ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
A Comparative Study of &quot;Google Translate&quot; Translations: An Error Analysis of English-to-Persian and Persian-to-English Translations
Author: Ghasemi, Hadis
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Translation,Indo European Languages,Second Languages,English,Language Research,Comparative Analysis,Contrastive Linguistics,Sentences,Error Analysis (Language),Statistical Analysis,Semantics,Error Patterns,Sentence Structure

Both lack of time and the need to translate texts for numerous reasons brought about an increase in studying machine translation with a history spanning over 65 years. During the last decades, Google Translate, as a statistical machine translation (SMT), was in the center of attention for supporting 90 languages. Although there are many studies on Google Translate, few researchers have considered Persian-English translation pairs. This study used Keshavarz's (1999) model of error analysis to carry out a comparison study between the raw English-Persian translations and Persian-English translations from Google Translate. Based on the criteria presented in the model, 100 systematically selected sentences from an interpreter app called Motarjem Hamrah were translated by Google Translate and then evaluated and brought in different tables. Results of analyzing and tabulating the frequencies of the errors together with conducting a chi-square test showed no significant differences between the qualities of Google Translate from English to Persian and Persian to English. In addition, lexicosemantic and active/passive voice errors were the most and least frequent errors, respectively. Directions for future research are recognized in the paper for the improvements of the system.
Exploration on Cultivation of Critical Thinking in College Intensive Reading Course
Author: Tang, Lingying
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Critical Thinking,College Students,Asians,Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Class Activities,Problem Solving,Innovation,Reading Instruction,Curriculum

Critical thinking has drawn great concern from researchers in America and western world since 1980s. Chinese researchers have come to realize the fundamental function of critical thinking for innovation. However, it does not take effect to cultivate students' critical thinking in English classroom. English classroom activities are generally designed for students to memorize, imitate, and recite. The cultivation of students' critical thinking has been ignored. Chinese college students generally can speak out some sentences but lack in-depth ideas and practical ability to solve problems. They suffer from emotional literacy. This research aims to foster college students' critical thinking skills by designing some classroom activities regarding college intensive reading course in English classroom. But there are some deficiencies in this research such as lack of empirical studies to testify its positive effect.
A Model of Research Paper Writing Instructional Materials for Academic Writing Course: &quot;Needs &amp; Documents Analysis and Model Design&quot;
Author: Ghufron, M. Ali
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Models,Research Papers (Students),Writing Instruction,Instructional Materials,Writing Skills,Writing Improvement,Skill Development,Writing (Composition),College Students,Student Needs,Needs Assessment,Journal Writing,Questionnaires,Student Projects,Academic Discourse,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Journal Articles,Qualitative Research,Interviews,Textbooks

This study aimed at designing a model of instructional materials for Academic Writing Course focusing on research paper writing. The model was designed based on the Curriculum at the English Education Study Program, Faculty of Language and Art Education of IKIP PGRI Bojonegoro, East Java, Indonesia. This model was developed in order to improve students' skill in writing research paper which is one of the prerequisite tasks before graduating from university. The steps of this research and development consist of needs analysis, document analysis, model design, model development, and model experimentation. The researchers conducted needs analysis to the fifth semester students and three academic writing teachers, in order to generate information dealing with the students' needs in academic writing course materials. The needs analysis and documents analysis were dug up through questionnaire, interview, and discussion among students and academic writing teachers. The documents analyzed in this study were syllabus, lesson plan, and the existing textbook. The model design used is derived from Borg and Gall (1983) and Sukmadinata (2008), in which there are four steps, i.e. (1) exploration phase; (2) model development phase; (3) model experimentation phase; and (4) dissemination and model implementation phase. The results of needs analysis questionnaire reveal that students need to be taught how to write academic writing in terms of journal article since it will be the final project of the students at the end of their study in university. Instructional materials with different strategies focused on research paper writing are needed by the students.
Perceptions of Non-Native EFL Teachers' on L1 Use in L2 Classrooms: Implications for Language Program Development
Author: Debreli, Emre
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Attitudes,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Language Teachers,English (Second Language),Native Language,Language Usage,Teaching Methods,Educational Policy,Language of Instruction,Foreign Countries,Semi Structured Interviews,Program Development

