'Language learning' Search Results
The Tutoring Influences in Distance Education at El Oro Province Ecuador
ecuador distance education remote tutoring students’ withdrawal...
El Oro province undergoes a high rate of student’s withdrawal from distance courses offered by the local university. The distance education model gives for granted that the regular teachers are proficient for remote tutoring. This research attempts to reveal the state-of-art of this educative model in a provincial university. The study focused on a quantitative-qualitative explorative approach to determine, whether, if withdrawal is more frequent in introductory courses or not. Among the main causes for withdrawal were found: (1) the naive of learners in high education programs, (2) the inconsistency of the university proposals (academic and administrative) and; (3) the most important, the deficiencies in remote tutoring.
An Emotional Literacy Improvement (ELI) Program for EFL Teachers: Insiders’ Views
emotional intelligence emotional literacy improvement efl teachers professional development...
If the challenges of today's world are to be met, then there is a need to give more prominence to emotion in education, i.e. indulging the personal, emotional and spiritual aspects of teaching, and promoting the teachers’ social-emotional competencies along with the schooling influence. In this respect, structuring the contents of in-service programs has gained vital importance in all fields of education including English Language Teaching (ELT). This action research study involved 17 EFL instructors to enhance their emotional literacy regarding learning in self and in others and consequently develop behaviors that would be caused by finding out about emotional intelligence. Relatedly, it was aimed to set up a framework of a teacher development program that the instructors at a foreign language school at a state university in Turkey improve their emotional literacy skills and create opportunities to impart these skills to their students as well as to people in their personal lives. The article reports on the participants’ and the researcher’s views regarding the maturation of an emotional literacy improvement program for in-service professional development purposes in ELT context.
Psychometric Assessment and Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Grit-S Scale among Omani and American Universities’ Students
grit psychometric properties achievement goal orientations cross-cultural study...
The current study aimed to adopt and assess the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of Grit-S among Omani and American students (N = 487) using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The scale’s construct validity was estimated by investigating its associations with achievement goal orientations (AGOs). EFA results suggested that a two-factor solution (i.e., perseverance of effort [G_PE] and consistency of interest [G_CI]) was the best factorial structure, explaining 47.74% and 51.02% of the variance in the Omani and American samples, respectively. The factors had good reliability coefficients in the two samples. Related to the intercultural differences, G_PE explained more variance among Omanis (31.02%) relative to American sample, whereas G_CI explained a larger proportion of variance among Americans (36.86%) compared with Omani sample. The first level of measurement invariance, configural invariance, was not supported, necessitating the investigation of the other levels of measurement invariance using a new sample. Grit correlated positively with mastery and performance-approach goals (r = .29 and .12, respectively) and negatively with avoidance goals (r = -.25), supporting the scale’s construct validity. These findings showed that Grit-S scale can be used as valid and reliable assessment tool to assess student interest and perseverance in the academic context in Arabic/Omani and American cultures.
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The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of anxiety in learning Chinese, discover the dominant factors of anxiety in learning Chinese language and analyze differences in Chinese language anxiety based on gender, year of study and HSK in foreign students in Wuhan, China. The research method used was quantitative using a survey approach. There are 250 foreign students as the samples, consisting of 108 male and 142 female students. The data collection technique used is questionnaire called CLAS (Chinese Learning Anxiety Survey) adapted from FLCAS (Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Survey). The data were analyzed using SPSS with descriptive statistical techniques and Multivariate Analysis. The results showed that Chinese language anxiety among foreign students is on a moderate level, with communication anxiety as the most dominant aspect. The male and female students have the same anxiety level in learning Chinese. The foreign students who had longer duration of learning Chinese and had higher HSK tend to have lower level of anxiety in learning Chinese. This showed that years of study and HSK were two factors that determine the high or low level of anxiety in learning Chinese for foreign students.
Investigation of EFL Student Teachers’ Emotional Responses to Affective Situations during Practicum
teachers’ emotions practicum regulation strategies...
This study investigates the emotional responses of EFL student teachers to various affective situations during practicum and their coping strategies to enhance positive emotions and reduce negative emotions. Seventy female EFL student teachers participated in this study. To collect quantitative and qualitative data, two instruments were used: an emotional reflective diary and semi-structured interviews. The results of the study revealed that the practicum is an emotionally positive experience. The frequency of occurrence of pleasant affective situations was more than that of unpleasant ones. In the decreasing order of frequency, the most frequent emotional responses were happy, angry, and stressed and the least frequent ones were lost, influential, and shamed. Furthermore, the results indicated that student teachers adopted many regulation strategies to manage their emotions. The study recommends that teacher education programmes increase the focus on teachers’ emotions and training student teachers to manage their emotions to build future professional identities.
