In order to find the relationship between students’ English ability and the students’ programming comprehension, we conducted a survey. The survey explores if students’ weakness in the English language affects the ability of the students to understand the programming with respect to the following factors: Computer Lab, lecturer, mathematics, and logical thinking. This paper analyzed the results of two surveys conducted in two Libyan universities. Results of the surveys showed that 37%, 38%, and 25% of students stated that their programming abilities were negatively affected by English, Computer Lab and Lecturer respectively. While over half of the lecturers mentioned that the students’ lack of English was the main reason for their weak performance in understanding programming skills. This study found that the programming ability had a moderate correlation with the Level of English proficiency, r=0.63, for both universities. Based on English, Computer Lab and Lecturer factors, a regression model was able to explain that 45% of the variance in programming skills.
Teaching Programming to Non-Programmers at Undergraduate LevelDr. Amarjeet Singh
This paper focuses on solving the problems faced by
non-IT (Information Technology) background students at
undergraduate level in learning programming language who
are at the same time non-native English language speakers. In
this regard a step by step methodology has been proposed
here which try to take into account the difficulties faced by
this particular niche of programmers and counteract them
with possible solutions. Following this approach may help
lower the problems faced by the non-IT background students
to some extent and fulfill their aim in being professional or
conversational or end- user programmers according to their
career choices.
The document discusses using Alice, a 3D programming environment, to teach introductory programming courses. It aims to motivate students to program, minimize frustration for new programmers, and improve problem solving skills. Common challenges in introductory courses include wide variation in student backgrounds, difficulty of the subject, and time spent on syntax. The author proposes using Alice initially for its visual nature before transitioning to Java, to make programming more accessible and enjoyable for new learners.
IRJET- Teaching English to Engineering Students in Andhra Pradesh and India IRJET Journal
This document discusses teaching English to engineering students in Andhra Pradesh, India. It notes that English is important for accessing advanced knowledge and research, but that engineering students in Andhra Pradesh often lack strong English skills. This can lead to unemployment even for graduates. The challenges English teachers face are discussed, such as students having varying English proficiency levels and a lack of sufficient time. Solutions are needed to better develop students' English communication skills through more individualized and skill-based teaching methods. Overall, improving English language education is important to increase employment opportunities for engineering students in Andhra Pradesh.
The document discusses using iPad technology to provide multi-modal feedback to British Sign Language/English interpreting students. It summarizes:
1) Traditionally, feedback on student video submissions has been provided in written English, but this presents challenges because BSL is a visual language without a standard written format.
2) The author conducted initial research providing feedback in written versus signed formats, finding students strongly preferred the visual feedback in BSL.
3) The author is now developing a method using iPad technology to allow tutors to provide audio narration, video modeling, and annotations on student videos to provide multi-modal feedback combining visual and auditory modes in English and BSL.
- The document reports on research examining the profiles of adult online language learners in two programs at the National University of Ireland Galway: an online Italian diploma program and an online applied Irish bachelor's degree program.
- Questionnaires were used to collect data on learners' demographics, motivations, learning styles, technological skills, and experiences in the programs. The majority of learners were between 36-45 years old and lived over 150km from the university.
- Analysis found most learners' technological skills improved after taking the online courses. While some struggled with specific software, most rated their experience using the video confer
The study aims to explore the problems and difficulties of students speaking
English language for Engineering students hailing from rural background. The study
moreover aims to explore the causes of such difficulties. The researcher designed
certain tasks based on Task based language teaching on the sample of the study.
These tasks are applied for each student to investigate speaking difficulties and the
causes of such difficulties. The results showed and indicated that there are some
difficulties in speaking English due to fear of making mistakes, anxiety, shyness and
lack of confidence. The researcher identified to provide environment support and
encourage the students to speak English frequently
Teaching english to engineering students in indiaAlexander Decker
1. The document discusses the importance of teaching English to engineering students in India. It is the language of advanced knowledge and the internet connects India to the global community. However, many engineering students lack strong English skills.
2. The author outlines problems English teachers face in teaching engineering students like varying English proficiency levels and lack of time. Students also struggle to learn at different paces. Improving English communication skills is important for students' future careers.
3. The English curriculum focuses on listening, speaking, reading and writing but courses are often too theoretical instead of practical. Both students and teachers would benefit from more innovative teaching methods.
3. 7 article june edition vol 9 no 1 2016 register journal iain salatigaFaisal Pak
REGISTER JOURNAL has the perspectives of languages and language teachings. This journal aims at presenting and discussing some outstanding issues dealing with language and language teachings
This journal encompasses original research articles, and short communications, including:
Phonology
Morphology
Syntax
Semantics
Pragmatics
Psycholinguistics
Sociolinguistics
Discourse Analysis
Linguistics in Education
Linguistics in Literature
Language Acquisitions
English Language Teaching (ELT)
English as Second Language (ESL)
English as Foreign Language (EFL)
English for Specific Purpose (ESP)
Teaching Programming to Non-Programmers at Undergraduate LevelDr. Amarjeet Singh
This paper focuses on solving the problems faced by
non-IT (Information Technology) background students at
undergraduate level in learning programming language who
are at the same time non-native English language speakers. In
this regard a step by step methodology has been proposed
here which try to take into account the difficulties faced by
this particular niche of programmers and counteract them
with possible solutions. Following this approach may help
lower the problems faced by the non-IT background students
to some extent and fulfill their aim in being professional or
conversational or end- user programmers according to their
career choices.
The document discusses using Alice, a 3D programming environment, to teach introductory programming courses. It aims to motivate students to program, minimize frustration for new programmers, and improve problem solving skills. Common challenges in introductory courses include wide variation in student backgrounds, difficulty of the subject, and time spent on syntax. The author proposes using Alice initially for its visual nature before transitioning to Java, to make programming more accessible and enjoyable for new learners.
IRJET- Teaching English to Engineering Students in Andhra Pradesh and India IRJET Journal
This document discusses teaching English to engineering students in Andhra Pradesh, India. It notes that English is important for accessing advanced knowledge and research, but that engineering students in Andhra Pradesh often lack strong English skills. This can lead to unemployment even for graduates. The challenges English teachers face are discussed, such as students having varying English proficiency levels and a lack of sufficient time. Solutions are needed to better develop students' English communication skills through more individualized and skill-based teaching methods. Overall, improving English language education is important to increase employment opportunities for engineering students in Andhra Pradesh.
