ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
An Introduction to Course and/or Program Evaluation
Author: Zohrabi, Mohammad
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Quality Control,Teaching Methods,Course Evaluation,Program Evaluation,Evaluators,Educational Change,Evaluation Methods

Program and/or course evaluation is, in fact, one of the essential aspects of any curriculum. It is a kind of quality control in which various aspects of an instructional program are explored. Program evaluation is an attempt in which different elements of a given curriculum are scrutinized in depth. To this end, an evaluator makes every effort to collect information from different sources such as students, teachers, administrators, course designers, program staff, and so on. Also, the evaluator tries to gather data through different procedures such as questionnaires, interviews, observations, course documentations etc. Collecting hybrid type of information helps increase validity and reliability of the study. The main concern of program evaluation is to ensure that acquisition is taking place, teaching techniques and strategies are useful, materials are relevant and interesting, resources are available and adequate, and so forth. In the beginning, program evaluation was merely quantitative and/or experimental in nature. However, with the passage of time it was realized that qualitative and/or natural approaches are more useful than laboratory-like artificial experimental methods. The important issue in any course evaluation is to bring about some necessary changes. This article tries to elaborate on the preliminary aspects of program evaluation.
Fundamental Concerns in High-Stakes Language Testing: The Case of the College English Test
Author: Jin, Yan
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: High Stakes Tests,Language Tests,Measures (Individuals),Graduates,Test Construction,Employment Opportunities,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Test Validity,Culture Fair Tests,Scoring,Test Format,Language Proficiency,Psychometrics,Scores,Higher Education,Foreign Countries

The College English Test (CET) is an English language test designed for educational purposes, administered on a very large scale, and used for making high-stakes decisions. This paper discusses the key issues facing the CET during the course of its development in the past two decades. It argues that the most fundamental and critical concerns of large-scale high-stakes testing are test validity and fairness as defined in the &quot;Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing&quot; (AERA, APA, &amp; NCME, 1999). The CET has a current annual test population of over 18 million, and the results of the test, intentionally or unintentionally, may affect university graduates' employment opportunities, the conferment of a bachelor's degree, and the granting of a residence permit in big cities. The CET test developer, therefore, has been taking measures to make sure that no test taker will be potentially disadvantaged by such factors as test content, test condition, response mode and format, scoring of constructed-response items, and use of test results. Considerable care has been given to the test's validity as well as its operational standardization, which is critical to fairness in high-stakes testing. The paper begins with an overview of the major developmental stages of the CET since its inception in 1987 and the standardized procedures involved in the CET design, item construction, test administration, test form equation, scoring and score reporting. Following the introductory part, the paper discusses in turn the CET validation efforts in the late 1990s, major revisions of the test with a view to aligning its content and task format with the College English curriculum requirements, and the recent research on the validity of the newly developed internet-based CET, a central focus of which has been on possible biases against test takers who are less proficient in computer operation. Validity and fairness, however, cannot be exclusively addressed in psychometric and technical terms. The use of the test in a particular social context or with particular groups of test takers may be valid and fair or invalid and unfair. In the final part, the paper concludes with a brief discussion of the political dimension of high-stakes testing, with a special focus on Messick's (1992) unified construct validity argument, which views validity not as a feature or a possession of a test, but a process to validate in a multifaceted approach the uses and interpretations of tests and their scores (Davies, 2003). (Contains 1 table.)
Language Proficiency Tests in the Iranian Context: Do They Represent Communicative Language Testing Model?
Author: Razmjoo, Seyyed Ayatollah
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Language Proficiency,Language Tests,Foreign Countries,Linguistic Theory,Communicative Competence (Languages),High Schools,Institutes (Training Programs),Testing,Trend Analysis,Educational Trends,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language)

The Communicative Ability in language testing originates from a theory of language as communication proposed by Hymes (1972) and known as &quot;communicative competence&quot;. The literature on language testing suggests that the practicality of communicative language testing (CLT) varies depending on how the instructors and teachers conceptualize CLT. As far as the researcher knows, no study has been done on the type of proficiency model behind language tests in the Iranian context. Therefore, the objective of this study is, firstly, to explore the language proficiency model based on which the tests are designed and constructed in Iranian high school and institutes. Secondly, the study aims at developing language proficiency model for the context of Iran as a basis so that teachers construct and design tests. To fulfill the objectives, two final tests of Iranian high school and institutes were analyzed. The analysis of the data indicated that high school and institute tests represent a short version of Lado's model (1961) which is not in line with new trends in language testing and aims at discovering whether the correct habits have been formed. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)
On the Cultural Schema and Iranian EFL Learners' Reading Performance: A Case of Local and Global Items
Author: Dehghan, Farzaneh
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Schemata (Cognition),Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Reading Skills,Role,Cultural Background,College Students,Multiple Choice Tests,Language Tests,Reading Processes,Familiarity,Scores,Test Items,Language Teachers

