SLIIT Journal of Humanities and Sciences [SJHS]
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Publication Open Access Attitude of the Students towards the Usage of Group Activities as a Remedy for Secondary Language Speaking Anxiety(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences (FHS) of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) Malabe, 2020-12-01) Peiris, A.E.As literature suggests Second Language (L2) speaking has always been a challenge for students. One of the main issues is the apprehension occurring when a learner is expected to perform in the second language. As facilitators at the tertiary level, it is vital to create a low-anxiety classroom to help students with L2 speaking anxiety. This research attempts to investigate the perspective of students towards using group activities to reduce speaking anxiety in the English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom. The sample group consisted of forty-five Post Advanced Level Students from an intensive course in a private institute. A questionnaire prior to any speaking activity and weekly questionnaires while conducting both group and individual speaking activities were given to this mixed ability group for three weeks to study their attitude towards L2 speaking. Initial findings were that majority (86.7%) of students were afraid of L2 speaking due to several reasons. However, that percentage was dropped to 56.5% and 38.7% at the second and third week respectively irrespective of the medium of communication at school, and the usage of English at home. . In contrast the initial percentage of not afraid of L2 speaking (13.3%) was increased to 43.5% and 61.3% respectively at second and third week. These results clearly indicate that the students preferred group activities more than individual activities. Group activities have helped the students to make an effort to speak as there were students who did speaking activities for the first time in their life. It is recommended that group activities can be used to a certain extent as an effective tool to reduce speaking anxiety.Publication Open Access Level of Knowledge, Practice and Attitudes of Taking Anthropometric Measurements for Nutritional Assessments Among Nurses(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences (FHS) of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) Malabe, 2020-12-01) Wijedasa, H.The nutritional care of patients is one of the primary responsibilities of the nurses in any hospital. Nursing ability to early detect nutritional failure is the key factor for minimizing impurities in practice and attaining nutritional goals. The objective of this study is therefore to determine the level of knowledge, practice, and attitudes of taking anthropometric measurements for nutritional assessments by registered staff nurses. A descriptive cross-sectional study was done using a random sample of 125 nurses at a teaching hospital in the Western Province. Self-administered questionnaire with both open and close ended questions were used to gather information. A scoring method was introduced to assess the knowledge of the nurses based on answers for the questions. Majority (88%) of the nurses are females and 47% are less than 30 years. Results found that the level of knowledge of getting measurements by the nurses can be ranked as good (52.8%) > average > (38.4%) and poor > (8.8%) irrespective of demographic factors of the nurses. Level of knowledge is significantly associated only with the educational level. The percentage of having good knowledge among those having B.Sc. degree is significantly higher than that of having those diploma qualifications either from government or private organization. The two main constraints to take anthropometric measurements are the lack of time and lack of resources. There is a significant association between the level of confidence and the type of measurement. The percentage of confidence for weight measurement (93.5%) is significantly higher than the percentage of confidence for taking other measurements. Almost all nurses (98.4%) are not confident in measuring hip circumference. The measure of waist, hip and head circumference are hardly considered as a measure of anthropometric measurements.