The document discusses using iPad technology to provide multi-modal feedback to British Sign Language/English interpreting students. It summarizes:
1) Traditionally, feedback on student video submissions has been provided in written English, but this presents challenges because BSL is a visual language without a standard written format.
2) The author conducted initial research providing feedback in written versus signed formats, finding students strongly preferred the visual feedback in BSL.
3) The author is now developing a method using iPad technology to allow tutors to provide audio narration, video modeling, and annotations on student videos to provide multi-modal feedback combining visual and auditory modes in English and BSL.
- The document reports on research examining the profiles of adult online language learners in two programs at the National University of Ireland Galway: an online Italian diploma program and an online applied Irish bachelor's degree program.
- Questionnaires were used to collect data on learners' demographics, motivations, learning styles, technological skills, and experiences in the programs. The majority of learners were between 36-45 years old and lived over 150km from the university.
- Analysis found most learners' technological skills improved after taking the online courses. While some struggled with specific software, most rated their experience using the video confer
The study aims to explore the problems and difficulties of students speaking
English language for Engineering students hailing from rural background. The study
moreover aims to explore the causes of such difficulties. The researcher designed
certain tasks based on Task based language teaching on the sample of the study.
These tasks are applied for each student to investigate speaking difficulties and the
causes of such difficulties. The results showed and indicated that there are some
difficulties in speaking English due to fear of making mistakes, anxiety, shyness and
lack of confidence. The researcher identified to provide environment support and
encourage the students to speak English frequently
Teaching english to engineering students in indiaAlexander Decker
1. The document discusses the importance of teaching English to engineering students in India. It is the language of advanced knowledge and the internet connects India to the global community. However, many engineering students lack strong English skills.
2. The author outlines problems English teachers face in teaching engineering students like varying English proficiency levels and lack of time. Students also struggle to learn at different paces. Improving English communication skills is important for students' future careers.
3. The English curriculum focuses on listening, speaking, reading and writing but courses are often too theoretical instead of practical. Both students and teachers would benefit from more innovative teaching methods.
3. 7 article june edition vol 9 no 1 2016 register journal iain salatigaFaisal Pak
REGISTER JOURNAL has the perspectives of languages and language teachings. This journal aims at presenting and discussing some outstanding issues dealing with language and language teachings
This journal encompasses original research articles, and short communications, including:
Phonology
Morphology
Syntax
Semantics
Pragmatics
Psycholinguistics
Sociolinguistics
Discourse Analysis
Linguistics in Education
Linguistics in Literature
Language Acquisitions
English Language Teaching (ELT)
English as Second Language (ESL)
English as Foreign Language (EFL)
English for Specific Purpose (ESP)
This presentation from my Master's in Instructional Technology program is a fictional technology plan that I created for Kettleman City Elementary School in Kettleman City, CA.
This document discusses a Moodle-based online course called "Writing in English" that is designed to enhance the English writing and computer literacy skills of Communication Sciences students at the University of Zagreb. The course uses various Moodle activities like forums, wikis, glossaries and workshops. While the main goal is to improve writing abilities, students also gain experience with online collaboration tools and communication strategies, increasing their overall digital skills. Feedback is provided to students in a way that balances error correction with encouraging further discussion to develop their writing skills.
Development of a Modular Unit of a Higher Level Framework or Tool for Basic P...TELKOMNIKA JOURNAL
This paper reports about the development of a modular unit of a higher level framework or tool whose intended objective is the creation of animated lessons for basic programming (CS1) course in computer science discipline with visual aids. The goal of such lessons is to address the difficulties faced by the novice programmers in CS1 course.This module here after referred to as ‘type writer’allows instructors to render programmes or code snippets in a live typing manner as opposed to their sudden or en-block placement on the presentation area like a Power Point Slide; a commonly used approach in the present day eLearning.This project is planned to be executed in two stages and ‘type writer’ is the outcome of the first stage. This would be combined with another two modules that are planned to be developed in the second stage, to make the complete tool. The entire tool would be developed in Action Script 3.0 language that works on Adobe Flash Platform.
This document outlines a proposal for an English language course for adult native Spanish speakers over age 50. The course aims to help students learn conversational English by leveraging their background in Spanish. It would incorporate cognates, grammar syntax from Spanish, and new English vocabulary. The 15-lesson course would be delivered via CD and online resources. Lessons focus on vocabulary for common contexts, cognates, and idioms, with assessments after each module.
This document discusses computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and related topics. It begins with definitions of CALL, computer-assisted second language acquisition (CASLA), and other related terms. It then covers theories in instructed SLA and CALL. Empirical research on CALL is divided into product-oriented research, which examines the effects of CALL on language abilities, and process-oriented research, which investigates learner interactions and engagement. Principles for effective CALL pedagogy are outlined based on SLA research and technology. Specific studies on CALL as a predictor of success in English acquisition and on digital natives vs. digital immigrants are also summarized.
Dr. David E. Herrington, Dissertation Chair for Cheng Chieh Lai, PhD Disserta...William Kritsonis
This document summarizes a dissertation defense presented by Cheng-Chieh Lai on the effectiveness of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) programs for enhancing English learning among students with limited English proficiency. The dissertation included quantitative and qualitative research methods to examine how personal factors influence students' perceived usefulness and ease of use of CALL programs. Major findings indicated native language and age were significant factors influencing perceived usefulness, while gender, education level, and technology experience were not significant factors. Interviews provided perspectives on advantages, disadvantages and roles of CALL programs.
This document discusses a study exploring the accessibility of Open Educational Resources (OER) to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. It notes that most OER are only accessible to those with advanced English proficiency due to being predominantly in English. The study analyzed 150 courses from OpenLearn and 50 from Saylor Academy to assess readability levels based on metrics like sentence length, vocabulary difficulty. It found over 86% of courses require at least an intermediate proficiency level. Courses at the lowest educational levels were easiest to read. However, no significant differences were found between subject categories. The implications are that OER material writers should check text difficulty and simplify materials to improve linguistic accessibility for EFL learners.
Teaching english for automobile contribution 1-slpat123
The document discusses the design of an Automotive English course for English majors at Zhejiang University of Science and Technology in China. Needs analysis was conducted including questionnaires to students and interviews with automotive teachers, engineers, company employees, and translators. This was done to determine course objectives, appropriate content, teaching materials, and methods. The results of tests and post-course surveys showed that students were able to learn the necessary subject knowledge and felt the course design was suitable. The course aimed to provide students background knowledge to work as automotive translators.
