Ghanaian University Research Articles

Linguistic discourse analysis of lexico-grammatical features of moves in the research abstracts of medical students in a Ghanaian university

Writing a quality research abstract is crucial for a scholarly report. An abstract should be information and lexically dense, formal, and have a professional tone. This requires precision, objectivity, logicality, technicality, and comprehensiveness. However, writing a good-quality research abstract is a hurdle for novice and inexperienced undergraduate students who study English as a Second Language (ESL), that is English language learners worldwide. This article interrogates the research abstracts written by undergraduate medical students who also studied English Language at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) in Ho, Ghana. A qualitative-quantitative approach, guided by Hyland’s (2000, 2004) five-move model, was used to analyze the lexico-grammatical features in the rhetorical moves of the research abstracts written by these students. A corpus of 23 extracts representing a quota of sample tenses, hedges, boosters, and nominalization were analyzed. The data were coded manually and presented as frequency counts and percentages in tables and graphically. The results revealed that rhetorical moves in the research abstracts written by undergraduate medical students of UHAS in Ho, Ghana were replete with simple past, simple present, and perfect tenses, and lexico-grammatical devices such as hedges, boosters, and nominalization to a greater or lesser extent. The study concludes that the research abstracts written by undergraduate medical students of UHAS follow Hyland’s (2002, 2004) five rhetorical move model, and are constituted by specific lexico-grammatical features. The pedagogical implications are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided.

Staff Promotion and Employee Commitment to Work: A Survey in a Ghanaian University Library

Staff Promotion and Employee Commitment to Work: A Survey in a Ghanaian University Library

Assessing the dimensionality of the sense of coherence scale (SOC-L9) using Ghanaian university students: Guarding against the method effect

BackgroundThe dimensionality of the sense of coherence (SOC-L9) scale has been in contention due to the varied factor structure revealed in the literature. In this study, we assessed the dimensionality of the SOC-L9 scale using Ghanaian university students while guarding against the method effect. The study also examined the gender measurement invariance of the scale. MethodsThis research conveniently sampled 1062 students who responded to the SOC-L9 scale with negative items reversed to positive items. A larger proportion of the participants were male students (n = 769, 72.4 %), with 293(27.6 %) being female students. The youngest participant was 18 years old, whereas the oldest was 42 years old. Following all validation studies protocols, four distinct confirmatory factor analysis models were fitted and compared (i.e., unidimensional, three-factor first-order, three-factor second-order and bifactor models). ResultsThe initial model comparison revealed that the bifactor CFA model [CFI = 0.958, SRMR = 0.036, AIC = 21231.35, BIC = 21370.45] was superior to the unidimensional [CFI = 0.914, SRMR = 0.046, AIC = 26280.67, BIC = 26414.8] and 3-factor models [CFI = 0.932, SRMR = 0.040, AIC = 26221.67, BIC = 26370.71]. Upon further probing, it was discovered that SOC-L9 functions best as a unidimensional scale for the university student population. Gender measurement invariance was established for configural invariance [CFI = 0.986, SRMR = 0.044], metric invariance [CFI = 0.894, SRMR = 0.051] and scalar invariance [CFI = 0.983, SRMR = 0.047]. ConclusionThe SOC-L9 scale has a nested structure with the various sub-scales interacting to produce a summary total observed score. The structure of the SOC-L9 requires scholars to treat the scale as a unidimensional scale rather than a multidimensional one. This latent structure was found to be consistent with male and female university students.

Perceptions and enablers of sustainable development: a comparative study of Ghanaian university students’ engagement with the SDGs

Perceptions and enablers of sustainable development: a comparative study of Ghanaian university students’ engagement with the SDGs

Barriers to women’s participation in higher engineering education: a qualitative assessment of the role of social networks of students in a Ghanaian university

