Search results for: intercultural competency for teacher

Authors: Justyna Mroczkowska

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Social worker's ability to provide culturally sensitive assistance in child protection is taken for granted; given limited training opportunities and lack of clear guidance, practitioners report working with migrant families more demanding in comparison to working with native families. In this study, the author developed and factor analyzed the Norwegian Cultural Self-Efficacy Scale to describe the level of cultural capability among Norwegian child protection professionals. The study aimed to determine the main influencing factors to cultural efficacy and examine the relationship between self-efficacy and perceived difficulty in working with migrant families. The scale was administered to child protection workers in Norway (N=251), and the reliability of the scale measured by Cronbach's alpha coefficient was .904. The confirmatory factor analysis of social work cultural self-efficacy found support for four separate but correlated subscales: Assessment, Communication, Support Request, and Teamwork. Regression analyses found the experience in working with migrant families, training and support from external agencies, and colleague support to be significant predictors of cultural self-efficacy. Self-efficacy in assessment skills and self-efficacy in communication skills were moderately related to the perceived difficulty to work with migrant families. The findings conclude with previous research and highlight the need for both professional development programs and institutional resources to be provided to support the practitioner's preparation for multicultural practice in child protection.

Keywords: child protection, cultural self-efficacy, cultural competency, migration, resources

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Authors: Shu-Chen Wu

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This paper will present a study by the author which investigates Chinese teachers’ perspectives on learning at play and their teaching activities in the designed play activities. It asks the question of how Chinese teachers understand learning at play and how they design play activities in the classroom. Six kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong were invited to select and record exemplary play episodes which contain the largest amount of learning elements in their own classrooms. Applying video-stimulated interview, eight teachers in two focus groups were interviewed to elicit their perspectives on designing play activity and their teaching activities. The findings reveal that Chinese teachers have a very structured representation of learning at play, and the phenomenon of uniformity of teachers’ act was found. The contributions of which are important and useful for professional practices and curricular policies.

Keywords: learning at play, teacher involvement, video-stimulated interview, uniformity

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Authors: Lina Khashogji

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This study highlights on analysing the educational experience of female Saudi Arabian students in private schools in Islamic studies subjects. Exploring how school environment, teachers’ authority and textbooks could influence the level of individuality. Considering the complex interaction between religious is social and political power in Saudi Arabia. The study draws on phenomenology as a guiding theoretical framework using multi methods. It includes a vertical/horizontal individualism measurement tool “survey” used on 120 students of two age groups (9-12) and (13-15). Semi-structured interviews with eight school teachers, observational notes in the classroom, and textbook analysis. The study links the interactions between the student mind, the teacher, the classroom and the curriculum.

Keywords: education, individualism, identity development, Islamic studies, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Mahsa Habibzadeh

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The function is defined as the process of systematic and systematic measurement of the components of how each task is performed and determining their potential for improvement in accordance with the specific standards of each component. Hence, evaluation is the basis for the improvement of organizations' functional excellence and the move towards performance excellence depends on performance improvement planning. Because of the past two decades, the public sector system has undergone dramatic changes. The purpose of such developments is often to overcome the barriers of the bureaucratic system, which impedes the efficient use of limited resources. Implementing widespread changes in the public sector of developed and even developing countries has led the process of developments to be addressed by many researchers. In this regard, the present paper has been carried out with the approach of analyzing the components that affect the performance of the public sector in Iran. To achieve this goal, indicators that affect the performance of the public sector and the factors affecting the improvement of its accountability have been identified. The research method in this research is descriptive and analytical. A statistical population of 120 people consists of managers and employees of the public sector in Iran. The questionnaires were distributed among them and analyzed using SPSS and LISREL software. The obtained results indicate that the results of the research findings show that between responsibilities there is a significant relationship between participation of managers and employees, legality, justice and transparency of specialty and competency, participation in public sector functions. Also, the significant coefficient for the liability variable is 3.31 for justice 2.89 for transparency 1.40 for legality of 2.27 for specialty and competence 2.13 and 5.17 for participation 5.17. Implementing indicators that affect the performance of the public sector can lead to satisfaction of the audience.

Keywords: performance, accountability system, public sector, components

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Authors: Youmen Chaaban, Maha Ellili-Cherif

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The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of teachers’ individual characteristics and perceptions of environmental factors that impact their technology integration into their EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classrooms. To this end, a national survey examining EFL teachers’ perceptions was conducted at Qatari Independent schools. 263 EFL teachers responded to the survey which investigated several factors known to impact technology integration. These factors included technology availability and support, EFL teachers’ perceptions of importance, obstacles facing technology integration, competency with technology use, and formal technology preparation. The impact of these factors on teachers’ and students’ educational technology use was further measured. The analysis of the data included descriptive statistics and a chi-square analysis test in order to examine the relationship between these factors. The results revealed important cultural factors that impact teachers’ practices and attitudes towards technology in the Qatari context. EFL teachers were found to integrate technology most prominently for instructional delivery and preparation. The use of technology as a learning tool received less emphasis. Teachers further revealed consistent perceptions about obstacles to integration, high levels of confidence in using technology, and consistent beliefs about the importance of using technology as a learning tool. Further analyses of the factors impacting technology integration can assist with Qatar’s technology advancement and development efforts by indicating the areas of strength and areas where additional efforts are needed. The results will lay the foundation for conducting context-specific professional development suitable for the needs of EFL teachers in Qatari Independent Schools.