Ellevation Education - Setting ELL Language Objectives (Webinar Slides)paulkuhne
The document summarizes a webinar on setting language objectives for English language learners. It includes an agenda for the webinar covering topics such as how instruction for ELLs is changing, the importance of language objectives, leveraging WIDA resources, and creating language objectives step-by-step. It provides examples of differentiating language objectives for different levels of ELL students based on WIDA standards and models. The webinar aims to help participants gain practical tips for developing language objectives tailored to individual ELLs or groups of ELLs at similar language levels.
CUSTOMER OPINIONS EVALUATION: A CASESTUDY ON ARABIC TWEETSijaia
This paper presents an automatic method for extracting, processing, and analysis of customer opinions on Arabic social media. We present a four-step approach for mining of Arabic tweets. First, Natural Language Processing (NLP) with different types of analyses had performed. Second, we present an automatic and expandable lexicon for Arabic adjectives. The initial lexicon is built using 1350 adjectives as seeds from processing of different datasets in Arabic language. The lexicon is automatically expanded by collecting synonyms and morphemes of each word through Arabic resources and google translate. Third, emotional analysis was considered by two different methods; Machine Learning (ML) and rulebased method. Finally, Feature Selection (FS) is also considered to enhance the mining results. The experimental results reveal that the proposed method outperforms counterpart ones with an improvement margin of up to 4% using F-Measure.
Open Educational Resources for Bridging High School – University Gaps in Acad...Up2Universe
This presentation was prepared for INTED2020 conference about the difficulties high school studies have to face when learning English. This results in an inadequate level of English when they enter the university thus they fail to succeed.
This document discusses error analysis and interlanguage theory in language learning. It defines error analysis as examining learners' mistakes to understand how language is acquired, and interlanguage as the independent language system learners develop between their native language and the target language. The document outlines the history of attitudes toward learner errors, from seeing them as problems to analyze, and explains current approaches seeing errors as a natural part of the learning process. It also discusses challenges in defining errors and the learner's developing language system.
Catering for linguistic domain specialisations through computer-assisted lang...Ana Gimeno-Sanz
This document summarizes three ways of enhancing language learning in specific purpose contexts: 1) The InGenio First Certificate in English Online Course and Tester which aims to prepare students for the Cambridge FCE exam through online courseware. Evaluation found high student satisfaction except for speaking activities and videos. 2) A digital storytelling project for aerospace engineering students to develop language and technical skills. Evaluation found improvements in all language areas. 3) The Clilstore online resource store for content and language integrated learning materials.
This document is a syllabus for an English 317 hybrid technical writing course. It outlines the learning objectives, grading criteria, and 5 projects that make up the course. Students will complete projects involving technical prose, definitions, data visualization, usability testing, and professional identity materials. The projects require both written and multimedia deliverables such as podcasts, slidecasts, infographics, screencasts, and an e-portfolio. The syllabus also provides policies on technology requirements, file formats, deadlines, plagiarism, disability accommodations, and contacting the instructor.
This document is a syllabus for an English 317 technical writing course. It outlines the course objectives, which include translating technical information for different audiences, applying rhetorical constructs, and communicating solutions. It lists required textbooks and describes 5 projects that students will complete over the course, including technical definitions, data visualization, usability testing, and developing professional materials. The syllabus also outlines grading, technology requirements, file formats, deadlines, policies on plagiarism and disabilities, and how to contact the instructor.
This document is a syllabus for an English 317 hybrid technical writing course. It outlines the learning objectives, grading criteria, and 5 projects that will be assigned over the course. Students will learn to translate technical information for various audiences, apply design principles to visual and written communication, and communicate solutions to rhetorical problems. Projects include analyzing writing style, creating technical documentation, data visualization, usability testing, and professional identity materials. The course will use both in-person and online components.
An Online System S Effect On Iranians EFL Academic Writing Performance Acros...Angie Miller
This study examined the effects of an online writing system on the academic writing performance of Iranian EFL students at different proficiency levels. 68 undergraduate students were given a language proficiency test and divided into three groups based on their scores: intermediate-low, intermediate-high, and advanced. Over an eight-week period, the students used an online writing system to complete eight academic writing assignments following a genre-based approach. Statistical analysis found that using the online system significantly improved students' writing performance across all proficiency levels, though the level of proficiency influenced the degree of effect. The study contributes to knowledge on using technology to enhance EFL writing instruction.
Language Oriented Approach of Teaching Programming SkillsIJCI JOURNAL
Owing to the lost of real meaning after translated English textbook into Chinese, the author carries on using English textbook for the software programming teaching. This paper introduce the author’s practice focus on the native language of technology inventor.The teaching reform detail include selecting textbook from all language version, giving lessons in inventor’s native language, concentrating the content based on the predecessor courses, demonstrating occupational operating environment in experimental scenes, and so on. After four years practices, the renovation have achieved good effective and efficiency. With causality analysis and induction method the author proposed a new issue of Language Oriented Approach of Teaching.
This study aims at investigating the effect of computer- assisted language learning program on EFL Saudi students learning of English. The computerized program used was prepared by the researcher. The sample of the study consisted of 41 students randomly selected from Al-Riyadh
Teachers' College and assigned to experimental and control groups. An achievement test was used to collect data from the students who participated in this research. The findings of the study indicated that using computer-assisted English language learning (CALL) has a positive effect on the experimental group students' achievement.
This document outlines a dissertation proposal that evaluates the method of bilingual education, specifically a two-way immersion program, in Orange County, Florida. The study aims to determine the relative strengths and weaknesses of bilingual program models, identify models that promote transition to English classrooms and achievement, and assess participant experience in transitioning to mainstream classrooms. The methodology will use surveys of parents, teachers, and students and compare student grades and test scores between the target program and no bilingual program. Statistical analysis including weighted mean, t-test, and ANOVA will be used. A literature review discusses factors influencing student learning and achievement in bilingual programs.
Developemnt and evaluation of a web based question answering system for arabi...ijnlc
Question Answering (QA) systems are gaining great importance due to the increasing amount of web
content and the high demand for digital information that regular information retrieval techniques cannot
satisfy. A question answering system enables users to have a natural language dialog with the machine,
which is required for virtually all emerging online service systems on the Internet. The need for such
systems is higher in the context of the Arabic language. This is because of the scarcity of Arabic QA
systems, which can be attributed to the great challenges they present to the research community,including
theparticularities of Arabic, such as short vowels, absence of capital letters, complex morphology, etc. In
this paper, we report the design and implementation of an Arabic web-based question answering
system,which we called “JAWEB”, the Arabic word for the verb “answer”. Unlike all Arabic questionanswering
systems, JAWEB is a web-based application,so it can be accessed at any time and from
anywhere. Evaluating JAWEBshowed that it gives the correct answer with 100% recall and 80% precision
on average. When comparedto ask.com, the well-established web-based QA system, JAWEBprovided 15-
20% higher recall.These promising results give clear evidence that JAWEB has great potential as a QA
platform and is much needed by Arabic-speaking Internet users across the world.
