Search results for: application of psychology to language teaching

Authors: Eleni Peristeri, Georgia Fotiadou, Ianthi-Maria Tsimpli

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The local-global dimension has been studied extensively in healthy controls and preference for globally processed stimuli has been validated in both the visual and auditory modalities. Critically, the local-global dimension has an inherent interference resolution component, a type of cognitive control, and left-prefrontal-cortex-damaged (LPFC) individuals have exhibited inability to override habitual response behaviors in item recognition tasks that involve representational interference. Eight patients with damage in the left PFC (age range: 32;5 to 69;0. Mean age: 54;6 yrs) and twenty age- and education-matched language-unimpaired adults (mean age: 56;7yrs) have participated in the study. Distinct performance patterns were found between the language-unimpaired and the LPFC-damaged group which have mainly stemmed from the latter’s difficulty with inhibiting global stimuli in incongruent trials. Overall, the local-global attentional dimension affects LPFC-damaged individuals with non-fluent aphasia in non-language domains implicating distinct types of inhibitory processes depending on the level of processing.

Keywords: left lateral prefrontal cortex damage (LPFC), local-global non-language attention, representational interference, non-fluent aphasia

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Authors: Mais Haj Qasem, Maen M. Al Assaf, Ali Rodan

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Parallel hybrid storage systems consist of a hierarchy of different storage devices that vary in terms of data reading speed performance. As we ascend in the hierarchy, data reading speed becomes faster. Thus, migrating the application’ important data that will be accessed in the near future to the uppermost level will reduce the application I/O waiting time; hence, reducing its execution elapsed time. In this research, we implement trace-driven two-levels parallel hybrid storage system prototype that consists of HDDs and SSDs. The prototype uses data mining techniques to classify application’ data in order to determine its near future data accesses in parallel with the its on-demand request. The important data (i.e. the data that the application will access in the near future) are continuously migrated to the uppermost level of the hierarchy. Our simulation results show that our data migration approach integrated with data mining techniques reduces the application execution elapsed time when using variety of traces in at least to 22%.

Keywords: hybrid storage system, data mining, recurrent neural network, support vector machine

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Authors: Mark Anthony Burdeos, Kara Ella Catoto, Alraine Pauyon, Elesar Malicoban

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This study sought to develop, validate, and implement the WebQuest and Online Treasure Hunt as instructional materials in teaching Motion in One Dimension for Grade 7 students and to determine its effects on the students’ conceptual learning, performance and attitude towards Physics. In the development stage, several steps were taken, such as the actual planning and developing the WebQuest and Online Treasure Hunt and making the lesson plan and achievement test. The content and the ICT(Information Communications Technology) effect of the developed instructional materials were evaluated by the Content and ICT experts using adapted evaluation forms. During the implementation, pretest and posttest were administered to determine students’ performance, and pre-attitude and post-attitude tests to investigate students’ attitudes towards Physics before and after the WebQuest and Online Treasure Hunt activity. The developed WebQuest and Online Treasure Hunt passed the validation of Content experts and ICT experts. Students acquired more knowledge on Motion in One Dimension and gained a positive attitude towards Physics after the utilization of WebQuest and Online Treasure Hunt, evidenced significantly higher scores in posttest compared to pretest and higher ratings in post-attitude than pre-attitude. The developed WebQuest and Online Treasure Hunt were proven good in quality and effective materials in teaching Motion in One Dimension and developing a positive attitude towards Physics. However, students performed better in the pretest and posttest and rated higher in the pre-attitude and post-attitude tests in the WebQuest than in the Online Treasure Hunt. This study would provide significant learning experiences to the students that would be useful in building their knowledge, in understanding concepts in a most understandable way, in exercising to use their higher-order thinking skills, and in utilizing their capabilities and abilities to relate Physics topics to real-life situations thereby, students can have in-depth learning about Motion in One Dimension. This study would help teachers to enhance the teaching strategies as the two instructional materials provide interesting, engaging, and innovative teaching-learning experiences for the learners, which are helpful in increasing the level of their motivation and participation in learning Physics. In addition, it would provide information as a reference in using technology in the classroom and to determine which of the two instructional materials, WebQuest and Online Treasure Hunt, is suitable for the teaching-learning process in Motion in One Dimension.

Keywords: ICT integration, motion in one dimension, online treasure hunt, Webquest

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Authors: Ritu Sharma, Haifeng Shen

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Teaching introductory programming is a challenging task in tertiary education and various factors are believed to have influence on students’ learning of programming. However, these factors were largely studied independently in a chosen context. This paper aims to investigate whether interrelationships exist among the factors and whether the interrelationships are context-dependent. In this empirical study, two universities were chosen from two continents, which represent different cultures, teaching methodologies, assessment criteria and languages used to teach programming in west and east worlds respectively. The results reveal that some interrelationships are common across the two different contexts, while others appear context-dependent.