Keywords: educational technology integration, Qatar, EFL, independent schools, ICT

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Authors: Abdulwakeel B. Raji

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This paper introduces a concept of an intelligent virtual learning environment that involves communication between learners and an artificially intelligent teaching agent in an attempt to replicate classroom learning interactions. The benefits of this technology over current e-learning practices is that it creates a virtual classroom where real time adaptive learning interactions are made possible. This is a move away from the static learning practices currently being adopted by e-learning systems. Over the years, artificial intelligence has been applied to various fields, including and not limited to medicine, military applications, psychology, marketing etc. The purpose of e-learning applications is to ensure users are able to learn outside of the classroom, but a major limitation has been the inability to fully replicate classroom interactions between teacher and students. This study used comparative surveys to gain information and understanding of the current learning practices in Nigerian universities and how they compare to these practices compare to the use of a developed e-learning system. The study was conducted by attending several lectures and noting the interactions between lecturers and tutors and as an aftermath, a software has been developed that deploys the use of an artificial intelligent teaching-agent alongside an e-learning system to enhance user learning experience and attempt to create the similar learning interactions to those found in classroom and lecture hall settings. Dialogflow has been used to implement a teaching-agent, which has been developed using JSON, which serves as a virtual teacher. Course content has been created using HTML, CSS, PHP and JAVASCRIPT as a web-based application. This technology can run on handheld devices and Google based home technologies to give learners an access to the teaching agent at any time. This technology also implements the use of definite clause grammars and natural language processing to match user inputs and requests with defined rules to replicate learning interactions. This technology developed covers familiar classroom scenarios such as answering users’ questions, asking ‘do you understand’ at regular intervals and answering subsequent requests, taking advanced user queries to give feedbacks at other periods. This software technology uses deep learning techniques to learn user interactions and patterns to subsequently enhance user learning experience. A system testing has been undergone by undergraduate students in the UK and Nigeria on the course ‘Introduction to Database Development’. Test results and feedback from users shows that this study and developed software is a significant improvement on existing e-learning systems. Further experiments are to be run using the software with different students and more course contents.

Keywords: virtual learning, natural language processing, definite clause grammars, deep learning, artificial intelligence

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Authors: Hazel P. Atilano

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Contrastive rhetoricians working on L2 writing are often unfamiliar with the theories and research of scholars in translation studies. Publications on translation studies give little or no attention to describing the translation strategies of translators, with a focus on the influence of their L1 on the language they produce. This descriptive qualitative study anchored on Eugene Nida’s Translation Theory employed stylistic, lexico-semantic, and grammatical analyses of the stylistic devices employed by poets across nine language cultures to reveal the translation strategies employed by translators and to establish the type of equivalence manifested in the translated texts. The corpus consists of 27 poems written in Bahasa Indonesia, Hiligaynon, Tagalog (Malayo-Polynesian languages), French, Italian, Spanish (Romance languages), German, Icelandic, and Norwegian (Germanic Languages), translated into English. Stylistic analysis reveals that both original texts and English translations share the same stylistic devices, suggesting that stylistic devices do not get lost in translation. Lexico-semantic and grammatical analyses showed that translators of Malayo-Polynesian languages employed idiomatic translation as a compensatory strategy, producing English translations that manifest Dynamic Equivalence or transparency; translators of Romance languages resorted to synonymous substitution or literal translation, suggesting Formal Equivalence or fidelity; and translators of Germanic languages used a combination of idiomatic and literal translation strategies, with noticeable preference for Dynamic Equivalence, evidenced by the prevalence of metaphorical translations as compensatory strategy. Implications on the intricate relationship between culture and language in the translation process were drawn based on the findings.

Keywords: translation strategy, dynamic equivalence, formal equivalence, translation theory, transparency, fidelity

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Authors: Leena Alfarani

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Although mobile devices are ubiquitous on university campuses, teacher-readiness for mobile learning has yet to be fully explored in the non-western nations. This study shows that two main factors affect the adoption and use of m-learning among female teachers within a university in Saudi Arabia—resistance to change and perceived social culture. These determinants of the current use and intention to use of m-learning were revealed through the analysis of an online questionnaire completed by 165 female faculty members. This study reveals several important issues for m-learning research and practice. The results further extend the body of knowledge in the field of m-learning, with the findings revealing that resistance to change and perceived social culture are significant determinants of the current use of and the intention to use m-learning.

