An investigation into first year engineering students' oral classroom participation : a case study
The case study was conducted in order to see how the use of English as the medium of instructions has affected the students’ oral participation in Creativity and Innovation and also Effective Communication classes. The study was also conducted to find out the factors which influenced studentsâ€...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2007
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/6469/1/ZainalAbidinMFP2007.pdf |
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| Summary: | The case study was conducted in order to see how the use of English as the
medium of instructions has affected the students’ oral participation in Creativity and
Innovation and also Effective Communication classes. The study was also conducted
to find out the factors which influenced students’ oral participation and the strategies
used when participating. Using observation, interview, and survey, the data were
collected from 146 first-year Engineering students. The study revealed that students
who were good in the language tended to dominate the discussions compared to
students who were less proficient. The findings of the study also suggested that more
students used English in the Effective Communication classes compared to in the
Creativity and Innovation classes. However, in Creativity and Innovation classes, the
possibilities of students to initiate the discussions were higher. It was also found that
the students asked more questions and were more willing to give comments and
opinions compared to in Effective Communication classes. While responding to
questions was not a problem, the study showed that in both classes, students did not
like to ask questions during the lessons. The study also suggested that there was a
tendency for students who liked to participate to sit at the front of the class and those
who did not would sit at the back of the class. The study also revealed that factors
which influenced students’ classroom participation were interrelated. The identified 5
interrelated factors were linguistic, pedagogical, cognitive, affective, and sociocultural.
Apart from that, the study was also able to identify 7 strategies used by
students when taking part in class discussions. The strategies were mentally
practicing and rehearsing on what to say, writing down the ideas before reading it to
the class, confirming on what to say with friends sitting next to them, focusing on the
content rather than on the language, ensuring what they wanted to say was correct,
preparing notes and questions before entering a class, and waiting for other students
to participate first so that they could form their opinions or answers. |
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