Reading skill has taken on an important role in most EFL teaching situations. While linguistic knowledge is only one aspect of this skill, background knowledge including culture can also play an important role (Alptekin, 2006; Johnson, 1981; Pritchard, 1990; Steffensen, Chitra, &amp; Anderson, 1979). This study investigated the effect of cultural background or cultural schema on the performance of Iranian EFL students on local (bottom-up) and global (top-down) processes. Sixty-six female pre-university students took part in the study. They read five texts with familiar cultural themes and five texts with culturally unfamiliar topics (total=10). The multiple-choice items were designed in a way to test both bottom-up processing (word recognition, literal comprehension and finding referents of pronouns) and top-down processing (making inferences, skimming, scanning, etc). The findings showed that our students performed significantly better on local items compared with global items both for (un)familiar texts. It was also observed that their overall performance was mostly influenced by text familiarity. Their higher scores on local items can be explained by the fact that these items are totally easier to process due to the linguistic context available. In contrast, the difficulty of the global items can be explained because our EFL learners need extra linguistic knowledge to process such items. Also, this difference could be attributed to the teaching situation in which language teachers do not teach students how to read at all and learners are not familiar with higher-level, global processes being important in reading comprehension. (Contains 2 tables.)
Intercultural Exposure through English Language Teaching: An Analysis of an English Language Textbook in Bangladesh
Author: Siddiqie, Shamsun Akhter
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Cultural Awareness,Second Language Instruction,Textbooks,Content Analysis,Educational Change,National Curriculum,Teaching Methods

The treatment of culture in foreign language textbooks is comparatively a new trend in English Language Teaching (ELT) which is based on the growing consensus that language textbooks should attempt to raise students' awareness of international culture as well as that of their own. Being influenced by this thought, Bangladesh too like many other countries has incorporated intercultural contents in English language textbooks at secondary and higher secondary levels as a part of a reformation process in the ELT sector. The present study examines the proportion and kinds of intercultural contents in one of those textbooks, &quot;English for Today&quot; (&quot;EfT&quot;), which is produced locally by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), Bangladesh. It also aims at investigating intercultural awareness and abilities promoted through such input. (Contains 1 figure.)
A Study on the Textbook Designed to Teach Korean as a Foreign Language
Author: Lee, Sun-Min
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Korean,Textbooks,Second Language Learning,Instructional Materials,Languages for Special Purposes,Comparative Analysis,Content Analysis,Role

It is the reality of Korean language education that the development of teaching materials for Korean language for academic purposes are not so brisk, compared to that of the materials for general purpose, as the education of Korean language as a foreign language has just begun to proceed. The focuses of this study are to survey the brief history of teaching Korean as a foreign language and the development of the textbooks to teach KFL, and to compare the textbooks designed to teach English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and Korean as a Foreign Language (KFL) in order to find more desirable ways to develop the academic area of teaching Korean as a foreign language. Therefore, this study aims to suggest a more desirable way for the development of teaching materials for KFL for academic purpose, by comparing the composition of a Korean language textbook for academic purposes with the composition of an EFL textbook that has already achieved excellent outcomes. (Contains 4 tables and 3 footnotes.)
Reconsidering Metaphorical Performance of EFL Learners with a Focus on Their Cognitive Features
Author: Soureshjani, Kamal Heidari
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Figurative Language,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Individual Differences,Cognitive Style,Language Tests,College Students,Majors (Students),Foreign Countries,Test Results,Sentences,Tests

Metaphoric language and understanding such a language have been of central concern in not only private language schools for intermediate and advanced learners, but in universities for students whose major is English. Besides, as Ellis (1994) maintains, various individual differences have an effect on students' performance and learning. One of the sources of individual differences is related to cognitive styles. The cognitive style of field dependence/independence (FD/FI) has been studied frequently from various perspectives. This study was an attempt to find out if FD/FI cognitive style had any effect on students' performance in tests containing figures of speech, embedded in readings and discrete sentences. To achieve such a purpose, 30 intermediate students whose major was English were randomly selected from Shahrekord University. During one session, Group Embedded Figure Test (GEFT) was given to the participants to separate FD/FI styles; then figurative tests in the form of readings and discrete sentences were given to the participants. The findings revealed that there was no significant relationship between FD/FI cognitive style and metaphoric test performance. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)
Perceived Changes in the English Language Ability of Freshmen at a University in Taiwan
Author: Sims, James
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Language Proficiency,College Freshmen,Foreign Countries,Questionnaires,College Faculty,Teacher Attitudes,Language Skills,Grammar,Language Teachers,Second Language Instruction,Credibility,Prediction