Keywords: introductory programming, tertiary education, factors, interrelationships, context, empirical study

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Authors: Chris Adetuyi, Adeola Adeniran

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The concept of meaning is a complex one in language study when cultural features are added. This is mandatory because language cannot be completely separated from the culture in which case language and culture complement each other. When there are two varieties of a language in a society, i.e. two varieties functioning side by side in a speech community, there is a tendency to view one of the varieties with each other. There is, therefore, the need to make a linguistic comparative study of varieties of such languages. In this paper, a semantic contrastive study is made between Standard British English (SBE) and Nigerian English (NB). The semantic study is limited to aspects of semantics: semantic extension (Kinship terms, metaphors), semantic shift (lexical items considered are ‘drop’ ‘befriend’ ‘dowry’ and escort) acronyms (NEPA, JAMB, NTA) linguistic borrowing or loan words (Seriki, Agbada, Eba, Dodo, Iroko) coinages (long leg, bush meat; bottom power and juju). In the study of these aspects of semantics of SBE and NE lexical terms, conservative statements are made, problems areas and hierarchy of difficulties are highlighted with a view to bringing out areas of differences are highlighted in this paper are concerned. The study will also serve as a guide in further contrastive studies in some other area of languages.

Keywords: aspect, British, English, Nigeria, semantics

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Authors: A.Knox

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Student diversity in postgraduate classes puts major challenges on educators seeking to encourage student engagement and desired to learn outcomes. This paper outlines the impact of a set of teaching initiatives aimed at addressing challenges associated with teaching and learning in an environment characterized by diversity in the student cohort. The study examines postgraduate students completing the core capstone unit within a specialized business degree. Although relatively small, the student cohort is highly diverse in terms of cultural backgrounds represented, prior learning and/or qualifications, as well as duration and type of work experience relevant to the degree, is completed. The wide range of cultures, existing knowledge and experience create enormous challenges with respect to students’ learning needs and outcomes. Subsequently, a suite of teaching innovations has been adopted to enhance curriculum content/delivery and the design of assessments. This paper explores the impact of these specific teaching and learning practices, examining the ways they have supported students’ diverse needs and enhanced students’ learning outcomes. Data from surveys and focus groups are used to assess the effectiveness of these practices. The results highlight the effectiveness of peer-assisted learning, cultural competence-building, and advanced assessment options in addressing diverse student needs and enhancing student engagement and learning outcomes. These findings suggest that such practices would benefit students’ learning in environments marked by diversity in the student cohort. Specific recommendations are offered for other educators working with diverse classes.

Keywords: assessment design, curriculum content, curriculum delivery, student diversity

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Authors: Samaneh serraj

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Listening anxiety has a detrimental effect on language learners. Through a qualitative study on Iranian EFL learners several factors were identified as having influence on their listening anxiety. These factors were divided into three categories, i.e. individual factors (nerves and emotionality, using inappropriate strategies and lack of practice), input factors (lack of time to process, lack of visual support, nature of speech and level of difficulty) and environmental factors (instructors, peers and class environment).

Keywords: listening Comprehension, Listening Anxiety, Foreign language learners

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Authors: Vathsala Kaluarachchi, Oshani Wimalarathna, Charith Vandebona, Gayani Chandrarathna, Lakmal Rupasinghe, Windhya Rankothge

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It is the fundamental function of a monitoring system to allow users to collect and process data. A worldwide threat, the corona outbreak has wreaked havoc in Sri Lanka, and the situation has gotten out of hand. Since the epidemic, the Sri Lankan government has been unable to establish a systematic system for monitoring corona patients and providing emergency care in the event of an outbreak. Most patients have been held at home because of the high number of patients reported in the nation, but they do not yet have access to a functioning medical system. It has resulted in an increase in the number of patients who have been left untreated because of a lack of medical care. The absence of competent medical monitoring is the biggest cause of mortality for many people nowadays, according to our survey. As a result, a smartphone app for analyzing the patient's state and determining whether they should be hospitalized will be developed. Using the data supplied, we are aiming to send an alarm letter or SMS to the hospital once the system recognizes them. Since we know what those patients need and when they need it, we will put up a desktop program at the hospital to monitor their progress. Deep learning, image processing and application development, natural language processing, and blockchain management are some of the components of the research solution. The purpose of this research paper is to introduce a mechanism to connect hospitals and patients even when they are physically apart. Further data security and user-friendliness are enhanced through blockchain and NLP.

