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The Role of Pedagogical Intervention
in Improving the Oral Proficiency
of Engineering Students
--S Mekala, S Shantha and M Ponmani
In the present globalized context, the need for spoken proficiency in English has become a determinant factor for engineering graduates. Engineering students are required to possess requisite spoken proficiency for their career growth prospects. The major impediment to the students’ job placement is their lack of proficiency in speaking. This paper focuses on the role of the pedagogical intervention in enabling the students to improve their spoken proficiency so as to widen their employability scope and to meet the industrial needs. The participants of the study chosen for control and experimental group were first year civil engineering students, comprising 38 in each group. The vital tool used in this study was oral communicative tasks administered to the experimental group. The role of the teacher was significant in providing pedagogical interventions and appropriate motivational strategies in a congenial class atmosphere. The results of the statistical analysis revealed that there was a significant level of improvement in the oral proficiency of the experimental group.
© 2017 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
The Effect of Transformational Leadership Style
on Team Performance in IT Sector
--Rajni Gyanchandani
Leaders are the role models who influence the values, system, culture and action of the people working in an organization. The leadership style affects the productivity and outcome of teams in an organization. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the leadership styles practiced in IT sector and their effect on team performance. This paper analyzes transformational leadership style as an important predictor of team performance. The data was collected from 262 employees working in IT sector in Pune. The results reveal that transformational leaders make employees work in a more creative way which makes the environment creative (i.e., report more growth opportunities and leader support). This creative workplace, thus, encourages work involvement and team performance.
© 2017 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
“Dress to Impress”: The Impact of Power Dressing
--Parul Raj, Kapil Khattar and Rajat Nagpal
Managers, executives and professionals spend immeasurable hours on their learning, networking, meetings, delivering presentations, writing articles/papers, getting qualifications, and attending lectures, workshops and classes for training and developing themselves just to stay competitive in this fast growing world. But a significant number of them overlook their own professional image; they need to pay attention to this aspect of professionalism, as it adds to their demeanor and success. The way we dress at workplace has an incredible influence on the way others perceive us. Thus, careful consideration should be paid to the dress code and style as it enhances the business performance strategy. The matter of fact is that significant contributions towards business contentment can be visually seen through dress code. Hence, the paper focuses on examining the impact of dressing on the performance of an employee and also the level of awareness of dress code amongst people, further highlighting the right dress code using a broader range of styles.
© 2017 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Choose to RISK
--Revathi Turaga
When we say that some people are risk-takers and some are not, it is not that the latter category does not take risk at all, but rather they tend to stay more with the low and known risks. Even they are, sometimes, required to take the bigger plunge, the bigger risk. So, how much should one risk? To what extent should one evaluate before taking a chance? Be it in personal life or in professional life, be it an individual or an organization, everyone today has to take a risk at some time or the other. Apart from all the evaluations done, the pros and cons analyzed, what else should one consider and remember while taking a risk? In this paper, we shall use the very word ‘risk’ to help us decide whether or not to take a risk.
© 2017 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Action Research to Improve the Communication Skills of Undergraduate Students
--Sonali Ganguly
Today, communication seems to be the most important aspect of education. A student’s learning is incomplete without developing the language skills—listening, reading, speaking and writing. The main objective of education is not limited to acquiring knowledge but it has expanded to the utilization of the same in the practical life. Here comes the need for communication skill. The students who opt for postgraduation mostly with an ambition to get more exposure are found to be lacking in communication skills. They may be excellent learners with a strong hold over the specialized subject, but sometimes, they lack the level of confidence to express the same knowledge to prove their efficiency. It is a matter of concern when a graduate faces difficulty in speaking English fluently with appropriate sentence structure, which indicates some lacunae within the acquired education or some deficiencies in the approach of teaching. This paper intends to focus mainly on the possible reasons for a student’s lack of English fluency. The paper also studies the way teaching pedagogy is responsible for giving an effective and complete education to the students and highlights the importance of a change in the teaching pedagogy to improve the communication skills of the graduates.
© 2017 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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