This study investigates possible changes in students' English language ability by means of a questionnaire administered to 18 experienced university teachers. The questionnaire measures changes in six domains: grammar, reading, listening, speaking, writing, and attitudes. The results of the questionnaire indicate that over the last decade a majority of teachers perceived that their students' grammar, reading, and writing abilities have declined or remained stable while their listening and speaking abilities have improved. Teachers also reported that current students are more willing to listen to and speak in English than students were a decade ago. Teachers' perceptions of changes in grammar, reading, and listening are supported by hard data. In other words, most teachers accurately predicted changes in students' grammar, reading, and listening abilities. These accurate predictions may enhance the credibility of teachers' perceived changes in students' speaking and writing abilities, and attitudes. Instructional implications are discussed. (Contains 7 tables.)
Exploring the Impact of Parallel Teaching on General Language Proficiency of EFL Learners
Author: Aliakbari, Mohammad
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Language Proficiency,Junior High School Students,Control Groups,Testing,Pretests Posttests,Teaching Methods,Language Tests,Foreign Countries,Experimental Groups,Team Teaching,Teacher Collaboration

Over the past few decades co-teaching has attracted due attention for enhancing learning process in educational systems. Drawing on the concept of &quot;parallel model&quot;, the present study attempted to examine the extent to which this approach can affect general language proficiency of EFL learners. To this end, through a quasi-experimental study, a group of 32 second-grade students studying English in junior high school were assigned into a Control Group (CG) and an Experimental Group (EG) according to their pre-test performance. Parallel teaching by co-instructors was implanted in EG context, while for the CG the instruction was delivered by a single teacher. The results of the post-test administration revealed that difference in instruction approaches did not result in a significant difference in the subjects' performance. Further investigation made it clear that before any attempt in its implementation, learners need to be educated and culturally prepared to benefit from such an approach. (Contains 6 tables.)
Multiple Intelligences Theory and Iranian Textbooks: An Analysis
Author: Taase, Yoones
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Multiple Intelligences,Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Textbooks,Content Analysis,Check Lists,Profiles,Teaching Methods,Cognitive Style

The purpose of this study is to investigate locally designed ELT textbooks in the light of multiple intelligences theory. Three textbooks (grade 1.2.3) used in guidance school of Iranian educational system were analyzed using MI checklist developed by Botelho, Mario do Rozarioand. Catered for kinds of intelligences in the activities and exercises were specified in a profile. The results of the study showed that verbal/linguistic and visual/spatial were the most predominant intelligences followed by logical/mathematical, interpersonal and intrapersonal in much lower ratios. Bodily/kinesthetic, musical and naturalistic intelligences were not found in any percent. (Contains 1 table.)
Convergence and Divergence in the Interpretation of QuranicPolysemy and Lexical Recurrence
Author: alQinai, Jamal
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cultural Context,Muslims,Translation,Morphology (Languages),Islam,Ambiguity (Semantics),Syntax,Cultural Influences,History,Suprasegmentals,Intonation,Acoustics,Rhetoric,Text Structure,Second Languages

The question of using synonyms in translating the Quran is a thorny issue that led to both different interpretations and different translations of the holy text. No matter how accurate or professional a translator attempts to be, Quranic translation has always been fraught with inaccuracies and the skewing of sensitive theological, cultural and historical connotations owing to the peculiar mechanism of stress, semantico-syntactic ambiguity, prosodic and acoustic features, the mesh of special rhetorical texture and culture-bound references. Consequently, in most of the English interpretations of the Quran, cases of non-equivalence and untranslatability will be more frequent with plenty of scope for ambiguities, obscurities and fuzzy boundaries.The trend has been to accept exegetical translation based on commentary and explanation of the Quranic discourse. Since there is no uniform book of exegesis, translations are considered to be glosses or approximates for non-Arabic speaking Muslims. This study is mainly concerned with assessing the criteria and strategies used by different Quran translators in selecting synonyms to render Quranicpolysemous words. The linguistic-cultural context of the original polysemous ST word will be analyzed and compared with its TT near-synonyms.The study argues that in translating religious texts where synonyms are usually used to convey implicated meanings of ST polysemous words and where we seek to have the same effect on the Target Language receiver as that of the original, the use of functional ideational equivalence is given primacy over formal equivalence. (Contains 1 footnote.)
Does Translation Contribute to Learners' Free Active Vocabulary?
Author: Asiyaban, Amir R.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Translation,Vocabulary Development,Second Language Instruction,Second Language Learning,Teaching Methods,English (Second Language),Foreign Countries,Control Groups,Statistical Analysis,Communication Skills