Keywords: blockchain, deep learning, NLP, monitoring system

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Authors: Kemal Izci, Ahmet Oguz Akturk

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Learning is dependent on cognitive and physical differences as well as other differences such as ethnicity, language, and culture. Furthermore, these differences also influence how students show their learning. Assessment is an integral part of learning and teaching process and is essential for effective instruction. In order to provide effective instruction, teachers need to provide equal assessment opportunities for all students to see their learning difficulties and use them to modify instruction to aid learning. Successful assessment practices are dependent upon the knowledge and value of teachers. Therefore, in order to use assessment to assess and support diverse students learning, preservice and inservice teachers should hold an appropriate understanding of equitable assessment. In order to prepare teachers to help them support diverse student learning, as a first step, this study aims to explore how preservice teachers’ understand equitable assessment. 105 preservice science teachers studying at teacher preparation program in a large university located at Eastern part of Turkey participated in the current study. A questionnaire, preservice teachers’ reflection papers and interviews served as data sources for this study. All collected data qualitatively analyzed to develop themes that illustrate preservice science teachers’ understanding of equitable assessment. Results of the study showed that preservice teachers mostly emphasized fairness including fairness in grading and fairness in asking questions not out of covered concepts for equitable assessment. However, most of preservice teachers do not show an understanding of equity for providing equal opportunities for all students to display their understanding of related content. For some preservice teachers providing different opportunities (providing extra time for non-native speaking students) for some students seems to be unfair for other students and therefore, these kinds of refinements do not need to be used. The results of the study illustrated that preservice science teachers mostly understand equitable assessment as fairness and less highlight the role of using equitable assessment to support all student learning, which is more important in order to improve students’ achievement of science. Therefore, we recommend that more opportunities should be provided for preservice teachers engage in a more broad understanding of equitable assessment and learn how to use equitable assessment practices to aid and support all students learning trough classroom assessment.

Keywords: science teaching, equitable assessment, assessment literacy, preservice science teachers

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Authors: Hafiz Haseeb Nisar, Maryam Bilal

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This qualitative study was conducted to investigate the underlying dynamics, key success factors and characteristics of Pakistani business leaders. The sample included 5 top businessmen from different business sectors. They were approached through the magazine “Manager Today” office in Lahore. Semi-structured interview technique was used to understand their experiences, attitudes, styles of management and key factors in their business success. Grounded theory was employed to analyze data. The following themes emerged as characteristics of business leaders: optimism, assertiveness, professionalism, effective management style, business knowledge/ excellence, supportive family and strong faith in God. It was noted that all these were interlinked, which leads the businessmen to become a successful business tycoon of this country. The importance of this study rests in its eastern contribution to the theoretical framework of the psychology of business leaders and particularly these findings will help to realize the basic key factors of success behind a business leader in Pakistan.

Keywords: business psychology, characteristics, key personality factors, leadership

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Authors: Gui Yang Wu, Bo Wang, Xin Wang

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Nowadays, 5G service-based interface architecture uses text-based payload like JSON to transfer business data between network functions, which has obvious advantages as internet services but causes unnecessarily larger traffic. In this paper, a new 5G application payload size reduction method is presented to provides the mechanism to negotiate about new capability between network functions when network communication starts up and how 5G application data are reduced according to negotiated information with peer network function. Without losing the advantages of 5G text-based payload, this method demonstrates an excellent result on application payload size reduction and does not increase the usage quota of computing resource. Implementation of this method does not impact any standards or specifications and not change any encoding or decoding functionality too. In a real 5G network, this method will contribute to network efficiency and eventually save considerable computing resources.

Keywords: 5G, JSON, payload size, service-based interface

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Authors: Carmen Pena-Díaz

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Linguistic and cultural difficulties regarding the access and use of public services, as well as facilitating communication at all levels, are problems which have not yet been tackled by authorities in Spain. In fact, linguistic and cultural issues are often not recognised as an integral part of migratory movements or social integration. While professionals of interlinguistic and intercultural communication (translators, interpreters, mediators) know that language and culture are key components to achieve immigrant integration and consolidate a truly multilingual society, policymakers at local, national, or supranational levels do not always seem aware of the risks and costs of not providing interpreting and translation services, particularly those affecting the health of users. Regarding the services currently used to cover the communication-related needs between the non-Spanish speaking population and healthcare professionals, evidence proves that there are no effective provisions for communication problems at present in Spanish hospitals. An example that suggests the poor management of the situation in relation to the migrants’ access to public healthcare is the fact that relying on a family member (often a minor) in medical consultations is one of the main practices that affects communication. At present, most medical professionals will explain that in their consultations with migrants who do not speak Spanish, they ask them to bring along a family member or friend who speaks Spanish. In fact, an abundant body of literature describes situations in which family members, children, friends, or anyone who speaks or understands a language helps to break language barriers in hospitals, not only in Spain. It is not difficult to see the problems this may cause, from ethical issues to comprehension problems and misunderstandings. This paper will present the results of Narrative Inquiry from a sample of eight clinicians about their perceptions and experiences using child language brokers in their appointments with non-Spanish speaking families. The main aim is to collect information about child language brokering as recalled and perceived by clinicians who present CLB as a routine practice and express their concerns and worries about using children to convey negative news to their parents or family members.

