ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Teaching English Speaking Skills to the Arab Students in the Saudi School in Kuala Lumpur: Problems and Solutions
Author: Al-Sobhi, Bandar Mohammad Saeed
Date: 2018-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,International Schools,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Speech Skills,Arabs,Qualitative Research,Second Language Learning,Barriers,Educational Practices,Educational Strategies,Change Strategies,Language Role,Secondary School Students,Teacher Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Observation,Semi Structured Interviews

Of the four English language skills, speaking enjoys a superior status. Accordingly, it should be given high priority while teaching. In spite of its importance, teaching English speaking skill to Arab EFL learners has always been an exacting task for Arab teachers of English because it is considered a foreign language, i.e. not widely spoken or used in everyday interactions. For such a reason, Arab teachers of English are required to persistently implement new teaching strategies to tackle the problems regarding speaking skills in the classroom. Although a number of studies have been carried out to investigate the difficulties related to teaching English language skills to the Arab students in the Arab World, the current study is regarded the first study which highlights the problems in learning and teaching English speaking skill in the Saudi School in Kuala Lumpur where English is actively spoken as a second language. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the common problems which affect the teaching of English speaking skills to the Arab learners in the Saudi School in Kuala Lumpur. Additionally, it aims at exploring the areas of difficulty that prevent the Arab students from learning to speak in the English classes. This research also scrutinises the role of Kuala Lumpur ESL context on the Arab students' English language speaking skills. The current study adheres to qualitative method, and its data were collected via classroom observations and face-to-face interviews with four teachers of English and four students selected purposively. Findings included areas like learning and teaching difficulties. The study suggested some techniques to improve the teaching quality and enable the students to overcome their lack of speaking ability such as implementing communicative approach in the English classes.
Attitudes of Jordanian Undergraduate Students towards Using Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
Author: Saeed, Farah Jamal Abed Alrazeq
Date: 2018-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Undergraduate Students,Student Attitudes,Computer Assisted Instruction,Teaching Methods,Semi Structured Interviews,Vocabulary Development,Sampling,Instructional Effectiveness,Creativity,Productivity,Academic Achievement,Questionnaires,Majors (Students),Grammar,Foreign Countries,Literature,Positive Attitudes,Writing Assignments,Critical Thinking,Thinking Skills,Learning Motivation,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis

The study aimed at investigating the attitudes of Jordanian undergraduate students towards using computer assisted-language learning (CALL) and its effectiveness in the process of learning the English language. In order to fulfill the study's objective, the researchers used a questionnaire to collect data, followed-up with semi-structured interviews to investigate the students' beliefs towards CALL. Twenty-one of Jordanian BA students majoring in English language and literature were selected according to simple random sampling. The results revealed positive attitudes towards CALL in facilitating the process of writing assignments, gaining information; making learning enjoyable; improving their creativity, productivity, academic achievement, critical thinking skills, and enhancing their knowledge about vocabulary grammar, and culture. Furthermore, they believed that computers can motivate them to learn English language and help them to communicate and interact with their teachers and colleagues. The researchers recommended conducting a research on the same topic, taking into consideration the variables of age, gender, experience in using computers, and computer skills.
Cross-Curricular Teaching Going Forward: A View from &quot;Strange Fruit&quot;
Author: Esteve-Faubel, José-María
Date: 2018-02-10
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Racial Bias,Violence,African Americans,Slavery,Singing,Online Surveys,Questionnaires,Student Attitudes,African American History,United States History,Emotional Response,Teaching Methods,College Students,Consciousness Raising,Qualitative Research

&quot;Strange Fruit,&quot; a song popularized by Billie Holiday in 1939, paints a gruesome picture of racial violence suffered by former African-American slaves following Reconstruction, 1863-1877 (Foner, 2011). While many scholars have analyzed the lyrics of &quot;Strange Fruit&quot;, research that focuses on young people's reaction to the song is scarce. This study explores the impact of Holiday's performance of the song on students at a New England Research University. Institutional survey software was used to create an online questionnaire that participants (n= 40) answered in a controlled environment. The findings indicate feelings of disgust, anger, shame and sadness after participants listened to &quot;Strange Fruit&quot;. Although few students could indicate the song's time-period, many recognized the atrocities committed against African-Americans since slavery and the discrimination that continues. &quot;Strange Fruit&quot;, irrespective of whether the participants knew the background of the song, provokes a powerful reaction against racial violence, one which demonstrates the song's value as a cross-curricular pedagogical tool for developing transversal competences linked to socially desirable values and principles.
Challenging Fiction: Exploring Meaning-Making Processes in the Crossover between Social Media and Drama in Education
Author: Knudsen, Kristian Nødtvedt
Date: 2018-02-10
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Social Media,Drama,Secondary Education,Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Fiction,Aesthetics,Teaching Methods,Questionnaires,Video Technology,Diaries,Secondary School Students

