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EAP511S - ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES DI - 1ST OPP - JUNE 2024 |
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n Am I BI A u n IVE RSITY
OF SCIEnCE Ano TECHn0L0GY
FACULTY OF COMMERCE, HUMAN SCIENCESAND EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGES
QUALIFICATION: ALL
QUALIFICATION CODE: VARIOUS MODE: DISTANCE ONLY
COURSE CODE: EAP511S
COURSE NAME: ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES
SESSION: JUNE 2024
DURATION: 3 HOURS
PAPER:1
MARKS: 100
EXAMINER:
1sr OPPORTUNITY EXAMINATION QUESTION PAPER
MR. B. KAMWI
MS. Y. LYAMINE
MR. C. GWASIRA
DR. S. ITHINDI
MODERATOR: PROF. N. MLAMBO
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Answer ALL the questions and start each question on a new page.
2. Read all questions carefully before answering.
3. Number answers according to the numbering structure provided in the question
paper.
THIS QUESTION PAPER CONSISTS OF 16 PAGES (Including this front page)
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SECTION A: ACADEMIC READING
[40]
Readthe following research article and answer the questions that follow. The original article
has been adapted for assessment purposes.
Graduate Employability of Business Students
By
W. Mainga, M.B, Murphy-Braynen, R. Moxey, and S. A Quddus
Abstract (Omitted)
Introduction
A
Rapid technological change, digitisation, and globalisation are changing the structure
of today's workplace. Technologies that did not exist barely a decade ago are increasingly
changing the nature of jobs, work practices, and skills requirement today (PwC, 2018; WEF,
2016; Pennington and Stanford, 2019; World Bank, 2019). Technologies such as artificial
intelligence, robotics, 3D printing, big data, the Internet of things, machine learning, drone
technologies, nanotechnology, renewable energy technologies, and biotechnology are
increasingly becoming mainstream in the workplace. In the process, these technologies are
destroying old jobs as well as creating new ones (OECD, 2018; World Bank, 2019). New
technologies have also changed the skill composition required to perform the remaining jobs,
often moving them towards more skill-intensity (Campbell, 2018; De Vos et al., 2021).
Consequently, the "lifecycle of competencies needed for successful performance in the job is
shortening rapidly" (De Vos et al., 2021, p. 11). Rapid technological change and equally rapid
knowledge obsolescence have meant that workers must continuously reskill and upskill to
retain their employability (Deloitte 2020). In addition, the global trends towards massification
of higher education have meant that more and more graduates are competing for fewer jobs,
reducing the currency of a first degree, as well as increasing the competition in graduate
labour markets (Pinto and He 2019; Tomlinson 2008; Moore and Morton 2017). Increasingly,
new graduates are entering graduate labour markets that are very competitive, congested,
dynamic, precarious, turbulent, and unpredictable (Lock and Kelly, 2020; Watzlawik and
Kullasepp, 2016; Tomlinson, 2017b). In addition, more and more new graduates are entering
non-graduate and recently graduated jobs (i.e., clerical and administrative jobs in banks
(tellers), customer services, marketing, etc.), which are linked to wide-spread
underemployment and problematic long-term career development trajectories (Osseiran,
2020; Erdsiek, 2017).
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B
The phenomenon of graduate underemployment and unemployment has become a
policy issue in many developing and developed economies {Calvo and Garcia, 2021; Mgaiwa,
2021; Suleman, 2018; Succi and Canovi, 2020; Romgens et al., 2020). One supply side
approach to tackling graduate underemployment and unemployment has been a focus on
strengthening graduate employability. Consequently, employability has increasingly been
adopted by some universities as a credible fourth mission, in addition to teaching, research,
and community service {Campbell et al., 2019; Pereira et al., 2020; Bennett, 2018). Graduate
employability broadly comprises of knowledge, skills, behaviours, and attributes that enables
a graduate to get a job, stay on a job, do well on a job, find another job if necessary, and
progress in their chosen career {Mainga et al., 2022; Wickramasinghe and Perera, 2010; Finch
et al., 2013; Behle, 2020; Romgens et al., 2020; Van Harten et al., 2022). In this study, terms
such as generic skills, soft skills, 21st century skills, and employability skills are used
interchangeably. There is now a growing realisation that having a degree with good grades
and technical knowledge (discipline-specific knowledge) is not enough for new graduates to
succeed in today's dynamic labour markets (Pinto and He, 2019; Dolce et al.,
2020; Tomlinson, 2008; Scott and Willison, 2021; McArthur et al., 2017). For example, a
graduate who has excellent academic grades but has poor interpersonal, teamwork, critical
thinking, and communication skills is unlikely to be successful in their first graduate-level job.
