The traditional view that writing is an individual activity often translates into the teaching of it as an individual task. Rarely do students engage in extensive dialogue with their peers when writing. However, much writing in the workplace takes place in collaboration with others. Although, on the surface, many authors may not seem to write with others collaboratively, the truth is that they engage in intensive intrapersonal community affected by interpersonal communication. They also communicate with them through incorporating ideas from other authors and by following requirements set by publishers and teachers. Collectively, these entail that writing instruction at college be tailored towards students' current and future needs. In addition, the collection of student perceptions of such an instructional design is necessary for curriculum designers and teachers to better cater to student needs. It is also useful to identify student perceptions related to gender in gender-segregated learning environments commonly encountered in Arab nations. Motivated by these factors, this study investigated sixty-four first-year Emirati university students' (thirty-one males & thirty-three females) views on collaborative writing in a Project Based Learning (PBL) class on a gender segregated campus. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using a survey and a discourse completion task. Results revealed that the students believed that collaborative project writing was compatible with the Emirati culture. As well, their overall satisfaction with their collaborative writing experience was positive. They were particularly happy that it contributed to general skills that included the use of technology and critical thinking skills. They were also positive about its effects on their English language and teamwork skills. Promotion of active learning and innovation was also agreed upon as a positive attribute of collaborative project writing. Results also showed that the female students were overall more content with their experience, with particularly positive opinions about its effects on English and teamwork skills. Results are discussed, and recommendations are made to enhance learning environments compatible with the principles of collaborative learning.

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Engineering is a discipline that requires its practitioners to learn and use a variety of soft-skills, which include academic and non-academic written and spoken communication, inter- and intrapersonal communication skills, critical thinking ability, an ability to work in teams and an ability to analyze, interpret and synthesize interdisciplinary information from a variety of sources. However, students who pursue their engineering education in English as their second language can face formidable challenges acquiring these skills. It is our observation that such students are often only given assistance through English courses designed to improve their individual linguistic abilities. We believe that although this approach may help in the short term, it may not sufficiently cater for students’ overall needs and well-being in the long term. With this in mind, this paper describes our attempt to reduce this problem in our local context of the Petroleum Institute (PI) through a long term innovation effort.A project-based approach has been adopted to provide students with an opportunity to enhance their language skills through meaningful learning experiences that also develop professional, personal and academic skills. This approach has also allowed the university to meet ABET criteria related to communication needs of engineering students. In this paper, we give a detailed rationale for our belief that a holistic approach to developing abilities required by engineering and other students is a better option. This is followed by a description of the different components of our current curriculum that has been developed over 12 years. We describe particular activities, and discuss their merits. We also present students’ perceptions about the impact of their project-based learning experience on their language and skills development. We also outline the way the course is designed to be adaptable for unpredictable future needs in a fast developing professional and academic environment.

Acquiring a foreign language may be a lifelong endeavor, and this requires one to approach it from a lifelong learning perspective. However, learners may not always be ready for such an approach. It is important to know where learners stand in their orientations toward learning and consider this when planning educational activities. Therefore, it is necessary to determine language learners’ readiness for lifelong learning (LLL) in order to support their language development. This paper reports the findings of a study conducted to identify the LLL propensities of some Turkish and Emirati university students learning English as a foreign language in their local contexts. The study included 61 Emirati and 47 Turkish students, with a mean age of 19. Data were collected using a research tool with three sections: Demographics, the Lifelong Learning Tendency Scale (LLLTS – developed by Coskun & Demirel (2012)), and a survey with six open-ended questions. Student’s t-test, the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Mann-Whitney U-test were used to compare the quantitative data in terms of the participants’ nationalities, gender and length of study. The results showed that both Turkish and Emirati students had a moderate level of propensity for LLL. However, the Turkish students’ overall LLLTS scores as well as certain sub-skills were found to be higher than those of the Emirati students. Gender was not found to make a significant difference in the students’ LLL orientations, while motivation was found to be lower at a statistically significant level for those learning English for more than a year. Suggestions are offered for the development of language learners’ LLL skills.

