THE EFFECT OF DIARY WRITING ON EFL STUDENTS’ WRITING AND LANGUAGE ABILITIES (Published)
In the field of teaching EFL students the process of writing an essay, this study was conducted to investigate the influence of diary writing on the students’ writing and language abilities. 52 student participants enrolled in two Advanced Writing classes wrote a daily diary for 14 weeks. During this period, they were given essay writing lessons, and were asked to write four essays throughout the semester. At the end of the semester, the students were given an open-ended questionnaire requesting information about the students’ method of diary writing and its benefits. The analysis of the data obtained showed that the students’ language abilities significantly improved especially the grammar and vocabulary. The students also reported their satisfaction in the free-writing method which allowed them to learn more on self-expression and organization of ideas. The researchers believe that a skilful writing teacher would be able to provide maximum benefit from this experience. This study is believed to be extremely beneficial to language teachers, and more specifically, EFL writing teachers.
Keywords: EFL, Higher Education, diary writing, journaling, writing
EVALUATING THE STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY IN THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, COLLEGE OF BASIC EDUCATION IN KUWAIT (Published)
In the context of English language programs and the evaluation of such programs, this study analyzes the usefulness of the program taught to English-teachers-to-be students in the English Department, College of Basic Education in Kuwait. Based on the calculation of grades obtained in the initial placement test and a replica test conducted four years later, the change in the students’ language proficiency was measured. The paper reviews the results of the 50 participant students in both tests in five main testing categories based on the four language skills. The findings reveal very little improvement in language proficiency, which also seems to be very weak initially for an English teacher. This finding implies a major problem with the current program. Finally, a number of recommendations for program and student improvement for the College of Basic Education, and English programs in other colleges and universities, are considered.
Keywords: Curriculum Design, English Language, Evaluating Language Skills, Evaluation of Program, Higher Education, Testing Language Programs
Towards providing better Distance Education: A roadmap for Universitites in Pakistan (Review Completed - Accepted)
Today, technology has become an essential part of our daily lives and its increasing integration in Higher Education (HE) makes it an essential component of effective teaching and learning process. Where HE is expected to provide strong basis for a knowledge-based economy, access to Higher Education turns out to be the defining block in the whole process. With world witnessing drastic rise in number of students pursuing HE over the last few decades, HE providers seek alternate methods of providing HE to overcome the time and space barriers to delivering HE. What was accomplished via the classroom or lecture hall is now done in ubiquitous environment without any restrictions of time, place, or media through a phenomenon usually referred to as Distance Education (DE). Use of technology in teaching has not only enhanced the learning experience for DE students, it also has addressed time and space obstacles in learning environments throughout the world. While a variety of technologies are available to achieve the goal of providing convenient learning, choosing the right method that go well with cultural, demographic and economical situation is vital to accomplish the sought objectives.
This paper discusses common DE technologies with pros and cons of each mode, presents an overview of various Distance Education methodologies practiced locally and internationally in Higher Education, and identifies various barriers to improving Distance Education in the country. The paper also discusses various challenges to creating a learning community in a DE setting and finally, an improved DE model is proposed for Universities of Pakistan who are opting to start or have already taken initiatives in providing DE.
Keywords: Distance Education, Higher Education, Tele-teaching
Lecturers’ Performance Appraisal and Total Quality Management of Public Universities in South-Western Nigeria (Published)
This paper examined the influence of lecturers’ performance appraisal on total quality management of public universities in South-Western Nigeria. The study cuts across all public universities in South-west Nigeria. It adopted a descriptive research design. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 alpha level. Random sampling technique was used to select 500 lecturers from the ranks osenior lecturers to professors in all the universities. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to analyze the data collected. At the end of the study, it was revealed that there are significant relationship among establishing performance standard, communicating performance standard to the lecturers, assessing lecturers by annual performance appraisal and total quality management in public universities. It was recommended amongst other things that management must ensure the assessment of lecturers’ performance thoroughly and continually in order to improve quality in the lecturers and bring about overall total quality management in public and private universities.
Keywords: Appraisal, Higher Education, Management, Performance, Public Universities, Total quality