Keywords: blended learning, mobile learning, technology adoption, devices

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Authors: Aziz Soubai

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The primary issue is that English as foreign language learners don’t use English outside the classroom. The only little exposure is inside the classroom, and that’s not enough to make them good language learners! Edmodo, like the other Learning Management Systems, can be used to encourage students to collaborate with each other and with global classrooms on projects where English is used- Some examples of collaboration with different schools will be mentioned and how the Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition (SAMR) model and its stages can be applied in the activities, especially for teachers who are hesitant to introduce technology or don’t have a lot of technical knowledge. There will also be some focus on Edmodo groups and on how flipped and blended learning can be used as an extension for classroom time and to help the teacher address language problems and improve students’ language skills, especially writing, reading and communication. It is also equally important to use Edmodo badges and certificates for motivating and engaging learners and gamifying the lesson.

Keywords: EFL learners, language classroom-learning management system, edmodo, SAMR, language skills

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Authors: Mika Kaufman

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Behavioral health in school-age children is a great concern. Negative behaviors can affect mental and physical health and, if ignored, can lead to further problems later in life. Rural communities often lack resources for counselors, social workers, and mental health care in the hopes of intervening with children who exhibit negative behaviors. Because of this, schools in rural communities are more likely to have children with behavioral issues. Prevention programs to recognize and address these behavioral concerns can educate teachers about mental health, different negative behaviors that students might exhibit, and how to manage those behaviors and engage with students in a positive way.

Keywords: prevention programs, behavioral health, resources for teachers, rural schools

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Authors: Zelalem Markos Borko

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The quality of life of people with blindness is significantly influenced by the level of resilience they possess. A qualitative approach of the descriptive phenomenological design was employed to address basic study objectives. The researcher purposely selected three blind graduate students from Sidist Kilo Campus and conducted a semi-structured interview to gather data. Data were analyzed by using thematic coding techniques. The present study found that personal characteristics such as commitment, living hope, motivation, positive self-esteem, self-confidence, and communication have shaped resiliency for successful university students with visual disabilities. The finding showed that the school environment is the place in which blind students had developed/experienced social, psychological, and economical competency and hope for their academic and entire life success. Furthermore, the finding showed that blind students had experienced individual, family, school, and community-related risks in the success track. Therefore, governmental and non-governmental organizations should provide training for students with visual impairments that focus on the individual traits that shape resilience for academic success, such as commitment, living hope, motivation, positive self-esteem, self-confidence, and communication and also community-oriented training should be to break the social stigma and discriminations for the individuals with the visual impairment.

Keywords: blind students, risk and protective factors, lived experience, success

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Authors: Adelaide Rethabile Motshabi Pitso-Mbili

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The disparity between universities in rural and urban areas of South Africa is still an ongoing issue. There are a lot of variations in these universities, such as the performance of the students and the lecturers, which is viewed as a worrying discrepancy related to knowledge gaps or educational inequality. According to research, rural students routinely perform worse than urban students in sub-Saharan Africa, and the disparity is wide when compared to the global average. This may be a result of the various challenges that universities in rural and urban areas face. Hence, the aim of this study was to compare the challenges faced by rural and urban universities, especially in hospitality and tourism programs, and recommend possible solutions. This study used a qualitative methodology and included focus groups and in-depth interviews. Eight focus groups of final-year students in hospitality and tourism programs from four institutions and four department heads of those programs participated in in-depth interviews. Additionally, the study was motivated by the teacher collaboration theory, which proposes that colleagues can help one another for the benefit of students and the institution. It was revealed that rural universities face more challenges than urban universities when it comes to hospitality and tourism education. The results of the interviews showed that universities in rural areas have a high staff turnover rate and offer fewer courses due to a lack of resources, such as the infrastructure, staff, equipment, and materials needed to give students hands-on training on the campus and in various hospitality and tourism programs. Urban universities, on the other hand, provide a variety of courses in the hospitality and tourism areas, and while resources are seldom an issue, they must deal with classes that have large enrolments and insufficient funding to support them all. Additionally, students in remote locations noted that having a lack of water and electricity makes it difficult for them to perform practical lessons. It is recommended that universities work together to collaborate or develop partnerships to help one another overcome obstacles and that universities in rural areas visit those in urban areas to observe how things are done there and to determine where they can improve themselves. The significance of the study is that it will truly bring rural and urban educational processes and practices into greater alignment of standards, benefits, and achievements; this will also help retain staff members within the rural area universities. The present study contributes to the literature by increasing the accumulation of knowledge on research topics, challenges, trends and innovation in hospitality and tourism education and setting forth an agenda for future research. The current study adds to the body of literature by expanding the accumulation of knowledge on research topics that contribute to trends and innovations in hospitality and tourism education and by laying out a plan for future research.

Keywords: hospitality and tourism education, rural and urban universities, collaboration, teacher and student performance, educational inequality

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Authors: Chitraporn Boonthanom, Pailin Sisookho

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The Sexual Literacy Training Teachers Program (SLTTP) based on sexual health problems in Thai students includes sexual development, sexual hygiene, high-risk behaviors, Sexual Transmitter Infections and HIV/AIDS, unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion, and sexual abuse that increase among Thai students. The training aimed at providing teachers with the sexuality knowledge, sexuality information access skills, communication skill to effectively teach in their class. 28 teachers were participated from schools in Bangkok metropolitan and Nakorn Patom province. The result show the mean score of the pre-test was 8.46 (SD=1.77) and the post-test was 10.13 (SD=2.34). The post-training results were found to be higher than pre–training results but not significant. As teachers are increasing the sexual literacy is very important for Thai students.