The aim of this study was to explore how meaning-making activity can be expressed and shaped in the crossover between drama in education and social media. This study concerns the use of empirical material from an educational drama project called #iLive, which was designed and implemented, on four different occasions with a total of 89 students from upper secondary schools in Norway in autumn 2015. The results indicated that operating in the crossover between drama and social media was a way of challenging the aesthetic qualities of drama in education. For instance, it was found that the way in which social media simultaneously frames several platforms for social interaction and blurs the boundaries between fiction and reality was different from working with fiction in relation to the teaching and learning of drama. Meaning-making processes in educational drama often tend to mediate through the vehicle of fiction by asking questions like what is the play really about? Such challenges, and the fresh questions that were raised as part of the project, led me to the philosopher Jacques Rancière's &quot;aesthetic regime&quot; (2004) and his notion of dissensus. In the analysis, I adapted his theory as a theoretical framework for the discussion of how social media can revitalise the teaching and learning of drama. Based on this, I suggest that meaning-making processes in the crossover between drama and social media can be described as transformative, in that they redistribute and re-negotiate fragments of fiction or reality, and involve border-crossing activities between the notions of art and non-art.
&quot;Content without Context Is Noise&quot;: Looking for Curriculum Harmony in Primary Arts Education in Western Australia
Author: Chapman, Sian
Date: 2018-02-10
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Art Education,Elementary Education,Curriculum,Elementary School Teachers,Specialists,Context Effect,Curriculum Development,Principals,Semi Structured Interviews,Coding,Educational Environment,Educational Administration,School Personnel,Instructional Materials,Barriers

Arts education in Western Australian primary schools consist of learning opportunities outlined by mandated curriculum. However, assumptions underlying this curriculum involving access, resources and support impact schools' capacity to implement the curriculum without them being adequately addressed by the written curriculum. Drawing on the policy enactment theory of Ball, Maguire, and Braun (2012), four contextual variables (situated contexts, professional cultures, material contexts and external factors) are used to highlight the differences between the written published curriculum and the implemented, practised curriculum. Drawing on interviews with 24 participants across four schools issues of geographic location, use of arts specialists, appropriate learning spaces and the stresses associated with mandated literacy and numeracy testing are reported as contextual pressures by this study. This paper details the disruptive interference of these contextual pressures that we describe as 'noise.' The provision of a better understanding of this contextual landscape brings schools and teachers away from the 'noise' of disruption and closer to curriculum harmony.
Fostering Culturally Responsive Schools: Student Identity Development in Cross-Cultural Classrooms
Author: Song, Young Imm Kang
Date: 2018-02-10
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Culturally Relevant Education,Cultural Awareness,Student Diversity,Racial Differences,Student Behavior,Student Attitudes,Foreign Countries,Rural Schools,Multicultural Education,Qualitative Research,Surveys,Statistical Analysis,Case Studies,Teacher Attitudes,Parent Attitudes,Mothers,Biculturalism,Elementary Schools,Learning Activities,Cooperative Learning,Workshops,Questionnaires,Attitude Change

This research incorporates various projects to address issues of diversity in a rural Korean community with bicultural children. The interdisciplinary activities in the projects seek to help students better understand their interracial peers, accept diversity, and not engage in bullying and teasing behaviors. In addition, the social psychology projects attempt to help students develop a more open mind about each other's cultures. It also discusses how educators may be able to develop a more comprehensive and holistic curriculum on the topic of cross-cultural education.
Perspectives and Practices of Academics and Students of English Language Teaching Post-Graduate Programs within the Mediation Theory
Author: Asmali, Mehmet
Date: 2018-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Criticism,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Graduate Students,Student Attitudes,Case Studies,Qualitative Research,Doctoral Programs,Masters Programs,Semi Structured Interviews,College Faculty,Focus Groups,Interviews,Mediation Theory,Teacher Student Relationship,Supervisors,Educational Change,Validity,Reliability,Foreign Countries