The study of L1 (first language) use in L2 (second language) classrooms has long received attention in the literature. Despite the considerable amount of research that has been conducted on the phenomenon, the focus has often been on the advantages and disadvantages. Considerably, less research has been conducted regarding the non-native L2 teachers' perceptions of when L1 use is required. More importantly, there has been little research on the limitations faced by non-native EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers because of the strong English-only policies they have to follow. The present study explored the perceptions of non-native EFL teachers' towards the existing English-only policies in their institutions. The teachers' perceptions of when L1 should or should not be used in L2 classrooms were also of interest. Fifty-four non-native teachers of EFL from English preparatory schools of four universities in Northern Cyprus participated in the study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the data indicated that all of the participating teachers were inclined to use L1 in their L2 classrooms for a variety of reasons. Further, it is found that teachers were affected negatively and were restricted in certain issues as a result of having to follow strict English-only policies at their institutions. Implications for program development are discussed here.
Improving Access To, Quality, and the Effectiveness of Digital Tutoring in K-12 Education
Author: Burch, Patricia
Date: 2016-03-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Access to Education,Educational Quality,Elementary Secondary Education,Electronic Learning,Instructional Effectiveness,Educational Improvement,Longitudinal Studies,Observation,Interviews,Low Income Students,Mathematics Achievement,Reading Achievement,Tutorial Programs,Quasiexperimental Design,Teacher Role,Access to Information,Information Utilization,Student Characteristics,Achievement Gains,Effect Size,Educational Assessment,Educational Indicators,Mixed Methods Research

There is considerable variation in how providers of digital education describe what they do, their services, how students access services, and what is delivered, complicating efforts to accurately assess its impact. We examine program characteristics of digital tutoring providers using rich, longitudinal observational and interview data and then analyze student attendance patterns and effects of digital tutoring on low-income students' reading and mathematics achievement. We find significant associations between formats, curriculum drivers, tutor locations, and other characteristics of digital providers and their effectiveness in increasing student achievement, as well as differential access by student characteristics, that warrant further investigation as digital providers' roles in K-12 instruction continue to expand.
Effects of Pre-Service Information Technologies (IT) Teachers' Thinking Styles on Their Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Author: Yagci, Mustafa
Date: 2016-01-23
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cognitive Style,Teacher Characteristics,Technology Integration,Technology Uses in Education,Educational Technology,Preservice Teachers,Correlation,Computer Attitudes,Surveys,Statistical Analysis,Foreign Countries,Likert Scales

Thinking styles are considered as approaches and tendencies of individuals toward various problems, incidents, phenomenon and variables which they face through their thinking processes. Preservice teachers are expected to be capable of using information and communication technologies (ICT) in intra- and extra- curricular activities and be a role model to their students. In this regard, it is important to investigate the relationship between thinking styles of preservice teachers from the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology (CEIT) department who are expected to utilize from the ICT and their attitudes toward ICT. The present study aims to investigate thinking styles of preservice teachers from the CEIT department and their attitudes toward the ICT and the relationship between these two variables. According to the present study's results, preservice teachers at most prefer innovative and visionary &quot;Innovative thinking style&quot; which deals with undetermined indefinite works; at least prefer &quot;Traditionalist thinking style&quot; which is subject to certain codes and more realists. Whereas gender and grade level variables have no any effect on thinking style preferences; academic success level has statistically significant difference. It was observed that attitudes of participants regarding utilization from the ICT in education was rather high; gender and grade variables have no effect on their attitude toward the ICT; there is positive and proportional relationship between academic success levels and their attitude toward the ICT. Moreover, as perception levels of preservice teachers regarding innovative thinking style increases, their attitude toward the ICT enhances. On the contrary, their perception levels regarding traditionalist thinking style increases, their attitude toward the ICT is affected adversely.
An Analysis of Writing Activities in the Student Workbooks of a Secondary-Level Turkish Language Course
Author: Çerçi, Arif
Date: 2016-01-23
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Writing Instruction,Secondary School Students,Turkish,Workbooks,Elementary School Students,Middle School Students,Spelling,Punctuation,Content Analysis,Learning Activities,Teaching Methods,Classification,Qualitative Research,Sentences,Foreign Countries

The purpose of this study is to analyze writing activities in the student workbooks of a secondary-level Turkish language course (grades 5 to 8) according to the principles of progressive writing. The study is descriptive and employs content analysis as a qualitative research paradigm. The writing activities of the books in this study all published by &quot;The Ministry of Education&quot; are categorized according to task, namely those involving sentence, paragraph and text-level writing; those focusing on spelling and punctuation; those which could not be categorized based on their instructions; and those based on their text types. The activities and their development from the 5 to 8th grades are examined. It is concluded that no principle of progression exists in the activities, except in those involving sentence-level writing tasks.
Investigation of Social Studies Teachers' Intended Uses of Social Networks in Terms of Various Variables
Author: Akgün, Ismail Hakan
Date: 2016-01-23
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Social Studies,Social Networks,Teaching Methods,Preservice Teachers,Statistical Analysis,Models,Cooperative Learning,Student Attitudes,Gender Differences,Instructional Program Divisions,Interpersonal Communication,Internet,Telecommunications,Teacher Education Programs,Foreign Countries

