Search results for: perception of graduate students

Authors: A. S. Lourens, B. Du Plooy

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Across the world, initiatives have been introduced to encourage women to enter into and remain in engineering fields. However, research has shown that many women leave engineering or suffer a loss of self-esteem and self-confidence compared to their male counterparts. To address this problem, a South African comprehensive university developed a self-leadership intervention pilot study in 2013, aimed at improving the self-efficacy of its female engineering students and increasing retention rates. This paper is a qualitative, descriptive, and interpretive study of the rationale and operational aspects of the Women in Engineering Leadership Association’s (WELA) self-leadership workshop. The objectives of this paper are to provide a framework for the design of a self-leadership workshop and to provide insight into the process of developing such a workshop specifically for women engineering students at a South African university. Finally, the paper proposes an evaluation process for the pilot workshop, which also provides a framework to improve future workshops. It is anticipated that the self-leadership development framework will be applicable to other higher education institutions wishing to improve women engineering student’s feelings of self-efficacy and therefore retention rates of women in engineering.

Keywords: co-curricular interventions, self-efficacy, self-leadership, women in engineering

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Authors: Hahido Samaras

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In many cases, especially with the pandemic playing a major role in fast-tracking the growth of the digital industry, online learning has become a necessity or even a standard educational model nowadays, reliably overcoming barriers such as location, time and cost and frequently combined with a face-to-face format (e.g., in blended learning). This being the case, it is evident that students in many parts of the world, as well as their parents, will increasingly need to become aware of the pros and cons of online versus traditional courses. This fast-growing mode of learning, accelerated during the years of the pandemic, presents an abundance of exciting options especially matched for a large number of secondary school students in remote places of the world where access to stimulating educational settings and opportunities for a variety of learning alternatives are scarce, adding advantages such as flexibility, affordability, engagement, flow and personalization of the learning experience. However, online learning can also present several challenges, such as a lack of student motivation and social interactions in natural settings, digital literacy, and technical issues, to name a few. Therefore, educational researchers will need to conduct further studies focusing on the benefits and weaknesses of online learning vs. traditional learning, while instructional designers propose ways of enhancing student motivation and engagement in virtual environments. Similarly, teachers will be required to become more and more technology-capable, at the same time developing their knowledge about their students’ particular characteristics and needs so as to match them with the affordances the technology offers. And, of course, schools, education programs, and policymakers will have to invest in powerful tools and advanced courses for online instruction. By developing digital courses that incorporate intentional opportunities for community-building and interaction in the learning environment, as well as taking care to include built-in design principles and strategies that align learning outcomes with learning assignments, activities, and assessment practices, rewarding academic experiences can derive for all students. This paper raises various issues regarding the effectiveness of online learning on students by reviewing a large number of research studies related to the usefulness and impact of online learning following the COVID-19-induced digital education shift. It also discusses what students, teachers, decision-makers, and parents have reported about this mode of learning to date. Best practices are proposed for parties involved in the development of online learning materials, particularly for secondary school students, as there is a need for educators and developers to be increasingly concerned about the impact of virtual learning environments on student learning and wellbeing.

Keywords: blended learning, online learning, secondary schools, virtual environments

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Authors: Nozomi Fujisaka

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This sociological case study analyzes a sequence of student maltreatment in an elementary school in Japan, based on narratives from former students. Among various forms of student maltreatment, emotional maltreatment has received less attention. One reason for this is that emotional maltreatment is often considered part of education and is difficult to capture in surveys. To discuss the challenge of recognizing emotional maltreatment, it's necessary to consider the social background in which student maltreatment occurs. Therefore, from the perspective of the sociology of education, this study aims to clarify the process through which emotional maltreatment was embraced by students within a Japanese classroom. The focus of this study is a series of educational interactions by a homeroom teacher with 11- or 12-year-old students at a small public elementary school approximately 10 years ago. The research employs retrospective narrative data collected through interviews and autoethnography. The semi-structured interviews, lasting one to three hours each, were conducted with 11 young people who were enrolled in the same class as the researcher during their time in elementary school. Autoethnography, as a critical research method, contributes to existing theories and studies by providing a critical representation of the researcher's own experiences. Autoethnography enables researchers to collect detailed data that is often difficult to verbalize in interviews. These research methods are well-suited for this study, which aims to shift the focus from teachers' educational intentions to students' perspectives and gain a deeper understanding of student maltreatment. The research results imply a pattern of emotional maltreatment that is challenging to differentiate from education. In this study's case, the teacher displayed calm and kind behavior toward students after a threat and an explosion of anger. Former students frequently mentioned this behavior of the teacher and perceived emotional maltreatment as part of education. It was not uncommon for former students to offer positive evaluations of the teacher despite experiencing emotional distress. These findings are analyzed and discussed in conjunction with the deschooling theory and the cycle of violence theory. The deschooling theory provides a sociological explanation for how emotional maltreatment can be overlooked in society. The cycle of violence theory, originally developed within the context of domestic violence, explains how violence between romantic partners can be tolerated due to prevailing social norms. Analyzing the case in association with these two theories highlights the characteristics of teachers' behaviors that rationalize maltreatment as education and hinder students from escaping emotional maltreatment. This study deepens our understanding of the causes of student maltreatment and provides a new perspective for future qualitative and quantitative research. Furthermore, since this research is based on the sociology of education, it has the potential to expand research in the fields of pedagogy and sociology, in addition to psychology and social welfare.

