Investigating the Impact of Resilience on Learners’ Motivated Behavior of L2 and Proficiency in English of University Students at Karachi, Pakistan

This research article investigates the resilience and its various constituting factors and their subsequent relation with Motivated L2 Learning Behavior and English Proficiency among the first year students of two public sector universities of Pakistan. For this quantitative and variables oriented study 260 students were conveniently selected who participated in the study, out of which 152 and 108 were males and females respectively. For data collection of this quantitative study, a five point likert scale Questionnaire ranging from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree was employed. The questionnaire comprised 31 items which were further distributed in five dimensions of Resilience (Perceived Happiness, Empathy, Sociability, Persistence and Self Regulation) and Motivated L2 Learning Behaviour as 26 and 05 respectively in order to determine the students’ resilience and L2 Motivated Behaviour. Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB) test was also conducted in order to measure the English proficiency skills of the students. Moreover, the correlation among the independent and dependent variables and the impact of resilience factors on Motivated L2 Behaviour and English Proficiency was analyzed with the help of standard regression analysis.   The results revealed that the four dimensions of resilience significantly influenced Motivated L2 Learning Behaviour whereas; three factors of resilience affected English Proficiency as well. The study can help in understanding the concept of resilience and can be applied to other academic disciplines

Assessment of Mortality and Causes after Re-bleed In Patients Having Endoscopy for Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Introduction: Acute Upper gastrointestinal bleeding (AUGIB), with prevalence of 36 to 172/100,000 natives per year, is a common medical emergency. Mortality rate after UGIB ranges from 4–14% while re-bleeding is evident in 10–30% of these patients. Despite advances in treatment modalities of UGIB, the in-hospital mortality rate remains high and it is commonly due to re-bleeding. However, the causes and frequency of mortality among patients with re-bleeding are not well known in Pakistan. Objective: To determine the frequency and causes of in-hospital mortality after re-bleeding among patients undergoing endoscopy for upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Methodology:  A descriptive cross-sectional study was done in Military hospital Rawalpindi from December 2014 to June 2015. A total 150 patients aged between 18 to 65 years who presented with upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) and underwent upper GI endoscopy and re-bleed were included through purposive sampling. Structured questionnaire used to record data. The patients were observed for mortality and causes after re-bleeding in the hospital for about 5 days. Patients who died, the cause of the death was assessed by 2 senior consultant physicians. SPSS version 21 was used for data entry and analysis. Variables like mortality were presented as percentage and frequencies. Effect modifiers like age and gender were controlled by stratification. Results:  The mean age of patients (n=150) was 43.97±12.28 years. Among total cases, 97 (64.7%) were males and 53 (35.7%) were females. The in-hospital mortality rate was 20% (n=30), re-bleed was cause in 12 (40%) while in 18 (60%) cause was other than re-bleed (cardiac, multi-organ failure, neurological, pulmonary, and advanced malignancy). Mortality in male patients was higher (n=18, 60.0%) as compared to female patients (n=12, 40.0%). The highest mortality (n=22, 73.3%) was observed in age group ˃43 years. The association of in-hospital mortality was statistically significant (p value = 0.02) by age but not by gender. Conclusion: In-hospital mortality after UGIB is 20 %, frequent cause is other than the re-bleed. Male above aged 43 are more vulnerable. Management of UGIB should also focus on optimization of non-re-bleeding causes and other co-morbid related deaths instead of merely maintaining homeostasis and blood transfusions.   Keywords: Re-bleeding, Mortality, Acute Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding, Upper GI Endoscopy

SECOND LANGUAGE TEACHING AND RESEARCH: TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE

This study aims to know teachers’ perception regarding research and throw a shadow of light on this critical issue with respect to teaching pedagogy. For this study, data were collected through survey questionnaire with close ended items from 104 secondary school teachers (SSTs) (grade 6 to 10) and English language centers of Karachi. The data analysis revealed that most of the teachers believed that the knowledge they gain from the teaching is more effective and valuable rather than the knowledge acquired from research. In both categories, majority of the participants declared that they have limited sources available in order to access the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) articles, whereas half of them stated that they do not have enough time to conduct SLA research, a few of them reported as lack of interest, one of the SSTs indicated that research articles are difficult to understand and no ability to conduct research. Furthermore, majority of the teachers agreed that a teacher should be researcher, whereas a few of them disagreed with the statement. This study concludes with some ideas and proposals to remove the pertaining communication barriers between researchers and teachers

TEACHING WRITING SKILLS IN UNIVERSITY LARGE CLASSES IN PAKISTAN: ISSUES, CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

This study aims to investigate the concept of a large class, challenges and issues faced by the teachers while teaching writing skills courses in large classes along with the strategies they use in order to cater to the problems. Therefore, in-depth interviews with nine private and public sector university teachers were conducted. The thematic analysis of the data revealed that a large class, in the Pakistani context, consists of 30 to 35 students and teachers particularly face the problems in assessment, giving feedback, ensuring individual attention, maintaining discipline, and controlling noise factor, etc. The assessment and feedback issues can be catered to by using peer assessment and peer feedback as they are viable strategies to deal with the large writing classes. In order to reduce the noise factor, some related activities can be practised to ensure maximum involvement of learners and ultimately, it reduces the disruptive noise. Identification of students in terms of their behaviour and seriousness towards learning paves the way for choosing appropriate teaching techniques which in turn helps to manage large writing classes having mixed ability students to achieve objectives of the course