ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Measurement Theory in Language Testing: Past Traditions and Current Trends
Author: Salmani-Nodoushan, Mohammad Ali
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Generalizability Theory,Testing,Language Tests,Item Response Theory,Language Proficiency,Test Reliability,Test Theory,Item Analysis,Trend Analysis

A good test is one that has at least three qualities: reliability, or the precision with which a test measures what it is supposed to measure; validity, i.e., if the test really measures what it is supposed to measure, and practicality, or if the test, no matter how sound theoretically, is practicable in reality. These are the sine qua non for any test including tests of language proficiency. Over the past fifty years, language testing has witnessed three major measurement trends: Classical Test Theory (CTT), Generalizability Theory (G-Theory), and Item Response Theory (IRT). This paper will provide a very brief but valuable overview of these trends. It will then move onto a brief consideration of the most recent notion of Differential Item Functioning (DIF). It will finally conclude that the material discussed here is applicable not only to language tests but also to tests in other fields of science.
Heuristics in the English Classroom: Working the Problem of Drafting the Research Paper
Author: Odom, Janice M.
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English,Heuristics,Research Papers (Students),Writing (Composition),Writing Processes,Writing Instruction,Editing,Revision (Written Composition),Prewriting,College Students,Literature,Majors (Students),Rhetoric,Writing Strategies

Of the vexed issues confronting teachers of the first-year writing sequence, none is more frustrating than that of getting students to write in the drafting stages. And not just &quot;to&quot; write, but to write the right thing. The solution that the Composition literature offers to the problem of fluency and content development is process. That is, the general consensus is that writing is a five-stage process: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, publishing. Rhetoric offers an alternative to Composition's process approach in the form of invention. As a rhetorician who has found classical rhetoric a particularly useful means of teaching writing, Crowley has long used &quot;heuristics,&quot; a system of investigation, and what she calls a &quot;means of discovery,&quot; as a strategy for creating writing assignments that students could more successfully complete in the drafting stages. The system of &quot;heuristics&quot; is explored in this article.
Online Psychology: Trial and Error in Course Development
Author: Harman, Marsha J.
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Online Courses,Psychology,Curriculum Development,Graduate Study,Blended Learning,College Curriculum,Community,Assignments,Lecture Method

Online courses appear to be the future if colleges and universities choose to increase enrollments with students who need more flexibility in scheduling. The challenge has been to create a course that is rigorous with the limitations to physical presence of the instructor and the parameters inherent in technological delivery. This article relates the planning and execution of such a graduate psychology course in the area of lifespan development. The instructor decided a hybrid course, one that had elements of both online delivery and limited campus attendance, would be appropriate for the initial transition from physical attendance on campus to online delivery and interpersonal interaction. Important teachable moments for the instructor included creating community with 36 online students, number and breadth of assignments, and evaluation. Logistics, such as having students submit assignments online, correcting coursework, and returning documents to students with constructive comments, were some of the challenges to both instructor and students. The delivery infrastructure was Blackboard, and the instructor had attended training on the new features to streamline online teaching for both instructor and students. The successes, challenges, and summative decisions for future courses are shared.
All-Day Kindergarten and Cognitive Outcomes of Racial Minority Students in the US
Author: Chang, Mido
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Minority Group Students,Kindergarten,School Schedules,Longitudinal Studies,Outcomes of Education,Hierarchical Linear Modeling,Surveys,Reading Achievement,Mathematics Achievement,Scores,Socioeconomic Status,Racial Differences,Age Differences,Gender Differences

The study explored the longitudinal effects of all-day kindergarten program on the academic performance of students from diverse racial backgrounds and social class from kindergarten to the end of first grade. The study used three measures of reading and math scores from a nationally representative database of the USA, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS). A series of longitudinal multilevel models with various specifications were estimated. The results indicated that all-day kindergarten students began with significantly higher reading scores compared with half-day kindergarten students but there was no significant difference in the growth pattern. Importantly, students from low SES families and Hispanic background displayed enhanced reading achievement in all-day kindergarten.
A Comparative Study of the Job Satisfaction of Teachers of District Bahawalpur (Pakistan)
Author: Gujjar, Aijaz Ahmed
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Job Satisfaction,Teacher Attitudes,Questionnaires,Likert Scales,Teaching Conditions,Statistical Analysis,Gender Differences,Teacher Responsibility,Age Differences,Teaching Experience,Instructional Program Divisions,Decision Making,Administrator Role,Teacher Salaries,Teacher Promotion,Collegiality,Job Security