Keywords: child language brokering, community interpreting, healthcare, PSIT

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Authors: Ali Asghar Asad Sangabi, Afsaneh Aeen, Mohammad Behroozi

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Knowledge management is vital in today's world as one of the most valuable intangible assets regarded by companies. This study aimed to identify factors that affect the application of knowledge management in the Iranian Oil Terminals Company in 2022. In this study, 12 of the factors affecting the application of knowledge management have been studied, and implement practical solutions, and reuse has been studied. This study is descriptive data from the questionnaire factors affecting knowledge management application used by Cronbach's Coefficient Alpha equal to 0.85. The population of this study consisted of 1500 IOTC employees. The sample is determined by the Cochran formula sample; the results of this study showed that between the application of knowledge management and factors, there is a significant correlation. Among the factors that have been studied, valuable teamwork and organizational culture were the most effective, and the infrastructure of information systems had the least impact on Knowledge management.

Keywords: knowledge management, knowledge-based organization, Iranian Oil Terminals

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Authors: Lian Yang

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Object-oriented programming (OOP) is the dominant programming paradigm in today’s software industry and it has literally enabled average software developers to develop millions of commercial strength software applications in the era of INTERNET revolution over the past three decades. On the other hand, the lack of strict mathematical model and domain constraint features at the language level has long perplexed the computer science academia and OOP engineering community. This situation resulted in inconsistent system qualities and hard-to-understand designs in some OOP projects. The difficulties with regards to fix the current situation are also well known. Although the power of OOP lies in its unbridled flexibility and enormously rich data modeling capability, we argue that the ambiguity and the implicit facade surrounding the conceptual model of a class and an object should be eliminated as much as possible. We listed the five major usage of class and propose to separate them by proposing new language constructs. By using well-established theories of set and FSM, we propose to apply certain simple, generic, and yet effective constraints at OOP language level in an attempt to find a possible solution to the above-mentioned issues regarding OOP. The goal is to make OOP more theoretically sound as well as to aid programmers uncover warning signs of irregularities and domain-specific issues in applications early on the development stage and catch semantic mistakes at runtime, improving correctness verifiability of software programs. On the other hand, the aim of this paper is more practical than theoretical.

Keywords: new language constructs, set theory, FSM theory, user defined value type, function groups, membership qualification attribute (MQA), check-constraint (CC)

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Authors: Yuko Hiramatsu, Fumihiro Sato, Atsushi Ito, Hiroyuki Hatano, Mie Sato, Yu Watanabe, Akira Sasaki

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This paper presents a mobile phone application developed for sightseeing in Nikko, one of the cultural world heritages in Japan, using the BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) beacon. Based on our pre-research, we decided to design our application for young people who walk around the area actively, but know little about the tradition and culture of Nikko. One solution is to construct many information boards to explain; however, it is difficult to construct new guide plates in cultural world heritage sites. The smartphone is a good solution to send such information to such visitors. This application was designed using a combination of the smartphone and beacons, set in the area, so that when a tourist passes near a beacon, the application displays information about the area including a map, historical or cultural information about the temples and shrines, and local shops nearby as well as a bus timetable. It is useful for foreigners, too. In addition, we developed quizzes relating to the culture and tradition of Nikko to provide information based on the Zeigarnik effect, a psychological effect. According to the results of our trials, tourists positively evaluated the basic information and young people who used the quiz function were able to learn the historical and cultural points. This application helped young visitors at Nikko to understand the cultural elements of the site. In addition, this application has a function to send notifications. This function is designed to provide information about the local community such as shops, local transportation companies and information office. The application hopes to also encourage people living in the area, and such cooperation from the local people will make this application vivid and inspire young visitors to feel that the cultural heritage site is still alive today. This is a gateway for young people to learn about a traditional place and understand the gravity of preserving such areas.

Keywords: BLE beacon, smartphone application, Zeigarnik effect, world heritage site, school trip

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Authors: Monica Hoeldtke Pietruchinski, Andrey Ricardo Pimentel

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The teaching of computer programming for beginners has been presented to the community as a not simple or trivial task. Several methodologies and research tools have been developed; however, the problem still remains. This paper aims to present multi-agent system architecture to be incorporated to the educational collaborative game software for teaching programming that monitors, evaluates and encourages collaboration by the participants. A literature review has been made on the concepts of Collaborative Learning, Multi-agents systems, collaborative games and techniques to teach programming using these concepts simultaneously.

Keywords: architecture of multi-agent systems, collaborative evaluation, collaboration assessment, gamifying educational software

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Authors: Malathi Balakrishnan, Gananthan M. Nadarajah, Noraini Abd Rahim, Amy Wong On Mei

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The purpose of the study is to investigate the level of intrinsic motivation of trainers after attending a Continuous Professional Development Course (CPD) organized by Institute of Teacher Training Malaysia titled, ‘Transformation of Teaching and Learning the Fun Way’. This study employed a survey whereby 96 teacher trainers were given Situational Intrinsic Motivational Scale (SIMS) Instruments. Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out to get validity of this instrument in local setting. Data were analyzed with SPSS for descriptive statistic. Semi structured interviews were also administrated to collect qualitative data on participants experiences after participating in the two-day fun-filled program. The findings showed that the participants’ level of intrinsic motivation showed higher mean than the amotivation. The results revealed that the intrinsic motivation mean is 19.0 followed by Identified regulation with a mean of 17.4, external regulation 9.7 and amotivation 6.9. The interview data also revealed that the participants were motivated after attending this training program. It can be concluded that this program, which was organized by Institute of Teacher Training Malaysia, was able to enhance participants’ level of motivation. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a multidimensional approach to motivation was utilized. Therefore, teacher trainers may have more success using the ‘The fun way approach’ in conducting training program in future.

