Browsing by Author "Bogale, Berhanu"

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    Listener Strategies in Collaborative Discourse of Addis Ababa University Fourth Year Students
    (1993-06) Bogale, Berhanu; Atkins, John D.
    This study was an attempt to investigate the interactional listening strategies fourth year !AU students use. It was particularly made to find out how they indicate understanding and problems of understanding. Six students who represented three educational achievement groups (two top-ranking, two middle - ranking and two bottom-ranking - as determined by CGPA) were selected from the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature. Two instructors, both native English speakers, who were advisers to t~e students were identified to help with the research. Suitable tasks and an authentic discussion topic were selected. The subjects were recorded, using audio add video recordings, while carrying out the two tasks and a discussion related to their senior essays with their advisers. A system of analysis which identified fifteen observable strategies that indicate understanding, problems of understanding and desire to shift topic or role was developed. The strategies used by the students were then coded, categorized and analysed. The results of the study showed that students used 'listening response or backchan~lling' most frequently to indicate attention, approval and understariaing. 'Prompt' and 'reformulations/summarizing' were used less frequently to indicate understanding. The most frequent strategies used to indicate or solve problems of understanding were, in descending order of frequency: 'specific request for confirmation' followed by 'potential request for confirmation' and 'minimal query'. Students used, only in the discussion activity, 'shifting role' and 'topic switChing' to indicate desire to change topic or take new role as speaker. Results of the task performance indicated that the most successful students were, generally speaking, those who used a greater variety and higher frequencies of strategies. Students who used strategies most successfully to accomplish the tasks were not eXClusively top-ranking (according to academic performance) and similarly those who used strategies least successfully were not exclusively bottom-ranking. Based on the findings of the study it is recommended that students should be helped in developing a range of strategies they can use to participate more actively and flexibly, according to purpose, in collaborative discourse.
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    Verbal Participation in Group Work: A Case Study of First Year Students at Addis Ababa University
    (Addis Ababa University, 2000-06) Bogale, Berhanu; Johnson, Keith (Professor)
    This study is an attempt to gain insight into the verbal participation behaviour of first year students at Addis Ababa University, as they take part in group discussion in College English classes. The main aims are to investigate the extent to which students differ in terms of verbal participation in group discussion, to explore the factors that account for the differences, students' perceptions of low and high participators, and whether students change their participation behaviour (increasing or decreasing in participation) and, if so the factors responsible for the change. Thus a longitudinal dimension has been used in which students' views and behaviours are seen developmentally. The main subjects of the study were 35 first year students at AAU Also 108 students took part in filling in a questionnaire. Data on verbal participation in group discussion were gathered by means of audio and video recordings and different types of questionnaires (self-ratings, group member ratings, classmate ratings, and instructor's ratings). Based on their participation level 18 students were selected for in-depth individual and focus group interviews. Analysis of the data indicated that there was a huge difference among students in terms of their verbal participation in group discussion: some were extremely silent (17.1 %), and others were very high participators (17. 1%), some times to the point of almost IV totally dominating other group members. Then students' (especially the silents' and the talkers') views of the factors that accounted for the difference in participation were discussed. It was also found out that by the end of the academic year or in the second semester some high participators became silent; and some very silent students became active participants. Students' perceptions of the silents and the talkers has also been presented and discussed. The thesis concludes by considering the implications of the findings for increased or more equitable verbal participation among students in group discussion and the need for research into internal and external variables affecting participation.