ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
A Probe into the Negative Writing Transfer of Chinese College Students
Author: He, Xiaojun
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Second Language Learning,College Students,Writing Skills,Transfer of Training,Contrastive Linguistics,Interlanguage,Language Usage,Form Classes (Languages),Cultural Influences

Although Chinese college students have studied English for many years, they still have much difficulty in writing a good paper. There are many factors resulting in their inability to write well, such as students' lack of vocabulary, having a poor knowledge of grammar, language transfer, and so on. But, of these factors, the negative transfer of Chinese is a main factor that cannot be neglected. It influences their writing in diction, building of sentence and discourse structure, and as a result impedes improving their English writing ability. So this thesis will, based on the review of some theories related to the negative transfer of a native language and on a detailed analysis of the negative transfer of Chinese on college students' English writing, such as its negative transfer in lexicon, in sentence structure and in discourse structure, put forward some practical effective strategies for decreasing the negative transfer of Chinese so as to improve college students' English writing, like raising students' awareness of the negative transfer of Chinese, increasing comparative analysis in classroom teaching, and introducing the cultures of the English-speaking countries.
The Effect of Schema-vs-Translation-Based Instruction on Persian Medical Students' Learning of General English
Author: Khodadady, Ebrahim
Date: 2012-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Medical Students,Indo European Languages,Native Language,Reading Comprehension,Teaching Methods,Vocabulary Development,Undergraduate Students,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Experimental Groups,Control Groups,Schemata (Cognition),Foreign Countries,Medical Schools,Translation,Semantics,Syntax,Multiple Choice Tests,Cloze Procedure,Pretests Posttests,Quasiexperimental Design,Interviews

This study explored the effect of employing two language teaching approaches, i.e., schema-based instruction (SBI) and translation-based instruction (TBI) on the structure and vocabulary knowledge as well as reading comprehension ability of sixty undergraduate students studying general English in a medical school in Mashhad, Iran. While the SBI approaches the words/phrases comprising texts as schemata having syntactic, semantic and discoursal relationships with each other, the latter considers offering their translation equivalents as the only necessary and sufficient condition to understand texts. After being divided into two groups, the learners in the experimental and control groups were taught via SBI and the TBI, respectively. The administration of a 120-item schema-based cloze multiple choice item test (SBCMCIT) developed on the syllabus and administered as a pretest at the beginning of the term showed that the two groups were homogenous. The administration of an unseen final examination (UFE) consisting of structure, vocabulary and reading comprehension subscales at the end of the term showed that the learners taught via the SBI performed significantly better than those taught via the TBI not only on the UFE and its subscales but also on the SBCMCIT administered as a post test. The findings are discussed within the specified language components and abilities.
A Study on Correlation of Risk-Taking and the Oral Production of English Majors in China
Author: Wang, Yang
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Correlation,Asians,Accuracy,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Risk,Majors (Students),Language Fluency,Foreign Countries,Questionnaires,Student Attitudes,Self Evaluation (Individuals),Language Tests,Statistical Analysis,Undergraduate Students

Risk-taking refers to the tendency to engage in behaviors that have the potential to be harmful or dangerous, yet at the same time provides the opportunity for some kinds of outcome that can be perceived as positive. Ely (1986) and Bang (1999) have mentioned the relationship between risk-taking and oral production in the process of English learning. However, few researches have set their foot into the correlation between risk-taking of English majors and their oral production. Hence, it is indispensable to carry out this study to fill the gap. The study aims to investigate the general situation of English majors' risk-taking in oral production; how does risk-taking of English majors correlate with fluency, accuracy and complexity in oral production; what is the difference between high risk-taking and the low risk-taking of English majors in the oral production: fluency, accuracy and complexity? And if there exists some differences, how are these related to risk-taking? The results show that the English majors' risk-taking is at a relatively low level; there is a positive and strong correlation between risk-taking of English majors and the two aspects of oral production: fluency, accuracy, and there is no correlation between risk-taking and complexity; there exists a difference between high risk-taking and low risk-taking in oral fluency and accuracy for English majors. The higher risk-taking subjects are able to produce more fluent and accurate sentences than the low risk-taking subjects. However, no difference has been found between high risk-taking and low risk-taking in the oral production of complexity.
A Bilingual Child Learns Social Communication Skills through Video Modeling--A Single Case Study in a Norwegian School Setting
Author: Özerk, Meral
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Bilingual Students,Video Technology,Modeling (Psychology),Skill Development,Communication Skills,Interpersonal Competence,Case Studies,Foreign Countries,Autism,Pervasive Developmental Disorders,Student Behavior,Teaching Methods,Males,Preadolescents,Norwegian,Play,Friendship,Peer Relationship,Intervention,Generalization,Program Effectiveness

