Metadiscourse refers to the linguistic element that is used to communicate meanings with imagined readers and to express a viewpoint as members of a particular academic community. Accordingly, this ...study reported the distributions of interactive and interactional metadiscourse markers in a corpus of 99 research articles representing the English language, Computer Sciences, and Education disciplines. To observe the writers’ metadiscourse devices usage in their discourse community, Hyland’s (Metadiscourse: exploring interaction in writing. Continuum, New York, 2005) metadiscourse taxonomy was employed. The data were computed through descriptive statistics, Chi square, Kruskal–Wallis test, and content analysis. Hence, the data revealed that though articles in all disciplines employed both interactive and interactional metadiscourse markers, English Language discipline articles contained highest metadiscourse devices compared with Education and Computer sciences discipline articles. It was also observed that the book review writers used much more interactive markers such as transition and evidential devices than interactional markers. However, among interactional markers, self-mention markers were extensively used. The data also indicated that there was statistically a significant difference across disciplines in using interactive and interactional metadiscourse devices. Hence, these findings implied that academic writing teachers should focus on discipline-oriented metadiscourse devices while teaching academic writing skills.
Engagement is a core issue in language teaching and learning. Without the students’ active involvement in the teaching–learning process, educational objectives could not be achieved. Accordingly, the ...concept of engagement has been the focus of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. This research examined the effects of corpus-based instruction on engineering students’ engagement in academic writing classes. The participants were 77 randomly selected fourth-year mechanical engineering students. The data were gathered through a self-reflective report and a journal and analyzed through an independent t-test, One-Way ANOVA, and narration techniques. The data showed that students who were instructed via corpus-based instruction improved their behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagements better than their counterparts; the experimental group enjoyed the activities and actively participated in different academic writing processes. The data also attested that there was a significant statistical difference between the experimental group and the control group engagements. This research implied that EFL teachers should consider genuine and real-life linguistic features and activities when they design academic writing instruction to enhance their engagement during the instruction.
This study was aimed to investigate the effects of mastery learning instruction on engineering students’ academic writing skills and motivation in an EFL context. The participants were software ...engineering and computer science first-year students, and they were selected using a multistage sampling technique. Observation, a questionnaire, and pre- and post-tests were employed as data gathering instruments. The research was designed through a time series quasi-experimental research design. The data were analysed through repeated measure ANOVA, independent t-tests, as well as descriptive statistics. The findings indicated that there was a statistical difference between the experimental and the control groups. Hence, students who participated in mastery learning instruction improved their writing skills and achieved better scores in writing skills assessment. Particularly, learners who learned through mastery learning instruction were able to develop paragraphs and essays with clear topic sentences and thesis statements. They also developed paragraphs with proper punctuation and minimized various mechanical errors that were observed during the pre-test. Furthermore, the students who engaged in mastery learning instruction had better levels of motivation. Thus, individualized instruction and continuous feedback helped them improve their engagement in writing activities. Hence, this study calls for more attention to self-paced instruction, regular feedback, assessment, and continuous support in writing classrooms.
Anne O’Keeffe and Michael McCarthy. (2010). The Routledge handbook of corpus linguistics. London: Routledge. xxviii. 682 pp., ISBN 13:978–0–415-46,489-5 (hbk), $66.
This research aimed to investigate the communicative English language needs of Holy Trinity Theological College students. To this end, mixed methods approach was undertaken using questionnaires, ...interviews and course book (module) analysis. The participants of the study were students, employees, English course instructors, content area instructors. The samples were chosen through availability and purposive sampling. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were employed to analyse the data. The findings indicate that students used English language to read and understand professional courses, to communicate freely with English speakers, to prepare religious journals, to present papers in seminaries, to translate books, and to preach the Bible abroad. The respondents preferred courses that contain both professional and academic linguistic items and discourses to use the language in their professional and academic contexts. Furthermore, the text evaluation indicated that the materials were designed without considering theology students’ professional language needs and expectations. Finally, it is recommended that syllabus designers and material writers should consider the communicative English language needs of theology students identified in the study.
This research aimed to examine the trends in and effectiveness of website content on the websites of selected Ethiopian academic institutions. The data was gathered through content analysis and ...questionnaire and analysed through descriptive statistics (mean), One-Way ANOVA, and narration. The results confirmed that academic and research content were the strongest content categories compared to the other issues covered on the selected websites; and that program and office related content were the weakest (μ = 0.125). According to the data, Addis Ababa, Hawassa, Bahir Dar and Harmaya universities respectively had better content management trends than the other universities. The data also demonstrated that there were significant statistical differences among the website content offered by different universities. Poor navigation systems, inadequate content, empty menus and sub-menus, inconsistent branding, spelling and grammatical errors, as well as untargeted content were some of the observed limitations of the selected website content. Moreover, the data confirmed that the majority of universities updated their websites infrequently. Thus, the study recommends that universities manage their websites well in order to enhance their visibility and reputation.
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