Management, Social Sciences & Humanities

Use of Computer Assisted Language Learning for Improving Esl Learners` Academic Writing Skills

2023-04-26T11:44:27Z

Use of Computer Assisted Language Learning for Improving Esl Learners` Academic Writing Skills Walisundara, WMUSK Poor performance in academic writing skills, lack of innovative strategies and technology for language teaching and learning (Embogama, 2010, Maharoof, 2014, Ratwawatte, 2012) are some of the major areas which should be focused when teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) learners. Therefore, the main focus of the current study was to find out the effectiveness of developing academic writing skills among ESL learners in a Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) environment. For the study setting, the researcher chose one of the state universities in Sri Lanka where the language lecturers do not use CALL to maximize the language learning opportunities for undergraduates off campus. To achieve the purpose of the study, an experimental study was designed, and it was conducted for eleven weeks which had randomly selected 54 second year undergraduates in the sample. Then the participants were randomly assigned for experimental and control groups. Those who were in the experimental group worked in CALL while the control group worked in class. The data were analyzed using mix method approach. The findings indicate that both learning modes have advantages for improving academic writing skills. Thus the introduction of blended learning is recommended while successfully addressing issues in both learning modes. It is believed that the knowledge obtained in this study can make contributions to the field of CALL and applied linguistics.

Using Visual Spatial Intelligence Based Activities to Develop Writing Skills

2023-04-26T11:13:45Z

Using Visual Spatial Intelligence Based Activities to Develop Writing Skills Kothalawala, TD; Kothalawala, CJ Lack of interest and motivation on writing activities can be noticed among undergraduates, and it hinders the development of their writing skills. The focus of this study is to explore the effectiveness of the use of visual spatial intelligence based activities to motivate undergraduates to develop writing skills. The participants of this study included 39 undergraduates selected randomly. A pre-test was conducted to measure the students` existing proficiency of essay writing skills. Among the 39 students, 54% earned less than 09 marks out of 20. Most of the students` essays did not have a clear introduction. Further, other common planning and structure errors include poor structure with little or no linking expressions, weak or non-existent topic sentence, the absence of examples to support the main idea. In addition, lack of motivation to complete the given writing task was also observed. As a remedy an intervention was designed including visual spatial intelligence based writing activities which were different from traditional lecturing. To measure the effectiveness of the intervention, a post-test was conducted. The results appeared positive in various aspects. The statistical analysis of students` pre and post test marks showed that there was a significant difference between the mean scores of the pre-test (M= 9.833, SD= 2.3657) and the mean score of the posttest (M= 15.08, SD= 1.620), t (38) = (-20.663, P = .00 < .05 (two tailed). The post-test results indicated that visual spatial intelligence based essay writing activities were effective in developing the undergraduates` essay writing skills. Further, the students were enthusiastic in completing the given essay writing tasks due to visual prompts, which led them to conduct research on the given topic, brainstorm and write rich contents in their essays. This study shows that using visual spatial intelligencebased teaching techniques stimulate thinking ability, which enhances students` performance in essay writing. Visual-spatial intelligence-based teaching techniques can be easily applied in the English language classrooms in which students are demotivated.

Effect of Language Proficiency on Academic Performance: Special Reference to the Undergraduates of General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University

2023-04-26T11:10:12Z

Effect of Language Proficiency on Academic Performance: Special Reference to the Undergraduates of General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University Saparamadu, KDCIS; Withanage ,RSR; Weeraratna, WMMMJT English language plays an important role in education, obtaining employment and even gaining power and special privileges in Sri Lanka. With the introduction of Official Languages Act of 1956, prominence given to English became a downfall. The shift towards the mother tongue in school education lead to offering degrees in Sinhala and Tamil medium in tertiary level education. However, most of the BSc and MBBS degrees continued to be conducted in the English medium. This research examines the effect of English Language proficiency of the undergraduates on their academic performances. The study was carried out in General Sir John Kothalawala Defence University (KDU) based on a self-administered questionnaire and a test paper. The sample was 50 civil Engineering undergraduates at the faculty of Engineering (FOE). The study showed that the students who have done their secondary education in English medium (20% of the target group) performed well in the test paper and believed that their medium of study during A/L was a good platform to their degree programme. The remaining (80%) have achieved low marks for the given test paper. They preferred to have participated in an English intensive course before they started academics even though they have obtained good grades at Advanced Level General English. Thus, it was proven that language proficiency is a decisive factor in academic performances especially during the 1st year. It was also found that as they progress through semesters, they become competent and comfortable with the language which lead to a positive impact in academic performances.

Disaster Management, Measures and Facts in India: Needs to Improve

2023-04-26T11:12:45Z

Disaster Management, Measures and Facts in India: Needs to Improve Reshmi, Sharad N 'Disaster` is defined as a crisis situation causing wide spread damage which far exceeds our ability to recover. Thus, by definition, there cannot be a perfect ideal system thatprevents damage, because then it would not be a disaster. It has to