Learning in English: Academic Language Proficiency

McGhie, Venicia

doi:10.18848/1447-9494/cgp/v14i08/45450

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Since the learning and usage of English in academic settings is designed for the investigation, reception and communication of knowledge, students are expected to meet specific learning objectives in their usage of language competencies. The inability to acquire the relevant competencies in the learning and usage of English, therefore, is bound to produce effects directly related to the effectiveness or otherwise of the investigation, reception and communication of knowledge (Cummins, 1980(Cummins, , 2008Wang & Baker, 2004;Zulu, 2005;McGhie, 2007;Maher, 2011;Jayanthi et al, 2014;Crosnoe et al, 2004;Aripin et al, 2008;Farooq et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect on Learning Objectives and Outcomes of Students’ Inability to Develop Language Competencies for Appropriate Communication at the Undergraduate Level

Adjoe¹,

Kimani²

2020

ELTLS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The ability to communicate is a skill needed for beneficial learning outcomes. It is likewise needed for functioning in our connected world and spaces. However, undergraduate writing still gives the impression of poor English writing skills and inadequate communication. The paper takes a linguistic ethnography approach to examine the effects of poor English writing skills on the learning objectives and communication of undergraduate students. Using a random sampling of 37 examination scripts of Communication Studies students and their analysis through a revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives, the study suggests that poor English writing skills and the inability to communicate are likely among the effects of the inability of undergraduate students to acquire competence at the comprehension, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation tasks needed to enable them compose knowledge and meaningful messages as well as to communicate them. The study, therefore, suggests the need for investigating practical steps that can be taken to assist students with poor English writing competencies and skills to access knowledge and be able to produce knowledge in their learning situations, and further still, be able to communicate their knowledge as competently as possible without an overemphasis on grammatical correctness as the goal.

show abstract