Keywords: sexual literacy, teachers, training, sexuality education

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Authors: A. Sewell

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The paper reports a research project which investigated the social interactions of nine to ten-year-olds in a mainstream primary school. The project implemented an adaption of a whole class, behavioural intervention known as 'The Good Behaviour Game (TGBG)'. TGBG is an evidence-based intervention traditionally used to reduce low-level disruptive behaviours in a classroom setting. TGBG was adapted to encourage pupil’s engagement in pro-social behaviour during lessons. A mixed methods research design was employed to evaluate intervention effects and pupil’s perceptions of their social interactions and relationships with others. Single-case research design was used to evaluate behaviour change, and Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) repertory grids were used to explore pupil’s perceptions. The findings demonstrated that TGBG could be successfully adapted to positively influence pupil’s engagement in pro-social behaviours. The findings from the PCP repertory grid interviews revealed the complexities of how children construct their social interactions and relationships with others, and how an understanding of these could be used to design better social skills interventions. It is concluded that TGBG is a cost-effective, simple to implement intervention for promoting positive social interactions and relationships at the whole class level. The paper presents the aims, design, findings, and conclusions of the study in further detail and relates limitations and potential future extensions of the research. The outcomes have direct application and relevance for practitioners interested in children’s social development and how to promote positive outcomes in this critical aspect of childhood.

Keywords: social skills, social development, social competency, the good behaviour game

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Authors: T. Nagata, S. Xaphakdy, P. Souvannavong, P. Chanthamaly, K. Sithavong, C. H. Lee, S. Phommathat, V. Srithilat, P. Sengdala, B. Phetarnousone, B. Siharath, X. Chemcheng, T. Yamaguchi, A. Suenaga, S. Kashima

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National University of Laos (NUOL) requested Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) volunteers to begin a physics experiments class using multi media. However, there are issues. NUOL had no physics experiment class, no space for physics experiments, experiment materials were not used for many years and were scattered in various places, and there is no projector and laptop computer in the unit. This raised the question: How do authors begin the physics experiments class using multimedia? To solve this problem, the JICA took some steps, took stock of what was available and reviewed the syllabus. The JICA then revised the experiment materials to assess what was available and then developed textbooks for experiments using them; however, the question remained, what about the multimedia component of the course? Next, the JICA reviewed Physics teacher Pavy Souvannavong’s YouTube channel, where he and his students upload video reports of their physics classes at NUOL using their smartphones. While they use multi-media, almost all the videos recorded were of class presentations. To improve the multimedia style, authors edited the videos in the style of another YouTube channel, “Science for Lao,” which is a science education group made up of Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) in Laos. They created the channel to enhance science education in Laos, and hold regular monthly meetings in the capital, Vientiane, and at teacher training colleges in the country. They edit the video clips in three parts, which are the materials and procedures part including pictures, practice footage of the experiment part, and then the result and conclusion part. Then students perform experiments and prepare for presentation by following the videos. The revised experiment presentation reports use PowerPoint presentations, material pictures and experiment video clips. As for providing textbooks and submitting reports, the students use the e-Learning system of “Moodle” of the Information Technology Center in Dongdok campus of NUOL. The Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) donated those facilities. The authors have passed the process of the revised materials, developed textbooks, the PowerPoint slides presented by students, downloaded textbooks and uploaded reports, to begin the physics experiments class using multimedia. This is the practice research report for beginning a physics experiments class using multimedia in the physics unit at the Department of Natural Science, Faculty of Education, at the NUOL.

Keywords: NUOL, JICA, KOICA, physics experiment materials, smartphone, Moodle, IT center, Science for Lao

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Authors: Suriani Oxley

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All teachers aim to conduct a successful and an effective teaching. Teacher will use a variety of teaching techniques and methods to ensure that students achieve the learning objectives but often the teaching and learning processes are interrupted by a number of things such as noisy students, students not paying attention, the students play and so on. Such disturbances must be addressed to ensure that students can concentrate on their learning activities. This qualitative study observed and captured a video of numerous tricks that teachers in Labuan have implemented in helping the students to pay attentions in the classroom. The tricks are such as Name Calling, Non-Verbal Clues, Body Language, Ask Question, Offer Assistance, Echo Clapping, Call and Response & Cues and Clues. All of these tricks are simple but yet interesting language learning strategies that helped students to focus on their learning activities.

Keywords: paying attention, observation, tricks, learning strategies, classroom

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Authors: Ertekin Kotbas

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Teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) is on the front burner of many countries in the world, in particular for English Language Teaching departments that train EFL teachers. Under the head of motivational theories in foreign language education, there are numerous researches in literature. However; researches comprising English Language Self-Efficacy and Teachers’ Learning Goal Orientation which has a positive impact on learning teachings skills are scarce. Examination of these English Language self-efficacy beliefs and Learning Goal Orientations of Pre-Service EFL Teachers may broaden the horizons, in consideration the importance of self-efficacy and goal orientation on learning and teaching activities. At this juncture, the present study aims to investigate the relationship between English Language Self-Efficacy and Teachers’ Learning Goal Orientation from Turkish context.

