Effects of counseling on study habits : locus of control among senior secondary students in Nigeria

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of PhilosophyStudents are expected to be analytical organisers, able to critically pattern their study for academic excellence. However the attitudes of Nigerian students towards studying and learning fall strikingly short of these expectations. Many have difficulty forming sound study habits, and tend to have an external locus of control. The term locus of control (Rotter, 1954) refers to a person's basic belief system about the influences that affect outcomes in their lives. Those with an external locus believe that forces outside of themselves affect their ability to succeed, while the most successful people tend to have an internal locus of control. Statistics show that about 80 percent of Nigerian students fail annually and that the educational career of more than one million Nigerian students is in jeopardy (Alaneme, 2010; Olugbile, 2008; Otti, 2011). Studies have found that students with an external locus of control and poor study habits experience poor academic performance and that those who fail often believe that they will not succeed again. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether those who have experienced counselling altered their negative attitudes towards studying and indicated an improvement in their study habits. Participants were 20 academic underachievers, ten male and ten female, aged 15 to 21 years, recruited from three schools in Nigeria. A mixed-methods approach was used; qualitative methods took the form of semi-structured interviews while quantitative data was collected using four widely-used questionnaires. Thematic analysis and Related T-Test were used respectively for data analysis. The findings suggest that counselling played a significant role in students' attitudinal change

Metaphor, Imagery, and Culture. Spatialized Ontologies, Mental Tools, and Multimedia in the Making.

The thesis deals with metaphor and imagery in cultural thought-models, the aim being an integrative framework for a rapprochement between cognitive science, cultural anthropology , and linguistics. The work couches previous ethnographic data in the theoretical apparatus of cognitive linguistics (as pioneered by G. Lakoff and R. Langacker), which is horizontally extended to include non-linguistic phenomena and vertically extended to include high-level mental tools. As groundwork for understanding cultural cognition in Part One I undertake a reappraisal of the theory of conceptual metaphor from a genuinely anthropological perspective: I elaborate (1) the multiplicity of metaphor's socio-cognitive functions, its embedding in complex 'polytropes', and its interplay with higher-level cultural schemas; (2)I propose a balanced view between universality and cultural variation in metaphor; and (3) I advocate an intensified focus on cultural body knowledge as the basis of metaphor. Part Two sets as its goal to contour the scope of cultural imagery by extending the theory of dynamic image schemas, as laid out by Langacker, beyond language itself: (4) I analyze essentialist and processual ontologies as being defined through basic imagery types and dynamic switches between ontologies through image schema transformations. (5) Next, I argue for the necessity of cognitive multimedia analysis and offer a model based on the presupposition that various aspects of language, non-linguistic symbolism, action schemas, and body feelings operate in a continuous mental substrate, namely image schemas. (6) Finally, taking the lead from Lakoff's 'spatialization of form' hypothesis, I challenge the broader cognitive sciences with a multi-level theory of spatialized ('geometric') imagery that spans from semantics to general-purpose mental 'tools'. Its upshot is a relativization of symbolic or propositional approaches to thought as well as faculty psychology

Building the New Babel of Transnational Literacies: Preparing Education for World Citizens

The transnational diasporas in a technological world that is postmodern and posthuman mean both exciting diverse communities and challenging problems. On the one hand, globalization brought human beings the convenience of exchanging ideas, doing business, and building a better world together. On the other hand, the political economy of nation states that shaped non-translational ideologies, created at the same time conflicts and misunderstandings among citizens from different parts of the world. Responding to the current transnational clashes in flow (information dissemination) and contra flow (surveillance and control of information flow) of our information age, this dissertation builds up a transnational rhetoric and communication model that can be used to examine the curriculum design, teaching materials, and pedagogy in communication and writing studies, especially in technical communication. In addition, this study investigates the present state of curriculum design, teaching materials, and pedagogies in a southeastern higher education institution. Empirical data was collected from students, instructors, and administrators from different departments of this institution to determine whether and how do curriculum design, teaching materials, and pedagogies frame and teach transnational literacy. Further, to engage the conversation with a national audience, major introductory technical communication textbooks were analyzed based on both the empirical data and the transnational rhetoric and communication model using content analysis. The findings indicate that although curriculum design, textbooks, and pedagogies have transnational components, they generally reply on traditional models and stereotypical examples that cannot meet with students’ needs in order for them to become genuine world citizens with transnational awareness and competence. The transnational rhetoric and communication model helps to fill the gaps in curriculum design, textbook revision, and pedagogies in cultivating world citizens

The effects of the process approach on writing apprehension and writing quality among ESL students at university level in Malaysia

This study was designed to investigate the effects of two methods of teaching written composition (i.e. traditional and process approach) on writing apprehension among ESL students, and also the effect of the process approach on the overall quality and length of their writing. Students enrolled in Written Communication 1 course at the National University of Malaysia were chosen as the subjects of this study. The students had been placed in three groups based on the results of previous courses and for the purpose of this study the top and the bottom groups were selected as the experimental groups and the middle one as the control. From the findings, it was concluded that both methods were successful in reducing writing apprehension, but that the process approach was considerably more effective in achieving this than the traditional approach. Moreover, the subjects in the process/experimental group were found to write better and longer essays than the subjects in the control group taught in the usual way