Motion Graphic Animation Videos to Improve the Learning Outcomes of Elementary School Students
motion graphic animation video learning outcomes elementary school...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the development of motion graphic animation video media in Natural Sciences subjects in Elementary Schools. This study uses a type of Research and Development research with quantitative tests. This study employed the experimental research method involving 27 students in the control group and 27 students in the experimental group. This research was conducted on 5th-grade students in elementary school in 2 different schools. Data collection uses interview methods for preliminary studies, observations and tests to test the effectiveness of animated video media motion graphics. The results of the study showed that there were significant differences between the results of the learning achievement of the experimental group and the control group. As well as motion graphic animation video media, its effectiveness has been tested in improving student achievement, especially the experimental group. Hence, the interactive motion graphic media is effective to be used to improve the students’ knowledge in the science subject of the fifth graders.
Reading Difficulty and its Remediation: A Case Study
fluent reading repetitive reading reading difficulties comprehension reading skills...
The aim of this study, in which one of the qualitative research approaches, the case study design, was used, was to remedy reading problems and develop reading skills in a fourth grade primary school student with sound, syllable and word recognition exercises. The study covers 38 lesson periods in the autumn term of the 2018-2019 academic year. For developing reading skills, the strategies of “prior listening to the paragraph”, “repetitive reading” and “word repetition” were used. For determining reading errors, the “Error Analysis Inventory” was used. Data were obtained by means of observation and document examination. In the study related to determining reading status, it was established that the student had made errors such as repetition, syllabication, omission, addition and failure to notice punctuation marks. Based on the data obtained, first of all, sound, syllable and word recognition exercises were conducted with the student, and then reading exercises were carried out with texts selected to suit the level of the student’s Turkish course books and story books. Analyses were performed by taking audio and video recordings of all exercises. As a result of the intervention, the student’s desire to read increased, he began to read out loud, he began to identify sounds that he previously did not recognise or confused, and improvements in his reading skill were observed.
Examining an English as a Foreign Language Teacher Education Program (EFLTEP)’s Curriculum: A Case Study in an Indonesian University
curriculum efl teacher education pedagogical content knowledge...
This study aims to examine the English as A Foreign Language Teacher Education Program (EFLTEP)‘s curriculum of one state university in Jambi Province, Indonesia. This research employed a qualitative research design with case study involving 8 participants comprising of 4 beginner teachers and 4 teacher educators. This study used document analysis and interview as its instruments of data collection. The data revealed that beginner teachers perceived they need more practical aspects of pedagogical-related courses than theoretical aspects of teaching. Furthermore, a number of courses were overlapped and need to be redesigned, teaching and learning in large classes seems to be a crucial barrier to the effective implementation of the curriculum in the classroom, and the duration of the EFLTEP to completion is considerably longer than other pre-service teacher education programs. Based on the research findings, several recommendations have been provided. A curriculum should be able to balance the theory and pedagogical skill practice. Teachers, administrative, and other relevant stakeholders should deliberate and design the curriculum together considering other courses or credits to avoid overlapping subjects, eliciting the subjects, and integrated the similar subjects into one would be best choice to optimize the teacher education program, teachers and other stakeholders should allocate much time on Teaching English as Foreign Language (TEFL) practice and classroom management courses. At last, the curriculum should be in line with pre-service teachers’ needs to better prepare them with knowledge and skills for their teaching career in the future.
Flipped Learning Methodology in Professional Training of Future Language Teachers
tertiary school teaching ukrainian flipped classroom model multimedia-based textbook...
The purpose of the study was to examine and evaluate the impact the “flipped classroom” model-based learning environment accompanied by multimedia-based textbook entitled “Ukrainian language (for professional purposes)” provides for the language proficiency and learning styles of the university students majoring in language and literature teaching. A multimedia textbook “Ukrainian for Special Purposes” was designed for the study. A multi method approach was used to gather feedback and quantitative methods were used to analyze the data. Specifically, a 2X2 split-plot design was used to analyze the quantitative data and the two-way ANOVA for Mixed Measures was used to designate the main effects for column and row factors and their interaction effect related to the efficacy of the experiment. Textalyzer software was used to process the students’ responses to survey questions. The results reported a shift in student preferences in learning, including a greater desire to engage independently with computer-assisted work, quicker problem solving, increased motivation to study, and improved time management and lifelong learning skills. The study may better inform building the learning process for the students with limited learning opportunities or studying the distance learning model. Despite the experimental group involving only the students majoring in Economics, this methodology could be applicable to teaching Ukrainian for specific purposes to other majors, such as: Psychology, Educational Management, etc. The research is advancing the knowledge of integration multimedia tools into teaching, and specifically the use of multimedia textbooks in the “flipped classroom” settings to deliver the language course to the students majoring in literature and language teaching.