Graduates need to develop additional soft/generic/employability skills needed to stand out
and navigate inevitable challenges associated with transiting from school into the world of
work, and to progress in their chosen careers {Succi and Canovi, 2020; Suleman, 2018; Okolie
et al., 2020; Scott and Willison, 2021).
C
Graduate employability is seen as a complex, dynamic, and multidimensional
construct that includes both subjective and objective elements (Jackson, 2013; De Vos et al.,
2021; Finch et al., 2013; Romgens et al., 2020; Suleman, 2018). Developing graduate
employability is a multipronged endeavour involving multiple stakeholders, such as students,
higher education institutions (HEls), academics, career services, employers, employers'
associations, government agencies, NGOs, parents, etc. (Clarke, 2018; Sin and Amaral,
2017; Presti and Pluviano, 2016). Despite this diffused responsibility, however, the literature
generally seems to assign responsibility for employability to the individual student in the first
instance, and higher education institutions (HEls) in the second instance (Sin and Neave,
2016; Tomlinson, 2012; Cheng et al., 2021). Hence, our exploratory research focuses on the
views of students. The views of students on their employability are crucial, as they are the
main stakeholders who are directly impacted by their higher education learning experiences
(Tymon, 2013). There is now significant research which suggest that students often have a
blurred understanding of what graduate employability is, what skills are needed by employers
for entry-level positions, and how to enhance their career prospects during their studies at
university (Amoroso and Burke, 2018; Dolce et al., 2020). Students often fail to link their
learning experiences at university to future careers {Lock and Kelly, 2020; Scott et al., 2019).
Consequently, they may not always avail themselves of university-wide opportunities that
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may exist to enhance their employability profile while studying at university. Garcia-Aracil et
al. (2018) argued for the need to explore students' perceptions of their preparedness for
transition to the world of work. Ergun and Sesen (2021) took note of the fact that there has
been limited empirical research on students' perception of their employability. Andrewartha
and Harvey (2017) observed that students' views and perceptions have largely been ignored
in the employability arena. Academic researchers have not pursued research on students'
views with the same vigour as they have done on employers' (Higdon, 2016; Tymon, 2013).
There has been very little research done on graduate employability in the Caribbean. Though
discussed widely in many public forums, there has been no systematic study of graduate
employability. This exploratory study was undertaken to fill this gap. This is the first step on
future planned regionwide study on graduate employability.
Significance of the Study
D
There are several reasons why a study on 'employability' of university graduating
students is important. First, there has been relatively little systematic research on graduate
employability in the Caribbean. Past studies have shown that while the Bahamas has higher-
than-the-world average attainment at secondary school education level (i.e., partly due to
free education), some indicators of quality education have lagged (IMF, 2018). For example,
the average grade for high school graduates was a 'D' in 2016, with only about 5.7% getting a
'C' or above in Maths, English, and a Science subject (IMF, 2018). Bahamas (n.d.) has also
observed issues of education quality in the pre-tertiary education sector. Examining
employability skills would reveal how pre-tertiary educational deficiencies are addressed at
the university level. Employability skills are central to having flexible, adaptive, innovative,
and productive workers. Workers with such skills and competencies are key to enabling
efficient development of internationally competitive firms that are crucial to economic
growth, especially within knowledge-based economies. Second, in some research, Bahamian
enterprises have indicated that 'inadequate educated workforce and deficiencies in required
skills' was one of the major problems they faced with recruiting new hires (IMF, 2018; Fazio
and Pinder, 2014). Moreover, lack of 'soft skills' was a major cause of dismissal and turnover
among young employees (Fazio and Pinder, 2014; IDB, 2016). The problem of skills gap,
especially soft skills, was also emphasised in a recent study on employers' skill needs
(Robertson, 2021). Third, if new Caribbean-based graduates decide to seek employment in
other countries (i.e., US, Canada, UK, Australia, etc.), they will need to stand out and have
positional advantage in very competitive congested global labour markets. Fourth, research
on graduate employability is important for 'regular' updating of degree university programs,
to ensure that knowledge and skills embedded in academic courses offered to students are
in congruence with skills requirements of current and future employers. As the environment
within which companies operate change overtime, so will their skill requirements. Fifth, some
have argued that the discourse on graduate employability needs to be embedded within the
context of the characteristics of the local labour market (Hossain et al., 2020; Uddin, 2021).