T T he engineering discipline is comprised of a range of specialized fields making it difficult to define. However, the roots of the word 'engineering' offer some insights. It derives from the Latin words 'ingenium' and 'ingeniare'. The former means 'cleverness' while the latter means 'to contrive, devise.' The term is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as "the work of designing and creating large structures (such as roads and bridges) or new products or systems by using scientific methods." Taken together, these definitions suggest that the engineering discipline aims at inventing, designing and improving tools, materials, machines, etc. in clever and scientific ways with the overall aim of enhancing our lives. Neil Armstrong (cited in Landis, 2013, p. 37) Mühendislerin yaln›zca teknik becerilerle yetinebilece¤ine iliflkin tart›flmalar art›k geçerlili¤ini yitirmifl bulunmaktad›r. Gerek mesleklerinde gerekse yaflam boyu ö¤renme konusunda baflar›l› olabilmek için bir tak›m sosyal becerilere de sahip olmalar› gerekmektedir. Ancak mühendislik e¤itimi veren kurumlardaki müfredatlarda, ö¤rencilerin iletiflim becerilerini gelifltirmelerine yard›mc› olacak türden ders içerik ve uygulamalar› yeterince yayg›n de¤ildir. Bu becerilerin en önemlilerinden bir tanesi, kiflinin kendisiyle (içsel) iletiflimidir. Görüfl türünde haz›rlanm›fl bulunan bu makalede içsel iletiflimin anlam› ve yaflam boyu ö¤renmeye iliflkin önemi tart›fl›lmaktad›r. Bu iletiflim türünün önemine dair fark›ndal›k, kendimizi tan›mam›za, bilinçli, etik ve topluma faydal› kararlar vermemize yard›mc› olacakt›r. Yaflam boyu ö¤renmenin, bireylerin ve toplumun geliflmesine iliflkin hedefini göz önünde bulundurarak mü-hendislerin mesleklerinde yaflam boyu ö¤renme tutumu gelifltirmeleri gerekti¤ini savunaca¤›z. Bunun için ise içsel iletiflim becerilerinin gelifltirilmesi gerekti¤inin alt›n› çizece¤iz. Ayr›ca içsel iletiflimin, kifliler aras› iletiflimin etkinli¤i aç›s›ndan önemini tart›flaca¤›z. Bu amaçlar ›fl›¤›nda mühendislerin gerçeklefltirmeleri gereken içsel iletiflim becerilerini ve aktivitelerini betimleyece¤iz. Yap›land›rmac› ö¤renme kapsam›nda, yans›mac› düflünme, imgeleme ve geliflim raporu gibi e¤itim uygulamalar›n›n ö¤rencilerin içsel iletiflim becerilerine ve dolay›s›yla yaflam boyu ö¤renmeye katk›lar›n› tart›flaca¤›z. Anahtar sözcükler:Bireyler aras› iletiflim, içsel iletiflim, mühendislik e¤i-timi, sosyal beceriler, yans›mac› yazma, yaflam boyu ö¤renme.A discussion as to whether technical skills per se are enough for engineers may no longer be relevant. In order to succeed as lifelong learners, they also need a variety of soft-skills. Despite this, engineering curricula in general seem to pay relatively little attention to cultivating communication skills in students. One of the most essential of these is intrapersonal communication.In this non-research, discussion paper, we discuss the meaning and importance of intrapersonal communication in relation to 'lifelong learning': awareness of the importance of intrapersonal communication helps...

