ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
The Academy's Zeitgeist--Standards of Scientific Investigation: Exploring the Impact of Scholarly Work
Author: Mullen, Carol A.
Date: 2006-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Research,Standards,Scientific Research,Science Experiments,Higher Education,Inquiry,Government Publications,Scholarship,Periodicals,Journal Articles,Peer Evaluation,College Faculty,Public Agencies

The academy's zeitgeist--standards of scientic investigation--has recently come to the fore in the national arena as the dominant moral and intellectual framework for educational research. In this article, we explore the re-emergence of standards of scientific investigation as a significant shaping force in education and the scholarly culture, particularly in regard to the fields of leadership and administration. With the recent advent of politically based decrees of quality defined exclusively by traditional standards, alternative approaches to exploring human issues, however rigorous they might be in the qualitative realm, tend to be marginalized. Traditional, experimental studies that involve large-scale statistical research design and randomization have been authorized, making single-subject research, naturalistic inquiry, self-study, and other qualitative research practices unlikely candidates for federal funding. For this discussion on &quot;authorized&quot; and &quot;unauthorized&quot; perspectives of research, we explore the impact of regulatory practices within the academy.
The Effect of Anxiety on Reading Comprehension among Distance EFL Learners
Author: Jafarigohar, Manoochehr
Date: 2012-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Anxiety,Reading Comprehension,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Correlation,Reading Skills,Distance Education,Age Differences,Gender Differences,College Students,Likert Scales,Statistical Analysis,Foreign Countries,Questionnaires,Reading Tests,Scores

This study investigated the correlation between the construct of Foreign Language Reading Anxiety (FLRA) and reading comprehension skill among Iranian distance EFL learners with age and gender serving as moderator variables. The research was carried out with a group of 112 male and female junior and senior students studying English at Mashhad Payame Noor University. A 33-item Likert-style Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale, a 28-item reading comprehension test, and a demographic questionnaire were completed by the participants. The Pearson product moment correlation, t-Test, and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that there was a significant negative relationship between FLRA and reading comprehension; moreover, no such relationship was found between foreign language reading anxiety and age; and finally compared to males, females suffered more from anxiety.
Exploring the Training Needs of French Teachers in Relation to the Teaching of French as a Foreign Language in Greek Primary Schools
Author: Fragoulis, Iosif
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,French,Second Language Instruction,Elementary School Teachers,Language Teachers,Teacher Competencies,Teacher Education,Intervention,Educational Needs,Teacher Characteristics,Questionnaires,Statistical Analysis,Gender Differences,Age Differences,Employment Level,Teaching Experience,Teacher Attitudes,Teaching Methods

Nowadays, the role of the school in the formation of students-future citizens with high educational level and specialized knowledge is undeniable. The introduction of the second foreign language from the first years of schooling differentiates the school curriculum and constitutes an effective preparation of the students for the future society (Kaga, 2002:66-71.Kaga, 2004). The present study examines the training needs of the French language teachers in the context of the teaching of the French language in Primary Education. More specifically, it examines the training needs of the teachers as far as the preparation and design of teaching, its organization, implementation and evaluation are concerned. The results of the research show that there is a need for systematic training of French language teachers in relation to the design, the implementation and the evaluation of teaching interventions in Primary Schools.
An Empirical Study on Needs Analysis of College Business English Course
Author: Wu, Yan
Date: 2012-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Needs Assessment,Business English,Business Administration Education,College English,Student Needs,Aptitude Treatment Interaction,Questionnaires,Interviews,Classroom Observation Techniques,Student Surveys,Graduate Surveys,Educational Practices,Student Motivation,Student Interests,Participant Satisfaction,Barriers,Employer Attitudes

Under the theoretical framework of needs analysis, this paper is aimed to give insights into the college business English learners' needs (including target situation needs, learning situation needs and present situation needs). The analysis of the research data has provided teachers insights into business English teaching related issues.
Impact of the Systemic Approach on Literacy Achievement of Jordanian 1st Graders at Mu'tah University Model School
Author: Al-Hajaya, Nail
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Academic Achievement,Literacy Education,Elementary School Students,Grade 1,Systems Approach,Teaching Methods,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Task Analysis,Achievement Tests,Instructional Effectiveness,Validity,Reliability,Statistical Significance,Statistical Analysis,Semitic Languages,Native Language Instruction,Reading Achievement,Writing Achievement,Primary Education