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E
Employability studies should, therefore, consider the contextual environment of the
local labour market. Fakunle and Higson (2021) have highlighted the importance of studies
on employability in "non-Western contexts, an area that remains under-researched" (p.
8). Lam and Tang (2021) observed that most of the published work on graduate employment
outcomes "do not tell us much about the contextualised processes that 'match' or 'mismatch'
graduates' qualifications with 'appropriate' graduate jobs" (p. 14). Winterton and
Turner (2019) makes a case for local research on graduate employability that "develop
solutions that fit specific cultural, economic and institutional contexts" (p. 536). Our study
attempted to capture the perceptions of graduating business students. The overall objective
of the research was to examine business students' perception about their employability skills
as they approach graduation. Relative to the views of employers, the perceptions of students
on graduate employability are less understood (Tymon, 2013; Higdon, 2016). However,
students' perceptions are important, as individuals' choice of action are often influenced by
their perceptions irrespective of objective realities (Soares and Mosquera 2020; Vanhercke et
al. 2014). The study contributes to literature by providing insight on graduating students'
perception on work-readiness in the Caribbean context.
Research Questions
To achieve the above stated research objective, four research questions were developed for
the study. The four research questions are:
1. Which employability skills do graduating students perceive as most important
when employers are recruiting fresh business graduates for entry-level positions?
2. Which academic, personal management, and teamwork skills are perceived by
graduating students as fully developed in new business graduates?
3. Which learning methods do students find most helpful in facilitating the acquisition
of relevant knowledge and employability skills by business graduates?
4. Which factors affect perceived employability of new business graduates?
Literature Review
Definition
F
There is no global consensus on the definition of graduate employability (Clarke,
2018; Chhinzer and Russo, 2018; Kornelakis and Petrakaki, 2020; Romgens et al. 2020). This
is partly because the topic has attracted researchers from different disciplines, such as
management, human resources management, accounting, career studies, vocational and
organisational psychology. Definitions of graduate employability has kept evolving in the
literature (Scott and Willison, 2021; Romgens et al., 2020). For this study, an augmented
definition is used. Graduate employability is defined as: A set of knowledge, skills, abilities,
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behaviours, and attributes that make graduates more likely to get initial employment and be
successful in their chosen careers, ultimately empowering them as critical and reflective life-
long learners, who are flexible and adaptive throughout their career span, to the benefits of
themselves, their employers, the community, and the wider economy (CBI 2011; Knight and
Yorke 2003; Harvey 2001; Bridgstock 2009; Weligamage 2009). In the context of globalisation,
rapid technological change, and digitisation, the emphasis is on lifelong learning, being
critical, reflective, flexible, and adaptive throughout one's career span. Employability is much
more than academic knowledge (discipline-specific knowledge); it includes possession of
skills, abilities, and behavioural attributes that are congruent with the targeted workplace or
profession. There is an understanding that even when entry-level graduates have acceptable
levels of technical skills specific to their discipline, they may still fail to perform on the job due
to lack of soft or transferable skills (Osmani et al., 2017; Atfield and Purcell, 2010; Robinson
and Garton, 2008). Employability skills such as problem-solving, effective communication,
critical thinking, interpersonal skills, and ability to work in a team are very important for entry-
level graduates to be effective and efficient on their first job (Finch et al., 2013; Lim et al.,
2016).
G
The traditional career where one joined one company and rose through the hierarchy
to the top of the organisation, no longer exist for many graduates (Amoroso and Burke,
2018; Bridgstock, 2009; De Vos et al., 2021). Traditional careers that used to offer job security
in exchange for loyalty to the employer are declining, being replaced with 'employability
security'. A large portion of today's work is done in 'projects', which has a contracted start
and end dates (Watzlawik and Kullasepp, 2016). In addition, new employment arrangements
have developed, such as the gig economy, portfolio careers, and virtual and contingent work,
which require frequent and radical career transitions (Presti et al., 2019). Today's graduate
career trajectories are likely to involve relatively more frequent switching between jobs,
employers, and even sectors (Mainga et al., 2022; Sullivan and Ariss, 2021).