Keywords: English language, learning goal orientation, self-efficacy, pre-service teachers

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Authors: Lisa Kasmer

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Teachers’ instructional decisions shape the structure and content of mathematics lessons and influence the mathematics that students are given the opportunity to learn. Therefore, it is important to better understand how teachers make instructional decisions and thus find new ways to help practicing and future teachers give their students a more effective and robust learning experience. Understanding the relationship between teachers’ instructional decisions and their goals, resources, and orientations (beliefs) is important given the heightened focus on geometric transformations in the middle school mathematics curriculum. This work is significant as the development and support of current and future teachers need more effective ways to teach geometry to their students. The following research questions frame this study: (1) As middle school mathematics teachers plan and enact instruction related to teaching transformations, what thinking processes do they engage in to make decisions about teaching transformations with or without a coordinate system and (2) How do the goals, resources and orientations of these teachers impact their instructional decisions and reveal about their understanding of teaching transformations? Teachers and students alike struggle with understanding transformations; many teachers skip or hurriedly teach transformations at the end of the school year. However, transformations are an important mathematical topic as this topic supports students’ understanding of geometric and spatial reasoning. Geometric transformations are a foundational concept in mathematics, not only for understanding congruence and similarity but for proofs, algebraic functions, and calculus etc. Geometric transformations also underpin the secondary mathematics curriculum, as features of transformations transfer to other areas of mathematics. Teachers’ instructional decisions in terms of goals, orientations, and resources that support these instructional decisions were analyzed using open-coding. Open-coding is recognized as an initial first step in qualitative analysis, where comparisons are made, and preliminary categories are considered. Initial codes and categories from current research on teachers’ thinking processes that are related to the decisions they make while planning and reflecting on the lessons were also noted. Surfacing ideas and additional themes common across teachers while seeking patterns, were compared and analyzed. Finally, attributes of teachers’ goals, orientations and resources were identified in order to begin to build a picture of the reasoning behind their instructional decisions. These categories became the basis for the organization and conceptualization of the data. Preliminary results suggest that teachers often rely on their own orientations about teaching geometric transformations. These beliefs are underpinned by the teachers’ own mathematical knowledge related to teaching transformations. When a teacher does not have a robust understanding of transformations, they are limited by this lack of knowledge. These shortcomings impact students’ opportunities to learn, and thus disadvantage their own understanding of transformations. Teachers’ goals are also limited by their paucity of knowledge regarding transformations, as these goals do not fully represent the range of comprehension a teacher needs to teach this topic well.

Keywords: coordinate plane, geometric transformations, instructional decisions, middle school mathematics

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Authors: Chahad P. Alexandre

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PIBID-Institutional Program of Scholarships to Encourage Teaching - is a Brazilian government program that counts today with 48.000 students. It's goal is to motivate the students to stay in the teaching undergraduate programs and to help fill the gap of 100.000 teachers that are needed today in the under graduated schools. The major lack of teachers today is in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and biology. At IFSP-Itapetininga we formatted our physics PIBID based on practical activities. Our students are divided in two São Paulo state government high schools in the same city. The project proposes class activities based on experimentation, observation and understanding of physical phenomena. The didactical experiments are always in relation with the content that the teacher is working, he is the supervisor of the program in the school. Always before an experiment is proposed a little questionnaire to learn about the students preconceptions and one is filled latter to evaluate if now concepts have been created. This procedure is made in order to compare their previous knowledge and how it changed after the experiment is developed. The primary goal of our project is to make the Physics class more attractive to the students and to develop in high school students the interest in learning physics and to show the relation of Physics to the day by day and to the technological world. The objective of the experimental activities is to facilitate the understanding of the concepts that are worked on classes because under experimentation the PIBID scholarship student stimulate the curiosity of the high school student and with this he can develop the capacity to understand and identify the physical phenomena with concrete examples. Knowing how to identify this phenomena and where they are present at the high school student life makes the learning process more significant and pleasant. This proposal make achievable to the students to practice science, to appropriate of complex, in the traditional classes, concepts and overcoming the common preconception that physics is something distant and that is present only on books. This preconception is extremely harmful in the process of scientific knowledge construction. This kind of learning – through experimentation – make the students not only accumulate knowledge but also appropriate it, also to appropriate experimental procedures and even the space that is provided by the school. The PIBID scholarship students, as future teachers also have the opportunity to try experimentation classes, to intervene in the classes and to have contact with their future career. This opportunity allows the students to make important reflection about the practices realized and consequently about the learning methods. Due to this project, we found out that the high school students stay more time focused in the experiment compared to the traditional explanation teachers´ class. As a result in a class, as a participative activity, the students got more involved and participative. We also found out that the physics under graduated students drop out percentage is smaller in our Institute than before the PIBID program started.