An Investigation of English Language Needs of Engineering Undergraduatesahmad shah qasemi
1. The study investigated the English language needs of 212 engineering undergraduates at Jawzjan University in Afghanistan through a student questionnaire.
2. The findings showed that most students had an average or good English proficiency level and studied English for academic purposes or future careers. Students also felt their English ability affected their academic performance.
3. Additionally, most students were dissatisfied with the current English program, resources, and teaching approaches, feeling they did not meet their needs. They preferred a more student-centered classroom with more activities.
This presentation from my Master's in Instructional Technology program is a fictional technology plan that I created for Kettleman City Elementary School in Kettleman City, CA.
This document discusses a Moodle-based online course called "Writing in English" that is designed to enhance the English writing and computer literacy skills of Communication Sciences students at the University of Zagreb. The course uses various Moodle activities like forums, wikis, glossaries and workshops. While the main goal is to improve writing abilities, students also gain experience with online collaboration tools and communication strategies, increasing their overall digital skills. Feedback is provided to students in a way that balances error correction with encouraging further discussion to develop their writing skills.
Development of a Modular Unit of a Higher Level Framework or Tool for Basic P...TELKOMNIKA JOURNAL
This paper reports about the development of a modular unit of a higher level framework or tool whose intended objective is the creation of animated lessons for basic programming (CS1) course in computer science discipline with visual aids. The goal of such lessons is to address the difficulties faced by the novice programmers in CS1 course.This module here after referred to as ‘type writer’allows instructors to render programmes or code snippets in a live typing manner as opposed to their sudden or en-block placement on the presentation area like a Power Point Slide; a commonly used approach in the present day eLearning.This project is planned to be executed in two stages and ‘type writer’ is the outcome of the first stage. This would be combined with another two modules that are planned to be developed in the second stage, to make the complete tool. The entire tool would be developed in Action Script 3.0 language that works on Adobe Flash Platform.
This document outlines a proposal for an English language course for adult native Spanish speakers over age 50. The course aims to help students learn conversational English by leveraging their background in Spanish. It would incorporate cognates, grammar syntax from Spanish, and new English vocabulary. The 15-lesson course would be delivered via CD and online resources. Lessons focus on vocabulary for common contexts, cognates, and idioms, with assessments after each module.
This document discusses computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and related topics. It begins with definitions of CALL, computer-assisted second language acquisition (CASLA), and other related terms. It then covers theories in instructed SLA and CALL. Empirical research on CALL is divided into product-oriented research, which examines the effects of CALL on language abilities, and process-oriented research, which investigates learner interactions and engagement. Principles for effective CALL pedagogy are outlined based on SLA research and technology. Specific studies on CALL as a predictor of success in English acquisition and on digital natives vs. digital immigrants are also summarized.
Dr. David E. Herrington, Dissertation Chair for Cheng Chieh Lai, PhD Disserta...William Kritsonis
This document summarizes a dissertation defense presented by Cheng-Chieh Lai on the effectiveness of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) programs for enhancing English learning among students with limited English proficiency. The dissertation included quantitative and qualitative research methods to examine how personal factors influence students' perceived usefulness and ease of use of CALL programs. Major findings indicated native language and age were significant factors influencing perceived usefulness, while gender, education level, and technology experience were not significant factors. Interviews provided perspectives on advantages, disadvantages and roles of CALL programs.
This document discusses a study exploring the accessibility of Open Educational Resources (OER) to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. It notes that most OER are only accessible to those with advanced English proficiency due to being predominantly in English. The study analyzed 150 courses from OpenLearn and 50 from Saylor Academy to assess readability levels based on metrics like sentence length, vocabulary difficulty. It found over 86% of courses require at least an intermediate proficiency level. Courses at the lowest educational levels were easiest to read. However, no significant differences were found between subject categories. The implications are that OER material writers should check text difficulty and simplify materials to improve linguistic accessibility for EFL learners.
Teaching english for automobile contribution 1-slpat123
The document discusses the design of an Automotive English course for English majors at Zhejiang University of Science and Technology in China. Needs analysis was conducted including questionnaires to students and interviews with automotive teachers, engineers, company employees, and translators. This was done to determine course objectives, appropriate content, teaching materials, and methods. The results of tests and post-course surveys showed that students were able to learn the necessary subject knowledge and felt the course design was suitable. The course aimed to provide students background knowledge to work as automotive translators.
Ellevation Education - Setting ELL Language Objectives (Webinar Slides)paulkuhne
The document summarizes a webinar on setting language objectives for English language learners. It includes an agenda for the webinar covering topics such as how instruction for ELLs is changing, the importance of language objectives, leveraging WIDA resources, and creating language objectives step-by-step. It provides examples of differentiating language objectives for different levels of ELL students based on WIDA standards and models. The webinar aims to help participants gain practical tips for developing language objectives tailored to individual ELLs or groups of ELLs at similar language levels.
CUSTOMER OPINIONS EVALUATION: A CASESTUDY ON ARABIC TWEETSijaia
This paper presents an automatic method for extracting, processing, and analysis of customer opinions on Arabic social media. We present a four-step approach for mining of Arabic tweets. First, Natural Language Processing (NLP) with different types of analyses had performed. Second, we present an automatic and expandable lexicon for Arabic adjectives. The initial lexicon is built using 1350 adjectives as seeds from processing of different datasets in Arabic language. The lexicon is automatically expanded by collecting synonyms and morphemes of each word through Arabic resources and google translate. Third, emotional analysis was considered by two different methods; Machine Learning (ML) and rulebased method. Finally, Feature Selection (FS) is also considered to enhance the mining results. The experimental results reveal that the proposed method outperforms counterpart ones with an improvement margin of up to 4% using F-Measure.
Open Educational Resources for Bridging High School – University Gaps in Acad...Up2Universe
This presentation was prepared for INTED2020 conference about the difficulties high school studies have to face when learning English. This results in an inadequate level of English when they enter the university thus they fail to succeed.