Keywords: teaching and learning, motivation, teacher trainer, SDT

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Authors: Eli Buchbinder

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Dialectics theory perceives two or more forces or themes as mutually opposed and negating on the one hand and as interdependent for their definition, existence, and resolution on the other. Such opposites might never be fully reconciled but might, simultaneously, continue to produce a higher level of integration and synthesis as well as tension, contradictions, and paradoxes. The identity of social work is constructed by poles; an understanding that emerges through key concepts that shape the profession. The key concept of person-in-environment creates dialectical tensions between the psychological versus the social pole. Important examples that reflect this focus on the psychological versus the social nature of human beings. This meta-perspective influences and constructs the implementation of values, ways of intervention, and professional relationships, e.g., creating a conflict between personal/social empowerment and social control and correction as the aims of the profession. Social work is dynamic and changing, with a unique way of perceiving and conceptualizing human behavior. Social workers must be able to face and accept the contradicting elements inherent in practicing social work. The basic philosophy for social work education is a dialectic conceptualization. In light of the above, social work students require dialectics as a critical mode of perception, reflection, and intervention. In the presentation, the focus will be on reflection on teaching students to conceptualize dialectics as a frame when training to be social workers. It is believed that the focus should emphasis two points: 1) the need to assist students to identify poles and to analyze the interrelationships created between them while coping emotionally with the tension and difficulties involved in containing these poles; 2) teaching students to integrate poles as a basis for assessment, planning, and intervention.

Keywords: professional ontology, a generic social work education, skills and values of social work, reflecting on social work teaching methods

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Authors: Binod Duwadi

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This article examines the language and literacy practices of English Code-mixing in Nepalese Classroom. Situating the study within an ecological framework, a systematic functional linguistic (SFL) approach was used to analyze students writing in two Neplease schools. Data collection included interviews with teachers, classroom observations, instructional materials, and focal students’ writing samples. Data analyses revealed vastly different language ecologies between the schools owing to sharp socioeconomic stratification, the structural organization of schools, and the pervasiveness of standard language ideology, with stigmatizes English code mixing (ECM) and privileges Standard English in schools. Functional analysis of students’ writing showed that the nature of the writing tasks at the schools created different affordances for exploiting lexicogrammatically choices for meaning making-enhancing them in the case of one school but severely restricting them in the case of another- perpetuating the academic disadvantage for code mixing speakers. Recommendations for structural and attitudinal changes through teacher training and implementation of approaches that engage students’ bidialectal competence for learning are made as important first steps towards addressing educational inequities in Nepalese schools.

Keywords: code-mixing, ecological perspective, systematic functional approach, language and identity

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Authors: Dongshuo Wang, Minjie Xing

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International businesses prefer to hire people who speak more than one language. With the booming of China’s market, industries and trade, business leaders are looking for people who can speak Chinese and operate successfully in a Chinese cultural context, and therefore an increasing number of tertiary students choose a Business Chinese (BC) course. As a result, BC syllabus design is urgently needed. What business knowledge should be included in China’s context? What aspects of BC culture should be included? How much Chinese language should be introduced to conduct business in China? With these research questions, this research explores a syllabus design that integrates the three aspects of subject knowledge of business in communication, business practice including the procedure of and strategies for communicating business in practice and language skills including the disciplinary and professional contexts in which linguistic choices are made. After literature review and consultancy with China-related business professionals, senior staff from business schools and representatives of students, the authors of this paper, together with language tutors drafted a syllabus based on the integrated approach to include subject knowledge, business practice and language skills. Due to the nature of this research which requires trial/test and detailed description for each correction, qualitative methods are adopted. Two in-depth focus group interviews (with 2 staff and 4 students in each group), and 18 individual interviews (8 staff and 10 students) were conducted. QDA was used for systematizing, organizing, and analysing qualitative data. It was discovered that the business knowledge related to a Chinese cultural context, including face value, networking skills, strategic plans for signing a contract, marketing, sales, and after-sale service, should be introduced through lectures and seminars; business practice could be implemented by students setting up their own companies, virtual or real; and language skills would be trained via writing business messages and presenting their companies in fairs and exhibitions. After a longitudinal study of trials and amendments for three years from 2013 to 2016, the syllabus was approved by staff and students and the university. Students appreciated the syllabus, as they could apply the subject knowledge into practice by using it in their own companies and Chinese language was used throughout the process. The syllabus is now ready to be used in universities offering BC, and the designing process can be applied to other new courses as well.

