ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Integrating Sustainability Programs into the Facilities Capital Planning Process
Author: Buchanan, Susan
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Facilities Improvement,Educational Facilities Planning,Facilities Management,Energy Conservation,Conservation (Environment),Values,School Construction,Financial Support,Sustainable Development,Water,Budgets,Institutional Mission,Long Range Planning

With detailed information about the costs and benefits of potential green investments, educational facilities can effectively evaluate which initiatives will ultimately provide the greatest results over the short and long term. Based on its overall goals, every school, college, or university will have different values and therefore different strategies. With enrollment becoming more competitive with campus sustainability practices and policies growing as a criteria for school selection, the visibility of facilities operations and management is becoming more prominent. The many potential greening initiatives educational facilities can undertake compete with a myriad of other capital and operational investments. This includes systems renewal, building renovations and new construction. Moreover, there is competition for funds with the educational mission itself. While schools may single out opportunities to improve building sustainability for analysis, ultimately those investments will need to be assessed in the context of other building requirements and infrastructure demands of the pedagogical mission. Having a broad umbrella approach to sustainability (including energy, water, indoor environmental quality, site sustainability, and materials use) is important, but the focus recently has been on prioritizing sustainability projects that provide a clear return on investment (ROI). Educational facilities are more involved in defining "real-life" practical ways to fund and accomplish their overall greening goals, while at the same time maintaining the desired condition of their facilities within a given budget. This article discusses four important considerations in order to optimize sustainable capital investments: (1) Mission and mandate; (2) Improved efficiency; (3) Day-to-day operations; and (4) Long-range planning. Following these fundamentals enables colleges and universities to successfully integrate sustainability goals into their facilities capital planning process. In this article, the author looks at the process of integrating sustainability into capital planning in more detail.
Student Engagement in Campus Sustainability
Author: Cairo, Allessandra
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Campuses,Student Attitudes,Colleges,Student Participation,Energy Conservation,Conservation (Environment),Sustainable Development,Budgets,College Students,Community Colleges

Faculty, staff, and administrators are all burdened by the lack of time, budgetary constraints, and ever-changing priorities, and facilities staff are no different. With all these constraints, how can real change happen? Student engagement can make facilities work easier and more fulfilling. Involving students from the ground up on projects not only gives them hands-on experiences and better prepares them for the real world after graduating, but, if implemented well, can also lessen the burden on staff time and budgets. This article presents stories on how students are being empowered to make a difference at two- and four-year colleges and universities alike. The successes described are just a few of the many ingenious ways students are working with facilities staff, administration, and others on their campuses to create sustainable campuses. With a new level of engagement emerging, the benefits of building good working relationships between students and facilities staff will continue to grow.
Green Schools for Everyone within This Generation
Author: Van Mourik, Jaime
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Sustainable Development,Higher Education,Educational Facilities Improvement,Energy Conservation,Conservation (Environment),School Buildings,Student Role,Teacher Role,Facilities Management,Colleges,School Community Relationship

At the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), people see the profound, positive impact that green buildings have on people's lives and the innovation they have poured into the marketplace--from office and retail buildings to government facilities and individual homes. However, none of these markets speaks more powerfully to the benefits and potential of green buildings than educational facilities. This article discusses how stakeholders at colleges and universities across the country are connecting around the topic of sustainability. With the understanding that green buildings are about more than just bricks and mortar, institution leaders are creating new learning experiences and facilitating higher levels of community engagement. Students are also taking on a larger role, asking to be part of the greening of their campuses, and facilities staff and faculty are working together to provide experiential learning opportunities for students. The ability to use research, pioneer technological innovations, engage the community and encourage partnerships provides a unique opportunity for higher education institutions to serve as leaders in the creation of new and revitalized green communities. By continuing an integrated approach to planning and implementing sustainability initiatives, green schools for everyone within this generation can be achieved.
Geothermal Grows Up
Author: Johnson, William C.
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Climate Control,Energy Conservation,Conservation (Environment),Colleges,Facilities Management,Educational Facilities Design,School Buildings

Self-declared energy and carbon reduction goals on the part of progressive colleges and universities have driven ground source geothermal space heating and cooling systems into rapid evolution, as part of long-term climate action planning efforts. The period of single-building or single-well solutions is quickly being eclipsed by highly engineered approaches and district-level programs that take advantage of building diversity, hybrid system designs, and central plant integration. In this article, the authors review where the industry has been, where it's headed, and why. They also touch on the benefits that colleges and universities are enjoying by taking advantage of their geothermal resources.
New Technologies for Energy Improvements: Two Case Studies
Author: Christensen, John
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Energy Conservation,Energy Management,Case Studies,Secondary Schools,Conservation (Environment),Sustainable Development,Climate Control,Community Colleges,Facilities Management,Costs