This study investigates the effect of the systemic approach in literacy achievement of the first grade students at Mu'tah University's Model School. The sample (N = 45) consisted of all first grade students, who were assigned into two groups; a control group taught traditionally while the other group was exposed to the system approach during the academic year 2008/2009. Instruments used included a number of tasks designed based on the systemic approach and achievement test with acceptable validity and reliability. Results found statistical significant difference among mean estimates of both groups, indicating effectiveness of the systemic approach in the improved achievement of students who were exposed to the systemic approach, whereas no such differences were found for the gender.
Demotivating Factors Affecting EFL Learning of Iranian Seminary Students
Author: Tabatabaei, Omid
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Learning Motivation,Church Related Colleges,Theological Education,Islam,Islamic Culture,Cultural Influences,Attitude Measures,Questionnaires,Language Tests,Language Proficiency,English Instruction,Teaching Methods,Scheduling,Comprehension,Teaching Styles,Language Usage,Barriers

In the present study, an attempt has been made to determine the demotives affecting EFL learning of Iranian Islamic seminary students and also to distinguish the motivated and demotivated EFL learners in terms of their EFL learning as the major focus of this study. Fifty Iranian EFL seminary students were investigated using two validated questionnaires. First a modified version of The Attitude/Motivation Test Battery Questionnaire (AMTB) originally developed by Gardner (2004) was used to determine the degree of learners' motivation. Second a modified version of Warrington's (2005) questionnaire was administered to determine the demotivating factors from the students' point of view. Then, the IOPT (Interchange Objective Placement Test) was administered to measure the general proficiency of the subjects under study. The comparison of the IOPT score means of the two groups revealed a significant difference in the results of IOPT of students with higher scores in the AMTB and those with lower scores. That is, the more motivated the students were, the higher their IOPT scores were. Furthermore, factors such as the improper method of English teaching, frequency of classes in a week, problems in understanding listening materials and lack of use of English in students' real life were found to be the essential demotivating factors among Iranian seminary students. Having known the barriers of learning, the teachers and Islamic Propagation Office materials developers can organize their activities so that they would lead to better understanding of the lessons and improvement of teaching programs.
Working with a Diverse Student Population: The Mission Is Not to Save, but to Reflectively Teach
Author: Kirylo, James
Date: 2006-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Diversity,Reflective Teaching,Transformative Learning,Educational Practices,Teaching Methods,Instructional Effectiveness,Equal Education

When teachers view their mission as one to &quot;save&quot; children, the possibility then exists that they might not &quot;save&quot; them all. In fact, it is not uncommon that a teacher utters the words, &quot;I can't save them all.&quot; The mission, however, of the teacher is not to &quot;save.&quot; Rather, the mission of a teacher is to reflectively teach and to continuously seek ways to facilitate meaningful learning. In that light, this article examines the notion of what it means to reflectively teach, particularly as it relates to working with a diverse student population relative to different attention spans and capabilities of staying on task.
The Effects of Different Pre-Writing Strategies on Iranian EFL Writing Achievement
Author: Mahnam, Lily
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Prewriting,Writing Strategies,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Foreign Countries,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Writing Achievement,Concept Mapping,Advanced Students,Language Proficiency,Persuasive Discourse,Essays,Teaching Methods,Writing Instruction,Instructional Effectiveness,Pretests Posttests

This study aimed at investigating whether applying pre-writing strategies would affect the quality of L2 learners' compositions. Twenty three adult EFL students from Jahad-e-Daneshgahi English centre in Iran participated in this study. They were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups, including 11 and 12 participants in each. They were at the advanced proficiency level. Each student wrote five argumentative essays. Students in experimental group were treated to perform three pre-writing activities alternatively (concept map, reading relevant texts, and negotiation). The findings revealed that students wrote better compositions as a result of applying pre-writing strategies. Significant differences in two groups indicated that pre-writing activities had significant effect on the participants' writing achievement. The findings may have implications for English learners, English teachers and material developers.
Competing Paradigms: The Dilemmas and Insights of an ELT Teacher Educator
Author: Yavuz, Aysun
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Educators,Social Science Research,Research Methodology,Comparative Analysis,Statistical Analysis,Qualitative Research,Generalization,Investigations,Methods Research,Test Validity,Test Reliability,Educational Philosophy,Scholarship,Criticism,Mixed Methods Research,Data Analysis,Performance Factors