The main purpose of the study was to examine the job satisfaction level of the teachers of Bahawalpur, in order to achieve the desire end, 340 teachers were taken as sample out of these gender wise distribution was male (195) and female (145). A 32 items questionnaire (Likert scale) was constructed and divided into 9 dimensions namely (nature of work, administrative support, salary, atmosphere, promotion, decision making, and relation with colleagues, job security and over all job satisfaction). Questionnaire was pilot tested and the reliability of the questionnaire was found 0.789 (Cronbach's Alpha). After getting the data, the data was tabulated by using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS XII). Independent sample t-test and ANOVA were run in order to compare the different variables (gender, nature of job, designation, age and experience). The study reveals that female teachers are more satisfied than their male counter parts, permanent teachers are more satisfied than contractual teachers on different dimensions of the job satisfaction scale as well as on over all job satisfaction, designation wise secondary school teachers (SSTs) are more positive than elementary school teachers (ESTs) on atmosphere of the institutions. Age wise the group having the age group of 41-50 years is significantly positive than the age group of 20-30 years on relation with colleagues. Experience wise the group having experience of 16-20 years is more positive than group having experience of 1-5 years on relation with colleagues. The findings of the study lead to several recommendations.
The Style of Which This Is Written: Neutralization of Prepositions in English
Author: Behrens, Susan J.
Date: 2007-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Form Classes (Languages),Grammar,Essays,English,Developmental Studies Programs,English Instruction,Language Usage,Undergraduate Students,Native Speakers,English Language Learners

We have noticed a change in the use of prepositions in English. In our work with student essays, we increasingly encounter non-standard uses of prepositions, such as &quot;concern on,&quot; &quot;afraid from,&quot; and &quot;enamored with.&quot; This trend is evident in both native and non-native American English speakers. We believe that the English prepositional system is moving towards an eventual neutralization of the distinction in the prepositional category. Parallels are evident in the variability of prepositions in Old English, as well as in modern creolized languages, which exploit a few all-purpose prepositions, the meanings of which are evident by context. Our findings highlight the nature of English as always changing, as it assimilates features from each new generation of speakers. We discuss the data's implications for developmental education teachers, who are increasingly confronted with non-standard prepositional use.
Exploring Middle Level English Language Learners' Participation in Literature Circle Discussions: A Case Study
Author: Chen, Xiufang
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Case Studies,Qualitative Research,English Language Learners,Discussion (Teaching Technique),Reading Instruction,Group Activities,Student Participation,Grade 6,Middle School Students,Student Attitudes,Interpersonal Relationship,Homogeneous Grouping,Student Experience,Interviews

Implementing a qualitative case study, the researcher explored how a sixth-grade English language learner participated in literature discussions of various groupings in a classroom setting, and how she perceived these interactions about reading and text in the process of learning to read. The participant was struggling with reading in a sixth-grade classroom at a US urban Christian school. This study's data set included detailed field notes from the reading sessions in the classroom throughout a semester, transcripts of a three-tier series of interviews with the participant, and various documents including the participant's portfolios. The findings from this research study indicated that the participant did not have many social interactions associated with reading and text in her previous school learning experiences. Among the different types of social interactions in class, homogeneous grouping most encouraged her participation in discussion, and Literature Circles proved to be a very effective teaching approach for her. The social interactions about reading and text in class helped the participant better understand and remember the text. They also impacted her experiences with reading, more specifically, her view of reading, the frequency and breadth of her reading, her views of self as reader, and her reading process.
Five Hundred Pages and a Topic of Her Own: Successfully Designing an Advanced Writing Course on 19th Century British Women Novelists
Author: Phillips, Amy Criniti
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Course Content,Writing (Composition),Teaching Methods,Writing Skills,Writing Processes,Writing Workshops,Writing Assignments,Learner Engagement,College Students