This document discusses error analysis and interlanguage theory in language learning. It defines error analysis as examining learners' mistakes to understand how language is acquired, and interlanguage as the independent language system learners develop between their native language and the target language. The document outlines the history of attitudes toward learner errors, from seeing them as problems to analyze, and explains current approaches seeing errors as a natural part of the learning process. It also discusses challenges in defining errors and the learner's developing language system.
Catering for linguistic domain specialisations through computer-assisted lang...Ana Gimeno-Sanz
This document summarizes three ways of enhancing language learning in specific purpose contexts: 1) The InGenio First Certificate in English Online Course and Tester which aims to prepare students for the Cambridge FCE exam through online courseware. Evaluation found high student satisfaction except for speaking activities and videos. 2) A digital storytelling project for aerospace engineering students to develop language and technical skills. Evaluation found improvements in all language areas. 3) The Clilstore online resource store for content and language integrated learning materials.
This document is a syllabus for an English 317 hybrid technical writing course. It outlines the learning objectives, grading criteria, and 5 projects that make up the course. Students will complete projects involving technical prose, definitions, data visualization, usability testing, and professional identity materials. The projects require both written and multimedia deliverables such as podcasts, slidecasts, infographics, screencasts, and an e-portfolio. The syllabus also provides policies on technology requirements, file formats, deadlines, plagiarism, disability accommodations, and contacting the instructor.
This document is a syllabus for an English 317 technical writing course. It outlines the course objectives, which include translating technical information for different audiences, applying rhetorical constructs, and communicating solutions. It lists required textbooks and describes 5 projects that students will complete over the course, including technical definitions, data visualization, usability testing, and developing professional materials. The syllabus also outlines grading, technology requirements, file formats, deadlines, policies on plagiarism and disabilities, and how to contact the instructor.
This document is a syllabus for an English 317 hybrid technical writing course. It outlines the learning objectives, grading criteria, and 5 projects that will be assigned over the course. Students will learn to translate technical information for various audiences, apply design principles to visual and written communication, and communicate solutions to rhetorical problems. Projects include analyzing writing style, creating technical documentation, data visualization, usability testing, and professional identity materials. The course will use both in-person and online components.
An Online System S Effect On Iranians EFL Academic Writing Performance Acros...Angie Miller
This study examined the effects of an online writing system on the academic writing performance of Iranian EFL students at different proficiency levels. 68 undergraduate students were given a language proficiency test and divided into three groups based on their scores: intermediate-low, intermediate-high, and advanced. Over an eight-week period, the students used an online writing system to complete eight academic writing assignments following a genre-based approach. Statistical analysis found that using the online system significantly improved students' writing performance across all proficiency levels, though the level of proficiency influenced the degree of effect. The study contributes to knowledge on using technology to enhance EFL writing instruction.
Language Oriented Approach of Teaching Programming SkillsIJCI JOURNAL
Owing to the lost of real meaning after translated English textbook into Chinese, the author carries on using English textbook for the software programming teaching. This paper introduce the author’s practice focus on the native language of technology inventor.The teaching reform detail include selecting textbook from all language version, giving lessons in inventor’s native language, concentrating the content based on the predecessor courses, demonstrating occupational operating environment in experimental scenes, and so on. After four years practices, the renovation have achieved good effective and efficiency. With causality analysis and induction method the author proposed a new issue of Language Oriented Approach of Teaching.
This study aims at investigating the effect of computer- assisted language learning program on EFL Saudi students learning of English. The computerized program used was prepared by the researcher. The sample of the study consisted of 41 students randomly selected from Al-Riyadh
Teachers' College and assigned to experimental and control groups. An achievement test was used to collect data from the students who participated in this research. The findings of the study indicated that using computer-assisted English language learning (CALL) has a positive effect on the experimental group students' achievement.
This document outlines a dissertation proposal that evaluates the method of bilingual education, specifically a two-way immersion program, in Orange County, Florida. The study aims to determine the relative strengths and weaknesses of bilingual program models, identify models that promote transition to English classrooms and achievement, and assess participant experience in transitioning to mainstream classrooms. The methodology will use surveys of parents, teachers, and students and compare student grades and test scores between the target program and no bilingual program. Statistical analysis including weighted mean, t-test, and ANOVA will be used. A literature review discusses factors influencing student learning and achievement in bilingual programs.
Developemnt and evaluation of a web based question answering system for arabi...ijnlc
Question Answering (QA) systems are gaining great importance due to the increasing amount of web
content and the high demand for digital information that regular information retrieval techniques cannot
satisfy. A question answering system enables users to have a natural language dialog with the machine,
which is required for virtually all emerging online service systems on the Internet. The need for such
systems is higher in the context of the Arabic language. This is because of the scarcity of Arabic QA
systems, which can be attributed to the great challenges they present to the research community,including
theparticularities of Arabic, such as short vowels, absence of capital letters, complex morphology, etc. In
this paper, we report the design and implementation of an Arabic web-based question answering
system,which we called “JAWEB”, the Arabic word for the verb “answer”. Unlike all Arabic questionanswering
systems, JAWEB is a web-based application,so it can be accessed at any time and from
anywhere. Evaluating JAWEBshowed that it gives the correct answer with 100% recall and 80% precision
on average. When comparedto ask.com, the well-established web-based QA system, JAWEBprovided 15-
20% higher recall.These promising results give clear evidence that JAWEB has great potential as a QA
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THE CORRELATION BETWEEN ARABIC STUDENT’S ENGLISH PROFICIENCY AND THEIR COMPUTER PROGRAMMING ABILITY AT THE UNIVERSITY LEVEL
1. International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Technologies (IJMPICT)
Vol. 9, No. 1, March 2018
DOI: 10.5121/ijmpict.2018.9101 1
THE CORRELATION BETWEEN ARABIC STUDENT’S
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY AND THEIR COMPUTER
PROGRAMMING ABILITY AT THE UNIVERSITY
LEVEL
Mrwan Ben Idris and Hany Ammar
West Virginia University, West Virginia, USA
ABSTRACT
In order to find the relationship between students’ English ability and the students’ programming
comprehension, we conducted a survey. The survey explores if students’ weakness in the English language
affects the ability of the students to understand the programming with respect to the following factors:
Computer Lab, lecturer, mathematics, and logical thinking. This paper analyzed the results of two surveys
conducted in two Libyan universities. Results of the surveys showed that 37%, 38%, and 25% of students
stated that their programming abilities were negatively affected by English, Computer Lab and Lecturer
respectively. While over half of the lecturers mentioned that the students’ lack of English was the main
reason for their weak performance in understanding programming skills. This study found that the
programming ability had a moderate correlation with the Level of English proficiency, r=0.63, for both
universities. Based on English, Computer Lab and Lecturer factors, a regression model was able to explain
that 45% of the variance in programming skills.