&quot;Video modeling&quot; is one of the recognized methods used in the training and teaching of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The model's theoretical base stems from Albert Bandura's (1977; 1986) social learning theory in which he asserts that children can learn many skills and behaviors observationally through modeling. One can assume that by observing others, a child with ASD can construct an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this mentally and visually constructed information will serve as a guide for his/her way of behaving. There are two types of methods for model learning: 1) &quot;In Vivo Modeling&quot; and 2) &quot;Video Modeling.&quot; These can be used a) to teach children with ASD skills that are not yet in their behavioral repertoire and/or b) to improve the children's emerging behaviors or skills. In the case of linguistic minority children at any stage of their bilingual development, it has been presumed that some of their behaviors that can be interpreted as attitude or culture-related actions. This approach, however, can sometimes delay referral, diagnosis, and intervention. In our project, we used &quot;Video Modeling&quot; and achieved positive results with regard to teaching social communication skills and target behavior to an eleven year-old bilingual boy with ASD. Our study also reveals that through &quot;Video Modeling,&quot; children with ASD can learn desirable behavioral skills as by-products. &quot;Video Modeling&quot; can also contribute positively to the social inclusion of bilingual children with ASD in school settings. In other words, bilingual children with ASD can transfer the social communication skills and targeted behaviors they learn through second-language at school to a first-language milieu.
TESOL In-Service Teachers' Attitudes towards Computer Use
Author: Rezaee, Abbas Ali
Date: 2012-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Second Language Learning,Teacher Attitudes,Computer Attitudes,Computer Uses in Education,Predictor Variables,Correlation,Questionnaires,Teacher Characteristics,Cultural Influences,Programming,College Faculty,Innovation,Language Teachers,Likert Scales,Multiple Regression Analysis,Statistical Analysis

The way education is being delivered has been altered via the rapid development of computer technology. This is especially the case in the delivery of English language teaching where the combination of various variables is pertinent to computer attitudes to enhance instructional outcomes. This paper reports the study undertaken to elucidate whether the correlation exists between TESOL in-service teachers' attitudes towards computer and their computer attributes scale and to explore the proportion of variance in TESOL in-service teachers' attitudes towards computer that can be explained by their cultural perception scale and computer competence scale. A questionnaire (ATCT) was utilized to obtain the necessary information about teachers' characteristics, their computer attributes, cultural perceptions, computer competence and attitudes of the sample (45) TESOL in-service teachers at Universiti Sains Malaysia. The results revealed that there was a significant correlation between teachers' computer attitudes and computer attributes. A further finding revealed that both of cultural perception scale and computer competence scale were predictors of teachers' computer attitudes; yet, cultural perception scale was the best predictor. Suggestions based on these outcomes have been offered in this paper.
Assemblage: Raising Awareness of Student Identity Formation through Art
Author: Drouin, Steven D.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Consciousness Raising,Art Education,Self Concept,Grade 11,High School Students,Writing (Composition),Student Diversity,Personal Narratives,Teaching Methods,Class Activities

Asking students to physically construct manifestations of their identities is not necessarily a new technique, but the author wanted students to experience the iterative and fluid nature of identity formation with the hopes of beginning a longer discussion of how other individuals, groups, and varying contexts shape identities with and without permission. For the assemblage activity, presented in this article, 24 ethnically diverse 11th grade students from predominantly middle class backgrounds sat at desks in groups of four, each group separated from one another. On each desk was a container filled with various artifacts. Each student was given three minutes of class time to present her or his assemblage to their group. Group members were instructed to take detailed notes on the artifacts and stories shared. Once all four members had presented, students were instructed to write a first-person narrative as if they themselves were the person to their left. The narrative would explain how the student to their left constructed their identity. The assemblage activity is a good starting point leading toward more complex questions.
A Construal Model Perspective on Discourse Coherence
Author: Yang, Hongyan
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Discourse Analysis,Connected Discourse,Guidelines,Stereotypes,Language Processing,Psycholinguistics,Models,Cognitive Processes,Linguistic Theory,Language Research