Keywords: innovation, projects, PIBID, physics, pre-service teacher experiences

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Authors: Taoues Hadour

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Twitter has become a popular means of communication used in a variety of fields, such as politics, journalism, and academia. This widely used online platform has an impact on the way people express themselves and is changing language usage worldwide at an unprecedented pace. The language used online reflects the linguistic battle that has been going on for several decades in French society. This study enables a deeper understanding of users' linguistic behavior online. The implications are important and allow for a rise in awareness of intercultural and cross-language exchanges. This project investigates the mixing of French-English language usage among French users of Twitter using a topic analysis approach. This analysis draws on Gumperz's theory of conversational switching. In order to collect tweets at a large scale, the data was collected in R using the rtweet package to access and retrieve French tweets data through Twitter’s REST and stream APIs (Application Program Interface) using the software RStudio, the integrated development environment for R. The dataset was filtered manually and certain repetitions of themes were observed. A total of nine topic categories were identified and analyzed in this study: entertainment, internet/social media, events/community, politics/news, sports, sex/pornography, innovation/technology, fashion/make up, and business. The study reveals that entertainment is the most frequent topic discussed on Twitter. Entertainment includes movies, music, games, and books. Anglicisms such as trailer, spoil, and live are identified in the data. Change in language usage is inevitable and is a natural result of linguistic interactions. The use of different languages online is just an example of what the real world would look like without linguistic regulations. Social media reveals a multicultural and multilinguistic richness which can deepen and expand our understanding of contemporary human attitudes.

Keywords: code-switching, French, sociolinguistics, Twitter

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Authors: Kenneth Okelo, Esther Waithaka, Maureen Mweru

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Development of oral language skills is a precursor to writing and reading acquisition. Oral skill is a means of communication through which people express their desires, ideas, excitements, amusements, disappointments and exchange information. In addition, oral skills have been found to be an important tool for thinking and concept development in children. Research carried out in industrialised countries have identified some appropriate teaching strategies used to enhance acquisition of oral language skills such as repetition, substitution, explanation, contrast, exemplification and code-switching. However, these studies’ geographical locations do not reflect the diversity of the Kenyan society. In addition, studies conducted in Kenya in the past have not established why pre-primary school teachers are not using appropriate teaching strategies. The purpose of this study was to find out whether teachers’ experience, academic qualification and type of training influences their choice of teaching strategies in the development of oral language skills inside and out of the classroom in selected preschools in Kibra Sub-County, Nairobi County. In addition, this study aimed at finding out the strategies used by teachers in Kibra Sub-County to promote oral skills development among pre-primary school children. The study was guided by Holdaway’s theory of language acquisition. Descriptive survey design was employed during this study. Questionnaires and observation schedules were used to collect data. Eighty-three (83) preschool teachers were sampled using multistage sampling methods for observation. Data was analysed using SPSS version 20. The researcher carried out content analysis on the qualitative data. The main descriptive methods used were tabulation of frequencies and percentages. Chi squire test was the inferential statistic used to test the relationship between variables. The main findings of the study indicate that teaching strategies that were mostly used by pre-primary school teachers were code-switching, examples, repetition, substitution and explanation. While questions, direction, expansion of children words and contrast were the least used teaching strategies when teaching oral language skills. The study revealed that the there is a slight correlation between the type of training of teachers and the teaching strategies as most of DICECE trained teachers used more teaching strategies when teaching oral skills compared to other teachers. The findings also revealed that there was a partial significant correlation between teacher’s academic qualifications and a few teaching strategies. A similar correlation was also observed between teaching experience and a few teaching strategies. Since the strategies used by pre-primary school teachers under the study were less than half of the recommended teaching strategies to promote oral skills, the study recommends that teachers should be encouraged to use more in structural strategies to improve children’s oral language skills.

Keywords: Kenya early childhood education, Kenya education, oral language skills acquisition, teaching methods

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Authors: Evelyn Bilias-Lolis, Emily Louise Winter

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Schools have a responsibility to implement school-wide frameworks that actively prevent, detect, and support all aspects of child development and learning. Such efforts can range from individual or classroom-level supports to school-wide primary prevention practices for the school’s infrastructure or climate. This study assessed the perceptions of educators across a variety of disciplines in Connecticut (i.e., elementary and secondary education, special education, school psychology, and school social work) on the perceived impact of their beliefs, language, and behavior about food and body consciousness on student self-image and school climate. Participants (N=50) completed a short electronic questionnaire measuring perceptions of how their behavior can influence their students’ opinions about themselves, their emerging self-image, and the overall climate of the school community. Secondly, the beliefs that were directly assessed in the first portion of the survey were further measured through the use of applied social vignettes involving students directly or as bystanders. Preliminary findings are intriguing. When asked directly, 100% of the respondents reported that what they say to students directly could influence student opinions about themselves and 98% of participants further agreed that their behavior both to and in front of students could impact a student’s developing self-image. Likewise, 82% of the sample agreed that their personal language and behavior affect the overall climate of a school building. However, when the above beliefs were assessed via applied social vignettes depicting routine social exchanges, results were significantly more widespread (i.e., results were evenly dispersed among levels of agreement and disagreement across participants in all areas). These preliminary findings offer humble but critical implications for informing integrated school wellness frameworks that aim to create body-sensitive school communities. Research indicates that perceptions about body image, attitudes about eating, and the onset of disordered eating practices surface in school-aged years. Schools provide a natural setting for instilling foundations for child wellness as a natural extension of existing school climate reform efforts. These measures do not always need to be expansive or extreme. Rather, educators have a ripe opportunity to become champions for health and wellness through increased self-awareness and subtle shifts in language and behavior. Future psychological research needs to continue to explore this line of inquiry using larger and more varied samples of educators in order to identify needs in teacher training and development that can yield positive and preventative health outcomes for children.