The aim of this research is to determine Social Studies teacher candidates' intended uses of social networks in terms of various variables. The research was carried out by using screening model of quantitative research methods. In the study, &quot;The Social Network Intended Use Scale&quot; was used as a data collection tool. As a result of the research, it was observed that students used social networks mostly for research, maintaining communication and communicating and following these, they used social networks for collaboration, entertainment, content sharing and starting communication. In the sub-dimensions of cooperation, starting communication and content sharing of students' intended uses of the social network, a significant difference in favor of male students was observed. It was observed that there was a significant difference only in the dimensions of entertainment from students' intended uses of a social network according to grade level. When analyzing the sub-dimensions of cooperation, starting communication, communicating and entertainment in terms of frequency of students' internet use, it was observed that there was a significant difference between groups in favor of students who used the internet more often. In the sub-dimensions of cooperation, starting communication, content sharing, and entertainment in terms of the frequency of social network use of the students who participated in the research, a significant difference was observed in favor of the students who used social network more often. Also, it was observed that the students who connected to the internet via mobile connections used social networks more in the sub-dimensions of collaboration, maintaining communication and content sharing.
Multidisciplinary Meeting (MDM) Can Provide Education and Reinforcement of Inter-Professional Development
Author: Zafiropoulos, George
Date: 2016-01-23
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Interdisciplinary Approach,Meetings,Professional Development,Interviews,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis,Feedback (Response),Clinical Experience,Supervision,Student Attitudes,Health Personnel,Allied Health Occupations Education,Health Services,Transfer of Training,Cooperation,Cognitive Development,Foreign Countries

The introduction of a multidisciplinary meeting (MDM) was analysed through a retrospective empirical study. The question of using it as a valuable tool to reinforce inter-professional development was made. The data was collected from 60 forth year Chiropractic students, who were at the end of their education and who were practicing their discipline under supervision. They were chosen because they fulfilled the World Health Organisation's criteria, as they had formed their professional identity. Data was collected via two-stage feedback interviews and was analysed qualitatively. Kirkpatrick's hierarchy was then used. Findings were grouped in the hierarchy's categories and analysed in a quantitative manner. It was found that the majority of the interviewees' opinions supported the MDM as an educational tool and a number of them believed that cognitive learning was achieved, influencing their behaviour. They supported that it helped them understand other professionals. In addition, they transferred and applied knowledge and practices to their professional environment, improving their collaboration with other health-workers, potentially improving the quality of their service.
Discrimination Level of Students' Ratio, Number of Students per Faculty Member and Article Scores Indicators According to Place of Turkish Universities in International Ranking Systems
Author: Özkan, Metin
Date: 2016-01-23
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Universities,Reputation,Classification,Foreign Countries,Graduate Students,Doctoral Programs,Teacher Student Ratio,Discriminant Analysis,Accuracy,Institutional Evaluation,Scores

The aim of this research is to determine classification in which the level of accuracy in Turkish universities rankings is detected by the international assessments according to the independent variables PhD students ratio, the number of students per faculty member and the article scores. The data of research were obtained from University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) in Turkey. The data were divided into three groups to international university ranking the top 500 (group A), 500 to 1000 (group B), and 1000 and 1500 (group C). Discriminant analysis was used to analyze the data. According to the findings of the study &quot;PhD students' ratio&quot; is variable to distinguish groups of universities who have contributed the most variable. Then &quot;article score&quot; and the last &quot;the number of students per faculty member&quot; are seen. Classification results are analyzed, a total of 10 universities in the A group, 9 (90%), a total of 15 universities in the B group, 10 (66.7%) and, finally, a total of 26 universities in the C group and 19 (73.1%) were classified correctly. The total percentage of correct classification of discriminant function is 74.5%. Classification accuracy of the discriminant analysis is higher than chance criterion (33%). In other words, function obtained from the research makes a more accurate classification than change classification.
Mobilizing Disability Experience to Inform Architectural Practice: Lessons Learned from a Field Study
Author: Vermeersch, Peter-Willem
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Disabilities,Standards,Architecture,Design,Accessibility (for Disabled),Graduate Students,Teamwork,Specialists,Space Utilization,Architectural Education,Physical Disabilities,Visual Impairments,Blindness,Autism,Pervasive Developmental Disorders,Engineering Education,Foreign Countries,Sensory Experience