In this paper, the writer discusses the philosophical underpinnings of the two dominant research methods in social sciences; quantitative and qualitative paradigms. The natures of two paradigms are quite different so this leads many researchers to discuss these issues in a comparative way. This paper tackles the knowledge and understanding of quantitative and qualitative paradigms, their nature, advantages, disadvantages, assumptions, criticisms, and the possibility of linking two paradigms. Issues of validity, reliability, objectivity, and generalisation are also investigated from two distinctive perspectives of paradigms. Finally, the conclusion and suggestions are given at the end of the paper. The novice researchers who are in dilemmas about making decisions about their research designs would potentially find the discussions useful.
Study of the Entrepreneurship in Universities as Learning Organization Based on Senge Model
Author: Nejad, Bahareh Azizi
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Entrepreneurship,Universities,Organizational Culture,College Faculty,Surveys,Questionnaires,Correlation,Mastery Learning,Models,Knowledge Representation,Cooperative Learning,Systems Approach,Hypothesis Testing,Science Teachers,Regression (Statistics),Statistical Analysis

Learning organization and entrepreneurship are the most important issues that are focused on different themes in management. The purpose of present research was to study the relationship between learning organization elements and entrepreneurship among academic faculty members of the West Azarbaijan State Universities. The research method was descriptive-survey. Research instruments were two questionnaires. The first one, learning organization elements' questionnaire, which was built by Park (2008), and the second survey questionnaire collected information on the entrepreneurship that was built by Kordnaiej et al. (2005). Both questionnaires validities were confirmed by Cronbach's alpha. The research results indicated that there was a positive and significant relationship between personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, the systems thinking, and the entrepreneurship. Along with these findings, some key practical suggestions are proposed: Creating a learning atmosphere and a safe environment for creative scientific competition, considering the issues and their various applications in relationship with each other and systematically that causes a deep relationship between the university academic faculty members which leads to the entrepreneurship.
On the Dominant Status of American Educational Market for Foreign Students since 1980s
Author: Shu, Jun
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Students,Educational Practices,Student Recruitment,Competition,Educational Trends,Trend Analysis,Performance Factors,Educational Opportunities,Educational Resources,Politics of Education,Educational Development,Educational History,Enrollment Influences

The article first probes into some reasons for the formation and the rise of the world educational market for foreign students. Then the article focuses on several important ensuring the absolutely dominant status of the U.S. educational market for foreign students in the world since 1980s and finally concludes that it is the U.S. world-leading comprehensive national strength that has firmly established its dominating position in the world educational market for foreign students in recent decades.
A Comparative Study of Science Achievement and Self-Concept during a Historical Transition
Author: Wang, Jianjun
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Science Achievement,Foreign Countries,Comparative Analysis,Data Analysis,Comparative Education,Trend Analysis,Cross Cultural Studies,Social Change,Cultural Influences,Self Concept,Self Concept Measures,Parent Education,Statistical Analysis,Schematic Studies,Achievement Tests

Cross-cultural changes were accompanied by the sovereignty transition of Hong Kong during the TIMSS data collection, which triggered migration of intellectual families between Hong Kong and other places. To enhance comparability of the urban setting, this investigation focuses on Singapore and Hong Kong for having similar Chinese majority and colonial history. As both cities were reported having high student performance in science, student self-concept is articulated to examine its reciprocal relationship with science achievement under the context of non-monotonic population transition. The perspectives of comparative education have been gained through the cross-cultural understanding of empirical findings from the trend data analysis.
A Comparative Study of the Quality of Teaching Learning Process at Post Graduate Level in the Faculty of Science and Social Science
Author: Shahzadi, Uzma
Date: 2012-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Comparative Analysis,Teacher Effectiveness,Educational Quality,Universities,Teaching Methods,Instructional Effectiveness,Learning Processes,Graduate Study,Postdoctoral Education,College Faculty,College Science,Social Sciences,Departments,Gender Differences,Statistical Significance,Hypothesis Testing,Questionnaires,Reliability,Pilot Projects