Engineering is critical for socio-economic development, however only a few women participate in engineering education and careers. This study aimed to identify the types of negative information propagated by the social networks of engineering students that could create barriers to students, and particularly women’s retention in engineering education and careers, and assess whether they influence men and women differently. The study was exploratory hence six focus group discussions were conducted with undergraduate engineering students in their second, third, and fourth years of study in a Ghanaian university. An interview guide was used to, among others, examine the perceptions and misconceptions of students’ social networks about engineering and the negative information that circulates within the networks. Demotivating information from students’ social networks were mainly misconceptions such as (1) engineering is too difficult and strenuous for women, and only meant for strong and well-built people, (2) engineering negatively affects women’s beauty and body image, (3) engineering makes women unfashionable and unattractive, and (4) engineering is a threat to marital and family lives. Both female and male students were negatively affected by misinformation about engineering being difficult and having limited job prospects as well as societal preferences for other programmes such as medicine. The misinformation could serve as a barrier, especially for students lacking ‘faith and the spirit of perseverance’ to pursue and graduate from engineering programmes. While efforts are being made to bridge the gender gap in engineering education and careers, there are misconceptions and misinformation that can hinder progress toward achieving the desired gender parity. Educational policies must integrate gender-responsive strategies including addressing the socio-cultural and stereotypical factors and public misconceptions. There is a need to provide strategic counselling services to engineering students to be able to cope with the effects of negative information from their social networks especially during the early years of their studies in the universities.

Exploring the impact of VoiceBots on multimedia programming education among Ghanaian university students

Exploring the impact of <scp>VoiceBots</scp> on multimedia programming education among Ghanaian university students

The Psychological Impact of Sports Injuries among Ghanaian University Athletes

Background: Sports injuries have been reported to affect athletes psychologically. Sports injury and the psychological health of athlete are parallel in nature thus affects the rehabilitation phase of an injury. Aim: The aim of the study is to determine the psychological impact of sports injuries among Ghanaian University Athletes. Methodology: A convenient sampling method was used. The Bi-Polar Profile mood of states questionnaire used to quantify the mood states of injured athletes and the numerical rating scale was used to determine severity of the injuries. Inferential statistics of independent student t test, ANOVA and Spearman’s correlation were implored in the data analysis. Results: There was a statistical significance difference in the mood of injured athletes (p&lt;0.05). The mean of non- injured athletes (25.67±5.66) was significantly higher than the injured athletes (22.20±6.73) on the anxiety-composed scale. There was no statistically significant difference between mood and injured male and females (p&lt; 0.05). Conclusion: The mood of injured athletes were more negatively affected than non-injured athletes. However, the sex and the types of sports engaged in by the athletes had no significant influence on their mood presentation. Rehabilitation professionals including physiotherapists should consider highly the mood of athletes in their management goals irrespective of the sex and sports participation years with a view to make appropriate medical referral.

New cash cropping in the Black Volta river valley: Banana production, rural innovation, and social entrepreneurship in the Ghana–Burkina Faso border region

AbstractDuring the mid‐1990s, a banana river irrigation farm that was launched in Southwestern Burkina Faso by a returning emigrant refugee spread throughout the region as far as neighboring Ghana. With relative abundant fertile, arable farmland in Ghana, easy access to input and modest capital mobilization by a few Ghanaian University lecturers to clear farmland and construct ridges and lay pipes for irrigation, a new cash crop production was set in motion. This paper analyzes the implication of this innovative rural agricultural intensification in the Ghana side of the border by shifting the angle of analysis away from narratives of transnational African agricultural commercialization driven by foreign corporations to instead focus on the role played by the local elite. The paper demonstrates that the viability of this irrigated farming can be attributed to imported banana crop variety, local rural producers' entrepreneurial zest, and enhanced existing cross‐border ties and commercial opportunities made possible by the construction of a strategic regional highway linking the farm sites with large urban and market centers in Burkina Faso.

“Anti-Texture” Agents in the Written English Essays of Students in a Ghanaian University

Texture proves to be a key indicator for measuring the quality of a text but establishing this text quality is a challenge for most English as a Second Language (ESL) students. This challenge has led to an array of studies to find the root cause(s) of this/these writing challenge(s) of ESL students. Despite these numerous studies, there is still paucity of research on “anti-texture” agents in the written English essays of students from the Ghanaian context, especially those at the tertiary level. In filling this gap, this study uses Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) cohesive theory as a framework to explore the types of cohesive errors that serve as “anti-texture” agents in 150 written English essays of students from a Ghanaian university. Because of the highly descriptive nature of this current investigation, it uses the qualitative content analysis as its design. The findings show that challenges like unclear pronoun references, wrong selection of cohesive devices, over usages of one cohesive device within the same textual environments, wider textual distances between references and their referents, the omission of cohesive devices, wrong insertions of cohesive devices and references lacking referents served as barriers to ESL students quest to use cohesive devices as means of creating texture in their texts. The findings further confirmed that the inappropriate use of cohesive devices in the students’ essays disrupted the free flow of information and as such, rendered the essays incoherent. The study has pedagogical implication for ESL academic writing instructors and curriculum developers.

