Ayele, Zeleke Arficho

2 Publications in AERD

Author Publications

An Investigation Into the Practices and Challenges of Students’ Use of ICTs in English: Selected Ethiopian Public Universities in Focus

By Ayele, Zeleke Arficho

This study was intended to examine whether or not students use ICTs in English, know that one’s use of it improves his/her English language skills, and if there is significant difference among students’ English language, information technology and other departments/programs students’ use of it in English and their knowledge that one’s use of it improves his/her English language skills, and to investigate challenges students face not to use ICTs in English with reference to Hawassa, Wolaita Sodo and Wachemo universities. To this end, a descriptive design with a mixed approach was employed. A questionnaire with two-point and five-point scales was used to collect data from 1500 students (500 students from each university). A semi-structured interview was also conducted with 39 students (13 students from each university) randomly selected from among those students who had filled in the questionnaire. Data gathered by the questionnaire were analyzed quantitatively; data collected by the interview were analyzed qualitatively. The study disclosed that t he vast majority of university students do not use ICTs in English; they do not know that one’s use of it in English improves his/her English language skills. It is also found that there is no statistically significant difference among students of English language, information technology and other departments/programs use of ICTs in English and their knowledge that one’s use of that improves his/her English language ability. There are challenges that students face not to use ICTs in English. Accordingly, recommendations have been forwarded. © 2022 ACADEMY PUBLICATION.

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Investigating the Correlation Between Students’ Reading Fluency and Comprehension

By Makebo, Tadiwos Hambamo

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between students' reading fluency and comprehension. It is a correlational design. A purposive sampling technique was employed to select the district, school, students, and grade level. Accordingly, 100 students participated in the study. As the research was quantitative, reading comprehension tests and comprehension-based silent reading fluency tests were applied to collect data. The data was analyzed using statistical techniques like Pearson product-moment correlation and linear regression. The findings revealed that reading accuracy level and reading rate, which are the parameters of reading fluency, were strongly correlated (r =. 885, P < 0.01) with each other. However, silent reading fluency (SRF) had a moderate correlation with reading comprehension. Moreover, the reading rate had a strong positive correlation with reading accuracy (r =.885, p < 0.01, and reading comprehension (r =.410, p<0.01). In addition, the linear regression outputs confirmed that the higher the students' reading rate and accuracy level, the higher their reading comprehension (Beta = 0.42, t = 4.53, p < 0.05). It means that when reading rate and accuracy increase, so do their reading comprehension. The results suggest that reading rate and accuracy levels are valid measures of reading ability when students read silently with comprehension. © 2022 ACADEMY PUBLICATION.

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