Employability/generic/soft skills enhance career mobility as they are applicable across jobs,
professions, sectors, and contexts (Chamorro-Premuzic et al., 2010; Osmani et al.,
2019; Sullivan and Ariss, 2021). One study suggested that today's graduates will experience
as much as 17 job transitions/changes during their career span (ABDC, 2017). Career
adaptability and ability for lifelong learning is critical in such a dynamic setting. The ability to
continuously acquire new skills as one transit across different job roles becomes more
important than 'skills' possessed at any one particular point in one's career span (Tomlinson,
2012; Bridgstock, 2009; Finch et al., 2016). Due to rapid knowledge obsolescence, the life
span of any competences possessed at any one time has declined. As technologies change
and companies restructure their processes, job structures and skills requirements will
inevitably change over time; hence, the importance of continually enhancing one's
employability throughout a career span. In much of the contemporary literature,
employability skills are seen to be complementary to discipline-specific knowledge and skills
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(Pang et al. 2019; Cheng et al., 2021). This study does not explicitly focus on discipline-specific
knowledge and skills.
Employability Skills
H
The traditional conceptualisation of graduate employability has often focused on
acquiring knowledge, skills, attributes, and behaviours that are valued by employers. The
literature has identified a list of employability skills expected by employers to be possessed
by new graduates. The most common employability skills identified as important to
employers include the following: flexibility, critical thinking, time management, willingness to
learn (learning skills), oral and written communication skills, problem solving, interpersonal
skills, teamwork skills, numeracy, creativity, leadership skills, conflict management, ethical
awareness, self-confidence, positive attitudes and behaviours, work experience, enthusiasm
and motivation, self-management, working under pressure, independent working,
organisation and planning, initiative, ICT literacy, perseverance, and others (Mainga et al.,
2022; Chhinzer and Russo, 2018; Osmani et al., 2019). Later conceptualisation included the
importance of psychological, cultural, and social capital (Behle, 2020; Tomlinson,
2017a; Romgens et al., 2020). Views have shifted from obtaining satisfying work to the
adaptive capacity an individual need for obtaining and retaining work during an environment
of fast-moving changes (De Vos et al., 2021; Presti et al., 2019). The later conceptualisation
includes the need to strengthen self-awareness, self-efficacy, proactivity, career building
skills, self-directedness, resilience, adaptability, agility, reflectivity, persistence/grit, social
and cultural awareness, emotional intelligence, lifelong learning, growth mindset, and
understanding of the labour market, as some of the bedrocks for a sustainable career in
precarious, continuously evolving, and turbulent labour markets of the 21st century (Rowe,
2019; Van Harten et al., 2022; Masole and van Dyk, 2016; Lock and Kelly, 2020). What is clear
is that employability skills are highly sort after by most employers when recruiting entry-level
graduates (Robinson and Garton, 2008; Lim et al., 2016; Succi and Canovi, 2020). It is
important for students to know which of the above listed skills and attributes are prioritised
by employers.
Acceleration in digital transformation of work processes is demanding the
development of new additional soft skills and competences among new graduates. New
competences, such as complex-problem solving skills, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary
skills, ability to handle and analyse large data, IT-enabled collaboration of virtual teams,
systems thinking, reasoning and ideation, articulation ability, curiosity/imagination, and
continuous self-directed active learning, will need to be developed among graduates. Such
skills will enable future graduates tackle and solve ill-structured, complex, and interconnected
global challenges, such as fighting poverty, climate change, food security, biodiversity, and
water scarcity (World Bank, 2019; WEF, 2020; Sousa and Wilks, 2018; Deloitte, 2020).
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Research Methodology
J
We adopted an exploratory descriptive research methodology. The triangular design
approach was adopted from Rosenberg et al. (2012) and Wickramasinghe and Perera (2010).