Keywords: body-sensitive schools, integrated school health, school climate reform, teacher awareness

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Authors: Osagiede Mercy Afe

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After the internet explosion in the 90’s, Technology was immediately integrated into the school system. Technology which symbolizes advancement in human knowledge was seen as a setback by many educators many efforts have been made to help stem this erroneous believes and help educators realize the benefits of technology and ways of implementing it in the classrooms especially in the sciences. This advancement created a constantly expanding gap between the pupil’s perception on the use of technology within the learning atmosphere and the teacher’s perception and limitations hence the focus of this paper is on the need to refocus on the potentials of Science and Technology in enhancing children learning at school especially in science for sustainable development in Nigeria. The paper recommended measures for facilitating the sustenance of science and technology in Nigerian schools so as to enhance the potentials of our children in Science and Technology for a better tomorrow.

Keywords: children, information communication technology (ICT), potentials, sustainable development, science education

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Authors: Wilailuk Meepracha

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The results of the study on the project evaluation to develop the competencies, capabilities, and skills in repairing computers of people in Jompluak Local Municipality, Bang Khonthi District, Samut Songkram Province showed that the overall result was good (4.33). When considering on each aspect, it was found that the highest one was on process evaluation (4.60) followed by product evaluation (4.50) and the least one was on feeding factor (3.97). When considering in details, it was found that: 1) the context aspect was high (4.23) with the highest item on the arrangement of the training situation (4.67) followed by the appropriateness of the target (4.30) and the least aspect was on the project cooperation (3.73). 2) The evaluation of average overall primary factor or feeding factor showed high value (4.23) while the highest aspect was on the capability of the trainers (4.47) followed by the suitable venue (4.33) while the least aspect was on the insufficient budget (3.47). 3) The average result of process evaluation was very high (4.60). The highest aspect was on the follow-op supervision (4.70) followed by responsibility of each project staffs (4.50) while the least aspect was on the present situation and the problems of the community (4.40). 4) The overall result of the product evaluation was very high (4.50). The highest aspect was on the diversity of the activities and the community integration (4.67) followed by project target achievement (4.63) while the least aspect was on continuation and regularity of the activities (4.33). The trainees reported high satisfaction on the project management at very high level (43.33%) while 40% reported high level and 16.67% reported moderate level. Suggestions for the project were on the additional number of the computer sets (37.78%) followed by longer training period especially on computer skills (43.48%).

Keywords: project evaluation, competency development, the capability on computer repairing and computer skills

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Authors: Richard Briginshaw, Hana Alaojeli, Javaria Ahmad, Hamza Gaffar, Nourtan Murad

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Sustainable renovations to cultural buildings and sites require a high level of competency in the sometimes conflicting areas of social/historical demands, environmental concerns, and the programmatic and technical requirements of the project. A detailed analysis of the existing site, building and client program are critical to reveal both challenges and opportunities. This forms the starting point for the design process – empirical explorations that search for a balanced and inspired architectural solution to the project. The Red Bay National Historic Site on the Labrador Coast of eastern Canada is a challenging project to explore and resolve these ideas. Originally the site of a 16ᵗʰ century whaling station occupied by Basque sailors from France and Spain, visitors now experience this history at the interpretive center, along with the unique geography, climate, local culture and vernacular architecture of the area. Working with our client, Parks Canada, the project called for significant alterations and expansion to the existing facility due to an increase in the number of annual visitors. Sustainable aspects of the design are focused on sensitive site development, passive energy strategies such as building orientation and building envelope efficiency, active renewable energy systems, carefully considered material selections, water efficiency, and interiors that respond to human comfort and a unique visitor experience.

Keywords: sustainability, renovations and expansion, cultural project, architectural design, green building

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Authors: Diana Mitova, Krassimir Mitrev