Keywords: business Chinese, syllabus design, business knowledge, language skills

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Authors: Daria Beziakina, Elena Bulgakova

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The paper deals with cross-gender and cross-linguistic comparison of pitch characteristics for Tuvinian with two other Turkic languages - Uzbek and Azerbaijani, based on the results of statistical analysis of pitch parameter values and intonation patterns used by male and female speakers. The main goal of our work is to obtain the ranges of pitch parameter values typical for Tuvinian speakers for the purpose of automatic language identification. We also propose a cross-gender analysis of declarative intonation in the poorly studied Tuvinian language. The ranges of pitch parameter values were obtained by means of specially developed software that deals with the distribution of pitch values and allows us to obtain statistical language-specific pitch intervals.

Keywords: speech analysis, statistical analysis, speaker recognition, identification of person

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Authors: Dare Ebenezer Fatumo, Olusesan Emmanuel Adelabu

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Online learning has taken another dimension through the introduction of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), it has also become an important resource base for teaching and learning. This research aimed at investigating the use of Massive Open Online Course in a rural marginalized area. The survey research design of descriptive nature was adopted to evaluate the awareness and usage of Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs) in Alice community, Eastern Cape, South Africa. This study also employed quantitative approach by using self-structured questionnaire to evoke information from the respondents. The data collected were analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings revealed amongst others the efficacy of Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs) in fostering teaching and learning in rural marginalized areas. This study concludes that MOOCs is a veritable medium for busy or less privileged individual to acquire a degree or certification. Therefore, the study recommends MOOCs platform to be fully embraced by people in rural marginalized areas, awareness programs about its usefulness should be propagated across the municipalities nationwide.

Keywords: distance learning, information and communication technology, massive open online course, online learning, teaching and learning

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Authors: Jawaher Bakheet Almudarra

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An Educational Supervisor assists teachers to develop their competence and skills in teaching, solving educational problems, and to improve the teaching methods to suit the educational process. They evaluate their teachers and write reports based on their assessments. In 1957, the Saudi Ministry of Education instituted Educational Supervision to facilitate effective management of schools, however, there have been concerns that the Educational Supervision has not been effective in executing its mandate. Studies depicted that Educational supervision has not been effective because it has been marred by poor and autocratic leadership practices such as stringent inspection, commanding and judging. Therefore, there is need to consider some of the ways in which school outcomes can be enhanced through the improvement of Educational supervision practices. Emotional intelligence is a relatively new concept that can be integrated into the Saudi education system that is yet to be examined in-depth and embraced particularly in the realm of educational leadership. Its recognition and adoption may improve leadership practices among Educational supervisors. This study employed a qualitative interpretive approach that will focus on decoding, describing and interpreting the connection between emotional intelligence and leadership. The study also took into account the social constructions that include consciousness, language and shared meanings. The data collection took place in the Office of Educational Supervisors in Riyadh and involved 4 Educational supervisors and 20 teachers from both genders- male and female. The data collection process encompasses three methods namely; qualitative emotional intelligence self-assessment questionnaires, reflective semi-structured interviews, and open workshops. The questionnaires would explore whether the Educational supervisors understand the meaning of emotional intelligence and its significance in enhancing the quality of education system in Saudi Arabia. Subsequently, reflective semi-structured interviews were carried out with the Educational supervisors to explore the connection between their leadership styles and the way they conceptualise their emotionality. The open workshops will include discussions on emotional aspects of Educational supervisors’ practices and how Educational supervisors make use of the emotional intelligence discourse in their leadership and supervisory relationships.

Keywords: directors of educational supervision, emotional intelligence, educational leadership, education management

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Authors: Marlyn Mathew

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Communication is the key factor in any vocational /job set-up. However many persons with disabilities suffer a deficit in this very area in terms of comprehension, expression and cognitive skills making it difficult for them to get employed appropriately or stay employed. Vocational Rehabilitation is a continuous and coordinated process which involves the provision of vocational related services designed to enable a person with disability to obtain and maintain employment. Therefore the role of the speech language pathologist is crucial in assessing the communication deficits and needs of the individual at the various phases of employment- right from the time of seeking a job and attending interview with suitable employers and also at regular intervals of the employment. This article discusses the various communication deficits and the obstacles faced by individuals with special needs including but not limited to cognitive- linguistic deficits, execution function deficits, speech and language processing difficulties and strategies that can be introduced in the workplace to overcome these obstacles including use of visual cues, checklists, flow charts. The paper also throws light on the importance of educating colleagues and work partners about the communication difficulties faced by the individual. This would help to reduce the communication barriers in the workplace, help colleagues develop an empathetic approach and also reduce misunderstandings that can arise as a result of the communication impairment.