In our study, we administered questionnaires to final-year business students (as a proxy for
graduates). Atfield and Purcell (2010) and Kenayathulla et al. (2019) also used final-year
students' perceptions as a proxy for graduates. At the time of the survey, most final-year
students were a semester away to completing their studies. Issues of first employment would
certainly pre-occupy their thoughts at this stage of their degree program. A questionnaire was
developed and put in SurveyMonkey. The questionnaire had seven major sections:
demographic data, general employability skills, academic skills, personal management skills,
teamwork skills, teaching/learning methods, and perceived employability. The demographic
data asked questions about the department in which the student did their studies, what major
was followed, gender, whether the student was working or not, whether any of the parents
had a degree or not, and the age of the respondent.
K
The general employability section had a list of important soft skills identified in the
literature, including communication skills, problem-solving skills, learning skills, positive
attitudes and behaviours, interpersonal skills, teamwork skills, etc. The section on academic
skills listed several skills that a students had to rate based on the extent to which they were
developed at the point of graduation. The list included skills such as critical and analytical
skills, problem-solving using mathematics (numerical skills), ability to apply specialised
knowledge from different fields, decision making skills, IT literacy skills, etc. The list of
personal management skills included self-confidence, conscientiousness, self-awareness,
ability to plan and manage time, accountability, positive attitudes, etc. The teamwork skills
section included skills such as the ability to contribute to group problem-solving, plan and
make decisions with others and support the outcomes, respect the thoughts and opinions of
group members, exercise 'give and take' to achieve group results, team building skills, etc.
The section on learning methods included lectures, assignments, tests and quizzes, final
exam, group case studies, reflective learning portfolio, university career services, etc.
Perceived employability included a number of items that needed to be rated between 1
(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), such as "I have achieved high grades in my studies",
"I regard my academic work as high quality", "I am confident that I will secure graduate-level
employment within 6 months after graduation", etc. The different items in the questionnaires
were derived from the various literature reviews, especially from Wickramasinghe and
Perera (2010), Bloom and Kitagawa (1999), Finch et al. (2013), and Weligamage (2009).
Documentary analysis was done on various secondary sources, such as journal papers, books,
and articles found in various internet databases.
L
Convenient sampling was employed. Once the survey was uploaded on
SurveyMonkey, a link was provided to fourth-year students. The link and associated
information were given to several lecturers teaching fourth-year courses, so that they could
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inform their respective classes/students about the employability skills survey and provide
them with a link to the survey. Some lecturers also sent group emails to students via Microsoft
Teams and Moodie. The survey targeted all fourth-year business students. The first three
questions filtered potential respondents, so that they provided informed consent, were 18
years or older, and were business students. The total population targeted was 189 fourth-
year business students. In total, 90 students filled in the questionnaire. This represented a
response rate of 47.6%, which is respectable for survey designs. The data collection was done
during two semesters: Spring 2021 and Summer 2021. In other words, the survey was run
between January 2021 to June 2021. Data analysis was done using SPSS{V22).
Limitations
M Larger sample sizes could be used in future research, by including final-year students
from more than two semesters. This research could be replicated at other
HEls/colleges/faculties/departments in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Future research could
include other factors that affect graduate employability but were not explicitly covered in this
study {i.e., issues of balancing labour demand/supply, cultural/social/psychological capitals,
extra-curricular activities, impact of discipline specific knowledge, institutional branding,
company recruitment policies, role of personal factors, impact of the state of the local and
global economy, etc.). While it is important to examine students' perceptions, studies have
shown that students-especially Millennials and Generation Z-tend to overstate their
capabilities. Hence, there is a need to do follow-up surveys on employers' views on graduate
employability. A more realistic picture may be developed when students' views are
triangulated with the views of employers. Future research should, therefore, conduct follow-
up surveys on employers' views on graduate employability in the Caribbean.
Conclusion
N
The paper points out the importance of a) _______
{capture) students' views
about their employability at the time of graduation. Such student insight-even with its
flaws-can be one of the many inputs when HEls are developing an institutional policy on
graduate employability. The perceptions that learning skills are the second most important
employability skills used by employers when recruiting graduates for entry-level positions is
supported by recent research. Learning does not stop at undergraduate graduation. Learning
to learn, willingness to learn, learning mindset, growth mindset, lifelong learning, active
learning, learning agility, self-regulated learning, and self-directed learning are just some of
the many terms used to capture the need to continuously learn, adapt, and grow throughout
one's career span. Learning skills (as well as other soft skills) promote mobility across jobs and
sectors in dynamic labour markets and is the only way to guarantee one's long-term
employability in the face of continuous restructuring and b) ______
(automate) of
jobs. Not all relevant soft skills can be developed in the classroom or at the university. Some
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of the soft skills required to manage volatile labour markets will be c) ______
(develop)
and refined long after the student has left university. All students-including those who might
hate or are tired of school-need to be encouraged to develop a passion and dr_ivefor
continuous skilling, reskilling, and upskilling throughout their career span. Long-term
employability is much more than just in-demand skill acquisition; it is about being able to
flexibly adapt and proactively remain relevant in dynamic and evolving labour markets.