During the fourth year of Amy Phillips' teaching assistantship in the spring semester of 2008, she was asked to teach a 300-level advanced writing course in which she was given the creative freedom to design the syllabus, choose the textbooks, craft all assignments, and organize the course content. However, there was one stipulation: the course, which was cross-listed with the Women and Gender Studies program, had to focus on the general topic of women and gender. In order to begin this task of designing her first 300-level writing course, within the requirements provided, Phillips used several of the strategies for course design offered by Linda B. Nilson in her book, &quot;Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors.&quot; Firstly, she adopted a &quot;course design by objectives&quot; approach, which advocates &quot;starting the course design process with what you want your students to be able to do by the end of the course&quot; (Nilson 17). With respect to composition, Phillips wanted the culminating assignment in the class, or ultimate learning objective, to be a literary research paper (approximately 15-17 pages in length) that allowed each student to engage with a topic of his or her choice and design. Having established the larger goals of the course, she considered the following questions: How can one design an advanced writing course that enables students to achieve both community goals--in which all students learn and use the same writing skills--and individual goals--in which each student can apply those writing skills to a project that allows him or her to explore personal interests? How can one best use class time to create a foundation of writing skills and gender-based content while allowing students to develop independent critical thinking and writing skills? How can one successfully devote equal time to developing the topic of gender while focusing on the necessary advanced skills of composition, research, argument, and organization? In this essay Phillips outlines the manner in which she designed a course with such a specific focus on both content and rhetoric; discusses the structure of the course itself; and addresses the necessary recommendations she would make if given the opportunity to teach this course again.
Technology-Based Cognitive Apprenticeship for Empowering Children with Disabilities
Author: Kasinath, H. M.
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Disabilities,Thinking Skills,Teaching Methods,Computer Uses in Education,Coaching (Performance),Scaffolding (Teaching Technique),Modeling (Psychology),Reflection

The cognitive apprenticeship approach has been applied in a good deal of conceptual, quantitative and qualitative studies in various settings including technology integration. It has proved successful in promoting student's higher order thinking skills as well as in shaping the social interactions between teachers and students to goal-oriented problem solving. This model can also be used to teach disabled children through distance learning. It is felt that cognitive apprenticeship approach based on technologically rich learning environment provides a prescriptive method for analyzing and sequencing content and developing suitable strategies for learning, a tool for incorporating communities of practice in multimedia solutions, and a framework for building and reinforcing cognitive understanding among children with learning disabilities. Thus, in this paper an attempt has been made to explain in a deliberately speculative way, why activity and situations are integral to cognition and learning. Perhaps, by ignoring the situated nature of cognition, education defeats its own goal of providing usable, robust knowledge. Hence, it is argued that approaches such as cognitive apprenticeship that embed learning in activity and make deliberate use of the social and physical context will enable students with learning difficulties to acquire, develop, and use cognitive tools in a more authentic practices. Thus, it is important not only to solve problems in a learning environment that uses real-world contexts, but also to allow learners to witness the practitioners of that culture in solving problems and carrying out tasks.
Student Achievement in Basic College Mathematics: Its Relationship to Learning Style and Learning Method
Author: Gunthorpe, Sydney
Date: 2006-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Mathematics Achievement,Cognitive Style,Teaching Methods,Vocational Education,Curriculum,Correlation,Conventional Instruction,Independent Study,Student Projects,Experiential Learning,College Mathematics,Program Effectiveness,Developmental Studies Programs

From the assumption that matching a student's learning style with the learning method best suited for the student, it follows that developing courses that correlate learning method with learning style would be more successful for students. Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute (TVI) in New Mexico has attempted to provide students with more than one learning method in its Basic College Mathematics course. Three courses were developed to correlate curriculum with learning style theory to create a match between a student's preferred learning style and the learning method of the course. The learning methods include collaborative (traditional lecture), self-paced (individualized), and project-based (hands-on activities). Each Basic College Mathematics course follows the same curriculum and every student takes the same final exam. While there is no significant difference in the students' performance between the three courses, the student success rate in Basic College Mathematics is higher than the national average for two-year colleges.
Using Popular Culture in Developmental Writing
Author: Barnes, Sharon L.
Date: 2006-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Popular Culture,Developmental Studies Programs,Writing Instruction,Writing (Composition),Writing Assignments,Music,Advertising,College Instruction,Teaching Methods

Using popular culture in my developmental writing course has prompted me to reconsider what it means to create successful developmental writing assignments. Having slipped into the questionable habit of assuming that removing complexity makes an assignment appropriate for developing writers, I pared down a fairly open-ended &quot;media analysis&quot; assignment to a more prescriptive &quot;music analysis&quot; assignment. As I limited their choices, however, students became less invested in the project. This article describes the (d)evolution of the media analysis assignment as it fell prey to my &quot;simplicity&quot; agenda and offers a few general conclusions about successful assignments--using popular culture and not--at the developmental level.
Teaching for Transfer: Classroom Instructional Implications
Author: Calais, Gerald J.
Date: 2006-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Basic Skills,Transfer of Training,Thinking Skills,Task Analysis,Learning Strategies,Teaching Methods,Concept Formation,Knowledge Level