Through their bodily interaction with the designed environment, disabled people can detect obstacles and appreciate spatial qualities architects may not be attuned to. While designers in several disciplines acknowledge disabled people as lead or critical users, in architectural practice their embodied experience is hardly recognized as a valuable resource for design. In this article, we therefore investigate what professional architects could learn from disabled people. To this end, the article reports on a field study, set up to explore ways of mobilizing disabled people's embodied experience to inform architectural practice. Analysis of the field study's outcome suggests that mobilizing this experience does not only add nuance to the existing accessibility standards, but also offers architects rich insights into building qualities that surpass these standards.
Data Visualization of Item-Total Correlation by Median Smoothing
Author: Yu, Chong Ho
Date: 2016-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Visualization,Item Response Theory,Sample Size,Correlation,Evaluation Methods,Graphs,Data,Data Analysis,Factor Analysis,Error Patterns

This paper aims to illustrate how data visualization could be utilized to identify errors prior to modeling, using an example with multi-dimensional item response theory (MIRT). MIRT combines item response theory and factor analysis to identify a psychometric model that investigates two or more latent traits. While it may seem convenient to accomplish two tasks by employing one procedure, users should be cautious of problematic items that affect both factor analysis and IRT. When sample sizes are extremely large, reliability analyses can misidentify even random number meaningful patterns. Data visualization, such as median smoothing, can be used to identify problematic items in preliminary data cleaning.
Tutorial on Using Regression Models with Count Outcomes Using R
Author: Beaujean, A. Alexander
Date: 2016-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Multiple Regression Analysis,Educational Research,Least Squares Statistics,Models,Statistical Bias,Data Interpretation,Inferences,Maximum Likelihood Statistics,Goodness of Fit,Syntax,Attendance

Education researchers often study count variables, such as times a student reached a goal, discipline referrals, and absences. Most researchers that study these variables use typical regression methods (i.e., ordinary least-squares) either with or without transforming the count variables. In either case, using typical regression for count data can produce parameter estimates that are biased, thus diminishing any inferences made from such data. As count-variable regression models are seldom taught in training programs, we present a tutorial to help educational researchers use such methods in their own research. We demonstrate analyzing and interpreting count data using Poisson, negative binomial, zero-inflated Poisson, and zero-inflated negative binomial regression models. The count regression methods are introduced through an example using the number of times students skipped class. The data for this example are freely available and the &quot;R&quot; syntax used run the example analyses are included in the Appendix.
A Robust Function to Return the Cumulative Density of Non-Central F Distributions in Microsoft Office Excel
Author: Nelson, James Byron
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Spreadsheets,Technology Uses in Education,Computation,Effect Size,Intervals,Evaluation,Probability

The manuscript presents a Visual Basic[superscript R] for Applications function that operates within Microsoft Office Excel[superscript R] to return the area below the curve for a given F within a specified non-central F distribution. The function will be of use to Excel users without programming experience wherever a non-central F distribution is required, such as conducting power analyses for analysis of variance designs and constructing confidence intervals on effect sizes. Tests show the function to produce results comparable to those obtained with the commercial software SPSS and the popular free R environment for statistical computing. Spreadsheets for use in Excel and OpenOffice Calc® are included with example usages.
Modeling Local Item Dependence in Cloze and Reading Comprehension Test Items Using Testlet Response Theory
Author: Baghaei, Purya
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cloze Procedure,Reading,Reading Comprehension,Reading Skills,Reading Tests,Test Items,Item Response Theory,Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Correlation,Test Reliability,Language Tests

In this study the magnitudes of local dependence generated by cloze test items and reading comprehension items were compared and their impact on parameter estimates and test precision was investigated. An advanced English as a foreign language reading comprehension test containing three reading passages and a cloze test was analyzed with a two-parameter logistic testlet response model and a two-parameter logistic item response model. Results showed that the cloze test produced substantially higher magnitudes of local dependence than reading items, albeit the levels of local dependency produced by reading items was not ignorable. Further analyses demonstrated that while even substantial magnitudes of testlet effect does not impact parameter estimates it does influence test reliability and information. Implications of the research for foreign language proficiency testing, where testlets are regularly used, are discussed.