O
A combination of traditional teaching and student-centred learning methods and
integrative innovative pedagogies are needed to develop a wide spectrum of soft skills
needed by graduates to succeed in the workplace. It is up to each
faculty/college/school/department to determine the 'right' portfolio of learning methods
necessary to develop a targeted mix of soft skills appropriate for each discipline. The literature
suggests learning methods that promote active learning, experimentation, real-world
problem-solving, project- and team-based collaborative learning, reflexivity, and
constructivist and dialogic approaches are more likely to be effective in developing soft skills
relevant to the workplace. Efforts should also be made to ensure that the learning
experiences are operating at the intersection of theory and practice. Achieving such
aspirations is not a short-term objective. It requires experimentation, incremental innovation,
organisational learning, and embarking on a continuous improvement journey with no
destination. Developing graduate employability is a complex undertaking requiring multiple
approaches and inputs from various stakeholders (i.e., students, employers, governments,
employer associations, alumni, parents, etc.). At an institutional level, the contribution of
career services in coordination with schools/faculties/departments will increasing play a
pivotal role in helping HEls focus their effort on enhancing graduate employability. Other
factors and contributions towards enhancing graduate employability that are outside the
control of HEls need to be addressed. Our study confirms that the strength of labour market
demand does affect students' perceived employability.
P
At a conceptual level, students' perceptions must be included as one of the 'partners'
in the co-construction of HEls policy on graduate employability. Students' role in higher
education has evolved from being passive recipients of content knowledge, to 'market
consumers', to being active partners in their own learning and knowledge construction. Not
all students' perceptions will be in line with workplace reality or what employers expects, but
such information is still an important and relevant data point. It is important to emphasise
that major technological advances in Artificial intelligence (Al), advanced robotics, SG
technologies, Internet of Things (loT), Big data analytics, bioengineering, nano technology,
virtual and augmented reality, mobile and cloud-based data processing, machine learning,
and Blockchain (to name a few) will have a revolutionary impact on how work is restructured
and the future demand for skills, including in the developing world. The changes to job
structures and skill requirements will have a wide-ranging impact on graduate employability.
As a result, universities should not only be focusing on offering educational programs that
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ensure work-ready graduates but must also be developing future-ready graduates. Higher
education systems both in the developed and developing world will need to be reimagined to
meet the demands of complex, dynamic, and continuously evolving labour markets.
Source: Mainga, W., Murphy-Braynen M, B., Moxey R., and Quddus S, A. (2022). Graduate
Employability
of
Business Students. AdministrativeSciences,12(3):72.
https:/ /doi.org/10.3390/admsci12030072
Part 1: Comprehension questions
[20 marks]
1. What was the aim of the study?
(2)
2. Mention any three technologies that have become indispensable in the workplace. (3)
3. What is OECD's (2018) and World Bank's (2019) stance on emergent technology? (1)
4. Using information in paragraph B, how would you describe 'Graduate employability'? (1)
5. As per paragraph C, graduate employability is perceived as challenging. Why?
(2)
6. In which paragraph are you likely to read about the following?
(2)
a) Considerations for future research.
b) The period in which the research was conducted.
7. With reference to paragraph F, what does 'Employability is much more than academic
knowledge' entail?
(1)
8. State whether TRUE or FALSE.
(2)
a) A graduate who has excellent academic grades but has poor interpersonal,
teamwork, critical thinking, and communication skills is likely to be successful in their
first graduate-level job. (Par. B)
b) Students do not know their prospective employers' skills expectations. (Par. C)
9. According to paragraph H, what was/is the focus of graduate employability:
(4)
a) Before
b) Now
10. According to paragraph I, why is there a need for the development of new additional soft
skills and competences among new graduates?
(2)
Part 2: Language usage
[10 marks]
1. Complete the missing spaces in paragraph N by writing the appropriate form
of the word in brackets.