Due to unsatisfactory number of researches investigating ELT post-graduate programs, and perceptions of academics and students in these programs regarding mediation theory of Feuerstein, this study attempted to investigate the aspects of this theory in doctorate and master programs in ELT department of a state university. Methodologically, this study employed a qualitative case study approach and the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with 4 academics and 2 focus-group interviews with students. The results showed idiosyncrasy of academics' use of mediation theory aspects. 'Significance' and 'purpose beyond the here and now' were important aspects for students in being a guide for them to find research topics. Academics paid special attention to relate the topics and tasks with learners' daily practices. However, in order to maximize student-supervisor relationship and increase students' success, there is a need for a change in the system. Most of the criticisms of the students stemmed from the limited time of the academics. Institutional implications include necessary changes in this post-graduate program. The results of this study allowed academics to know the views of the students in post-graduate programs regarding how, when, and where exactly they could use mediation theory aspects.
Exploring the Association between School Belonging and Emotional Health among Adolescents
Author: Arslan, Gökmen
Date: 2018-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Well Being,Student School Relationship,Adolescents,Stress Variables,Mental Health,Correlation,Effect Size,Foreign Countries,Secondary School Students,Student Surveys,Likert Scales,Statistical Analysis,Affective Behavior

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the association between school belonging and well-being, distress, and emotional health status yielded from a bidimensional model among adolescents. Participants comprised of 413--49.7% female and 50.3% male--adolescents, ranging in age between 11 and 18 years (M = 13.96, SD = 1.64). Findings from the preliminary analyses showed a large positive association between school belonging and emotional well-being variables, whereas a moderate negative association between school belonging and emotional distress variables. Additionally, primary analyses demonstrated that adolescents with high levels of the school belonging have low levels of the emotional distress, yet high levels of the emotional well-being. Significant main effects for emotional well-being, emotional distress, and bidimensional emotional health were observed across all school belonging scales. A larger effect size for the bidimensional emotional health main effect was found for school belonging, comparing with unidimensional emotional well-being and distress. Results of the study provide important implications for research and practice in term of mental health services.
Influence of Instructional Resources in Learning Agriculture in Secondary School on Employment Creation in Vihiga County, Kenya
Author: Aholi, Seraphine Sherry
Date: 2018-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Educational Resources,Instructional Materials,Agricultural Education,Employment Potential,Questionnaires,Student Surveys,Secondary School Students,Likert Scales,Job Skills,Educational Facilities,Learning Activities,Correlation,Statistical Analysis

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of instructional resources in learning agriculture in secondary school on employment creation in Vihiga County, Kenya. The study was conducted in Emuhaya Constituency, and it adopted qualitative research design using descriptive survey method. The target population was the youth who learnt agriculture in secondary schools. The study purposively sampled 150 youth out of total population of 2,736 youth who sat for Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in Emuhaya Constituency between 2010 to 2012. Data were collected using structured questionnaire. The instrument was validated by Academic experts from the Department of Agricultural Education and Extension. The instrument had Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.814. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 20, based on the objectives and research questions. The relationship between the secondary school Instructional resources and employment creation was tested using Pearson Correlation. Frequency tables and percentages summarized the results. The study established that teaching agriculture in secondary school using agricultural instructional resources was positively related to employment creation for out of school youth in Emuhaya Constituency of Vihiga County. The study recommended formulation of policies that promote harmonization between teaching agriculture and employment creation. It recommended youth to take up agricultural activities for employment, and recommended replication of similar studies in other levels of education such as primary and university.
Reflective Thinking, Self-Efficacy, Self-Esteem and Academic Achievement of Iranian EFL Students
Author: Asakereh, Ahmad
Date: 2018-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reflection,Self Esteem,Self Efficacy,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Predictor Variables,Foreign Countries,Academic Achievement,Multiple Regression Analysis,Questionnaires,Thinking Skills,Correlation,Self Concept Measures,Student Attitudes,Undergraduate Students,Metacognition,Statistical Analysis

The present study investigated the relationship between reflective thinking, general self-efficacy, self-esteem and academic achievement of Iranian EFL students. To this end, 132 Iranian EFL students from three state universities were recruited. To collect the data, the participants completed four questionnaires, namely background information questionnaire, the reflective thinking skills questionnaire, the general self-efficacy scale and Rosenberg self-esteem scale. The results of two correlation matrixes revealed that there were statistically significant positive relationships between general self-efficacy, self-esteem and academic achievement of Iranian EFL students, while reflective thinking had no significant relationship with self-esteem, self-efficacy and academic achievement of the participants; in addition, no significant relationship between the components of reflective thinking and academic achievement of Iranian EFL students was observed. Moreover, the results of multiple regression analysis showed that between self-esteem and self-efficacy, the former was a stronger predictor of academic achievement of the Iranian EFL students.
The Link between Social Interaction with Adults and Adolescent Conflict Coping Strategy in School Context
Author: Yao, Zhuojun
Date: 2018-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Interpersonal Relationship,Adults,Adolescents,Conflict,Coping,Foreign Countries,National Surveys,Longitudinal Studies,Parent Student Relationship,Teacher Student Relationship,Altruism,Conflict Resolution,Secondary School Students,Grade 12,Religion,Religious Factors,Statistical Analysis,Regression (Statistics)