Discourse coherence is a common phenomenon in linguistic studies, and plays an important role in discourse analysis. As a common and extremely important type of language phenomena, discourse coherence has drawn more and more scholars' attention, but they emphasis on partial discourse coherence, paying a little attention to holistic coherence. The paper is an attempt to explore the mechanism of discourse coherence within the framework of Mental-Model based stereotypical relation theory, and proves that it is the rule of similarity and proximity that leads to the discourse coherence.
The Impact of Choice on EFL Students' Motivation and Engagement with L2 Vocabulary Learning
Author: Wang, Han-Chung
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Student Motivation,Learner Engagement,Vocabulary,College Students,Self Determination,Statistical Analysis,Questionnaires,Observation,Personal Autonomy,Learning Motivation,Student Attitudes,Foreign Countries

The current study investigates EFL college learners' motivation and engagement during English vocabulary learning tasks. By adopting self-determination theory (SDT; Deci &amp; Ryan, 1985, 2000), the study looked into the impact of autonomy on college students' task motivation and engagement with vocabulary learning tasks and their general English learning motivation (i.e. trait motivation). Changes in task motivation over 14 weeks of research were also investigated. The results of quantitative analyses obtained from questionnaires and observations over 14 weeks uncovered that the participants who were given the freedom to choose their own target words showed higher task motivation and task engagement than those who were required to learn pre-selected target words. Learners' general attitude toward English learning, however, was not influenced by the provision of choice in the vocabulary learning tasks. The 14-week experimental research also depicts the changes of task motivation and engagement over time. Even with the same settings and task procedures, learners' task motivation fluctuated. In accordance with SDT, the findings in the present study support the importance of creating autonomy-supportive vocabulary learning tasks.
Evaluation of Science Teacher Candidates' Level of Knowledge Regarding the Use of Microscopes
Author: Demir, Sibel
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Preservice Teachers,Science Education,Questionnaires,Likert Scales,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Laboratory Equipment

This evaluation was conducted with 43 second-year students, or teacher candidates, attending the science education program of an education faculty in a Turkish university. In this study, students were asked to complete a single open-ended and gap-filling questionnaire, and their answers were evaluated according to a five-point Likert-type rubric. The manuscript provides several examples of the students' answers. In this context, the aim of this study was to determine science teacher candidates' level of knowledge regarding the use of microscopes. Based on the study results, we determined that in general the science teacher candidates had a partially adequate or inadequate level of knowledge regarding the use of microscopes.
Influence of Integration of Information Communication Technology in Teaching on Students' Academic Performance
Author: Mbugua, Stephen Ngugi
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Technology Integration,Information Technology,Academic Achievement,Surveys,Foreign Countries,Instructional Improvement,Secondary School Teachers,Principals,Counties,Teaching Methods,Gender Differences,Statistical Analysis,Secondary School Students,Outcomes of Education,Teacher Attitudes,Administrator Attitudes

Teachers must understand the context within which students' performance improvement takes place. Operational effectiveness and strategy are both essential to superior performance and strategy execution is crucial for quality and better students' academic result. ICT can be a catalyst by providing tools which teachers use to improve teaching and giving learners access to electronic media that make concepts clearer and more accessible. Teachers in public secondary schools in Nakuru County, Kenya, have been integrating ICT in teaching, but students' academic performance in KCSE examinations has been low as shown by the outcome of the examination results by Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC). Few students qualify to join the various universities. This study used a survey research design to establish how the integration of ICT in teaching influenced the students' academic performance. A total of 486 teachers (405 classroom teachers and 81 principals) from 81 public secondary schools participated in the study. They were randomly selected from three clusters of schools namely National, Extra-County and County public secondary schools. Public secondary schools were selected because they are funded by the government and parents through parents' teachers' association (PTA) and are managed by the board of management (BOM). The findings of the study showed a positive influence on students' academic performance with integration of ICT in teaching. The finding also showed that there was no relationship between gender and integration of ICT in teaching but there were relationship between teachers' highest level of education, the age of the teacher and integration of ICT in teaching. The study concluded that integration of ICT in teaching is a vital component in improvement of students' academic performance.
Relative Contributions of Caregivers' Level of Education, Role Definition and Average Household Income to Caregiver Involvement in Children's Emergent Reading
Author: Wambiri, Gladwell N.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Reading Achievement,Elementary School Students,Low Achievement,Reading Instruction,Reading Skills,Teaching Methods,Parent Role,Parent Background,Educational Attainment,Family Income,Correlation,Parent Participation,Emergent Literacy,Parent Attitudes,Predictor Variables,Early Childhood Education,Young Children,Questionnaires

