The Third-Year Vet Med Students at the University of Kinshasa have been learning English for three years. Unfortunately, they are not able to speak, listen, read and write English. This fact needs and an investigation in order to find out the causes of this phenomenon. The investigation can involve many aspects such as the teaching methods, teaching materials, the course content, the students' background, learning outcomes, etc., but this article tackles only the course content and learning outcomes. This paper aims at examining the course content and the learning outcomes in order to detect the causes of the Third-Year Vet Med students' poor performance in English. To reach this aim, both the course content and learning outcomes are examined on the basis of Syllabus Review Method. The course content is examined in order to make sure if it has all important sections such as course title, course description, learning outcomes, course syllabus, learning activities, Assessment types, required and recommended readings, and feedback for evaluation since these sections have a considerable impact on the students' performance. Moreover, the learning outcomes are examined in order to check whether they are clearly stated and measurable. When learning outcomes are clearly stated and measurable, both lecturer and students work together so as to achieve them at the completion of the course. The article starts by literature review of course content and learning outcomes; thereafter it presents the course content and learning outcomes mentioned in the Third-Year Vet Med Students' course handout. Next, it discusses the course content and learning outcomes with respect to recommendations proposed by the Course Planning Service and literature review. This discussion has led to the conclusion that the Third-Year Vet Med Students' poor performance is due to the poor course content and lack of clear and measurable learning outcomes. Therefore, it is suggested to conduct a scientific research about the Vet Med Students' needs in order to design appropriate course content with clear and measurable learning outcomes on the basis of Communicative Learning Principles.
In the English grammar lessons, will and shall are taught in schools and universities as modal verbs. Almost all famous grammarians confirm that will and shall are modal verbs. Modal verbs are considered as auxiliaries apart from the main or primary auxiliaries be, have, and do. Considering the definitions and characteristics of auxiliaries and inflections, a deep understanding of will and shall is required. This paper examines the definitions and characteristics of both auxiliaries and inflections and the uses of will and shall in order to know whether will and shall are auxiliaries or free inflections of the Future Tense. However it is worth mentioning that time is divided into past, present, and future. In modern English, almost grammarians say that there are two tenses in English namely present tense and past tense. According to them, the future tense does not exist. They believe so simply because there is no inflection for future tense; the futurity is expressed through modal verbs (will and shall). Generally speaking, modal auxiliaries help lexical verbs to express a variety of meanings, different attitudes, such as mood, aspect, etc. whereas inflections help verbs to express tenses. For instance, -ed is a bound inflection that helps regular verbs express the simple past tense. The -s is also a bound inflection that expresses the third person singular in the Simple Present Tense whereas -Ø is an invisible inflection which expresses the first persons (singular and plural), second persons (singular and plural), and the third person plural of the Simple Present Tense). Is there any inflection for the Future Tense? This paper is an attempt to answer this question.
The ascertainment of the Third-Year Vet Students' poverty to perform in oral English has been noticed in the Veterinary Medicine Department at the University of Kinshasa. People join universities and colleges in order to acquire sufficient knowledge that makes them capable of working in different areas of life. The Third-Year Students in Veterinary Medicine Department need a good command of English for both their academic activities (for the present moment) and job requirements (for the future). Unfortunately, the reality is that these students are less proficient in oral English than they are expected to be. Considering their poor performance, this article aims at evaluating the Third-Year Students' performance in oral English so as to suggest recommendations for successful speaking performance. To collect and analyze data, qualitative and quantitative methods are used. As far as the qualitative methods are concerned, this article applies the Capstone Project or Course, Syllabus Review, Observation, SWOT Analysis, and Course Evaluation Survey. Capstone Project is used to evaluate the students' knowledge, abilities, and concepts they have required from the first year up to the third one. Syllabus Review Method is used to examine both the teaching objectives and outcomes so as to make sure whether the students have reached the expected performance or not. Observations Methods is used to examine the students' behaviors and their environment in which the learning took place. SWOT Analysis is used to examine how the course content matches academic and occupational purposes. Course Evaluation Survey is used to point out the students' perception of the English course. Apart from the qualitative methods, the quantitative methods used in this paper are Certification, Exit Exam, and Performance. Certification Method is useful in evaluation of the students' general knowledge of English used in the veterinary medicine field. Exit Exam is employed in this paper to realize how much the students are able to apply their English knowledge in their life. Performance Method is used to evaluate the students' ability to give presentations as it is required. The results of the analysis of data and the related interpretation prove that the Third-Year Students are not performant in oral English because of the reasons listed in this paper. Furthermore, the conclusion of the interpretation suggests recommendations so as to cure the problem related to the lack of speaking performance in the Third-Year Students.