Based on social learning theory, this study aimed at providing a better understanding of the influence of social interaction on adolescents' conflict coping strategy. This study used the data from the Taiwan Educational Panel Survey (N = 8717) to test the unique contribution of religious involvement, parent-child interaction, teacher-student interaction on adolescents' conflict coping strategy when they encountered an interpersonal offense in school. Findings showed that religious involvement, being physically hurt by father, being understood by father, and positive teacher-student interaction could increase the possibility of positive conflict coping strategy. And being verbally hurt by mother and negative teacher-student interaction would decrease the possibility of positive conflict coping strategy. Based on these results, implications for research and practice were discussed.
Building the Capability of Non-Formal Education Teachers to Develop a Learning Society for Promoting Lifelong Education in Thailand
Author: Sungsri, Sumalee
Date: 2018-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Nonformal Education,Lifelong Learning,Faculty Development,Capacity Building,Teacher Attitudes,Informal Education,Continuing Education Centers,Questionnaires,Interviews,Educational Opportunities,Educational Needs,Distance Education,Program Evaluation,Content Analysis,Foreign Countries

This study aims to study Thai non-formal education teachers' perceptions of their opportunities to obtain knowledge about the learning society; identify the knowledge of non-formal education teachers need about the learning society which could be obtained through a distance learning package; and to develop and evaluate distance learning package on the learning society for the non-formal education teachers. The study sample was 264 non-formal education teachers in local areas from 24 district nonformal education and informal education centres in 12 provinces across the country. Research instruments were questionnaires and interviews. Data obtained were analysed by percentage, mean, standard deviation, and content analysis. Results of the study showed that the non-formal education teachers agreed that knowledge about the learning society was important for their work in promoting lifelong education for people. They strongly agreed that they needed knowledge and understanding about developing a learning society. The self-directed distance learning package on learning society was accepted by 10 experts in the field. Moreover, it was found that after the teachers had studied the distance learning package, their knowledge and understanding about the learning society was significantly higher. They were also highly satisfied with the printed media and the video cd (VCD) in the learning package.
How Does the Type of Task Influence the Performance and Social Regulation of Collaborative Learning?
Author: Acuña, Santiago Roger
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cooperative Learning,Performance,College Students,Social Sciences,Concept Mapping,Expository Writing,Reading Comprehension,Self Management,Prior Learning,Student Attitudes,Qualitative Research,Interpersonal Communication,Statistical Analysis,Foreign Countries,Multimedia Instruction,Electronic Publishing,Reading Tests,Questionnaires,Coding

In this paper we analyze the effects of the type of collaborative task (elaboration of concept map vs elaboration of expository summary) on the performance and on the level of collaboration achieved by Mexican university students in the multimedia learning of a social sciences content (Communication Psychology). Likewise, the processes of social regulation that are put into play in these collaborative tasks are described. Forty-five students (17 women and 28 men) grouped in 15 triads participated in the study. Each triad was assigned to one of the two collaborative conditions: elaboration of concept map (8 groups) and elaboration of an expository summary (7 groups). It was monitored that there were no significant previous differences between two conditions regarding: reading comprehension, reading comprehension regulation strategies and domain-specific prior knowledge. To evaluate the performance in learning, the quality of the proposals made in concept maps and summaries were taken adapting the procedure proposed by Haugwitz, Nesbit and Sandmann (2010), and also the results obtained by the students in a multiple-choice questionnaire about the knowledge area. Likewise, the level of collaboration perceived by each member of the teams was examined using a Collaboration questionnaire developed by Chan and Chan (2011). The identification and characterization of the processes of social regulation was carried out through a qualitative analysis of the exchanges registered during the collaborative activity, considering the type (co-regulation and shared regulation) and the regulation orientation (directed to the task or to the management of collaboration). The quantitative results analysis showed the existence of significant effects working with collaborative concept maps in the knowledge acquired during the collaborative task and in some of the indicators of perceived collaboration. Although no significant statistical differences were found, in the teams that elaborated expository summaries, a predominance of episodes of regulation directed towards the cognitive activity of the collaborative task was observed, being scarce, in both conditions, the episodes of social regulation directed towards collaboration within the triads.