Keywords: emotional maltreatment, education, student maltreatment, Japan

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Authors: Jussi Horelli, Salla Niittymäki

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In this acceleratingly developing world, it will be crucial for our students to not only to adapt to continuous change, but to be the driving force of it. This raises the question of how can the educational processes motivate and encourage the students to learn the perhaps most important skill there for their further work career: the ability to learn and absorb more by themselves. In engineering education, the learning contents and methods have traditionally been very substance oriented and teacher-centered. In Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK), the pedagogical model has been completely renewed during the past few years. Terms like phenomenon or skills-based learning and collaborative teaching are things which have not very often been related to engineering education, but are now the foundation of HAMK’s pedagogical model in all disciplines, even in engineering studies. In this paper, a new flexible way of executing engineering studies will be introduced. The paper will summarize three years’ experiences and observations of a process where traditional teacher-centric mechanical engineering teaching was converted into a model where teachers work collaboratively in teams supporting the students’ learning processes.

Keywords: team teaching, collaborative learning, engineering education, new pedagogy

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Authors: Warakorn Supwirapakorn

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The purpose of this research was to study the effects of choice theory in group counseling on coping strategies of students. The sample consisted of 16 students at a boarding school, who had the lowest score on the coping strategies. The sample was divided into two groups by random assignment and then were assigned into the experimental group and the control group, with eight members each. The instruments were the Adolescent Coping Scale and choice theory group counseling program. The data collection procedure was divided into three phases: The pre-test, the post-test, and the follow-up. The data were analyzed by repeated measure analysis of variance: One between-subjects and one within-subjects. The results revealed that the interaction between the methods and the duration of the experiment was found statistically significant at 0.05 level. The students in the experimental group demonstrated significantly higher at 0.05 level on coping strategies score in both the post-test and the follow-up than in the pre-test and the control group. No significant difference was found on coping strategies during the post-test phase and the follow-up phase of the experimental group.

Keywords: coping strategies, choice theory, group counseling, boarding school

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Authors: Isiaka Oladele Oladipo, Olusegun Adewale Ajayi

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The blood pressure fitness of female college students has been implicated in sedentary lifestyles. This study was designed to determine the effects of the Aerobic Dance Circuit Training Programme (ADCT) on blood pressure variables (Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) and Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP). Participants’ Pretest-Posttest control group quasi-experimental design using a 2x2x4 factorial matrix was adopted, while one (1) research question and two (2) research hypotheses were formulated. Seventy (70) untrained obese students-volunteers age 21.10±2.46 years were purposively selected from Oyo town, Nigeria; Emmanuel Alayande College of Education (experimental group and Federal College of Education (special) control group. The participants’ BMI, weight (kg), height (m), systolic bp(mmHg), and diastolic bp (mmHg) were measured before and completion of ADCT. Data collected were analysed using a pie chart, graph, percentage, mean, frequency, and standard deviation, while a t-test was used to analyse the stated hypotheses set at the critical level of 0.05. There were significant mean differences in baseline and post-treatment values of blood pressure variables in terms of SBP among the experimental group 136.49mmHg and 131.66mmHg; control group 130.82mmHg and 130.56mmHg (crit-t=2.00, cal.t=3.02, df=69, p<.0, the hypothesis was rejected; while DBP experimental group 88.65mmHg and 82.21mmHg; control group 69.91mmHg and 72.66mmHg (crit-t=2.00, cal.t=1.437, df=69, p>.05) in which the hypothesis was accepted). It was revealed from the findings that participants’ SBP decrease from week 4 to week 12 of ADCT indicated an effective reduction in blood pressure variables of obese female students. Therefore, the study confirmed that the use of ADCT is safe and effective in the management of blood pressure for the healthy benefit of obesity.

Keywords: aerobic dance circuit training, fitness lifestyles, obese college female students, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure

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Authors: Husain Rajib, K. S. Kishor, D. G. Jewel

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Background: Uncorrected refractive error is a common cause of preventable visual impairment in pediatric age group which can be lead to blindness but early detection of visual impairment can reduce the problem that will have good effective in education and more involve in social activities. Glasses are the cheapest and commonest form of correction of refractive errors. To achieve this, patient must exhibit good compliance to spectacle wear. Patient’s attitude and perception of glasses and eye health could affect compliance. Material and method: A Prospective community based cross sectional study was designed in order to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices about refractive errors and eye health amongst the primary school going children. Result: Among 140 respondents, 72 were males and 68 were females. We found 50 children were myopic and out of them 26 were male and 24 were female, 27 children were hyperopic and out of them 14 were male and 13 were female. About 63 children were astigmatic and out of them 32 were male and 31 were female. The level of knowledge, attitude was satisfactory. The attitude of the students, teachers and parents was cooperative which helps to do cycloplegic refraction. Practice was not satisfactory due to social stigma and information gap. Conclusion: Knowledge of refractive error and acceptance of glasses for the correction of uncorrected refractive error. Public awareness program such as vision screening program, eye camp, and teachers training program are more beneficial for wearing and prescribing spectacle.