‘It's like donating blood’: Ghanaian university students' knowledge and attitudes towards egg and sperm donation

There is anecdotal evidence that third-party reproduction, in particular gamete donation, is on the rise in Ghana. This is not surprising, considering the country has adopted assisted conception through the use of reproductive technologies for the past three decades. These technologies primarily aid infertile couples in Ghana in fulfilling their procreative responsibilities within the Ghanaian family and society. Potential donors' opinions regarding gamete donation have received minimal attention in the Ghanaian discourse on assisted reproductive technology (ART) usage. This study explores the knowledge and attitudes of undergraduate university students regarding gamete donation. The study utilized a qualitative methodology, which included 21 in-depth telephone interviews with students who were potential gamete donors. The data were thematically analyzed. The results of the study show that the participants knew that gamete donation was performed in Ghana. Positive sentiments about the technique were motivated by altruism, whereas negative attitudes were motivated by the urge to adhere to cultural norms that stigmatize incest and children conceived by artificial means. The decision to donate or decline egg or sperm donation was significantly influenced by one's religious convictions.

Perceptions of Effectiveness of Academic Advising: Case of Ghanaian University Students

Perceptions of Effectiveness of Academic Advising: Case of Ghanaian University Students

Digital revolution in higher education: unveiling the impact of online learning versus traditional classroom instruction in a Ghanaian university, west Africa

Digital revolution in higher education: unveiling the impact of online learning versus traditional classroom instruction in a Ghanaian university, west Africa

The impact of flipped classroom design on an advanced auditing and assurance class in Ghana

ABSTRACT The study quantitatively explores the differential impact of a Flipped Classroom approach (FC) on specified learning outcomes in an Advanced Auditing and Assurance class for a one-year master’s in accounting Programme. It uses a dataset from a Ghanaian university to compare a flipped-classroom approach to a traditional teaching approach. The findings suggest that FC comparatively reduces pre-exam anxiety, improves student’s exam scores, and enhances knowledge retention. This study is among a few that explore the impact of FC on Accounting courses in a cultural setting that comparatively adapts slowly to change, and it improves our understanding of different teaching and learning approaches in different contextual, cultural, and geographical settings.

Effects of cyberbullying on the academic life of Ghanaian tertiary students

PurposeThis study aims to examine the effects of cyberbullying on the academic lives of Ghanaian university students. It also establishes whether cyberbullying victims, perpetrators, victim-perpetrators and bystanders differed in their thoughts on the effects of cyberbullying on students’ academic lives.Design/methodology/approachThis study is anchored on Bandura’s theory of triadic reciprocal determinism and Abraham Maslow’s theory of needs. This study uses a cross-sectional survey design and quantitative approach to collect the data from 1,374 students from three public universities. The authors use descriptive statistics and ANOVA techniques to analyse the data.FindingsThe results show that the effects of cyberbullying on academic life are difficulty concentrating on studies, difficulty studying in groups and difficulty assessing important academic information online. There is also a statistically significant difference among cyberbullying victims, perpetrators, victim-perpetrators and bystanders in their thoughts on the effects of cyberbullying on students’ academic lives.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the literature on cyberbullying in the Ghanaian tertiary education environment. Even though the impact of cyberbullying on academics in Ghanaian universities may seem minimal, it is still imperative that it be checked, as it is significant enough to disrupt effective academic work. Thus, this study adds to the existing literature on cyberbullying from a developing country perspective.