Developing of Computerized Adaptive Testing to Measure Physics Higher Order Thinking Skills of Senior High School Students and its Feasibility of Use
computerized adaptive testing hots partial credit model item response theory...
The Computer has occupied a comprehensive coverage, especially in education scopes, including in learning-teaching processes, testing, and evaluating. This research aimed to develop computerized adaptive testing (CAT) to measure physics higher-order thinking skills (HOTS), namely PhysTHOTS-CAT. The Research Development used the 4-D developmental model carrying the four phases of define, design, development, and dissemination (4D) developed by Thiagarajan. This testing instrument can give the item test based on the student’s abilities. The research phases include (1) needs analysis and definition, (2) development design (3) development of CAT and assemble the test items into CAT, (4) validation by experts, and (5) feasibility try-out. The findings show that PhysTHOTS-CAT is valid to measure physics HOTS of the 10th-grade students of Senior High School according to 82.28% of teachers and students assessment on PhysTHOTS-CAT content and media. Therefore, it can conclude that PhysTHOTS-CAT can be used and feasible to measure physics HOTS of the 10th-grade students of the Senior High School.
Verbal Linguistic Intelligence of the First-Year Students of Indonesian Education Program: A Case in Reading Subject
indicator verbal-linguistic intelligence reading subject transition period...
This study aimed to describe seven indicators of students’ verbal linguistic intelligence in reading subject. It used a qualitative research method. The subjects of this study were 30 students consisted of 9 male and 21 female students. They took the reading subject in the second semester of the first year. They were given a test of verbal-linguistic intelligence. Seven students were selected to be interviewed because they have verbal-linguistic intelligence and good communication. To find out the validity of the data, the researchers used triangulation of the test results and the results of interviews and triangulation of the second researcher and research assistants. Furthermore, the data were analyzed using the content analysis method which consisted of three steps, they were data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing/verification. The results of the study show that there were seven indicators of verbal-linguistic intelligence of students in reading subject, first, having excellent initial knowledge in mentioning words, second, enjoying wordplay with Scrabble, third, entertaining themselves and other students by playing tongue twisters, fourth, explaining the meaning of the words written and discussed, fifth, having difficulties in mathematics lesson, sixth, their conversation refers to something they have read and heard, and the last, having the ability to write poetry based on personal experience.
The Correlation between Metacognitive Skills and Critical Thinking Skills at the Implementation of Four Different Learning Strategies in Animal Physiology Lectures
adi learning animal physiology critical thinking skills learning strategy metacognitive skills...
The empowerment of metacognitive skills has an important role in increasing the capacity of critical thinking and active control of students' cognitive processes in learning. Metacognitive skills can be enhanced through the implementation of learning strategies involving higher-order thinking. The RQA, ADI, RQA integrated with ADI are constructivistic learning strategies that can accommodate these skills. The researches specifically examining the correlation between metacognitive skills and critical thinking skills at the implementation of RQA, ADI, and RQA integrated with ADI learning strategies are still rarely found. This research is a correlational research, aiming at revealing the correlation between metacognitive skills and critical thinking skills. The data of metacognitive skills and critical thinking skills are collected by using a valid and reliable essay test. The samples of this research are the fourth semester (IV) biology education students programming Animal Physiology course in the 2016/2017 academic year consisting of 109 students. The results of this research show that (1) there was a significant correlation between metacognitive skills and critical thinking skills at the implementation of the four learning strategies, (2) the regression equations analyzed using Anova obtain regression lines (not coincide), and non parallel regression lines (intersected); meaning that there is a difference in the increase rate and magnitude of the critical thinking skills influenced by the four learning strategies. It is expected that the teachers and the lecturers always strive to improve the quality of the learning process through the implementation of active and constructive learning strategies.
Psychometric and Structural Evaluation of the Physics Metacognition Inventory Instrument
psychometric evaluation physics metacognition inventory problem solving...