Keywords: refractive error, stigma, knowledge, attitude, practice

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Authors: Fahimeh Marefat, Marzieh Marefat

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The present research is inspired by the comment that “A substantive, thorough, sophisticated literature review is a precondition for doing substantive, thorough, sophisticated research”. This study is a report on an action research to solve my problem of preparing students to write a Literature Review (LR) that is more than mere cut and paste. More specifically, this study was initiated to discover whether there is an impact of equipping students with tools to write LR on the quality of research and on their view on LR significance. The participants were twenty-four Iranian TEFLers at Allameh Tabataba’i University. they were taking their advanced writing course with the lead researcher. We met once a week for 90 minutes for five weeks followed by individual consultations. Working through a process approach, and implementing tasks, the lead researcher ran workshops implementing different controlled assignments and subsequent activities to lead students to practice appropriate source use on multiple drafts: From choosing the topic, finding sources, forming questions, preparing quotation, paraphrase, and summary note cards, to outlining and most importantly introducing them the tools to evaluate prior research and offer their own take of it and finally synthesizing and incorporating the notes into the body of the LR section of their papers. The LR scoring rubric was implemented and a note was emailed to the students asking about their views. It was indicated that awareness raising and detailed explicit instruction improved the LR quality compared to their previous projects. Interestingly enough, they acknowledged how LR shaped all stages of their research, a further support for the notion of “being scholars before researchers”. The key to success is mastery over the literature which translates into extensive reading and critically appraising it.

Keywords: controlled tasks, critical evaluation, review of literature, writing synthesis

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Authors: N. Songumpai, W. Sumranwanich, S. Chatmaneerungcharoen

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This research aims to study the understanding of 8 aspects of nature of science (NOS). The research participants were 39 General Science student teachers who were selected by purposive sampling. In 2015 academic year, they enrolled in the course of Science Education Learning Management. Qualitative research was used as research methodology to understand how the student teachers propose on NOS. The research instruments consisted of open-ended questionnaires and semi-structure interviews that were used to assess students’ understanding of NOS. Research data was collected by 8 items- questionnaire and was categorized into students’ understanding of NOS, which consisted of complete understanding (CU), partial understanding (PU), misunderstanding (MU) and no understanding (NU). The findings reveal the majority of students’ misunderstanding of NOS regarding the aspects of theory and law(89.7%), scientific method(61.5%) and empirical evidence(15.4%) respectively. From the interview data, the student teachers present their misconceptions of NOS that indicate about theory and law cannot change; science knowledge is gained through experiment only (step by step); science is the things that are around humans. These results suggest that for effective science teacher education, the composition of design of NOS course needs to be considered. Therefore, teachers’ understanding of NOS is necessary to integrate into professional development program/course for empowering student teachers to begin their careers as strong science teachers in schools.

Keywords: nature of science, student teacher, no understanding, misunderstanding, partial understanding, complete understanding

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Authors: Tolga Gok, Kursad Sayin

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The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between expectation, satisfaction and loyalty of South Korean tourists visiting Turkey. In the research, a questionnaire was used as a data collecting tool. The questionnaires are filled by South Korean tourists coming to Turkey through package tours and individual. The survey was conducted in 2014 in Nevsehir (Cappadocia Region) and Istanbul. Tourist guides and agency staff have helped the implementation of surveys. The survey questions are composed of 4 parts, which are “demographic characteristics of tourists”, “travel behavior characteristics”, “perception of expectations on destination attributes” and “perception of destination loyalty”. 5-point Likert type scale including 28 destination attributes was used to measure the expectations of South Korean tourists coming to Turkey. Questions were directed to the tourists to measure the destination loyalty. The questions relating to destination loyalty are “Talking about Turkey to others”, “Recommendation Turkey to others” and “Tourists’ intentions to revisit Turkey”. The basic hypothesis of the research is that there is a statistically significant relationship among expectations, satisfactions and destination loyalty of South Korean tourists coming to Turkey. The results indicated that the expectation had a significant effect on overall satisfaction. In addition, it was seen that between overall satisfaction of tourists and destination loyalty had a significant relationship. Based on findings, some suggestions for tour operators and travel agencies were made.

Keywords: tourist expectation, tourist satisfaction, destination loyalty, destination attributes

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Authors: K. C. Ching

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There is growing public concern over the increasing prevalence of student suicide in Hong Kong. Some identify the problem with insufficient social support, while some attribute it to the vast fluctuations in emotional experience and the hindrances to emotion-regulation, both typical of adolescence and emerging adulthood. This study is thus designed to explore the respective effect of perceived social support and emotion self-confidence, on positive emotions and negative emotions. Fifty-seven Hong Kong higher-education students (17 males, 40 females) aged between 18 and 25 (M = 21.78) responded to an online questionnaire consisted of self-reported measures of perceived social support, emotional self-confidence, positive emotions, and negative emotions. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that emotional self-confidence positively associated with positive emotions and negatively with negative emotions, while perceived social support positively associated with positive emotions but was not related to negative emotions. Perceived social support and emotional self-confidence both predicted positive emotions, but did not interact to predict any emotional outcome. It is concluded that students’ positive and negative emotional experiences are closely related to their emotion-regulation process. But for social support, its effect is merely protective, meaning that although perceived social support generally promotes positive emotions, it alone does not suffice to alleviate students’ negative emotions. These conclusions carry profound implications to suicide prevention practices, including that most existing suicide prevention campaigns should advance from merely fostering mutual support to directly promoting adaptive coping of emotional negativity.

