This paper examines the different types of writing errors performed by 16 international postgraduate students undertaking an intensive English course at a public university in Malaysia. It was mandatory for international postgraduate students who obtained less than IELTS Band 6 to undertake an Intensive English Course (IEC) offered by the University, prior to entering their respective faculties’ academic programs. The students were required to write a 3-5 page term paper assignment on a topic related to their field of study. Mixed methodology approach was employed to examine and analyze corpus of students’ term papers. The errors in the term papers were identified and classified accordingly. The results of the study revealed that four most common English language errors committed by the participants were sentence structure, articles, punctuation and capitalization. This study also shed light on the manner in which students assumed the rules of English to that of their native language. Such insight is useful for both instructors and students because it provides significant information on the building blocks experienced by English language learners in academic writing.
Communication apprehension has been identified as a major factor which inhibits an individual's willingness to communicate and his/her ability to develop effective communication skills. While many prior studies have investigated oral communication apprehension among undergraduate students, there has been little research exploring this phenomenon among doctoral students. This study applied qualitative methodology via observation and interviews. The research subjects were international doctoral students from several Malaysian universities. The experiences of the students in communicating with examination panel during academic presentations (e.g. proposal and viva) are analysed and the factors contributing to their oral CA are explored.
The present chapter aims to highlight the importance of studying individual differences (IDs) in Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL). This study begins with a brief overview of drastic changes in educational delivery methods by wide application of technological tools and ends by developing a framework that emphasizes on the need for studying IDs in CALL settings. To gain a comprehensive support to develop this framework, an extensive literature review was conducted by focusing on a) instruction and technology integration, b) natural aptitude of Net generation for technology-mediated education, c) utilizing technology in language learning process, d) CALL properties, e) CALL advantages in second language learning, f) the effect of IDs in language learning, g) common taxonomies of IDs in language learning process, and h) the role of IDs in technology-mediated learning environments. This study motivates future research to find relationship between IDs and language learning CALL environments.
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