Recent studies have consistently reported low reading achievement levels among primary school children in Kenya. Reading is a very critical component of children's development. Many aspects of learning at school revolve around this skill. Being the media via which other subjects are taught and learnt, reading is very significant and could contribute to failure in school. Reading is not only a school agenda. Children also acquire early reading skills through specific experiences at home that require support of other adults besides teachers. Parent involvement in children's early reading development has been found to play a very critical role in the child's later reading success. Parents who take an active role in children's reading foster children's lifelong passion for reading, which in turn leads to improved children's performance in learning at school. However, the majority of the parents do not perceive themselves as crucial partners in children's emergent reading development. This paper is based on a study that compared the relative contributions of the parents' level of education, parents' role definition and the average household income, to parents' involvement in children's emergent reading development. The authors argue that although these three factors positively correlate with parents' involvement in children's reading development, parents' perceptions about their role in children's reading development is the most important predictor of their involvement in terms of direct and indirect behaviours and strategies with children around print. Interventions to improve reading achievement levels need to address parent involvement in children's reading. Such interventions should place priority in helping parents to correctly define their role in this important aspect of children's development.
Teachers' and School Administrators' Preparedness in Handling Students with Special Needs in Inclusive Education in Kenya
Author: Gathumbi, Agnes
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Special Needs Students,Inclusion,Readiness,Teacher Competencies,Teacher Effectiveness,Administrator Effectiveness,Principals,Secondary School Teachers,Questionnaires,Interviews,Classroom Observation Techniques,Knowledge Base for Teaching,Instructional Materials,Educational Facilities,Teaching Skills,Teacher Collaboration,Accessibility (for Disabled),Statistical Analysis,Qualitative Research

The philosophy of social inclusion is embedded in current legislation of the convention of child rights and the requirement of equal opportunities for those with disability (Salamanca Statement, 1994). Inclusive education entails taking care of all students including those with special needs like physical, mental or developmental. This paper reports the outcome of a study that assessed the level of teachers' and school administrators' preparedness to handle inclusive education. The participants were 140 teachers and 13 Principals of selected secondary schools in Kenya. A questionnaire, interview schedule and classroom observation tool were used for data collection. Data were analysed descriptively and using inferential statistics. Results revealed physical infrastructure and instructional resources are unsuitable to support learners with special needs. There was general lack of teacher training on pedagogy and knowledge on how to handle students with special needs. School management policies regarding learners with special needs were not comprehensive enough to cater for all students. Collaboration among teachers to support learners with special needs falls below expectation. There is need to develop knowledge base on inclusive education, to meet learning needs of individual students. Teachers should undergo periodic refresher courses to develop personalized learning approaches, skills and competences, to effectively handle the heterogeneous nature of contemporary classes.
Reading Readiness Deficiency in Children: Causes and Ways of Improvement
Author: Akubuilo, Francis
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reading Readiness,Reading Ability,Reading Improvement,Reading Difficulties,Reading Strategies,Etiology,Children,Socioeconomic Influences,Cognitive Ability,Physical Characteristics,Physical Disabilities,Teacher Effectiveness,Reading Interests,Familiarity,Educational Practices

Reading is one of the important skills of language. It is a basic tool of education whether formal or informal. Reading is a receptive skill, which involves the ability to meaningfully interpret or decode written or graphic symbols of language. Through reading, the hidden treasure of knowledge is unfolded; knowledge is gained thereby empowering individuals to share and also participate in the world's universal culture and civilization. It is, therefore, of paramount importance that every one, including children, imbibe reading culture so as to unlock the world, treasure of knowledge. This study is of great importance as today's children spend hours trapped under derivative distractions such as television, computers, and associated technologies targeted to children. It becomes then imperative to reawaken reading culture among the children who are faced with competing leisure time choices. One of the ways of helping children to imbibe reading culture is to get them reading ready. This paper focuses on the causes of reading readiness deficiency and ways of improving reading readiness in children. The paper identified factors such as socio-economic background, physical abnormalities, mental imbalance, lack of interest, and unfamiliarity with symbols and teachers' inability to help children as causes of reading readiness deficiency in children. The paper also suggested ways of improving reading readiness and recommended that parents should provide books and stimulating reading environments for their children and helps them cultivate the habit of using their leisure to read for pleasure. It was also recommended among others that teachers must acknowledge the indispensability of reading skills and as such plan an effective programme of reading instruction which should focus on promoting reading culture among children in their schools.