Keywords: emerging adulthood, emotional self-confidence, hong kong, perceived social support, suicide prevention

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Authors: Medina Adulyarat

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Like many other countries, Thailand is experiencing an increase in its proportion of older adults. However, the political, social, and religious climates of the various regions of Thailand are very diverse and the life experiences of older Thai citizens can vary greatly by region. For more than a decade, the southernmost provinces, namely Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, have experienced social and political unrest, often characterized by violence in the form of bombings and shootings, which has impacted the older adults residing in these regions. While, Muslims are considered a minority in Thailand, the majority of individuals in southernmost regions are Muslims, causing these regions to be different in terms of culture and beliefs. Using a phenomenological approach, this study examines older adults’ perceptions of successful aging within the context of violent social and political unrest. This research aims to 1) understand how older adults living in these areas perceive successful aging in relation to Rowe and Kahn’s successful ageing model, and 2) describe the experiences of older adults living in areas of violent social and political unrest. Data were collected using in-depth interviews with eight older adults living in the unrest area, composing of four males and four females aged between 55-75. Content analysis was used to investigate older adults’ perception of successful aging. Older adults living their life amidst the violence did not view the situation as a threat to their life for they viewed that they are not the targets of the unrest situation. Additionally, participants identified their religious beliefs and a strong sense of community belonging as coping strategies employed to deal with social and political unrest. Thus, according to them, the violence did not affect their perception of successful aging. While the participants’ perceptions of successful aging were generally consistent with aspects identified in the successful aging model proposed by Rowe and Kahn, a theme of “financial stability” emerged. The results can be divided into four interrelated themes, which are; 1) engaging with others; 2) religiosity; 3) financial stability; and 4) health. Understanding the older persons’ view of successful aging in vulnerable situations should add more depth and enhance the conceptualization of the successful aging concept.

Keywords: cultural gerontology, minority population, successful aging, unrest situation

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Authors: Elson Szeto

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Over the past 15 years, digital technology has ubiquitously penetrated societies around the world. New values of e-learning are emerging in the preparation of future talents, while e-learning is a key driver of widening participation and knowledge transfer in Chinese higher education. As a vibrant, Chinese society in Asia, Hong Kong’s new generation university students, perhaps the digital natives, have been learning with e-learning since their basic education. They can acquire new knowledge with the use of different forms of e-learning as a generic competence. These students who embrace this competence further their study journeys in higher education. This project reviews the Government’s policy of Information Technology in Education which has largely put forward since 1998. So far, primary to secondary education has embraced advantages of e-learning capability to advance the learning of different subject knowledge. Yet, e-learning capacity in higher education is yet to be fully examined in Hong Kong. The study reported in this paper is a pilot investigation into e-learning capacity in Chinese higher education in the region. By conducting a qualitative case study of Hong Kong, the investigation focuses on (1) the institutional ICT settings in general; (2) the pedagogic responses to e-learning in specific; and (3) the university students’ satisfaction of e-learning. It is imperative to revisit the e-learning capacity for promoting effective learning amongst university students, supporting new knowledge acquisition and embracing new opportunities in the 21st century. As a pilot case study, data will be collected from individual interviews with the e-learning management team members of a university, teachers who use e-learning for teaching and students who attend courses comprised of e-learning components. The findings show the e-learning capacity of the university and the key components of leveraging e-learning capability as a university-wide learning settings. The findings will inform institutions’ senior management, enabling them to effectively enhance institutional e-learning capacity for effective learning and teaching and new knowledge acquisition. Policymakers will be aware of new potentials of e-learning for the preparation of future talents in this society at large.

Keywords: capability, e-learning, higher education, student learning

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Authors: Hao-Hsi Tseng, Hsin-Yun Lee, Yu-Cheng Kuo

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In order to understand whether there is a better than the learning function of learning methods and improve the CAD Courses for enterprise’s design human resource development, this research is applied in learning practical learning computer graphics software. In this study, Revit building information model for learning content, design of two different modes of learning curriculum to learning, learning functions, respectively, and project learning. Via a post-test, questionnaires and student interviews, etc., to study the effectiveness of a comparative analysis of two different modes of learning. Students participate in a period of three weeks after a total of nine-hour course, and finally written and hands-on test. In addition, fill in the questionnaire response by the student learning, a total of fifteen questionnaire title, problem type into the base operating software, application software and software-based concept features three directions. In addition to the questionnaire, and participants were invited to two different learning methods to conduct interviews to learn more about learning students the idea of two different modes. The study found that the ad hoc short-term courses in learning, better learning outcomes. On the other hand, functional style for the whole course students are more satisfied, and the ad hoc style student is difficult to accept the ad hoc style of learning.

Keywords: development, education, human resource, learning

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Authors: Nicole Bandow, Peter Emmermacher, Oliver Wienert, Steffen Masik, Kerstin Witte

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Karate-kumite is a fast sport where a good perception and anticipation of movements is needed in order to respond appropriately. Perception and anticipation are therefore essential for an efficient and precise movement control and a limiting factor in karate kumite. Previous studies only used 2D video technologies combined with the occlusion technique to study anticipation in sports. These studies showed limitations in the usage of 2D video footage in regards to realism and the presentation of depth information. To overcome these issues a virtual 3D environment was developed to create a similar to real life environment. The aim of this study was to compare the differences in responses of intermediate and expert karate athletes towards temporally and spatially occluded virtual karate attacks from two attackers. Five male expert and five intermediate karate athletes responded physically to nine (3 temporal combined with 3 spatial) occluded attacks of the Gyaku-Zuki of each attacker in the 3D virtual environment. The responses were evaluated in regards to correct point of time and appropriate response technique. Significant differences between the expertises’ responses for the attackers were found. Experts respond more often correct to early information of attacks than novices.