This research was conducted to find out whether or not using &quot;translation&quot; technique in vocabulary teaching would have any positive effects on the &quot;free active&quot; vocabulary of Iranian learners of English. To carry out the research, eighty-eight intermediate male and female students were chosen. The participants were divided into four &quot;male experimental&quot;, &quot;male control&quot;, &quot;female experimental&quot;, and &quot;female control&quot; groups. The experimental groups were taught twenty English words using their L1 translations, whereas, control groups were instructed the same words using their L2 definitions. After four sessions of treatment the pupils were given a test on &quot;free active&quot; vocabulary, and the corresponding data were gathered. A 2x2x2 ANOVA was run to analyze the data. The analysis revealed that those whose instruction was through L1 translation performed better on the test than others. With regard to the nature of the test, we can assert that those who performed better had turned more of the instructed words into &quot;free active&quot;. That is, &quot;translation&quot; technique helped pupils keep the words as &quot;free active&quot; in their minds, which in turn influenced their communicative ability. (Contains 2 tables.)
Preliminary Aspects of Language Course Evaluation
Author: Zohrabi, Mohammad
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Quality Control,Teaching Methods,Course Evaluation,Program Evaluation,Evaluators,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Data Collection

Program and/or course evaluation is a process in which different types of data are collected systematically in order to study the virtues and weaknesses of a language instruction program. Program evaluation is, in fact, one of the essential aspects of any curriculum. It is a kind of quality control in which various aspects of an instructional program or course are explored. Program evaluation is an attempt in which different elements of a given curriculum are scrutinized in depth. To this end, an evaluator makes every effort to collect information from different sources such as students, teachers, administrators, course designers, program staff, and so on. Also, the evaluator tries to gather data through different instruments such as field notes, questionnaires, interviews, observations, and course documentations. Collecting hybrid type of information helps increase validity and reliability of the study. The main concern of program evaluation is to ensure that acquisition is taking place, teaching techniques and strategies are useful, materials are relevant and interesting, resources are available and adequate. Finally, the end product of an evaluation endeavor is the improvement and modification of a course of study. This article tries to elaborate on the preliminary aspects of program evaluation. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)
Exploring How African American Males from an Urban Community Navigate the Interracial and Intra-Racial Dimensions of Their Experiences at an Urban Jesuit High School
Author: Simmons, Robert W., III
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: African Americans,Males,Urban Areas,High School Students,Catholic Schools,Selective Admission,Private Schools,Qualitative Research,Racial Relations,Race,Whites,Student Behavior,Educational Experience,Student Adjustment,Student Attitudes

African American males from urban communities have been attending Jesuit high schools in urban spaces for many years, yet little to no literature exists that explores their experiences while attending these elite private schools. This qualitative study of 10 African American males from an urban community attending a similarly positioned Jesuit high school on the East Coast revealed their struggles with both inter- and intra-racial dimensions of their experiences. This paper explores their challenges with racist comments within the interracial context and their understandings of "acting White" within the intra-racial context.
Impact of a Middle School Math Academy on Learning and Attitudes of Minority Male Students in an Urban District
Author: Gamble, Brandon E.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Academic Achievement,After School Programs,Males,Middle School Students,Program Effectiveness,Student Attitudes,Algebra,Learning Readiness,Attitude Change,Goal Orientation,Self Concept,Academic Aspiration,Career Academies,Mathematics Instruction,Urban Schools,Learner Engagement,Scores,Homework,Student Leadership,Grades (Scholastic)

A growing number of single-gender and after-school programs for youth continue to gain popularity within schools despite little empirical research regarding how these programs should be designed to achieve maximum success. The present study examined the effectiveness of a comprehensive middle school male academy program in terms of student achievement and attitudes toward learning. The results indicated that students who participated in the program improved their algebra readiness and interest in mathematics. Furthermore, there were gains in students' perceived importance of assignment completion, attitudes toward learning, goals for college, and self-concept. Implications for similar programs and future studies are discussed. (Contains 9 figures.)