An investigation into first year engineering students' oral classroom participation : a case study

Abstract

The case study was conducted in order to see how the use of English as the medium of instructions has affected the students’ oral participation in Creativity and Innovation and also Effective Communication classes. The study was also conducted to find out the factors which influenced students’ oral participation and the strategies used when participating. Using observation, interview, and survey, the data were collected from 146 first-year Engineering students. The study revealed that students who were good in the language tended to dominate the discussions compared to students who were less proficient. The findings of the study also suggested that more students used English in the Effective Communication classes compared to in the Creativity and Innovation classes. However, in Creativity and Innovation classes, the possibilities of students to initiate the discussions were higher. It was also found that the students asked more questions and were more willing to give comments and opinions compared to in Effective Communication classes. While responding to questions was not a problem, the study showed that in both classes, students did not like to ask questions during the lessons. The study also suggested that there was a tendency for students who liked to participate to sit at the front of the class and those who did not would sit at the back of the class. The study also revealed that factors which influenced students’ classroom participation were interrelated. The identified 5 interrelated factors were linguistic, pedagogical, cognitive, affective, and sociocultural. Apart from that, the study was also able to identify 7 strategies used by students when taking part in class discussions. The strategies were mentally practicing and rehearsing on what to say, writing down the ideas before reading it to the class, confirming on what to say with friends sitting next to them, focusing on the content rather than on the language, ensuring what they wanted to say was correct, preparing notes and questions before entering a class, and waiting for other students to participate first so that they could form their opinions or answers.