Keywords: anticipation, karate, occlusion, virtual reality

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Authors: Gohar Marikyan

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This article is about investigating how to effectively use visuals in teaching introductory mathematics. The analysis showed the use of visuals in teaching introductory mathematics can be an effective tool for enhancing students’ learning and engagement in mathematics. The use of visuals was particularly effective for teaching concepts of numbers, operations with whole numbers, and properties of operations. The analysis also provides strong evidence that the effectiveness of visuals varied depending on the way the visuals are used. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that the use of visuals in mathematics instruction had a positive impact on student’s attitudes toward mathematics, with students showing higher levels of motivation and enjoyment in mathematics classes.

Keywords: analytical thinking skills, instructional strategies with visuals, introductory mathematics, student engagement and motivation

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Authors: Megan Lindsey

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Background: Globalization presents international social work with both opportunities and challenges. Thus, the design of this international experience aligns with the three charges of the Commission on Global Social Work Education. An international collaborative effort between an American and Scottish University Social Work Program was based on an established University agreement. The presentation provides an overview of an international study abroad among American and Scottish Social Work students. Further, presenters will discuss the opportunities of international collaboration and the challenges of the project. First, we will discuss the process of a successful international collaboration. This discussion will include the planning, collaboration, execution of the experience, along with its application to the international field of social work. Second, we will discuss the development and implementation of participatory action research in which the student engage to enhance their learning experience. A collaborative qualitative research project was undertaken with three goals. First, students gained experience in Scottish social services, including agency visits and presentations. Second, a collaboration between American and Scottish MSW Students allowed the exchange of ideas and knowledge about services and social work education. Third, students collaborated on a qualitative research method to reflect on their social work education and the formation of their professional identity. Methods/Methodology: American and Scottish students engaged in participatory action research by using Photovoice methods while studying together in Scotland. The collaboration between faculty researchers framed a series of research questions. Both universities obtained IRB approval and trained students in Photovoice methods. The student teams used the research question and Photovoice method to discover images that represented their professional identity formation. Two Photovoice goals grounded the study's research question. First, the methods enabled the individual students to record and reflect on their professional strengths and concerns. Second, student teams promoted critical dialogue and knowledge about personal and professional issues through large and small group discussions of photographs. Results: The international participatory approach generated the ability for students to contextualize their common social work education and practice experiences. Team discussions between representatives of each country resulted in understanding professional identity formation and the processes of social work education that contribute to that identity. Students presented the photograph narration of their knowledge and understanding of international social work education and practice. Researchers then collaborated on finding common themes. The results found commonalities in the quality and depth of social work education. The themes found differences regarding how professional identity is formed. Students found great differences between their and American accreditation and certification. Conclusions: Faculty researchers’ collaboration themes sought to categorize the students’ experiences of their professional identity. While the social work education systems are similar, there are vast differences. The Scottish themes noted structures within American social work not found in the United Kingdom. The American researchers noted that Scotland, as does the United Kingdom, relies on programs, agencies, and the individual social worker to provide structure to identity formation. Other themes will be presented.

Keywords: higher education curriculum, international collaboration, social sciences, action research

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Authors: Deepak Deshpande, Vikas Minchekar

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Day by day in modern India communal forces became stronger and stronger. Each and every caste group trying to show their strength through massive marches. Such kind of marches or ralliesruinous national integrity in India. To test this assumption present investigation has been carried out. This research was undertaken by using survey techniques. The study has been carried out in two phases. In the first stage, the students’ attitudes were collected while in the second phase the views of the members of the historical association were collected. The social dominance orientation scale and sources of social dominance inventory have been administered on 200 college students belonging to Maratha caste. Analyzed data revealed ahigh level of social dominance in Maratha caste students. Approximately, 80 percent students have reported that they have learned such dominance from the medieval history. The other sources disappear very less prominent. These results and present Indian social situation have been communicated with the members of the historical association of India. The majority members of this association agreed with this reality. The consensus also received on that Maratha caste person experiencing dominance due to the misinterpretation of the King Shivaji Empire; synchronize by politicians. The survey monkey app was used through electronic mail to collect the views on ‘The attitude towards the modification of curricula questionnaire’. The maximum number of members of the historical association agreed to employ to teach the medieval Indian history accordingly the secular perspectives.