KEYWORD
Computer Programming, English language, Computer Lab, Lecturer, Logical Thinking, Mathematics.
1. INTRODUCTION
Complex syntactic rules, confusing structures, complex expressions and uncommon symbols for
programming languages are difficult and complicated for novice programmers to interpret them
quickly [1]. At the university level, learning programming for many beginner students is not easy,
especially if the programming language is English based while the students are not native English
speakers. Computer programming will be difficult for students who are non- native speaker
because of the different issues related to understanding the language command keywords and
syntax. Elazhary said that from her experience as a lecturer, she noticed that students who are not
fluent in English had difficulties in learning, remembering and using conventional programming
languages. Furthermore, she observed that it is even harder for them to comprehend English
compilation error messages [2].
In the Middle East and North Africa, millions of people speak Arabic. Besides, many millions
around the world speak Arabic because of their religions [3]. However, in Arabic countries, most
of the programming courses that are offered by educational institutions are written and taught in
English due to the programming languages being English based. Therefore, Arabic speaking
2. International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Technologies (IJMPICT)
Vol. 9, No. 1, March 2018
2
students who are non-native English speakers have difficulties in understanding and remembering
the commands of a programming language [4]. On the other hand, many popular programming
languages such as C, C++, Java, JavaScript, and Visual Basic were developed in English
speaking countries [12][4]; while just one Arabic programming language, called Phoneix
Language, was developed in the Arabic language [4].
We need to develop an Arabic programming language for teaching basic programming
knowledge to those who lack proficiency in the English language. Consequently, the Arabic
students can use their native language to comprehend the concepts of programming and use the
new Arabic Programming Language as their first step for efficiently learning programming. The
new Arabic programming language will help the Arabic students to learn a programming
language that was developed in their mother tongue. With the aim of supporting the development
of an Arabic programming language, we conducted survey studies to find out if Arabic students
that are non-native English speakers have difficulties in English programming language
comprehension due to their lack of sufficient English skills [2].
The main contribution of the survey is to provide empirical evidence of the impact of the lack of
English on the students’ programming comprehension with respect to other factors that the
percipients mentioned affect their comprehension of languages programming. Including open-
ended questions in the survey, which allowed participants to write comments freely, will help us
identify any additional factors that may affect their programming ability.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: section 2 introduces related work, section 3
presents our problem statement, section 4 presents our empirical results, and section 5 conclusion.
2. RELATED WORK
Learning and teaching computer programing is not easy, and many students struggle to learn how
to start with it [9]. According to Pedroni [10], learning and teaching programming is a challenge
[11]. Several factors may impact students’ programming ability such as previous computer
programming experiences [6][8][5]. Also, the students’ programming performance can be
increased by implementing multiple approaches to learning the material [9]. Moreover, several
studies have found a positive relation between mathematical and programming ability [5][6][7].
Undoubtedly, many factors can affect novice programmers. However, for Arabic speakers who
lack English proficiency, learning from only English language programs play a significant role in
such a student’s performance in programming [2].
Hanan Elazhary developed Arabic versions of LISP and SQL where the syntax errors are
produced in Arabic, and she tried to discover whether this Arabic software could improve the
programming ability for the Arabic programmers. The participants who were from different
disciplines and ages were not fluent in English. They were asked to write easy programs via the
English and Arabic versions of LISP and simple queries using the English and Arabic versions of
SQL after training had been done for the participants in both versions of LISP and SQL. After
that, two surveys were conducted, one for experienced programmers and the other for beginner
programmers. Around 98% of the beginner participants who were less than 15 years old
preferred the Arabic version of LISP, and they did not show any interest in SQL. About 82% of
3. International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Technologies (IJMPICT)
Vol. 9, No. 1, March 2018
3
the older novice programmers, who were not computer-related, preferred the Arabic version of
SQL, but they did not show much interest in LISP. On the other hand, approximately 85% of the
participants who had programming experience preferred the English versions of both LISP and
SQL. In addition, the experienced programmers preferred improving their English language
rather than using the Arabic versions [2].
Ashok and Anna analyzed the Java and SQL programming ability of non-native English students
where they prepared two kinds of tests. The first test was an English language test which exams
the student’s ability in identifying the meaning of programming language keywords in social
context. The second test was a Computer Language Test, which tests the student’s ability in
understanding the functional meaning of the keywords in the computer programming context.
The students who are non- native English speaker were divided into two groups (student A and
student B).
• Student A – learning programming courses at higher education where the instructional
language is other than English.
• Student B – learning programming courses at higher education where the instructional
language is English.
The authors proposed this framework for future research to identify the effect of students’ English
comprehension on students’ programming ability [4].
However, despite the fact that a considerable amount of research has been carried out on many
factors such as approaches to learning programming, and mathematics factors that affect
programming performance, our paper focuses on the English language as a factor that affects the
performance of Arabic speakers on the university level with respect to other factors which were
stated by the participants.
3. PROBLEM STATEMENT
Problem
Many of the Arabic novice programmers face difficulties in understanding programming as a
course, and some of them may drop the programming course after attending a few classes. Many
factors may affect students’ understanding of the programming course such as the labs, lecturers,
Mathematics and Logical thinking involved; therefore, these factors will not be ignored in our
study. However, there is another factor that can make programming harder for Arabic students
which is the lack of understanding the English language.
Goal
The goal is to survey the students to explore if the students’ weakness in the English language
affects their ability to understand programming courses. If that survey confirms the influence of
the lack of English on the programming understanding, we will try to find a solution by
developing a programming language which will be Arabic to help novice students understand
programming courses.
4. International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Technologies (IJMPICT)
Vol. 9, No. 1, March 2018
4
Research questions
In our surveys, we wanted to investigate the following research questions, which could help us
understand some of the Arabic students’ programming problems at the university level
1. Do students’ weakness in understanding English affects the ability of students to
understand programming?
2. Are students’ programming skills affected by other factors such as lecturers, labs,
Mathematics background and logical thinking?
4. OUR EMPIRICAL STUDY
Research Design and Instrumentation
A cross-section survey was developed and utilized to collect data to find whether the lack of
students’ English proficiency leads to weakness in understanding programming. The survey
consists of closed and open questions that were asked in the Arabic Language in order to be
unambiguous and understandable to all Arabic students. The selected student answered the first
survey. So, since most of the students did not take the TOEFL or IELTS tests beforehand, the
Students were asked to rate their English language level using a 5-point Likert scale: 1 (poor), 2
(average), 3 (good), 4 (very good), and 5 (excellent). Participants also asked to mention other
factors that affected their programming skills other than English Proficiency. They were also
asked to indicate whether an Arabic programming language could increase their programming
performance. Student programming performance is measured by their GPA in the programming
course.