El uso de los reclamos en el Inter-lenguaje de estudiantes de Inglés como lengua extranjera en Turquía. AbstractMany Turkish EFL learners struggle with giving complaints and criticisms in the EFL classroom. Language instructors must find way to provide students with the linguistic and pragmatic elements of EFL to be able to appropriately complain as EFL users. The purpose of this study is to investigate the complaint speech used by Turkish EFL learners in two different situations: speaking to a commiserating teacher and speaking to a contradicting teacher. Four kinds of data sources were used to collect data in the classroom: twenty native English speakers' role-plays, twenty-five Turkish native speakers' role-plays, and forty students' role-plays. The subjects' complaint speech act sets were a coding scheme borrowed from a previously conducted study by Murphy and Neu (1996). The baseline and the inter-language data were compared to see to what extent they were similar or different, whether or not the Turkish EFL learners made positive and negative transfer, and if there were any features unique to the inter-language of the learners. The findings revealed that when speaking to the commiserating teacher, students made both positive and negative transfer in using 'demand'. The students speaking to the contradicting teacher made positive transfer in the components 'explanation of purpose', 'complaint' and 'justification'. The component 'demand' was subject to negative transfer. ResumenMuchos estudiantes de inglés como lengua extranjera tienen dificultades para dar quejas y hacer críticas en el salón de inglés como lengua extranjera. Esta situación exige que los profesores de idiomas piensen en las maneras de brindar a los estudiantes los elementos lingüísticos y pragmáticos de la lengua extranjera, para que sean capaces de reclamar apropiadamente en este idioma. El propósito de este estudio es investigar el discurso utilizado por los estudiantes turcos de inglés lengua extranjera para quejarse, en dos situaciones diferentes: la primera, al hablar con un profesor simpático y la otra, al hablar con un profesor contradictorio. Para la recolección de datos en el aula, se utilizaron cuatro tipos de fuentes: representaciones de veinte nativos de inglés, representaciones de veinticinco turcos y representaciones de cuarenta estudiantes. Los sujetos fueron expuestos a dos situaciones diferentes. El conjunto de sujetos que se quejan en su discurso fueron analizados, usando un esquema de codificación tomada de un estudio previamente realizado por Murphy y Neu (1996). La base de referencia y los datos de interlenguaje fueron comparados, para ver hasta qué punto eran similares o diferentes, sin importar, si los estudiantes turcos de lengua extranjera hicieron transferencia positiva o negativa, ó si había algunas características únicas en el interlenguaje de los estudiantes. Los resultados revelaron que cuando hablan con el profesor simpático, los estudiantes hicieron transferencias tanto positivas como negativas en la "demanda"....

Dissatisfied with their marks for assignments, some university students may visit their professors to make a complaint. However, the speech act of complaint, as an aspect of pragmatic competence, has not received as much attention as other speech acts from researchers. The face-threatening nature of this speech act requires special attention in multicultural contexts, an example of which is the United Arab Emirates. A large majority of the teaching staff in the UAE comes from other cultures; and therefore, an investigation into this speech act has the potential to improve communication between students and faculty. This research investigated freshman English students' realization of the complaint speech act set. Data were collected from 89 students with a mean age of 19, using a role-play situation. Also, a judgment scale was completed by two instructors to assess the effectiveness of students' performance. The findings reveal that the students have difficulty presenting their case, thus, producing the speech act of criticism along with complaint. They also produce both requests and demands as possible solutions. The judgment scales reveal that the students' attitudes are not generally appropriate. Thus, it has been concluded that explicit instruction about speech acts in general, and complaint in particular, would improve interpersonal communication in multicultural societies. 