Keywords: social dominance orientation, secular perceptive, national integrity, Maratha caste and medieval Indian history

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Authors: A. G. Margaryan

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Ability of adaptation of the organism is considered as an important component of health in maintaining relative dynamic constancy of the hemostasis and functioning of all organs and systems. Among the various forms of adaptation (individual, species and mental), social adaptation of the organism has a particular role. The aim of this study was to evaluate the subjective perception of social factors, social welfare and the level of adaptability of Armenian physicians. The survey involved 2,167 physicians (592 men and 1,575 women). According to the survey, most physicians (75.1%) were married. It was found that 88.6% of respondents had harmonious family relationships, 7.6% of respondents – tense relationships, and 1.0% – marginal relationships. The results showed that the average monthly salary with all premium payments amounted to 88 263.6±5.0 drams, and 16.7% of physicians heavily relied on the material support of parents or other relatives. Low material welfare was also confirmed by the analysis of the living conditions. Analysis of the results showed that the degree of subjective perception of social factors of different specialties averaged 11.3±3.1 points, which corresponds to satisfactory results (a very good result – 4.0 points). The degree of social adaptation of physicians on average makes 4.13±1.9 points, which corresponds to poor results (allowable less than 3.0 points). The distribution of the results of social adaptation severity revealed that the majority of physicians (58.6%) showed low social adaptation, average social adaptation is observed in 22.4% of the physicians and high adaptation – in only 17.4% of physicians. In conclusions, the findings of this study suggest that the degree of social adaptation of currently practicing physicians is low.

Keywords: physician's health, social adaptation, social factor, social health

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Authors: Katerina Florou

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Two decades after coined the term "learner corpora" as collections of texts created by foreign or second language learners across various language contexts, and some years following suggestion to incorporate "focusing on form" within a Task-Based Learning framework, this study aims to explore how learner corpora, whether annotated with errors or not, can facilitate a focus on form in an educational setting. Argues that analyzing linguistic form serves the purpose of enabling students to delve into language and gain an understanding of different facets of the foreign language. This same objective is applicable when analyzing learner corpora marked with errors or in their raw state, but in this scenario, the emphasis lies on identifying incorrect forms. Teachers should aim to address errors or gaps in the students' second language knowledge while they engage in a task. Building on this recommendation, we compared the written output of two student groups: the first group (G1) employed the focusing on form phase by studying a specific aspect of the Italian language, namely the past participle, through examples from native speakers and grammar rules; the second group (G2) focused on form by scrutinizing their own errors and comparing them with analogous examples from a native speaker corpus. In order to test our hypothesis, we created four learner corpora. The initial two were generated during the task phase, with one representing each group of students, while the remaining two were produced as a follow-up activity at the end of the lesson. The results of the first comparison indicated that students' exposure to their own errors can enhance their grasp of a grammatical element. The study is in its second stage and more results are to be announced.

Keywords: Corpus interlanguage analysis, task based learning, Italian language as F1, learner corpora

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Authors: Sufia Ferdousi

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Child-friendly education (CFE) is very important for the children, especially the early year’s students, because it fosters the holistic development of a child. Teacher plays a key role in creating child-friendly education. This study intends to learn about child-friendly education in Bangladesh. The purpose of the study is to explore how CFE is being practiced in Bangladesh. The study attempted to fulfill the purpose through case study investigation. One school, named Nalanda, was selected for the study as it claims to run the school through CFE approach. The objective of the study was to identify, how this school is different from the other schools in Bangladesh, to explore overall teaching learning system like, curriculum, teaching strategies, assessments and to investigate the support system for Child Friendly Education provided to the teachers through training or mentoring. The nature of the case study was qualitative method to get maximum information from the students, parents, teachers and school authorities. The findings were based on 3 classroom observations, interviews with 1 teacher, 1 head teacher and 1 trainer, FGD with 10 students and 6 parents, were used to collect the data. It has been found that Nalanda is different than the other schools in Bangladesh in terms of, parents’ motivation about school curriculum, and sufficiency of teachers’ knowledge on joyful learning/child-friendly learning. The students took part in the extracurricular activities alongside the national curriculum. Teachers showed particular strength in the teaching learning strategies, using materials and assessment. And Nalanda gives strong support for teacher’s training. In conclusion, The Nalanda School in Dhaka was found appropriate for the requirements of Child-friendly education.

Keywords: child friendly education, overall teaching learning system, the requirements of child-friendly education, the alternative education approach

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Authors: Gevher Sayar, Dicle Aydın

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The need for shelter which is one of the essential requirement of humanity has emerged for different type of dwelling needs depend on upon different culture and location. Almost all dwellings as an element of the public improvements effect the physical appearance of the city. Dwelling zones create part of whole in terms of urban area use. Whereas in traditional texture merger of parcels create city blocks, in new settlement area city blocks become a part, so the property of each part differs. The perspective of this study is part-to-whole relationship of residential areas and diversified residential areas are illustrated. The purpose of this study is that dwelling applications which have constructed quickly as gated community in the last 20 years in new settlement area of Konya (Turkey) have compared traditional texture in terms of part-to-whole relationship. According to the perception of traditional neighborhood in Konya, the relationship of houses between street pattern and each other are suited for city culture and location. In contrast, new settlement areas cannot become integrated another part of city, they have become restricted areas, so new settlement areas have not integrated, they have separated. The perception of part forms whole has changed, roads provide the relationship of growing parts with one another and walls of gated communities has disjunctive feature. In this study, by using visual analysis photographs and technical drawings are used. Traditional texture and current dwelling have compared.

