The implementation of English-medium instruction by non-native speaking lecturers to non-native speaking students is one of the most challenging processes in engineering education. This article aims with a view to analyzing the need of introducing Functional English Language course to the engineering curriculum in the context of Islamic University of Technology, Bangladesh. It also elaborates the use and importance of English course in IUT. This paper proposed a complete course outline (syllabus) that can be covered in first two semesters. More emphasis could be given on Language Skill and Fundamentals of Grammar in the first semester whereas Research competence could be kept in prime concern in the second semester so as to prepare students for facing the next challenges like project paper writing, presenting paper in seminars or conferences etc. Some guidelines also provided to the curriculum planners, teachers and coordinators to run the course in an effective and efficient manner. Further research is required to identify the problems of implementing Functional English Couse in Engineering curriculum as a whole and also finding ways to come up with solution to those problems.

The present study is carried out to analyse the basic elements of short stories that are fundamental to make up an effective piece of short fiction unique to the genre. The examination subsequently proceeds to expose the key elements that are employed by in his three selected stories: Before the Party, The Pool, and Mackintosh (Maugham, 1951). This study finds most of the elements exist in the selected stories. The elements include: A beginning, middle, and end, unity of effect, conflict, character changes and realistic style. Thus, the study concludes that Maugham?s short fictions are well written within the frame of what makes an effective piece of short stories and are recommendable to be a structural model for short fiction writing. The exploration, hopefully, would disclose what key elements are employed by Maugham in order to make his short fictions well-liked by his reader.

There has been much debate over the origins of African culture in the United States and the extent to which African retentions have been preserved and readapted according to the American diasporic conditions under slavery, forced labour, and racial discrimination.  In this light, the present paper questions about whether the Africans in the New World continued to be Africans only in colour or whether any substantial elements of Africa became part of their lives in the New world. The paper also attempts to consider the extent to which the culture of Africa was transplanted and preserved in the New World.

The purpose of the study was to identify and examine the level of errors in the usage of punctuation marks among students in Ghanaian Polytechnics. Data was collected using test results on an unpunctuated passage and a written speech. Results of the study revealed that students of the Polytechnics still have great challenges in identifying punctuation marks in written text. Another disturbing conclusion from the study indicated that students in Ghanaian Polytechnics use these punctuation marks inappropriately in their own free writing.

Listening is a complex process and crucial in the development of second language competence. The present study investigated the relationship among four different test tasks and different test-taking strategies used by Iranian EFL learners. Sixty EFL male and female learners participated in this study. The instruments of data collection of this study included one language proficiency test, test-taking strategy questionnaire, interview and a listening comprehension test. Analysis of findings indicated that the frequency use of test-taking strategies among participants of four different test-tasks was significantly different.

The story of Modern African poetry cannot be complete without the late South African Poet, Dennis Brutus. Until his death in 2009, Dennis Brutus was a fierce voice against oppression of any kind, and one of his tools was his poetry (especially of the latter years). Many Modern African Poets have followed the example of Brutus in using poetry as a weapon in decrying all forms of injustice. This paper examines the impact, the influences of Brutus? poetry on African poets after him. It concludes that what Brutus inspires in these poets is vision, is resilience, is the fact that poetry can be put to use against the forces of evil.

The major aim of this research study was to find out the relationship between test anxiety and academic achievement of students at university level. 237 students were randomly selected as a sample from six different departments in a public sector university in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) developed by Spielberger was used for data collection. Pearson correlation, multivariate statistics and regression analyses were used for data analysis. Significant negative relationship was found between test anxiety scores and students’ achievement scores. Results showed that a cognitive factor (worry) contributes more in test anxiety than affective factors (emotional). Therefore, it is concluded that test anxiety is one of the factors which are responsible for students’ underachievement and low performance but it can be managed by appropriate training of students in dealing with factors causing test anxiety.

The goal of this research was the effect of descriptive evaluation of elementary school third grade subjects on academic achievement of students and its comparison with traditional evaluation. The statistical population of the research included all female third grade students of elementary schools in ZarrinShahr in academic year of 2012-2013 who were a total number of 742 students as well as the elementary school third grade teachers who were a number of 34 teachers. Among them a number of 147 students and 28 teachers were selected via cluster sampling. Research methodology in this study was of survey-descriptive type. The research tools were checklists and a questionnaire of opinion toll, made by the researcher. To assess the validity of the tools used, the face validity and content validity were used and the validity of the questionnaire was estimated as a=0.93. Chi square test was used to analyze the research questions. The results of the research showed that using different methods of descriptive evaluation has been effective in improving the students’ performances in such subjects as the Holy Quran, social sciences, arts, science & Persian, while it has not been effective in improving their performances in such subjects as heavenly gifts (the Holy Quran for elementary students) and mathematics. Finally, the results of opinion toll showed that the teachers found descriptive evaluation more suitable than traditional evaluation in evaluating all the third grade subjects of elementary school.

Both advice and suggestion are acts used in daily communication. They are ways of influencing other people. They are milder than commands since the decision about what to do is in the hands of the hearer, but in practice they are tactful ways of giving command or instruction, thus, they are regarded as face-threatening acts that need to be softened or mitigated. Therefore, this paper aims to study the two directive acts, namely suggestion and advice aiming to show the similarities and differences between them and set the strategies used to indicate each act. Besides, the two acts in question will be applied to some texts in three selected plays: "Flowering Cherry", "The Tiger and the Horse" by Robert Bolt and "Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" By Edward Albee to show which strategy is used more frequently to indicate each act in the selected plays.