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the psychometric and structural instruments of the Physics Metacognition Inventory (PMI) developed by Taasoobshirazi, Bailey, and Farley (2015). The PMI consists of 26 items in six factors. The English and Indonesian versions were tested on an English course (N = 37) in the Geophysics study program at Tadulako University. The trials were conducted separately within a two-week interval. The data collected from 364 students of the Physics Education Department, University of Tadulako were analyzed using the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). Later, data were collected from 351 students of some Indonesian universities which have physics education study programs, and the data were analyzed using the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The EFA result reveals six factors based on the rotation result with the maximum loading factor. The CFA result shows the RMSEA values of .018, 2 (284) = 316.32 (χ2 / df = 1,11), GFI = .93, CFI = .99, AGFI = .92 and NFI = .93 which meet the cut-off statistic value, and therefore, the model is considered fit, with the Construct Reliability Estimation (CR) of .93, Composite Reliability of = .95, and maximum reliability of Ω = .96. The results obtained reveal that the PMI scale has good, valid and reliable psychometric properties. Therefore, PMI can be used to measure the level of metacognition of students when solving physics problems. Future studies using PMI are also discussed.
The Development of Computerized Economics Item Banking for Classroom and School-Based Assessment
item banking cbt assessment economics...
The advancement of information and technology resulted in the change in conventional test methods. The weaknesses of the paper-based test can be minimized using the computer-based test (CBT). The development of a CBT desperately needs a computerized item bank. This study aimed to develop a computerized item bank for classroom and school-based assessments. A research and development method is used in this study, which consisted of four phases, i.e., planning, item development, system development, and field testing. Data is collected through documentation, expert judgment, and field testing. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and item response theory. The sample of this study was teachers and high school students in West Sumatera province selected using purposive random sampling techniques. The results of the study are as follows. 1) The computerized item bank has excellent quality based on expert validation. 2) There are 120 items inputted into the item bank system that has a moderate difficulty and good discriminant index based on item response theory. 3) The field testing indicated the computerized economics item banking has high effectiveness of usability, usefulness for the teachers, and feasible for classroom and school-based assessment.
Integrating Concepts and Expressions of Inclusion in the K – Curriculum: The Case of the Philippines
inclusive education inclusive concepts and expressions inclusion in the k-curriculum content analysis...
Inclusive education as a curricular trend is implemented by countries as an action taken in response to the collective call of the Salamanca Statement. It carries the tenet that all learners should be educated alongside their peers regardless of physical, cognitive, socio-emotional, and economic, language, cultural, and other perceived differences. School children, as peers of children with special needs, are co-implementers of the inclusive agenda. Young children are competent, possess their views and agencies, and have nascent characteristics that promote inclusion. As such, it is essential to explore how knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and ethics can further be developed and refined for the sake of creating an inclusive community through integrating them in the school curriculum. This paper sought to analyse the articulation of inclusive concepts and expressions in the K-curriculum and strategies utilized by the teachers to reinforce them. Two documents were analysed in this study to address the research questions: (a) prescribed k-curriculum currently used in the Philippines (b) interview transcripts of the key informants. Through content analysis, results of the study revealed that several inclusive concepts and expressions are articulated in the kindergarten curriculum across domains and are reinforced by teachers using varied strategies. Recommendations of the study are discussed.
The Most-cited Educational Research Publications on Differentiated Instruction: A Bibliometric Analysis
bibliometrics citation analysis differentiated instruction...
The amount of empirical research conducted in the area of differentiated instruction (DI) is overwhelming, necessitating this bibliometric analysis in order to produce an overview of literature on the topic. The objective of this study is to identify the characteristics of the most-cited educational research published on the topic of DI using science mapping and multi-dimensional bibliometric analysis methods. To answer the research questions which were related to: i) publication, ii) authorship, iii) authors’ keywords, and iv) journals, a total of 100 articles published between 1990 and 2018, generated from SCOPUS, were analysed. The results showed that the most-cited articles and the number of publications were highest between 1995 and 2011. With a total of 545 citations “A Time for Telling”, published in the Journal of Cognition and Instruction (1998), was the most cited. The most significant keywords were: a) differentiated instruction, b) differentiation, c) curriculum, d) mathematics, and e) reading. The analysis showed that there were 283 authors who contributed to the 100 articles, and amongst them Carol McDonald Connor was the greatest contributor. It was also revealed that the great majority of the most-cited publications were from Q1-ranked journals. These findings inform scholarly efforts adopted in developing a diverse knowledge base in the field. The findings are important to scholars as they provide an overview of the progress of research on the topic of DI.
‘Sentence Crimes’: Blurring the Boundaries between the Sentence-Level Accuracies and their Meanings Conveyed
sentence crimes blurring boundary sentence-level accuracies meanings...