Instruments Assessing Problematic Use of the Internet and Their Associations with Psychological Distress among Ghanaian University Students

Instruments Assessing Problematic Use of the Internet and Their Associations with Psychological Distress among Ghanaian University Students

A Model-agnostic XAI Approach for Developing Low-cost IoT Intrusion Detection Dataset

This study tackles the significant challenge of generating low-cost intrusion detection datasets for Internet of Things (IoT) camera devices, particularly for financially limited organizations. Traditional datasets often depend on costly cameras, posing accessibility issues. Addressing this, a new dataset was developed, tailored for low-cost IoT devices, focusing on essential features. The research employed an Entry/Exit IoT Network at CKT-UTAS, Navrongo, a Ghanaian University, showcasing a feasible model for similar organizations. The study gathered location and other vital features from low-cost cameras and a standard dataset. Using the XGBoost machine learning algorithm, the effectiveness of this approach for cybersecurity enhancement was demonstrated. The implementation included a model-agnostic eXplainable AI (XAI) technique, employing Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) values to interpret the XGBoost model's predictions. This highlighted the significance of cost-effective features like Flow Duration, Total Forward Packets, and Total Length Forward Packet, in addition to location data. These features were crucial for intrusion detection using the new IoT dataset. Training a deep-learning model with only these features maintained comparable accuracy to using the full dataset, validating the practicality and efficiency of the approach in real-world scenarios.

Persuasive strategies in grant recommendation letters written by senior faculty in a Ghanaian university

Abstract The genre system of grant application has gained attention from researchers in Applied Linguistics, Discourse Studies, and Higher Education. However, the grant recommendation letter (GRL), also known as the “letter of support”, has been understudied in this system. To address this gap, this study examined the persuasive strategies used in GRLs. Using Aristotle’s Theory of Persuasion and a qualitative inductive discourse analysis, we analysed 90 GRLS. The findings revealed that GRLs employ different frequencies of ethos, logos, and pathos to influence the grant committee. The writers primarily emphasised rational justifications for the applicant’s qualifications, while also demonstrating ethos through appropriate personal traits. Personal pronouns were used to perform discursive functions as well. Based on the findings, we offer implications for pedagogy and further research on GRLs.

Effect of 16 weeks of core and strength training on incidence of injury occurrence and FMS score of Ghanaian University basketball athletes

The purpose of this study is to determine if FMS scores can predict the prevalence of injury occurrence after 16 weeks of core training and strength training in a Ghanaian University basketball athlete. Ninety (90) athletes aged 18-25 years participated in the study. Athletes were randomly stratified into two groups (n=45) and participated in 16 weeks of core training and 16 weeks of strength training respectively. All athletes received questionnaires and FMS scores before and after training was recorded. Of the 90 athletes, ankle and knee were the most vulnerable parts of basketball athletes to injuries. Compared with pre-training, athletes’ incidence of injury was reduced after training. When the FMS score was 14.5, the value of Sensitivity-(1-Specificity) is the largest. In addition, FMS scores could only take integers, so FMS=14 was the best critical value for predicting the risk of injury by FMS score whether it was before or after training. Fifty (50) basketball athletes had an FMS score of ≤14 before training and 40 had FMS scores &gt;14. After training, 15 basketball athletes had an FMS score of ≤14 and 75 had FMS scores &gt;14. There was a significant increase in FMS scores single and total scores after training compared with pre-training. FMS score can effectively predict the injury risk of basketball players. Increasing strength and core training can effectively prevent basketball players from injury and improve FMS score.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Intake, Dietary Behavior, Mental Health, and Academic Performance of a Ghanaian University Students

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Intake, Dietary Behavior, Mental Health, and Academic Performance of a Ghanaian University Students

Studying Mark Twain’s The Diaries of Adam and Eve from a Ghanaian Context

Abstract This article outlines the practical pedagogical approach used in the teaching of Mark Twain’s The Diaries of Adam and Eve in a Ghanaian university, and how the chosen approach, which involves some amount of “enactment” of the text, guides students in focusing on the nuances encountered as part of their study of the text under the “World Literature” course. This article highlights how professors incorporate “enactment” as an approach to raise and sustain students’ interest in the text and to further guide students in identifying and discussing universal subject matters such as marriage, misogyny, and human fellowship from the text. Employing enactment creates in students a sense of ownership of the text and involvement in its study. The discussion concludes by highlighting the importance of maintaining such foreign texts in the academic curriculum, but not losing sight of the challenges academic faculties face by doing so.