Keywords: vocational rehabilitation, disability, speech language pathologist, cognitive, linguistics

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Authors: Shiza Nisar

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This study examines how editorials in Pakistan’s English-language newspapers represented the Aurat March in Pakistan, which is held on International Women’s Day, 8 March, to reclaim public spaces for women. There was a public outcry against the controversial movement, sparked by the key messages and slogans used to communicate with the masses. This research aims to study non-western news frames used by Pakistan’s leading English-language newspapers—Dawn, The Express Tribune, The News, and The Nation—for the portrayal of Aurat March since 2018. The findings show how these editorials construct and reinforce the concept of feminism being threatened by the dangerous other. This research aims to contribute to the understanding of Pakistan’s elite discourse, which insists that this event is a movement led by females in a male-dominated society to voice their rights and reclaim public spaces; however, this movement is more than just that.

Keywords: discourse, Aurat March, media framing, feminist movement, editorials

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Authors: Aregamalage Sujeewa Vijayanthi Polgampala, Fang Huang

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This study explores the genesis and development of concept mapping as a useful tool for science education and its effectiveness as technique for teaching and learning and evaluation for secondary science in schools and the role played by National College of Education science teachers. Concept maps, when carefully employed and executed serves as an integral part of teaching method and measure of effectiveness of teaching and tool for evaluation. Research has shown that science concept maps can have positive influence on student learning and motivation. The success of concept maps played in an instruction class depends on the type of theme selected, the development of learning outcomes, and the flexibility of instruction in providing library unit that is equipped with multimedia equipment where learners can interact. The study was restricted to 6 male and 9 female respondents' teachers in third-year internship pre service science teachers in Gampaha district Sri Lanka. Data were collected through 15 item questionnaire provided to learners and in depth interviews and class observations of 18 science classes. The two generated hypotheses for the study were rejected, while the results revealed that significant difference exists between factors influencing teachers' choice of concept maps, its usefulness and problems hindering the effectiveness of concept maps for teaching and learning process of secondary science in schools. It was examined that concept maps can be used as an effective measure to evaluate students understanding of concepts and misconceptions. Even the teacher trainees could not identify, key concept is on top, and subordinate concepts fall below. It is recommended that pre service science teacher trainees should be provided a thorough training using it as an evaluation instrument.

Keywords: concept maps, evaluation, learning science, misconceptions

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Authors: Nezha Badi

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It has been shown in the literature that Algerian university students suffer from low levels of reading comprehension proficiency, which hinder their overall proficiency in English. This low level is mainly related to the methodology of teaching reading which is employed by the teacher in the classroom (a teacher-centered environment), as well as students’ poor sense of self-efficacy to undertake reading comprehension activities. Arguably, what is needed is an approach necessary for enhancing students’ self-beliefs about their abilities to deal with different reading comprehension activities. This can be done by providing them with opportunities to take responsibility for their own learning (learners’ autonomy). As a result of learning autonomy, learners’ beliefs about their abilities to deal with certain language tasks may increase, and hence, their language learning ability. Therefore, this experimental research study attempts to assess the extent to which an integrated approach combining one particular reading approach known as ‘collaborative strategic reading’ (CSR), and teacher’s attributional feedback (on students’ reading performance and strategy use) can improve the reading comprehension skill and the sense of self-efficacy of EFL Algerian university students. It also seeks to examine students’ main reasons for their successful or unsuccessful achievements in reading comprehension activities, and whether students’ attributions for their reading comprehension outcomes can be modified after exposure to the instruction. To obtain the data, different tools including a reading comprehension test, questionnaires, an observation, an interview, and learning logs were used with 105 second year Algerian EFL university students. The sample of the study was divided into three groups; one control group (with no treatment), one experimental group (CSR group) who received a CSR instruction, and a second intervention group (CSR Plus group) who received teacher’s attribution feedback in addition to the CSR intervention. Students in the CSR Plus group received the same experiment as the CSR group using the same tools, except that they were asked to keep learning logs, for which teacher’s feedback on reading performance and strategy use was provided. The results of this study indicate that the CSR and the attributional feedback intervention was effective in improving students’ reading comprehension proficiency and sense of self-efficacy. However, there was not a significant change in students’ adaptive and maladaptive attributions for their success and failure d from the pre-test to the post-test phase. Analysis of the perception questionnaire, the interview, and the learning logs shows that students have positive perceptions about the CSR and the attributional feedback instruction. Based on the findings, this study, therefore, seeks to provide EFL teachers in general and Algerian EFL university teachers in particular with pedagogical implications on how to teach reading comprehension to their students to help them achieve well and feel more self-efficacious in reading comprehension activities, and in English language learning more generally.