Problem space of modern society: philosophical-communicative and pedagogical interpretations. Part II

This collective monograph offers the description of philosophical bases of definition of communicative competence and pedagogical conditions for the formation of communication skills. The authors of individual chapters have chosen such point of view for the topic which they considered as the most important and specific for their field of study using the methods of logical and semantic analysis of concepts, the method of reflection, textual reconstruction and comparative analysis. The theoretical and applied problems of modern society are investigated in the context of philosophical, communicative and pedagogical interpretations

Variation in phonological error in interlanguage talk

The research begins with an examination of the problems attending the growth in the use of English as a lingua franca between non-native speakers. It is argued that vanable first-language specific phonological 'errors' generate much of the miscommunication that is a characteristic of such interlanguage talk (ILT), original support for this claim being provided by a pilot study involving non-native speaker postgraduate students. Following a brief reappraisal of the place of language transfer in second language acquisition, its role in interlanguage (IL) phonology is examined in detail. Phonological transfer is revealed as a central and complex feature of the developing IL The theoretical position is exemplified by a selection of phonological transfer errors drawn from ILT classroom observation, such errors being redefmed in seriousness according to a taxonomy of new criteria based essentially on their effects on ILT communication. The extensive variation to which these taxonomic errorS are subject is discussed in the light of current theories of IL variation, and Accommodation Theory is concluded to have the greatest potential to account for phonological transfer or variation in ILT. The motivations underlying the accommodative processes of convergence and divergence are discussed and the framework is then extended to a motivation considered more salient in ILT: that of interlocutor comprehensibility. Two empirical studies investigate phonological variation in ILT from an accommodation perspective, the findings leading to the conclusion that while accommodation has an essential role in determining phonological error in ILT, its linguistic manifestation is usually one of suppression and non-suppression rather than of traditional convergence and divergence. Pedagogical implications of the research include the benefits of pair and smallgroup work, thus supporting previous research, and the need for classroom exposure to IL varieties of English

Generation 1.5 learners: Using an arts-informed, grounded theory approach to understanding how these students managed their undergraduate studies in a Perth-based, public university in Western Australia over an academic year

The International Organization for Migration’s World Migration Report (2020) estimates the number of migrants worldwide to be approximately 272 million. In an era of demographic scarcity and globalisation-driven uncertainties, asylum seeker, migration, and refugee re-settlement programs are now a worldwide phenomenon. Major English-speaking, immigrant-receiving countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America (USA) face associated educational, political, and social repercussions. Rumbaut and Ima (1988) introduced the term ‘Generation 1.5’ in relation to a distinct cohort of immigrant youth, English as second language (L2) learners studying in San Diego, California in the USA. This term signifies learners neither part of the first generation in an immigrant-receiving country, nor part of the second generation of children born in that country. North American-based research finds these learners are generally not fully proficient in either their first language or their L2. While typically possessing well-developed basic interpersonal communicative skills, learners are less skilled in terms of the cognitive academic learning proficiency levels that are essential for academic achievement. Additionally, they may lack discrete language skills, the rule-governed areas that include grammar, phonology, and spelling. However, the crucial academic L2 variables relate to immigrants’ age-on-arrival and length of residence in their host countries. In Australian tertiary education, the implications of having increasing numbers of university students meeting this learner profile remains under-researched. This study investigated how six participants meeting the Generation 1.5 learner profile managed their undergraduate studies in a Perth-based, public university in Western Australia over an academic year. This arts-informed study used an interpretivist paradigm, with symbolic interactionism as the theoretical position, and grounded theory (GT) methodology (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). Semi-structured, in-depth interviews and written responses to research questions comprised the major data-generation methods. Data analysis used GT open, axial, and selective coding in conjunction with memo-writing and Resource Journal commentaries. The iterative process of data analysis and literature access that included arts-informed, non-technical, and technical material collectively informed the study findings. As the ‘grounded theory’ driver, ‘wanting-it-all-regardless’ dominated the data findings, within which the core category, the Academic Highway Journey, and the five major categories were identified. These major categories comprised academic, coping, identity, immigration, and learning systems. In using an astronomy metaphor, the core category or newly-discovered planetary force has five major categories or satellite systems orbiting within its sphere of influence. These GT-generated components resulted in developing the Wanting-It-All-Regardless Theory (the Theory). This Theory explained how the research participants, in ‘misframing’ their Academic Highway Journeys, managed the barriers, breakdowns, and breakthroughs experienced along the way. Making an original and important contribution to Australian-based Generation 1.5 learner research, study findings highlighted major pedagogical policy, program, and practice implications. As evidenced in this study, high school is no longer considered the educational ‘finish line’. The participants in this study, either as high school graduates, university preparation courses attendees, or as having limited, formal L2 instruction, were inadequately prepared and supported during their academic journeys. Paradoxically, for these participants, university acceptance and course enrolment were conflated with having the L2 academic resources necessary to succeed educationally. In an increasingly uncertain and unstable globally connected and interconnected world, major immigration-destination countries such as Australia must urgently address the Generation 1.5 learner area as a significant impact of increasing demographic scarcity