(3)
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2. Identify the word formation process used in the creation of the underlined
words.
(3)
a) skill-intensity (Par. A)
b) employability {Par. C)
c) IMF (Par. D)
3. Show the morpheme structure of the word 'multidimensional' as used in
paragraph C.
(1)
4. Identify whether the following words are a derivate, inflection, or both.
(3)
a) organisational {Par. F)
b) restructure (Par. G)
c) reimagined (Par. P)
Part 3: Research analysis questions
[10 marks]
1. Write the research question 4 into an objective.
(2)
Which factors affect perceived employability of new business graduates?
2. Who was the target population of the study?
(2)
3. What does the statement below refer, as used in paragraph J.
(2)
"The triangular design approach was adopted from Rosenberg et al. {2012)
and Wickramasinghe and Perera {2010)"
4. What sampling approach did the study utilise?
(2)
5. Briefly explain how the survey was administered.
(2)
SECTION B: ACADEMIC WRITING
[60]
PART 1: Report writing questions
[15 marks]
Read the newspaper article below.
Vandalism is the destruction or defacement of property. This includes tagging, graffiti, or
damaging furniture or school facilities. Vandalism costs schools money that could otherwise
be used for educational purposes or school activities. The existence of vandalised property at
schools degrades campus environment. The presence of vandalism at school costs money and
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makes school facilities less attractive and even unusable. You deserve an environment that is
free from graffiti and property damage. If you know about someone vandalising school or
community property, tell an adult you trust or contact Students Speaking Out. Your voice can
make a difference by creating an environment that is useable, and free from graffiti, and
property damage.
Report writing instructions
The Director of Education, in the Khomas region, is concerned about the rising cases of
vandalism in schools. The Director instructed you as an Education Officer to investigate the
situation of vandalism in schools and establish the main causes of vandalism of school
property. You are also expected to suggest possible solutions.
Write your Report title and the Recommendation section with three recommendations only.
Pay attention to format, paragraph structure, and the content required.
Part 2: Academic writing
[20 marks]
Observe the following paragraph carefully and answer the questions below.
1 Rapid technological change, digitisation, and globalisation appear to changing the structure
of today's workplace. 2 Technologies that did not exist barely a decade ago is increasingly
changing the nature of jobs, work practices, and skills requirement today (PwC, 2018; WEF,
2016; Pennington and Stanford, 2019; World Bank, 2019). 3 Technologies such as artificial
intelligence, robotics, 3D printing, big data, the Internet of things, machine learning, drone
technologies, nanotechnology, renewable energy tequinologies, and biotechnology are
increasingly becoming mainstream in the workplace. 4 In the process, these technologies are
dectroying old jobs as well as creating new ones (OECD, 2018; World Bank, 2019). 5 New
technologies have also changed the skill composition required to perform the remaining jobs,
often moving them towards more skill-intensity (Campbell, 2018; De Vos et al., 2021). 6
Consequently, the "lifecycle of competencies needed for successful performance in the job is
shortening rapidly" (De Vos et al., 2021, p. 11). 7 Rapid technological change and equally rapid
knowledge obsolescence has meant that workers must continuously reskill and upskill to
retain their employability (Deloitte, 2020). 8 In addition, the global trends towards
massification of higher education have meant that more and more graduates are competing
for fewer jobs, reducing the currency of a first degree, as well as increasing the competion in
graduate labour markets (Pinto and He 2019; Tomlinson 2008; Moore and Morton 2017). 9
Increasingly, new graduates are entering graduate labour markets that are very competitive,
congested, dynamic, precarious, turbulent, and unpredictable (Lock and Kelly, 2020;
Watzlawik and Kullasepp, 2016; Tomlinson, 2017b). 10 In addition, more and more new
graduates are entering non-graduate and recently graduated jobs (i.e., clerical and
administrative jobs in banks (tellers), customer services, marketing, etc.), which are linked to
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wide-spread underemployment and problematic long-term career development trajectories
{Osseiran, 2020; Erdsiek, 2017).
1. Identify any sentence that complies with the following academic writing conventions.
Write only the correct sentence number.
(2)
(a) Tentativeness
(b) Acknowledgment
2. Name the methods used to incorporate information from other scholars in the following
sentences.
