Impact of Communicative Language Teaching in Developing Communicative Competence of ESL/EFL Learners

This study investigates the role of Communicative Language Teaching in developing communicative competence of English language learners. It reports the outcome of a study carried out at Crescent Model College with 140 first year students in the city of Lahore, Pakistan. The efficacy of the model study was based on enhancing the language proficiency level of learners in the context of using Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) principles and techniques in English language teaching classroom. Mixed method of research was involved. Quantitative and Quantitative data were collected through the pre-board results of the participants and interviews of students and teachers. The learners involved in this model study were college first year students taking English as one of the major subjects. The leading aim of the study was to explore the role of Communicative Language Teaching to develop the language proficiency level of the students. The findings of the study statistically indicated the learners studying ESL/EFL through Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) showed better results in terms of their communicative competence. The results will be beneficial for teachers in terms of realizing their deficiencies and raising awareness toward the use of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) to enhance the language proficiency level of their students. Keywords: communicative, CLT, competence, language proficiency, approach DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-18-08 Publication date:June 30th 202

A review of techniques for detection of movement intention using movement-related cortical potentials

The movement-related cortical potential (MRCP) is a low-frequency negative shift in the electroencephalography (EEG) recording that takes place about 2 seconds prior to voluntary movement production. MRCP replicates the cortical processes employed in planning and preparation of movement. In this study, we recapitulate the features such as signal’s acquisition, processing, and enhancement and different electrode montages used for EEG data recoding from different studies that used MRCPs to predict the upcoming real or imaginary movement. An authentic identification of human movement intention, accompanying the knowledge of the limb engaged in the performance and its direction of movement, has a potential implication in the control of external devices. This information could be helpful in development of a proficient patient-driven rehabilitation tool based on brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). Such a BCI paradigm with shorter response time appears more natural to the amputees and can also induce plasticity in brain. Along with different training schedules, this can lead to restoration of motor control in stroke patients

Automatic Speaker Identification System for Urdu Speech

Speaker recognition is the process of recognizing a speaker from a verbal phrase. Such systems generally operates in two ways: to identify a speaker or to verify speaker’s claimed identity. Availability of valuable research material witnessed efforts paid to Automatic Speaker Identification (ASI) in East Asian, English and European languages. But unfortunately languages of South Asia especially “Urdu” have got very less attention. This paper aims to describe a new feature set for ASI in Urdu speech, achieving improved performance than baseline systems. Classifiers like Neural Net, Naïve Bayes and K nearest neighbor (K-NN) have been used for modeling. Results are provided on the dataset of 40 speakers with 82% correct identification. Lastly, improvement in system performance is also reported by changing number of recordings per speaker

A Comparative Study of Students' Perceptions about the Effectiveness of Teachers in English Language Classroom at College Level in Saudi Arabia

English is taught as a foreign language at school and university level in Saudi Arabia. The issue of teachers, who are better performer according to their effectiveness in a classroom, still remains unresolved. The present paper focuses on this issue of native and non-native speaker English teachers about their effectiveness. It reports the outcome of a study carried out in Jazan University, Saudi Arabia. The study was conducted with 120 Saudi male students. The object was to get a deeper insight into the students' perceptions about the Effectiveness of Native English speaker teachers and Non-Native English speaker teachers in English Language Teaching classroom. The effectiveness of the model study was based on enhancing the language proficiency level of the learners in the context of pedagogical behavior of teachers. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through the questionnaire surveys, interviews and end semester results of the participants. The learners involved in this model study were Preparatory Year students of (Level-1&2) taking Intensive English Language Course at Jazan University, KSA. The findings of the study statistically indicated the students' perceptions in favour of such Native English speaker teachers and Non-Native English speaker teachers (Arabs, Non-Arabs) both, who leave no stone unturned to maintain a serious learning environment. They apply varying strategies in order to enhance and improve the language proficiency level of the learners. The results will be beneficial for native and non‐native teachers in terms of realizing their deficiencies and raising awareness. Keywords: language proficiency, native, non-native, preference, students' perceptio

Improving psychosocial distress for young adolescents in rural schools of Pakistan: study protocol of a cluster randomised controlled trial.

Introduction Emotional problems are leading contributors to health burden among adolescents worldwide. There is an urgent need for evidence-based psychological interventions for young people. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based, group psychological intervention, Early Adolescent Skills for Emotions (EASE) developed by the WHO to improve psychosocial distress in Pakistani adolescents. Method and analysis A two-arm, single-blinded, cluster randomised controlled trial, with a wait-list control arm is being conducted in school settings of rural Pakistan. Forty eligible public-school clusters have been randomised (stratified by gender) on a 1:1 allocation ratio into intervention (n=20) and control arm (n=20). Following informed consent, 564 adolescents with psychosocial distress (Youth-reported Paediatric Symptoms Checklist, cut-off ≥28) from 40 schools have been enrolled into the trial (14±3 average cluster size) between 2 November 2021 and 30th November 2021. Participants in the intervention arm will receive EASE in 7-weekly adolescents and 3-biweekly caregivers group sessions in schools. The adolescent sessions involve the components of psychoeducation, stress management, behavioural activation, problem-solving and relapse prevention. Caregivers will receive training to learn and implement active listening; spending quality time and using praise as a strategy to help their children. The primary outcome is reduction in psychosocial distress at 3 months postintervention. Secondary outcomes include symptoms of depression and anxiety, caregiver–adolescent relationship and caregivers’ well-being. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline, immediate 1 week and 3-months postintervention. Qualitative process evaluation will explore barriers and facilitators to programme implementation in low-resource school settings. Ethics Ethics approval has been obtained from Central Ethics Committee of University of Liverpool, UK, Ethics Review Committee of WHO Geneva and from the Institutional Review Board of Human Development Research Foundation (HDRF), Pakistan. Dissemination The findings of the study will be disseminated by WHO and through peer-reviewed publications

Government's revitaliztion of Turkish Airlines (1980-1990)

Ankara : İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent Üniversitesi İktisadi, İdari ve Sosyal Bilimler Fakültesi, Tarih Bölümü, 2017.This work is a student project of the The Department of History, Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences, İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University.by Feyzullahoğlu, Burcu

Feasibility and acceptability of a multicomponent, group psychological intervention for adolescents with psychosocial distress in public schools of Pakistan: a feasibility cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT)

Background: Child and adolescent mental health problems are a global public mental health priority. However, there is a lack of evidence-based scalable psychological interventions for adolescents living in low resource settings. This trial was designed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of delivering the World Health Organization’s Early Adolescent Skills for Emotions (EASE) intervention at public schools in a rural sub-district in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Methods: A two arm, single blinded, feasibility cluster randomized controlled trial with mixed-methods evaluation was conducted with 59 adolescents and their caregivers from 8 public schools. In the 4 intervention arm schools, 6 non-specialist facilitators delivered the culturally-adapted EASE group sessions to the adolescents (n = 29) and their caregivers with desired fidelity under the supervision of in-country supervisors. Results: The participation rate of adolescents in the intervention sessions was 83%. The intervention strategies were implemented by the adolescents. However, attending biweekly sessions at schools was challenging for caregivers with only 50% caregivers attending the sessions. Conclusions: The results of this study support the feasibility and acceptability of delivering this culturally adapted intervention through non-specialist facilitators in school settings in Pakistan and pave the way to conduct a fully powered cluster randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of intervention to improve psychological outcomes in adolescents