Keywords: dwelling, residential area, urban part, urban whole

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Authors: Akbar Ali

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The aim of this study is to explore the academic performance of adolescents who are living with their single parents. Living with single parents is challenging experience especially when children are in adolescence phase. The core aim of study was to investigate how family environment, social status and parental support affect adolescents’ academic performance. This study is carried out in Punjab, Pakistan on adolescents who are experiencing the single family environment either my divorce or natural parental marital transition. Qualitative methodology was employed to evaluate the different aspects of aspects of academic performance. A sample of 40 students in-between age 14 to 18 years was selected from different institutions coming from different socio cultural backgrounds and having different family situations comprising different types of single family structure. Data was collected through semi structured interviews to explore the academics performance and family dynamics. Findings of the study indicated that adolescents living with single parents show poor academic performance due to lack of interest, absentees, poor social and economic support, less parental involvement. Students were showing less or no interest in extracurricular activities and less social interaction with fellows. Parental economic status , Parenting style, parental involvement and academic support are the key factors which directly academic outcomes. Research experience was challenging because students were reluctant to share family issues. Proper academic and counselling centre should be established to provide emotional and academic counselling for such students. Longitudinal research should be carried out to trace the academic outcomes and social adjustments.

Keywords: academic counselling, marital transitions, parenting style, parental involvement

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Authors: Elham Falatoonitoosi, Vikki Schaffer, Don Kerr

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Over-development for tourism and its consequences on residents’ well-being turn into a critical issue in tourism destinations. Learning about undesirable impacts of tourism has led many people to seek more sustainable and responsible tourism. The main objective of this research is to understand how and to what extent sustainable tourism development enhances locals’ well-being regarding stakeholder perception. The research was conducted in a coastal-hinterland tourism region through two sequential phases. At the first phase, a unique set of 19 sustainable tourism indicators resulted from a triplex model was used to examine the sustainability effects on the main factors of residents’ well-being including equity and living condition, life satisfaction, health condition, and education quality. The triplex model including i) systematic literature search, ii) convergent interviewing, and iii) DEMATEL aimed to develop sustainability indicators, specify them for a particular destination, and identify the dominant sustainability issues acting as key predictors in sustainable development. At the second phase, a hierarchical multiple regression was used to examine the relationship between sustainable development and local residents’ well-being. A number of 167 participants from five different groups of stakeholders perceived the importance level of each sustainability indicators regarding well-being factors on 5-point Likert scale. Results from the first phase indicated that sustainability training, government support, tourism sociocultural effects, tourism revenue, and climate change are the top dominant sustainability issues in the regional sustainable development. Results from the second phase showed that sustainable development considerably improves the overall residents’ well-being and has positive relationships with all well-being factors except life satisfaction. It explains that it was difficult for stakeholders to recognize a link between sustainable development and their overall life satisfaction and happiness. Among well-being’s factors, health condition was influenced the most by sustainability indicators that indicate stakeholders believed sustainability development can promote public health, health sector performance, quality of drinking water, and sanitation. For the future research, it is highly recommended to analysis the effects of sustainable tourism development on the other features of a tourism destination’s well-being including residents sociocultural empowerment, local economic growth, and attractiveness of the destination.

Keywords: residents' well-being, stakeholder perception, sustainability indicators, sustainable tourism

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Authors: Lota Largavista

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This study entitled, ‘The Organizational Structure, Development Features, and Metadiscoursal Elements in the Expository Writing of Freshman College Writers’ aimed to examine essays written by college students. It seeks to examine the organizational structure and development features of the essays and describe their defining characteristics, the linguistic elements at both macrostructural and microstructural discourse levels and the types of textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers that are employed in order to negotiate meanings with their prospective readers. The different frameworks used to analyze the essays include Toulmin’s ( 1984) model for argument structure, Olson’s ( 2003) three-part essay structure; Halliday and Matthiesen (2004) in Herriman (2011) notions of thematic structure, Danes (1974) thematic progression or method of development, Halliday’s (2004) concept of grammatical and lexical cohesion ;Hyland’s (2005) metadiscourse strategies; and Chung and Nation’s( 2003) four-step scale for technical vocabulary. This descriptive study analyzes qualitatively and quantitatively how freshman students generally express their written compositions. Coding of units is done to determine what linguistic features are present in the essays. Findings revealed that students’ expository essays observe a three-part structure having all three moves, the Introduction, the Body and the Conclusion. Stance assertion, stance support, and emerging moves/strategies are found to be employed in the essays. Students have more marked themes on the essays and also prefer constant theme progression as their method of development. The analysis of salient linguistic elements reveals frequently used cohesive devices and metadiscoursal strategies. Based on the findings, an instructional learning plan is being proposed. This plan is characterized by a genre approach that focuses on expository and linguistic conventions.

Keywords: metadiscourse, organization, theme progression, structure

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Authors: Chek Kim Loi

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This study reports on a study examining the body paragraphs of English academic essays written by some ESL (English as a Second Language) undergraduate students. These students took English for Academic Purposes course for one semester at a public university in Malaysia. In addition to analyzing the communicative purposes employed in the sample, for triangulation of data, student participants were interviewed on their academic writing experience in their English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classroom. The present study has pedagogical implications in an EAP classroom.

