training in an Introductory Public Speaking Course

This study presents the results of two studies using a virtual reality (VR) public-speaking training simulation as an instructional aid in a basic communication course. Results from the first study suggest that VR practice was associated with higher subsequent speech delivery grades in the course compared to no practice. However, VR practice did not reduce public speaking anxiety (PSA). In a follow-up study, VR practice was compared with other forms of lab-based practice including in front of a mirror and a recorded video session. All forms of lab practice (VR, mirror, or video) were associated with higher speech grades than no practice, but there were no differences between lab-practice conditions in terms of outcomes. Results are discussed in terms of adopting and using virtual public-speaking simulations in large undergraduate public-speaking courses.

Smartphone Apps for Teaching Engineering Courses: Experience and Scope

Smartphone apps have lately emerged as a potent instructional aid for teaching engineering courses. Teaching engineering courses often involve explaining complex problems that require creative solutions to students who are typically tech-savvy. This article reviews 10 smartphone apps that have been developed to teach engineering courses. The apps have been used to teach a wide range of engineering courses at undergraduate and graduate levels in classroom and laboratory environments. The apps help students to solve engineering problems by means of simulation and experimentation. They use techniques varying from algorithm visualization to augmented reality to enrich the courses. This article also provides suggestions on how to develop and use smartphone apps for teaching engineering courses. It is recommended that the developers of such apps pay special attention to their content, user interface, dissemination, and integration with the curriculum to get the best result.

Incorporating Culture into Listening Comprehension Through Presentation of Movies

The use of movie videos as an instructional aid in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) should be encouraged due to various pedagogical benefits. This article attempts to suggest a technique of utilizing movies in English listening classes in order to improve the aural perception skills of the learners. It comprises three stages:previewing, viewing, and postviewing. In the previewing stage, learners read a bried description of the theme of the movies to activate their prior knowledge, guess the meaning of certain keywords presented in sentential contexts, or familiarize-either with or without any subtitles-and while doing so they are supposed to answer several questions in written form. Finally, the learners are enganged into a postviewing activity in the form of contrasting cultures reflected in the movies. This technique of teaching listening has proved to be effective in developing listening skills in a foreign language and sentizing them to the target culture, which is an inseparable aspect of language learning.

Engineering Elephants: Introducing Young Children to Engineering

ABSTRACTIn this study, the authors focused on children from 2-8 years of age and asked the simple question: what do engineers do? The number one response was: “I don’t know”, the number two response was “they drive a train.” While children are very familiar with professionals such as doctors, teachers, nurses, firefighters and policemen, they are rarely introduced to engineers. With this motivation, the authors developed a novel children’s book on engineering: Engineering Elephants. This book is an outreach tool that introduces children to the dynamic world of engineering design through roller coasters, fireworks, and a plethora of other exciting adventures. The book teaches children about relevant topics such as nanotechnology, renewable energy, and prosthetics by engaging them through an interactive journey of an elephant and his questioning of the world around him. The text was strategically developed using the language of science (asking questions) and introducing vocabulary relevant to science and math using a lyrical pattern. This presentation will highlight the development of this book as an instructional aid but also detail the response of various age groups to engineering activities presented as a companion to this book. In particular, an elementary school district in West Texas designed a 4-5th grade 3-week summer school curriculum around this book. Results from this study will have an impact on future generations by inspiring them to consider the exciting profession of engineering at an early age.