Keywords: attributions, attributional feedback, collaborative strategic reading, self-efficacy

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Authors: Juliette MacDonald, Jun Li, Wenji Xiang, Mingwei Zhao

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Shanghai International College of Fashion and Innovation (SCF) was created as a result of a collaborative partnership agreement between the University of Edinburgh and Donghua University. The College provides two programmes: Fashion Innovation and Fashion Interior Design and the overarching curriculum has the intention of developing innovation and creativity within an international learning, teaching, knowledge exchange and research context. The research problem presented here focuses on the multi-national/cultural faculty in the team, the challenges arising from difficulties in communication and the associated limitations of management frameworks. The teaching faculty at SCF are drawn from China, Finland, Korea, Singapore and the UK with input from Flying Faculty from Fashion and Interior Design, Edinburgh College of Art (ECA), for 5 weeks each semester. Rather than fully replicating the administrative and pedagogical style of one or other of the institutions within this joint partnership the aim from the outset was to create a third way which acknowledges the quality assurance requirements of both Donghua and Edinburgh, the academic and technical needs of the students and provides relevant development and support for all the SCF-based staff and Flying Academics. It has been well acknowledged by those who are involved in teaching across cultures that there is often a culture shock associated with transnational education but that the experience of being involved in the delivery of a curriculum at a Joint Institution can also be very rewarding for staff and students. It became clear at SCF that if a third way might be achieved which encourages innovative approaches to fashion education whilst balancing the expectations of Chinese and western concepts of education and the aims of two institutions, then it was going to be necessary to construct a framework which developed close working relationships for the entire teaching team, so not only between academics and students but also between technicians and administrators at ECA and SCF. The attempts at co-construction and integration are built on the sharing of cultural and educational experiences and knowledge as well as provision of opportunities for reflection on the pedagogical purpose of the curriculum and its delivery. Methods on evaluating the effectiveness of these aims include a series of surveys and interviews and analysis of data drawn from teaching projects delivered to the students along with graduate successes from the last five years, since SCF first opened its doors. This paper will provide examples of best practice developed by SCF which have helped guide the faculty and embed common core values and aims of co-construction regulations and management, whilst building a pro-active TNE (Trans-National Education) team which enhances the learning experience for staff and students alike.

Keywords: cultural co-construction, educational team management, multi-cultural challenges, TNE integration for teaching teams

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Authors: Wee Akina Sia Seng Lee, Shabeshan Rengasamy, Lim Boon Hooi, Chandrakalavaratharajoo, Mohd Ibrahim K. Azeez

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This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of Teaching Games For Understanding (TGFU) in improving the hockey tactical skills and state self-confidence among 16-year-old students. Two hundred fifty nine (259) school students were selected for the study based on the intact sampling method. One class was used as the control group (Boys=60, Girls=70), while another as the treatment group (Boys=60, Girls=69) underwent intervention with TGFU in physical education class conducted twice a week for four weeks. The Games Performance Assessment Instrument was used to observe the hockey tactical skills and The State Self-Confidence Inventory was used to determine the state of self-confidence among the students. After four weeks, ANCOVA analysis indicated the treatment groups had significant improvement in hockey tactical skills with F (1, 118) =313.37, p < .05 for school boys, and F (1, 136) =92.62, p < .05 for school girls. The Mann Whitney U test also showed the treatment groups had significant improvement in state self-confidence with U=428.50, z= -7.22, p < .05, r=.06 for school boys. ANCOVA analysis also showed the treatment group had significant improvement in state self-confidence with F (1, 136) =74.40, p < .05 for school girls. This indicates that TGFU in a 40 minute physical education class conducted twice a week for four weeks can significantly improve the hockey tactical skills and state self-confidence among 16-year-old students. The findings give new knowledge to PE teachers to implement the TGFU method as it enhances the hockey tactical skills and state self-confidence among 16-year-old students. Some recommendation was suggested for future research.

Keywords: Teaching Games For Understanding (TGFU), traditional teaching, hockey tactical skills, state self-confidence

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Authors: Ronald L. Kaunda

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The education system in Zambia still bears scars of colonialism in the area of policy, curriculum and implementation. This historical context resulted in the failure by the Government of the Republic of Zambia to achieve literacy goals expected among school going children. Specifically, research shows that the use of English for initial literacy and Western based teaching methods to engage learners in literacy activities at lower levels of education including preschool has exacerbated this situation. In 2014, the Government of the Republic of Zambia implemented a new curriculum that, among others things, required preschool teachers to use local and cultural materials and familiar languages for early literacy teaching from preschool to grade 4. This paper presents findings from a study that sought to establish ways in which preschool teachers use Zambian Indigenous knowledge systems and Indigenous teaching strategies to support literacy development among preschool children. The study used Indigenous research methodology for data collection and iterative feature of Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT) in the data collection process and analysis. This study established that, as agents of education, preschool teachers represented community adult educators because of some roles which they played beyond their academic mandate. The study further found that classrooms as venues of learning were equipped with learning corners reflecting Indigenous literacy materials and Indigenous ways of learning. Additionally, the study found that learners were more responsive to literacy lessons because of the use of familiar languages and local contextualized environments that supported their own cultural ways of learning. The study recommended that if the education system in Zambia is to be fully inclusive of Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural ways of learning, the education policy and curriculum should include conscious steps on how this should be implemented at the classroom level. The study further recommended that more diverse local literacy materials and teaching aids should be produced for use in the classroom.

Keywords: agents of learning, early literacy, indigenous knowledge systems, venues of education

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