Keywords: academic writing, body paragraphs, communicative purposes, pedagogical implications

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Authors: Federica Ceccoli

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Italy is undergoing one of its largest migratory waves, and Italian schools are reporting the highest numbers of multilingual students coming from immigrant families and speaking minority languages. For these pupils, who have not perfectly acquired their mother tongue yet, learning a second language may represent a burden on their linguistic development and may have some repercussions on their school performances and relational skills. These are some of the reasons why they have turned out to be those who have the worst grades and the highest school drop-out rates. However, despite these negative outcomes, it has been demonstrated that multilingual immigrant students frequently act as translators or language brokers for their peers or family members who do not speak Italian fluently. This activity has been defined as Child Language Brokering (hereinafter CLB) and it has become a common practice especially in minority communities as immigrants’ children often learn the host language much more quickly than their parents, thus contributing to their family life by acting as language and cultural mediators. This presentation aims to analyse the data collected by a research carried out during the school year 2014-2015 in the province of Ravenna, in the Northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, among 126 immigrant students attending junior high schools. The purpose of the study was to analyse by means of a structured questionnaire whether multilingualism matched with language brokering experiences or not and to examine the perspectives of those students who reported having acted as translators using their linguistic knowledge to help people understand each other. The questionnaire consisted of 34 items roughly divided into 2 sections. The first section required multilingual students to provide personal details like their date and place of birth, as well as details about their families (number of siblings, parents’ jobs). In the second section, they were asked about the languages spoken in their families as well as their language brokering experience. The in-depth questionnaire sought to investigate a wide variety of brokering issues such as frequency and purpose of the activity, where, when and which documents young language brokers translate and how they feel about this practice. The results have demonstrated that CLB is a very common practice among immigrants’ children living in Ravenna and almost all students reported positive feelings when asked about their brokering experience with their families and also at school. In line with previous studies, responses to the questionnaire item regarding the people they brokered for revealed that the category ranking first is parents. Similarly, language-brokering activities tend to occur most often at home and the documents they translate the most (either orally or in writing) are notes from teachers. Such positive feelings towards this activity together with the evidence that it occurs very often in schools have laid the foundation for further projects on how this common practice may be valued and used to strengthen the linguistic skills of these multilingual immigrant students and thus their school performances.

Keywords: immigration, language brokering, multilingualism, students' points of view

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Authors: Florentina Hahaianu, Mihaela Negrescu

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The analysis of the positive and negative effects of technology use and abuse in Generation Z comes as a necessity in order to understand their ever-changing emotional development needs. The article quantitatively analyzes the findings of a sociological questionnaire on a group of students in social sciences. It aimed to identify the changes generated by the use of digital resources in the emotional intelligence development. Among the outcomes of our study we include a predilection for IT related activities – be they social, learning, entertainment, etc. which undermines the manifestation of emotional intelligence, especially the reluctance to face-to-face interaction. In this context, the issue of emotional intelligence development comes into focus as a solution to compensate for the undesirable effects that contact with technology has on this generation.

Keywords: digital resources, emotional intelligence, generation Z, students

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Authors: Paulino V. Tavares, Ana L. Romao

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Public governance represents an articulated arrangement, dynamic and interactive, present in the exercise of authority aimed at strengthening the decision-making procedure in public administration with transparency, accountability, responsiveness and capable of to emerge control and social empowerment, to pursue and achieve the objectives efficiently and with the effectiveness desired by the collective, respecting laws and providing social, institutional and economic equility in society. With this, using a multidimensional approach with the application of three questionnaires to a universe of twenty Counselors of the Courts of Auditors (Brazil), twenty professionals of public administration (Brazil), twenty Government/Provincial Counselors (South Africa), and twenty South African professionals of public administration, the present work aims to capture what is the perception about the efficiency and equility of public policies in Brazil and South Africa. With this, up until now, 30 responses have been obtained, and the results indicate that, in Brazil, 65% affirm due to the inefficiency of public policies, 70% point out that they do not believe in the equility of these same policies. In South Africa, the results indicate that 45% believe in government efficiency, and, with regard to the equility of public policies, 65% do not believe. In Brazil, the research reveals at least three reasons for this result, that is, lack of planning, lack of clear objectives of public policies, and lack of information on the part of society, while in South Africa, so far, research has not identified a specific reason for this result.

Keywords: efficiency, equility, governance, public policy

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Authors: Shazia Farooq Mirza

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The purpose of this study was to explore the challenges faced by visually impaired children and their parents in doing homework assignments using Braille. This study had a quantitative approach and it was descriptive in nature. It took place in 6 public and special private schools of Lahore.177 visually impaired children of grades 4-10 and 153 parents of the visually impaired children were the volunteer participants of this study which were selected through a convenient sampling method. A survey method was adopted for the data collection. And for this purpose 2 self-developed validated questionnaires were used as instruments. The instruments were constructed by exploring the factors and sub-factors from the literature review. Thirty students with visual impairment and 30 parents of the students with visual impairment filled the questionnaires as a pilot study, and it ensured the reliability of the instruments. Data were analyzed using a statistical package of social sciences and it was completely interpreted. Findings revealed that the common challenges faced by the students with visual impairment were Physical Stress, Readiness, Braille Knowledge, Braille Skill and Communications. And the major challenges faced by the parents of the students with visual impairment were the Availability of the helping material, the Availability of the reading material, Braille Knowledge, Braille skills, School and family interactions, Behavior management and the Environment and equipment. Conclusions were drawn on the basis of the major findings. Future suggestions are given in light of the conclusions. This study will be beneficial for the children with visual impairment, the parents of the children with visual impairment, the special education teachers and for the policymakers of the special schools.

Keywords: challenges, visually impaired children, homework, parents, braille

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