IMPACTS OF SPELLING PROBLEMS ON EFL STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL AT KANDAHAR UNIVERSITY, KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN

In English language, spelling is one of the sub-skills and components of writing. In addition, writing is from the productive skills of English language that is very essential for EFL leaners. This study investigated the causes of spelling problems and its impacts on EFL students’ writing skill. Moreover, a quantitative approach used for this study, and the instrument was questionnaire. In this study, the target population was from two faculties of Kandahar University. The data collected from one hundred and eighty-five learners, and they elected through a random sampling method. Besides, the data analyzed by using IBM 22 version of SPSS, and the results reported in the tables. The findings of this current study revealed that English language has more sounds than letters, the spelling system of English is complex and has many rules, students’ carelessness when they write a paragraph or text are the causes of spelling errors. As well, the lack of suitable manual regarding the spelling of words, and the interference of students’ native language with English language were the major reasons of spelling problems for the learners. Furthermore, the study further asserted that spelling errors made the students to spend more than the necessary time when they write and poor structure of sentences were the factors, which had negative impacts on the writing skill of the learners. Article visualizations

A Comparative Study of Middle School Deaf Students’ Perceptions towards Vocational Internships According to Their Gender, Grade Level and Family Income at The Special Education School of Qujing, China

The purpose of this study was to identify the demographic factors of the deaf students, to determine the deaf students’ perceptions towards vocational internships, and to compare the deaf students’ perceptions towards vocational internships at the Special Education School of Qujing according to gender, grade level and family income in 2015. A total of 147 deaf students (106 male and 41 female), from grade level 7 to vocational high school completed the survey. Statistical measures employed included frequency and percentage, mean and standard deviation, one-way ANOVA and independent samples t-test. The result of this study has indicated that gender difference was not a significant issue to impact students’ perceptions, yet the researcher discovered that students from different grade levels and different extents of family income had significant perception differences.Specifically, students from a higher grade level had higher perceptions than those from lower grade levels. In terms of family income, students from families whose monthly income was lower or included 1000 RMB had lower perceptions than other students. Recommendations for directors, teachers, the school, the students and future researchers are provided

Norman languages of the Channel Islands: Current situation, language maintenance and revitalisation

The Channel Islands have been self-governing dependencies of the British Crown since 1204, but their geographical location, indigenous languages and older cultural traditions are much closer to Normandy (north-west France). However, acculturation to English language and customs has accelerated in the last 200 years, and is now pervasive. This paper examines the situation of the indigenous languages of the islands, which are now highly endangered: practically all native speakers are aged over 70. The island varieties of Norman have traditionally had low status, which contributed to their decline, but in recent years there have been attempts to raise their status and to raise awareness of their imminent disappearance; these attempts have borne fruit with a degree of support from the islands’ governments. The paper first describes some of the linguistic features of Channel Island Norman, and then discusses efforts to preserve this aspect of island culture. The outcomes of the various revitalisation measures are also considered

Review of research in primary reading at Boston University: 1954-1959.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

An Investigation of Third Year Business English Majors’ Communication Skills through Their Free Expository Writing

Abstract This study investigated 15 third year Business English majors studying at the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Southeast Bangkok College. The aims are to gain insights into the students’ language needs in order to improve their English communication, and to develop the teaching techniques to enhance the students English communication skills. The data collecting were done through the students’ expository writings based on the given topic. The participants were assigned to write freely on the topic “Who Am I?”  The Evaluation was based on Jacobs et al (1981) writing evaluation scales.  Descriptive analysis and basic statistics were used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that the participants had basic knowledge of composition, and were able to follow the directions given. However, their weaknesses were language use, grammar, tenses, and mechanics. In addition, they got mixed up between written and spoken language. In conclusion, the participants need more reinforcement in grammar, and extension of their vocabulary so that the teacher were recommended to use integrated teaching methods that will enhance the students’ communication skills. Keywords : communication skills, writing ability, integrated teaching methods บทคัดย่อ งานวิจัยนี้ได้ทำการศึกษานักศึกษาวิชาเอกภาษาอังกฤษธุรกิจชั้นปีที่ 3 ของคณะศิลปศาสตร์ วิทยาลัยเซาท์อีสต์บางกอก จำนวน 15 คน  โดยประสงค์ให้ได้ความเข้าใจเรื่องความจำเป็นในการพัฒนาการสื่อสารภาษาอังกฤษของกลุ่มนักศึกษา รวมถึงเพื่อพัฒนาเทคนิคการสอนให้สามารถเพิ่มทักษะการสื่อสารภาษาอังกฤษด้วย  ทั้งนี้รวบรวมข้อมูลผ่านชิ้นงานมอบหมายในลักษณะข้อเขียนเชิงบรรยายความตามเสรีของนักศึกษาภายใต้โจทย์ “ฉันเป็นใคร?”  สำหรับการประเมินผลอาศัยเกณฑ์วัดประเมินการเขียนที่พัฒนาโดยเจคอบส์และคณะ (1981)  ส่วนการวิเคราะห์ข้อมูลกระทำในรูปของการวิเคราะห์เชิงบรรยายร่วมกับหลักสถิติพื้นฐาน  ข้อค้นพบที่ได้แสดงให้เห็นว่ากลุ่มนักศึกษามีความรู้พื้นฐานในการแต่งข้อเขียนตามโจทย์ได้  อย่างไรก็ดีจุดอ่อนของกลุ่มนักศึกษาอยู่ที่การใช้ภาษา ไวยากรณ์ กาล และกลไกการเขียน นอกเหนือไปจากที่ยังคงใช้ภาษาเขียนปะปนกับภาษาพูด  โดยสรุป กลุ่มนักศึกษาจำเป็นต้องได้รับการพัฒนาในเรื่องไวยากรณ์และคลังคำศัพท์ โดยผู้สอนพึงใช้วิธีการสอนแบบบูรณาการที่สามารถเสริมสร้างทักษะการสื่อสารของนักศึกษาได้ คำสำคัญ ทักษะการสื่อสาร ความสามารถด้านการเขียน วิธีการสอนแบบบูรณากา

Dubbing Wordplay in Children’s Programmes from English into Thai

This doctoral research aims to investigate the most prevalent translation techniques adopted by Thai dubbing translators when transferring English-language idioms found in animated films into a lesser-known language such as Thai. To achieve this purpose, the methodological approach combines a quantitative phase, which has the benefit of revealing certain tendencies, with a qualitative phase that investigates the data in greater depth. Wordplay instances can be grouped into two main categories according to their presentation nature: media-based and rhetoric-based. In the case of the media-based category, the types of wordplay instances uncovered in the analysis are audio-verbal, audio-visual-verbal and visual-verbal, while, based in the rhetoric-based category, they are homonymy, homophony, paraphony, hahaphony and allusion types. In an attempt to render ST puns into the TT, the following seven dubbing techniques have been activated by Thai translators: loan, literal translation, explicitation, substitution, recreation, combination and non-translation. Close examination of the data reveals that, despite the translators’ best effort to transfer the semantic ambiguity and humorous effect embedded in the English wordplay into the Thai dialogue, PUN>NON-PUN is the translation outcome with the highest occurrence. This results in the inevitable loss of semantic ambiguity and humour in the TT wordplay, as well as other pedagogical objectives intended by the film’s producers such as a language learning facilitator for young viewers