The study was intended to compare the quality of teaching learning process in the faculty of social science and science at University of Sargodha. This study was descriptive and quantitative in nature. The objectives of the study were to compare the quality of teaching learning process in the faculty of social science and science at University of Sargodha. Respondent, department and gender wise comparison was also done a sample of 92 students studying in post graduate programs and 30 teachers teaching to post graduate programs were taken from five social sciences and five science departments for data collection. Convenient sampling technique was used to select the sample. A questionnaire was developed and Pilot study was conducted to find out the reliability of the questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was found to be 0.794. The results of the study proved that there is no significant difference between the quality of teaching learning process in Science and Social Science departments at University of Sargodha. It was also concluded that there is a significant difference between teachers and students responses about the quality of teaching learning process. The findings will help the teachers to improve their teaching and instructional plans. The findings of this study will be significant to the faculties of science and social science to improve their learning environment.
Impact of the Failure to Make Adequate Yearly Progress on School Improvement and Staff Development Efforts
Author: Hunt, John
Date: 2006-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Indicators,Federal Programs,Staff Development,Educational Improvement,Educational Legislation,Federal Legislation,Academic Achievement,Educational Change,Program Implementation,Educational Assessment,Achievement Gains,Achievement Rating,Norm Referenced Tests,Educational Policy,Policy Analysis,Elementary Secondary Education

Since the implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2002, the impact upon America's schools has been signicant in many areas. In a positive sense, NCLB has caused schools and school districts to examine the performance and academic achievement of subgroups, often for the first time. This examination has certainly highlighted the fact that the academic performance of many of our subgroups is below that of students as a whole. Historically, when teachers and administrators examined standardized achievement scores, for example, they were often satisfied if their students were achieving at or above the national average. The review of cumulative test data often masked the poor performance of students in various subgroups. The implementation of NCLB has certainly changed that situation.
The Effects of Warm-Up Tasks on the Iranian EFL Students' Writing Ability
Author: Estalkhbijari, Zahra Pakdel
Date: 2012-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Writing Ability,Writing Exercises,English (Second Language),Undergraduate Students,Task Analysis,Class Activities,Experimental Groups,Control Groups,Pretests Posttests,Writing Tests,Paragraph Composition,Scores,Statistical Analysis,Writing Improvement

This study aims to investigate the effects of warm up tasks as classroom activities on foreign language written production. For showing these effects, sixty out of one hundred forty Iranian sophomore EFL students from the Islamic Azad University of Lahijan branch, Iran were selected after following the Oxford Placement Test (OPT). Then, they were randomly divided into two groups; the experimental group who received the treatments on warm up tasks, and the control group who received a placebo. Both groups had to write two paragraphs of about 150 words that were considered as their pretests and posttests. The paragraphs were corrected by three experienced raters. Their scores analyzed through SPSS by applying Independent t-test, and Paired sample t-test. The findings revealed that participants in the experimental group, who had received the treatments on warm up tasks, significantly enhanced better performance in a writing test.
The Effect of Online Peer Feedback on the Academic Writing Ability of Iranian EFL Learners
Author: Moradi, Mohammad Reza
Date: 2012-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Peer Evaluation,Feedback (Response),Computer Mediated Communication,Writing Ability,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Foreign Countries,Essays,Check Lists,Self Evaluation (Groups),Evaluation Criteria,Conventional Instruction,Online Courses,Comparative Analysis,Statistical Analysis

This paper reports an exploratory study of 60 English as a foreign language (EFL) student's experiences of online peer feedback in an essay writing course at Islamic Azad University, Dezful Branch. They were required to comment on their peers' writing essays using the checklist to whom had been made available, but in different ways. The groups were required to self-assess their own writing piece, and share it with the other groups, either in offline or online forms and, subsequently, assess the other groups' essays in light of the criteria in the checklist and let them know about their comments. The performance of the two groups was, subsequently, compared using the t-test statistical analysis. It indicated that there is not any significant difference between the performances of the online and offline groups.