'Speech Acts.' Speaking a language means performing speech acts that serve to perform communicative functions such as offering, thanking, criticizing and complaining [28]. First introduced by Austin [4] in his book How to Do Things with Words, the notion of speech acts is based on the distinction between 'constative utterances' and 'performative utterances'. The former refers to utterances that can be evaluated along a dimension of truth when uttered. On the other hand, the latter is utterances in which something is done, and such utterances cannot be true or false. However, they can go wrong and become 'unhappy'. To avoid this, certain 'felicity conditions' need to be met: A.(i) There must exist an accepted conventional procedure having a certain conventional effect

Bilimdeki h›zl› geliflmeler ve mühendislik alan›nda bunlar› izleyen teknolojik de¤ifliklikler, mühendislerin kendi beceri ve bilgilerini güncellemelerini gerektirmektedir. Bu da, mühendislik fakültelerinin yaflam boyu ö¤renme (YBÖ) becerilerini müfredatlar›na dâhil etmelerini ve ö¤rencilerinin YBÖ için haz›r olufl düzeylerini belirlemelerini gerektirir. Bu amaç do¤rultusunda bu çal›flma, Abu Dabi'deki Petrol Enstitüsü'nde 2012-2013 akademik dönemi boyunca birinci s›n›f mühendislik ö¤rencilerinin ve ö¤retim görevlilerinin YBÖ yönelimlerini tespit etmeyi hedeflemektedir. Çal›flmaya, ortalama 19 yafl›ndaki 196 ö¤renci ve ortalama 42 yafl›ndaki 31 ö¤retim üyesi kat›lm›fl-t›r. Çal›flmaya kat›lan ö¤rencilerin yaklafl›k %75.5'i yabanc› ülkelerden gelen ö¤rencilerdir. Yaflam Boyu Ö¤renim E¤ilim Skalas› kullan›larak toplanan veriler, cinsiyet ve etnik köken aras›ndaki k›yaslamalarla analiz edilmifltir. Ö¤rencilerin YBÖ yönelimleri ayr›ca ö¤retim görevlilerinin yönelimleriyle de karfl›laflt›r›lm›flt›r. Veri analizi için SPSS istatistik yaz›l›m› sürüm 18.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, ABD) kullan›lm›flt›r. Verileri yorumlamak için, s›kl›k ve yüzde gibi tan›mlay›c› istatistikler kullan›lm›flt›r. Grup karfl›laflt›rmalar› için Mann-Whitney U testi kullan›lm›flt›r. Bulunan sonuçlar, sebat ve öz-düzenleme becerileri için nispeten düflük puanlarla birlikte ö¤rencilerin genel pu-an›n›n ortalama oldu¤unu göstermifltir. Ancak ö¤retim görevlilerinin genel puanlar›n›n yüksek oldu¤u ve merak becerileri için nispeten daha da yüksek puanlara sahip oldu¤u görülmüfltür. K›z ö¤rencilerin puanlar›n›n, öz-düzenleme ve merak konular›nda istatistiksel olarak anlaml› farkl›l›klarla birlikte daha yüksek oldu¤u görülmüfltür. Ayr›ca farkl› ülkelerden gelen ö¤rencilerin tüm alt-beceri puanlar›, istatistiksel olarak anlaml› bir derecede daha yüksek bulunmufltur. Bu çal›flmayla, mühendislik ö¤rencilerinin YBÖ becerileri konusunda fark›ndal›klar›n›n artmas›ndan fayda görecekleri ve mühendislik müfredat›n›n, bu becerilerin ö¤retimini de bünyesine dâhil etmesi gerekti¤i sonucuna var›lm›flt›r. Ö¤rencilerin yaflam boyu ö¤renen özelliklerini üstlenmelerini sa¤lamak amac›yla baz› pratik öneriler sunulmufltur.Anahtar sözcükler: Beceriler, cinsiyet, kültürler aras› analiz, mühendislik e¤itimi, yaflam boyu ö¤renme.Rapid advances in science and subsequent technological changes in engineering require practicing engineers to update their skills and knowledge. This necessitates engineering faculties to include lifelong learning (LLL) skills in their curricula and determine their students' readiness for LLL. With this in mind, this study aimed to identify the LLL orientations of freshman engineering students and faculty members during the 2012 and 2013 academic year in the Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi. A total number of 196 students, with a mean age of 19, and 31 faculty members, with a mean age of 42, participated in the study. About 75.5% of the student participants were expatriates. The data, collected using the Lifelong Learning Tendency Scale, were analyzed throu...