A review of the literature reveals that obstacles to the successful transfer of basic skills, knowledge, and thinking skills during classroom instructional time differ depending on which of three components of expertise is entailed: conceptual understanding, domain-specific basic skills, or domain-specific strategies. This article, accordingly, focuses on conceptual understanding and transfer, conceptual knowledge and problems of activation, lateral and vertical transfer of automated basic skills, rational task analysis, and strategy transfer. Curriculum and instructional implications are also discussed.
Motivation through Mastery Learning
Author: Josten, Denice
Date: 2006-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: College Students,Developmental Programs,Mastery Learning,Student Motivation,Assignments,Competence,Competency Based Education,Minimum Competency Testing,Feedback (Response),Teaching Methods

Every developmental education teacher would probably agree that motivation to complete assignments is one of the biggest obstacles to getting students to practice necessary skills. Short stories and other types of recreational reading might help motivate students, but they need to learn specific skills to help them cope with college textbook reading. An adaptation of mastery learning, a technique that uses multiple attempts for students to master goals at their own pace, was the key concept that allowed my students to achieve this goal.
Strategies in Teaching Paired Reading with Content Courses
Author: Rey, Victoria M.
Date: 2006-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teaching Methods,Course Content,Reading,Reading Instruction,College Students,Reading Skills,Reading Programs,Reading Strategies,Reading Teachers,Academic Achievement,Higher Education,Reading Fluency

Students derive more benefits from attending developmental reading courses that are an integral part of the academic curricula (Maxwell, 1997). Colleges that pair their developmental reading courses with content courses achieve the objective of integrating the developmental courses into the academic curricula. This article describes the model and strategies Kean University implemented in order to pair its developmental reading and academic courses.
The Effect of Smartphone Video Camera as a Tool to Create Gigital Stories for English Learning Purposes
Author: Gromik, Nicolas A.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Handheld Devices,Telecommunications,Video Technology,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Technology Uses in Education,Undergraduate Students,College Second Language Programs,Foreign Countries,Story Telling,Speech Skills,Speech Improvement,Case Studies,Pretests Posttests,Student Surveys,Student Attitudes,Interviews,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis

The integration of smartphones in the language learning environment is gaining research interest. However, using a smartphone to learn to speak spontaneously has received little attention. The emergence of smartphone technology and its video recording feature are recognised as suitable learning tools. This paper reports on a case study conducted with 67 English as Foreign Language undergraduate students at Tohoku University, Japan. Students were encouraged to use their smartphone video recording feature to produce one 30-second video per week over a 12-week period addressing a teacher-selected theme. The results indicate that students were able to produce video digital stories to express their opinion regarding the teacher-selected themes, in the target language. The implications for teaching and learning clearly indicate that smartphone-based video storytelling is a relevant task for language learners who will have to become conversant with this medium of learning.
The Problem of Teaching Critical Thinking: Three Approaches
Author: Talavera, Isidoro
Date: 2006-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teaching Methods,Critical Thinking,Developmental Programs,Instructional Effectiveness,Student Educational Objectives,Skill Development,Academic Freedom

A standardized program of instruction usually demands common syllabi, texts, and tests. Since teaching under this type of program is seen as stimulus (or cause) and learning as response (or effect), much stress is placed on the effectiveness of the classroom teacher. This effectiveness is usually gauged by the technical skills of the instructor to meet the demands of common syllabi, texts, and tests. And yet, in applying other than the administration matters most approach to teaching (e.g., the student matters most approach or the content matters most approach), the developmental teacher seeking to teach critical thinking will be at odds with the standardized educational goals and practices of the administration.
The I-Search: Writing to Learn
Author: Crouse-Powers, Amy
Date: 2006-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Higher Education,Study Skills,Reflection,Scholarship,Thinking Skills,Writing Skills

For a college study strategies course, we utilized Macrorie's (1988) I-Search process to facilitate students' individual exploration of the typical &quot;study skills&quot; issues that such a course would cover. The I-Search promotes active reflection, evaluation, and synthesis, and is an excellent tool both for aiding students in learning new information and for learning about the essence of scholarship. The result was a multi-layered learning opportunity to use the processes of scholarly research to bring new information to bear on a question or problem the students had in their own lives as learners.