The second survey was answered by the lectures to take the benefit of the lecturers’ experience
and see if they feel that the lack of students’ English leads to weakness of understanding
programming. And also we tried to find out from the lecturers that there may be other potential
problems affecting the students’ understanding. Finally, we surveyed two universities to compare
the results and avoid bias.
The Pilot Study
We conducted a pilot study for the students of Faculty of IT at the University of Benghazi. In this
study 35% of the students mentioned the lecturer is a reason that affected their ability of
understanding programming. Accurately 20% of students indicated that the lack lab assistance as
the reason which is shown in Figure 1. We added these two factors, Lab and Lecturer, to our main
factor which is the English language to avoid these two factors from affecting our results.
5. International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Technologies (IJMPICT)
Vol. 9, No. 1, March 2018
5
35%
45%
20%
lecturer Lab English
Figure. 1 The Pilot study results
Our Independent and Dependents Factors
The teachers added two new independent factors which are the Mathematics and the logical
thinking. So, with the result of the pilot study, the surveys explore the effect of the five
independent factors which are lecturers, labs, mathematics, the logical thinking and the English
proficiency on the computer programming ability (GPA) which is our dependent variable.
Participants and Data Collection
Because we were going to investigate a limited number of undergraduate students and wanted to
ensure that we included students in different years, we used stratified random sampling from the
population of the two universities. The alumni students were excluded because it was difficult to
communicate with them. The students were categorized into different strata based on their current
year. Additionally, I included all programming lecturers who are interested in participating in the
survey.
Table 1: The participants
Faculty of IT
University of Benghazi
Department of CS
Omar Al-Mukhtar University
Students Lecturers Students Lecturers
First year 23
15
First year 15
30
Second year 24 Second year 18
Third year 20 Third year 15
Fourth year 23 Fourth year 14
Fifth year 21
Total 111 15 Total 62 30
6. International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Technologies (IJMPICT)
Vol. 9, No. 1, March 2018
6
Table 1 shows that the sample size of the students for both universities is 173 students (N1=111 +
N2=62) and for the teachers is 45 instructors (N3=15 and N4=30). The samples N1 and N3 were
taken from the students and lecturers of the Faculty of IT – the University of Benghazi while the
samples N2 and N4 were taken from the students and lecturers of the Department of Computer
Science – Omar Al- Mukhtar University.
5. DATA ANALYSIS RESULTS
Initially, the dependent variable (GPA) and the level of English proficiency were analyzed using
scatter plot. A linear relationship between these two factors was found as a result. So, I choose to
use linear regression method and descriptive statistics to analyze the data.
Table 2: The independent variables from the Students’ point of view
Independent
variables
Faculty of IT
University of Benghazi
Department of CS
Omar Al-Mukhtar University
N1 (%) N2 (%)
English 44 (40%) 20 (32%)
Lab 37 (33%) 29 (48%)
Lecturer 30 (27%) 13 (21%)
# of students N1 = 111 N2 = 62
As shown in Table 2, accurately 40% of the participated the University of Benghazi (N1) students
indicated the English language as the first factor that had a negative impact on their GPA. The
Lab and Lecturers were selected as negative factors with percentages 33% and 27%, respectively.
On the other hand, precisely 48% of Omar Al-Mukhtar (N2) students explicitly indicated that
their programming abilities were affected by the lack of labs. While 32% stated that the lack of
English proficiency affected their GPA and the remaining 27% said that our programming
abilities were negatively influenced by the teacher inability in giving the explanation.
From the displayed results in Table 3, the teachers (N3 and N4) were asked to rate the level of all
students skills in the English language, where the rate has five levels (1= Bad, 2= Satisfied, 3=
Good, 4= Very Good, and 5= Excellent). The second column describes sample 3 (N3) which is
University of Benghazi’s faculty members who provided their opinions in percentages. For
instance, a bit more than a quarter (27%) pointed out that students do not have enough English
language skills and this could be the main reason of low GPA. The Same percentage (27%) of
sample N3 loaded the reason for having low scores among IT students in Benghazi as lack of
logical thinking in the IT students. Exactly 20% of teachers mentioned that there are no enough
Labs at the university, so the students could not practically practice. Precisely 13% of teachers
said that students have lack of deep understanding of mathematics, and the same percentage of
teachers mentioned that some of their colleagues do not provide enough information to their
students in the class. In contrast, most of the teachers at Omar Al-Mukhtar University, 63%
supported the idea of students should improve their English language before starting study
programming courses. Roughly the quarter of the instructors at the same university indicated that
7. International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Technologies (IJMPICT)
the university did not update most
that the low mathematics background of the student has a negative impact on their GPA and a
relatively small percent mentioned that lecturers and logical Thinking might be the
Table 3: The Independent Variables from the Teachers’ Point of View
Independent
variables
University of Benghazi
N3 (%)
English 4 (27%)
Mathematics 2 (13%)
Logical thinking 4 (27%)
Lecturer 2 (13%)
Lab 3 (20%)
# of teachers N3 = 15
As shown in figure 2 more than half of the lecturers, and 22% of the lectureres are confident that
the English and the Lab showed the first and the second impact
students respectively. On the other hand students had selected these two factors with percentage
of 37% for the English and 38% for the Lab. 25% of the students believes that their lecturers were
the reason behind their lack of programming, while 7% of the lecturers agree with them. No
student stated that the math and the logical thinking as factors that affected their programming
understanding. 9% and 11% of the lecturers indicated that the lack of the programming caused by
the weak background in math and the lack of the students’ ability to think logically,
Figure. 2 The percentage of independent variables for the all samples
International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Technologies (IJMPICT)
Vol. 9, No. 1, March 2018
the university did not update most equipment and facilities at Labs. Just 7% of the teachers said
that the low mathematics background of the student has a negative impact on their GPA and a
relatively small percent mentioned that lecturers and logical Thinking might be the reasons.