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To prepare the current generation for the future, education systems need to change. It implies a way of learning that meets the demands of the times and the environment in which we live. Productive interaction in the educational process implies an interactive learning environment and the possibility of personal development of learners based on communication and mutual dialogue, cooperation and good partnership in decision-making. Students need not only theoretical knowledge, but transferable skills that will help them to become inventors and entrepreneurs, to implement ideas. STEM education , is now a real necessity for the modern school. Through learning in a "learning company", students master examples from classroom practice, simulate real life situations, group activities and apply basic interactive learning strategies and techniques. The learning company is the subject of this study, reduced to entrepreneurship training in STEM - technologies that encourage students to think outside the traditional box. STEM learning focuses the teacher's efforts on modeling entrepreneurial thinking and behavior in students and helping them solve problems in the world of business and entrepreneurship. Learning based on the implementation of various STEM projects in extracurricular activities, experiential learning, and an interdisciplinary approach are means by which educators better connect the local community and private businesses. Learners learn to be creative, experiment and take risks and work in teams - the leading characteristics of any innovator and future entrepreneur. This article presents some European policies on STEM and entrepreneurship education. It also shares best practices for training company training , with the integration of STEM in the learning company training environment. The main results boil down to identifying some advantages and problems in STEM entrepreneurship education. The benefits of using integrative approaches to teach STEM within a training company are identified, as well as the positive effects of project-based learning in a training company using STEM. Best practices for teaching entrepreneurship through extracurricular activities using STEM within a training company are shared. The following research methods are applied in this research paper: Theoretical and comparative analysis of principles and policies of European Union countries and Bulgaria in the field of entrepreneurship education through a training company. Experiences in entrepreneurship education through extracurricular activities with STEM application within a training company are shared. A questionnaire survey to investigate the motivation of secondary vocational school students to learn entrepreneurship through a training company and their readiness to start their own business after completing their education. Within the framework of learning through a "learning company" with the integration of STEM, the activity of the teacher-facilitator includes the methods: counseling, supervising and advising students during work. The expectation is that students acquire the key competence "initiative and entrepreneurship" and that the cooperation between the vocational education system and the business in Bulgaria is more effective.

Keywords: STEM, entrepreneurship, training company, extracurricular activities

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Authors: Mahmoud I. Syam, Osama K. El-Hafy

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With lack of student motivation, there will be a little or no real learning in the class and this directly effects student achievement and test scores. Some students are naturally motivated to learn, but many students are not motivated, they do care little about learning and need their instructors to motivate them. Thus, motivating students is part of the instructor’s job. It’s a tough task to motivate students and make them have more attention and enthusiasm. As a part of this research, a questionnaire has been distributed among a sample of 155 students out of 1502 students from Foundation Program at Qatar University. The questionnaire helped us to determine some methods to motivate the students and encourage them to study such as variety of teaching activities, encouraging students to participate during the lectures, creating intense competition between the students, using instructional technology, not using grades as a threat and respecting the students and treating them in a good manner. Accordingly, some hypotheses are tested and some recommendations are presented.

Keywords: learning, motivating, student, teacher, testing hypotheses

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Authors: Silmy A. Humaira'

Abstract:

There is an issue about Asian students including Indonesian students that tend to behave passively in the classroom and depend on the teachers’ instruction. Regarding this statement, this study attempts to address the Indonesian high school students’ attitudes on whether they have initiative and be responsible for their learning out of the classroom and if so, why. Therefore, 30 high school students were asked to fill out the questionnaires and interviewed in order to figure out their attitudes towards self-directed learning. The descriptive qualitative research analysis adapted Knowles’s theory (1975) about Self-directed learning (SDL) to analyze the data. The findings show that the students have a potential to possess self-directed learning through ICT, but they have difficulties in choosing appropriate learning strategy, doing self-assessment and conducting self-reflection. Therefore, this study supports the teacher to promote self-directed learning instruction for successful learning by assisting students in dealing with those aforementioned problems. Furthermore, it is expected to be a beneficial reference which gives new insights on the self-directed learning practice in specific context.

Keywords: ICT, learning autonomy, students’ attitudes, self-directed learning

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Authors: Erteki̇n Kotbaş

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Teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) is on the front burner of many countries in the world, in particular for English language teaching departments that train EFL teachers. Under the head of motivational theories in foreign language education, there are numerous researches in literature. However; researches comprising English language self-efficacy and teachers’ learning goal orientation which has a positive impact on learning teachings skills are scarce. Examination of these English language self-efficacy beliefs and learning goal orientations of pre-service EFL teachers may broaden the horizons, considering the importance of self-efficacy and goal orientation on learning and teaching activities. At this juncture, present study aims to investigate the strong relationship between English language self efficacy and teachers’ learning goal orientation from Turkish context in addition to teacher students’ grade factor.

Keywords: English language, learning goal orientation, self efficacy, pre-service teachers

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Authors: Rafael Dias Silva

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The school is a social institution that should promote learning situations that remain throughout life. Based on this, the teaching activities promoted in museum spaces can represent an educational strategy that contributes to the learning process in a more meaningful way. This article systematizes a series of elements that guide the use of these spaces for the scientific literacy of deaf students and as experiences of this nature are favorable for the school development through the concept of the circularity. The methodology for the didactic use of these spaces of non-formal education is one of the reflections developed in this study and how such environments can contribute to the learning in the classroom. To develop in the student the idea of ​​association making him create connections with the curricular proposal and notice how the proposed activity is articulated. It is in our interest that the experience lived in the museum be shared collaborating for the construction of a scientific literacy and cultural identity through the research.

Keywords: accessibility in museums, Brazilian sign language, deaf students, teacher training

Procedia PDF Downloads 216