(From my thesis: Enhancing Proficiency in
Communication through Campus Journalism)
Foreign Studies
Lee (2011) explicated in his study that
technology has played a role in many of the significant changes in American
journalism, and that role generally has been twofold. First, there is an
immediate impact, which takes place as news organizations use the new technology
for improvements, such as gathering and reporting news more quickly and
reaching larger groups of people at reduced costs. The secondary – and in the
long-term, the more significant – impact is the cultural result of reaching
more people with the news and reaching them in a different manner. This is a
change that has the potential to affect not only the general citizenry, but
also government, politics and the quality of democracy, wrote media economics
scholar Robert G.
Thus, Kunkel (2003), dean of the Merrill College
of Journalism at the University of Maryland, stated succinctly and reiterated
by Henderson (2009) , "Writing instructors are obligated to teach the
fundamentals of media writing" (p.4). Calling journalism writing
"part skill, part craft and part art" he said that students should
have a solid foundation in reporting, writing, and editing. Consequently, this
resulted to the strengthening of students craft in Journalism.
But, it is undeniable that errors are prevalent
in the world of journalism. Hence, the issue remains: what are universities
doing to correct students' writing deficiencies? For journalism programs,
corrective action is critical because writing remains at the profession's core.
Bissell and Collins (2003) as cited by Enos (2008) found in their research that
writing deficiencies have not gone unnoticed.
In addition, John, Reminski and Hanks (1991), as
stated by Libreja (2008) found "... considerable diversity among programs
teaching journalism regarding testing, uses of tests, criteria, types of tests
used, retake policies, and remedial help". They concluded that despite
long-standing interest in formal assessment of language skills, agreed upon
standards are non-existent which probably added to the worsening scenario of dealing
with inaccuracies in journalism.
Talberg (2006) averred that improved language
skills would enable engineers to keep abreast with recent developments in
engineering areas. It will enable them to develop competencies needed in new
areas of engineering and for job opportunities in an international environment.
He further explained that is equally important for engineering companies to
have engineering staff with good language skills for they do not only make good
representatives but may also become an important asset in meetings and
negotiations with foreign companies. Thus, he concluded that the need for
improved English language skills among students call for strategies that
develop adequate language skills related to their profession. However, he
stressed that as the language competencies needed by future engineers should be
related to their profession, language learning should be based on the
activities that are relevant and typical of their profession in an
international context.
Similarly, Al-Khatib (2005) cited in his study a
survey conducted in Finland in 1998 by the National Board of Education on the
language and communication needs of industry and business employees and was
aimed at showing how language teaching could best equip students skills required
in professional life. The survey revealed that compared with engineers,
employees in production jobs, installation and repair workers do not need to
use foreign languages as much as the members of other groups. Further, it
showed that the need for oral communication overrides written skills (reading
and writing) in the first group, while the discrepancy in the second is
smaller.
Along
line with this, Abu- Rizaizah (2005), revealed in his study that it is
necessary for engineers to write in English as established in his questionnaire
and that majority of engineers considered English to be highly important in
carrying out their work successfully and efficiently. He also found that as
regard writing, half of the total respondents were happy, while most saw
themselves as either good or very good. However, although engineers
are satisfied with their writing, it is the second most important skills that
they are anxious about or need to improve. Lastly, he found that most of the
engineers edit as they write before producing a fair copy.
This was complemented by Bunton, Kanihan, and
Neuzil (2000) wherein they examined the use of ability grouping in a mass media
writing course to improve student writing, both content and mechanical skills.
Their data indicated the usefulness of ability grouping to improve skills and
also indicated that tests of mechanical skills alone do not predict student’s
ability to write a story.
Meanwhile, Dayal (2005) stated that the general
English course for studies at the undergraduate level does not bring them to
the required competence in all areas of the language skills at the end of
graduation. According to him, many students across disciplines are not very
good at communication and generally lack the proficiency they need to meet the
growing demands of the present day workplace competencies. More so, his study
revealed that students indicated that adequacy of the English language
instruction at School/ Pre- University, however they expressed a need to
enhance their communication competencies. They showed dissatisfaction with the
present course, felt that it does not help them for their future needs, and
disagreed that the present syllabus helps in gaining proficiency in order to
succeed in higher education. Moreover, as regard their perception of language
needs, the students felt that they need English for formal and social
situations. Further, he concluded that knowledge of English is decisive factor
for success and that a general English course does not help students achieve
required proficiency in English.
This was supported by Buckingham (2008) when a
group of Turkish scholars were investigated from the humanities faculty of a
prominent Turkish university perceive the development of their discipline-
specific second language writing skills. Personal interviews were used to
elicit data and excerpts from the interviews have been recorded in this paper.
The acquisition strategies identified in the data reveal that the acquisition
of scholarly writing expertise was an extended process of exploration of genre
conventions, with a strong component of largely self- directed analysis of
linguistic and organizational norms. The study considers how these strategies
can be incorporated into a field study or portfolio- based academic writing
program, with a view to training junior researchers to recognize the
rhetorical, organization, and linguistic characteristics of scholarly writing
from their own discipline, and to monitor the development of their own writing
competence.
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