Dunker [15] asserts that "linguistic reflexivity is a feature of the communication process, and it essentially depends on situated participants and time. It is a defining characteristic of the human language but despite its obvious importance, it is not very well understood theoretically, and it is strangely under-researched empirically". Reflexivity exists in English, French, and Kinshasa Lingala. In all these languages, reflexivity is expressed by reflexive pronouns, reciprocal pronouns, reflexive verbs, and ergative verbs. The position and use of these pronouns and verbs differ from one language to another. Therefore, this article attempts to examine reflexivity in each of these languages in order to point out similarities and differences. The focus is on the use of reflexive pronouns, reciprocal pronouns, reflexive verbs, and ergative verbs in English, French, and Kinshasa Lingala. This article is based on observation, interview, and contrastive analysis which allows to sort out similarities and differences between languages. Observation was used during people's talk on buses, at markets, on radios, and in avenues. An interview was prepared for some people in the Kinshasa community especially teachers. The results show that English, French, and Kinshasa Lingala use pronouns to express reflexivity. Reflexivity is expressed through the use of reflexive pronouns which have different positions in these three languages. In English, they occur in the object position. In French, they occur after a personal pronoun subject and before the verb. In Kinshasa Lingala, they occur in the verbal prefix position. As far as reciprocal pronouns are concerned, in English a reciprocal pronoun is used without reflexive pronoun whereas in French, reciprocal pronoun is optional and it is used with reflexive pronoun. In Kinshasa Lingala, the reciprocal pronoun is suffixed to the verb. It is a bound morpheme. Reflexivity is expressed by ergative verbs in English, French, and Kinshasa Lingala. In English, no reflexive pronoun is used with ergative verbs. In French, ergative verb is used with a reflexive pronoun "se". In Kinshasa Lingala, the ergativity is expressed by the bound morpheme-ma or-mi. In conclusion, the similarities are at the level of the use of reflexive pronouns, reciprocal pronouns, and ergative verbs. Whereas the differences appear in the position occupied by the reflexive components. In English, reflexive pronouns and reciprocal pronouns occur in the object position. In French, they occur between the subject and the verb. In Kinshasa Lingala, the reflexive pronoun occurs in the verbal prefix position. Reciprocal pronoun occurs in the suffix position. Ergativity is expressed by-ma/-mi in the suffix position.
This article is based on the fact that there is lack of English language laboratory in the institutions of higher education. The research problem is that the students in these institutions have difficulties to develop their listening skills. Since the students in these institutions are taught by non-native speakers of English, they are exposed to a kind of English influenced by the lecturers’ mother tongues or French. As English is taught in the institutions of higher education in Kinshasa as a Foreign Language, the English Language Lab becomes indispensable to develop the students’ listening skills. Therefore, the research question of this paper is “what are the effects of the lack of the English Language Lab on the students’ listening skills?” So the aim of this paper is to investigate into the second-year students’ listening skills so as to find out the effects of the lack of the English Language Lab on the students under study. The hypothesis is that the effects are inabilities to discriminate the English sounds and to grasp the words uttered with high speed. To reach the aim, a listening test was used to collect data and the content analysis was used to analyze them. The results confirmed the hypothesis and the discussion showed that without an English Language Lab, students cannot develop their listening skills.
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