The syntactic complexities of English sentence structures induced the Indonesian students’ sentence-level accuracies blurred. Reciprocally, the meanings conveyed are left hanging. The readers are increasingly at sixes and sevens. The Sentence Crimes were, therefore, the major essences of diagnosing the students’ sentence-level inaccuracies in this study. This study aimed at diagnosing the 2nd-year PNP ED students’ SCs as the writers of English Paragraph Writing at the Writing II course. Qualitatively, both observation and documentation were the instruments of collecting the data while the 1984 Miles & Huberman’s Model and the 1973 Corder’s Clinical Elicitation were employed to analyse the data as regards the SCs produced by the students. The findings designated that the major sources of the students’ SCs were the subordinating/dependent clauses (noun, adverb, and relative clauses), that-clauses, participle phrases, infinitive phrases, lonely verb phrases, an afterthought, appositive fragments, fused sentences, and comma splices. As a result, the SCs/fragments flopped to communicate complete thoughts because they were grammatically incorrect; lacked a subject, a verb; the independent clauses ran together without properly using punctuation marks, conjunctions or transitions; and two or more independent clauses were purely joined by commas but failed to consider using conjunctions. In conclusion, the success of the Indonesian and or other EFL students constructs sentences rests upon the knowledge, sensitivity and the mastery of complex syntactic structures through transformational/structural grammar.
The Impact of Service-Learning on EFL Teacher Candidates’ Academic and Personal Development
community service peer-tutoring personal growth service-learning significant learning...
Despite its well-documented benefits for training a wide range of professionals, including teacher candidates in almost all content areas, the incorporation of service-learning into foreign language teacher education is relatively new, and most research only dealt with narrative accounts of non-work-related charitable activities. Consequently, this study sought to investigate the impact of the 20-hour peer-tutoring project on the teaching beliefs, community service attitudes, personal and professional development of 14 Turkish EFL teacher candidates. A comparison between their pre- and post-service metaphors revealed a conceptual shift not only in their teaching perspectives from the behaviorist to constructivist paradigm for knowledge acquisition, but also in their community partnership approaches from the unidirectional to reciprocal pattern of altruism towards their tutees. The classification of their written reflections into six types of significant learning demonstrated that despite a relatively greater focus on expressing their foundational knowledge and application practices, a more balanced distribution of learning gains was achieved between the two overarching spheres of academic learning and personal growth, when coursework engagement and multimodal reflections were co-implemented. They reported developing effective teacher dispositions, interpersonal skills and social responsibility, valued intrinsic rewards for their contributions to the youth well-being, and also appreciated the informal professional learning opportunities the peer-tutoring service offered, though without establishing their own learning agendas.
Summative Assessment, Test Scores and Text Quality: A Study of Cohesion as an Unspecified Descriptor in the Assessment Scale
academic writing cohesion english as a foreign language language testing summative assessment texture writing quality...
Summative assessment of students' writing predicts not only the extent to which the course learning objectives have been achieved but also reveals the relevance of the assessment design with the construct of writing being assessed. Any dichotomy between the assessment criteria and the construct of writing or between the assessment criteria and test scoring procedures can produce unreliable and invalid interpretations of the students' writing proficiency. Assuming cohesion as a measure of writing quality, the present study chose samples of academic writing which did not specify cohesion as a descriptor in the assessment scale. A cohesion index was, therefore, developed to investigate how cohesive devices created texture in the sample texts and correlated with the test scores. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric correlation analysis revealed that cohesive devices were positively associated with appropriate use to create texture; however, they only weakly correlated with the test scores. The findings imply that there is the need for developing assessment criteria which consistently measures the text-forming resources to reliably ascertain the writing proficiency of the students. The study recommends a research initiative based on an analytical assessment criteria to ensure a more accurate analysis of the role of cohesion in text-formation and writing quality.
The Effect of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) Learning Model and Learning Style towards Social Skills
community of inquiry (coi) learning model learning styles social skills cooperative learning...
This study aims to examine and describe the effect of the community of inquiry (CoI) learning model and learning styles on students' social skills. The sample used was a student of the faculty of education IAIM Bima Indonesian totaling 114 people, consisting of two experimental groups with 56 students and two control groups were 58 students. The community of inquiry (CoI) learning model was applied in the experimental group whereas the control group applied a cooperative learning model (comparison). This research is a quasi-experiment in which the analysis of prerequisites is applied; normality used the normality QQ plot and homogeneity of variance test used Levene’s test. Research data were analyzed by applying the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results of show that there are significant differences in the social skills of students who use the community of inquiry (CoI) learning model with cooperative learning model, there are differences in social skills of students in terms of the dimensions of learning styles of visual, auditory and kinesthetic, there is also an interaction between community of inquiry (CoI) learning model and learning styles on students' social skills.