3: The Independent Variables from the Teachers’ Point of View
Faculty of IT
University of Benghazi
Department of CS
Omar Al-Mukhtar University
N3 (%) N4 (%)
4 (27%) 19 (63%)
2 (13%) 2 (7%)
(27%) 1 (3%)
2 (13%) 1 (3%)
3 (20%) 7 (24%)
N3 = 15 N4 = 30
As shown in figure 2 more than half of the lecturers, and 22% of the lectureres are confident that
the English and the Lab showed the first and the second impact on programming skills for the
students respectively. On the other hand students had selected these two factors with percentage
of 37% for the English and 38% for the Lab. 25% of the students believes that their lecturers were
of programming, while 7% of the lecturers agree with them. No
student stated that the math and the logical thinking as factors that affected their programming
understanding. 9% and 11% of the lecturers indicated that the lack of the programming caused by
he weak background in math and the lack of the students’ ability to think logically, respectively.
Figure. 2 The percentage of independent variables for the all samples
International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Technologies (IJMPICT)
7
equipment and facilities at Labs. Just 7% of the teachers said
that the low mathematics background of the student has a negative impact on their GPA and a
reasons.
Mukhtar University
N4 (%)
19 (63%)
2 (7%)
1 (3%)
1 (3%)
7 (24%)
N4 = 30
As shown in figure 2 more than half of the lecturers, and 22% of the lectureres are confident that
on programming skills for the
students respectively. On the other hand students had selected these two factors with percentage
of 37% for the English and 38% for the Lab. 25% of the students believes that their lecturers were
of programming, while 7% of the lecturers agree with them. No
student stated that the math and the logical thinking as factors that affected their programming
understanding. 9% and 11% of the lecturers indicated that the lack of the programming caused by
respectively.
8. International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Technologies (IJMPICT)
The correlation between the GPA and the level of English proficiency had been cal
r=0.63, which means the correlation is moderate.. However, to gain more insight of the nature of
this data, a statistical regression model was designed to study the effect of the level of English
Proficiency, lecturers, and labs on students’ GPA a
Omar Al-Mukhtar University.
As shown in table 4a and 4b, the multiple regression analysis provides a significant model with
some attractive results and p-value < 0.05. The independent value explained about
Square = 0.46) of the total variation in the dependent variable (GPA for N1), and around 44%
(GPA for N2); where the level of English has a positive effect on GPA which means when the
level of English Proficiency
increases the GPA for the student
factors have a negative association with the GPA which means when the lack of labs and effort
lecturers increase, the student’s GPA decrease. The variation of the observed GPA (standard
error) about the regression line is 0.66.
6. THREATS TO VALIDITY
1. Construct Validity: The University of Benghazi’s results depend on the data that was
collected during a war condition. Indeed, the university buildings were destroyed entirely,
every college moved to one or more high school buildings where they study only in the
evening period. These circumstances affected the new students where we found that 60%
from freshman chose the lab as the first factor that influenced their programming
2. Internal Validity: The teachers’ sample size is considered small when applying statistical
analysis methods.
International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Technologies (IJMPICT)
Vol. 9, No. 1, March 2018
The correlation between the GPA and the level of English proficiency had been cal
r=0.63, which means the correlation is moderate.. However, to gain more insight of the nature of
this data, a statistical regression model was designed to study the effect of the level of English
Proficiency, lecturers, and labs on students’ GPA at two universities, University of Benghazi and
As shown in table 4a and 4b, the multiple regression analysis provides a significant model with
value < 0.05. The independent value explained about
Square = 0.46) of the total variation in the dependent variable (GPA for N1), and around 44%
(GPA for N2); where the level of English has a positive effect on GPA which means when the
increases the GPA for the student increases (Positive relationship). While, the lab and lecturer
factors have a negative association with the GPA which means when the lack of labs and effort
lecturers increase, the student’s GPA decrease. The variation of the observed GPA (standard
about the regression line is 0.66.
ALIDITY
: The University of Benghazi’s results depend on the data that was
collected during a war condition. Indeed, the university buildings were destroyed entirely,
one or more high school buildings where they study only in the
evening period. These circumstances affected the new students where we found that 60%
from freshman chose the lab as the first factor that influenced their programming
The teachers’ sample size is considered small when applying statistical
International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Technologies (IJMPICT)
8
The correlation between the GPA and the level of English proficiency had been calculated,
r=0.63, which means the correlation is moderate.. However, to gain more insight of the nature of
this data, a statistical regression model was designed to study the effect of the level of English
t two universities, University of Benghazi and
As shown in table 4a and 4b, the multiple regression analysis provides a significant model with
value < 0.05. The independent value explained about 46% (R
Square = 0.46) of the total variation in the dependent variable (GPA for N1), and around 44%
(GPA for N2); where the level of English has a positive effect on GPA which means when the
increases (Positive relationship). While, the lab and lecturer
factors have a negative association with the GPA which means when the lack of labs and effort
lecturers increase, the student’s GPA decrease. The variation of the observed GPA (standard
: The University of Benghazi’s results depend on the data that was
collected during a war condition. Indeed, the university buildings were destroyed entirely,
one or more high school buildings where they study only in the
evening period. These circumstances affected the new students where we found that 60%
from freshman chose the lab as the first factor that influenced their programming ability.
The teachers’ sample size is considered small when applying statistical
9. International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Technologies (IJMPICT)
Vol. 9, No. 1, March 2018
9
3. Conclusion Validity: Which answered this question, have we drawn the correct
conclusions? And to ensure that the right statistical methods were selected a specific care
had been taken. Furthermore, in this paper, all formal statistical tests are based on random
samples.
4. External Validity: It is related to the ability to generalize the results. This study is based
on data collected from two universities which are from the same country. Consequently,
while many of the results could be captured in any Arabic county, we cannot generalize
the results because they are not based on multiple studies that have replicated the same
survey in different Arabic countries.
7. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
Factors such as English, labs, lecturers, mathematical and logical thinking affected the ability of
the students in programming. Descriptively, 51% from the lecturers and 37% of the students
believe that the English is the most mentioned factor that affected the students’ ability in
programming. While 38 % of the students and 22% of the lecturers stated labs. About 45% of the
variance in programming skill could be observed by the level of English proficiency, labs and
lecturers. However, the student never worked with an Arabic programing language, In future, we
decided to conduct an experiment using Arabic programing language, English programing
language, and TOFEL or ILTS test in order to determine the level of English proficiency for the
students. By testing the student we avoid any bias that related to the English language factor.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We show appreciation to both Mr. Khirallah Alferjani, the head of the computer science in the
Faculty of IT at University of Benghazi, and Mr. Adel Fadel, the chief of the computer science at
Omar Al-Mukhtar University, for helping us during the survey distribution stage by facilitating
our communications with students and teachers.
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