(6)
(a) Sentence 6
(b) Sentence 7
(c) Sentence 9
3. The paragraph has three spelling errors. Identify and correct them. Write the misspelt
word and its correct format only.
{6)
4. (a) The paragraph has two sentences with subject-verb agreement errors. Identify them
by writing their numbers only.
(2)
(b) Correct the sentences with errors you identified in (a) above. Underline the
corrected parts.
(2)
(c) Specify the stage of the writing process you used to correct the errors in (b)
above.
(2)
Part 3: Text structure
[10 marks]
Read the following paragraph and answer the questions that follow:
Video game addiction is a serious problem in many parts of the world today. Most players can
limit their usage in ways that do not interfere with their daily lives, but many others have
developed an addiction to playing video games, which causes detrimental effects. Firstly,
many people become addicted to video gaming to escape an unpleasant or threatening reality.
They are looking for refuge in a virtual world where they feel secure. Secondly, sometimes
individuals with a certain disorientation or lack of purpose in life will seek a sense of
accomplishment in the virtual world. Furthermore, other players become addicted to the
feeling of adrenaline and excitement provided by the game. These addictions involve
unhealthy behaviours that ultimately disrupt the ability of a person to keep up with regular
daily responsibilities. One common effect of video game addiction is isolation and withdrawal
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from social experiences. Video game players often hide in their homes or Internet cafes for
days at a time. Another unfortunate consequence that might accompany video game
addiction is the disruption of the user's career, resulting in challenges at their workplace or
studies. Moreover, video game addiction may result in a decline in overall health and hygiene.
Players who interact with video games for such significant amounts of time can go an entire
day without eating and even longer without basic hygiene tasks. The causes of video game
addiction are complex and can vary greatly, but just like everything else, the amount of time
one spends playing video games needs to be balanced with personal and social
responsibilities.
1. Identify the text structure used in the paragraph above.
(2)
2. Write down the following from the paragraph:
(a) The topic sentence
(2)
(b) The transitional sentence
(2)
(c) The concluding sentence
(2)
3. What type of model is this paragraph?
(2)
Part 4: Citation and reference (APA 7TH edition)
[15 marks]
Use the reference list below to respond to all questions in this section. The reference list
entries have been numbered for your convenience.
References
[1] Bailey, S. {2006). Academic writing -A handbook for international students. London, UK:
Routledge.
[2] Hirvela, A., & Du, Q. {2013). 'Why am I paraphrasing?': Undergraduate ESL writers'
engagement with source-based academic writing and reading. Journal of English for
Academic Purposes, 12(2), 87-98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2012.11.005
[3] Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. W. {2010). Longman dictionary of language teaching and
applied linguistics. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education.
[4] Khairunnisa, W., Sutapa, Y., & Surmiyati, Y. {2014). Students' problems in
paraphrasing.
Retrieved
From
http://download.portalgaruda.org/article.php?article=266576&val=2338&tit1e=
STUDENTS'PROBLEMSIN PARAPHRASING.
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Questions
4.1 Use the reference list to insert in-text citations as appropriate in the paragraph that
follows. Use page 420 if you need to use a page number. Write only the letter and the
correct answer next to it in each case.
{6)
Paragraph
Most researchers, when clarifying the meaning of paraphrasing, focus on changes in word use
and syntactic structures and the similarity of meaning between the original and paraphrased
texts. For example, a) _______
[Source 3] defined "paraphrase" as "an expression
of the meaning of a word or phrase using other words or phrases, often in an attempt to make
the meaning easier to understand." In addition, bl _____
[Source 1] put forward the
idea that paraphrasing involves changing a text while still retaining its meaning. As these
definitions show, a paraphrased text contains different lexical and syntactic items from the
source but retains the meaning. One further point is that paraphrasing does not shorten the
length of text, which distinguishes paraphrasing from summarizing cl______
[Source
2].
4.2 Use source 2 and source 4 of the reference list to insert in-text citations in the sentence
below.
(2)
Studies conducted with L2 English learners' paraphrasing practices have reported on
their failure to paraphrase effectively due to two main reasons: the lack of awareness
of the importance of paraphrasing and techniques for doing it _______
_
4.3 Identify the type of source represented by each reference list entry listed below. {6)
a) Source 1
b) Source 2
c) Source 4
4.4 What is indicated by the information in bold in source 2 of the reference list in 4.1? (1)
-END OF EXAM-
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