This article describes how two institutions in the U.S. Southwest--Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico and Pima Community College (PCC) in Arizona--have implemented new energy projects on their campuses. Albuquerque Academy's one-megawatt DC photovoltaic solar array is one of the largest secondary schools projects to date in the United States. The array is located on five acres of land at the east end of the Academy's 312-acre campus. PCC's replacement of its Desert Vista central cooling/heating plant with a packaged modular central plant (MCP) allowed for installation savings, a fast-track schedule, and improved energy efficiency.
Analysis of Relationship between Duration Characteristics and Subjective Evaluation of English Speech by Japanese Learners with regard to Contrast of the Stressed to the Unstressed
Author: Nakamura, Shizuka
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Speech Communication,Syllables,Vowels,Native Speakers,Language Proficiency,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Phonology,Acoustics,Student Evaluation,Language Rhythm,Correlation,Japanese,Phonemes

To improve more effectively the learners' proficiency to control contrast of the stressed to the unstressed in English teaching, it is necessary to analyze how the acoustical characteristics of learners' speech are related to the perceptual evaluation by teachers. This paper analyzes A) learner characteristics of durations measured in speech units related to stress, which are stressed and unstressed syllables, and strong and weak vowels, and B) the relationship between the duration characteristics and subjective evaluation of English rhythm control proficiency. As a result of analyses, the following were revealed. Duration characteristics of learner speech were as follows: 1) Lengthened duration of speech units and inserted pauses make learners' sentence duration longer compared to that of native speakers. 2) Learner speech does not provide sufficient contrast between the stressed and the unstressed as native speech does, because it is difficult for learners to shorten the durations of unstressed syllables and weak vowels. The relationship between the duration characteristics and subjective evaluation were as follows: 1) Duration of the syllable, especially the unstressed syllable, and that of the vowel, especially the weak vowel, have a stronger correlation with subjective evaluation score. 2) Shorter duration of the weak vowel rather than that of the unstressed syllable tend to be evaluated as more native-like speech, that is, shortening the duration of the weak vowel strongly affects subjective evaluation. (Contains 7 figures and 1 table.)
The Impact of &quot;Role Play&quot; on Fostering EFL Learners' Speaking Ability: A Task-Based Approach
Author: Aliakbari, Mohammad
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Speech Communication,Language Tests,Speech Skills,Teaching Methods,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Role Playing,Oral Language,Instructional Effectiveness,Foreign Countries,College Students,Pretests Posttests

Marking as one dramatic turnover in language teaching, task-based language teaching (TBLT) has proved itself beneficial and effective in bringing about real situations of language use to take place and in satisfying communicative needs of learners while the former methods were unable to meet actual demands of learners to communicate in the target settings. Accordingly, it has been duly embraced by practitioners and material developers simply because it specially pays serious and real attention to oral abilities. Relying on the theoretical background of this paradigm, the current study focused on role-play as a praised technique in task based language teaching (TBLT) to investigate and display its effect on boosting EFL learners' speaking skill. Following the termination of the study, the findings indicated for a positive effect of TBLT-based role-play technique on the candidates' speaking skill. (Contains 4 tables.)
Exploring Writing-Learning Relationship through Korean EFL College Students
Author: Song, Minjong
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Experimental Groups,Control Groups,Reading Comprehension,College Curriculum,Essays,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Writing (Composition),Second Language Instruction,Foreign Countries,College Freshmen,Pretests Posttests,Language Tests,Correlation,Learning Processes

An experimental study explored writing-learning relationship in a Korean college curriculum. Two teachers and 207 students participated and four sections of a freshman English reading course were used. Students in two sections were allocated to an experimental group, and students in the other two sections, to a control group. Based on the premise that different writing tasks can involve students in different kinds of learning, this study adopted essay writing and answering comprehension questions. For a ten-week period, the experimental group wrote essays on their six reading chapters. The control group wrote answers to comprehension questions on the same chapters during the same period. Pre- and posttest data were analyzed by using ANOVA. The analyzed variable was a change in reading comprehension, measured by the comprehension subtest of TOEFL. Results showed that writing essays could improve students' reading comprehension more than answering comprehension questions. That was congruent with the results from previous studies in a native secondary school curriculum, and interpreted as supporting the use of essay writing in EFL learning environments. Supplementarily, the interaction by teacher by treatment had a noticeable effect on the students' reading comprehension. Some directions for further research were suggested. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)
Effects of Etymological Elaboration on the EFL Learners' Comprehension and Retention of Idioms
Author: Bagheri, Mohammad Sadegh
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teaching Methods,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Advanced Students,Etymology,Homogeneous Grouping,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Figurative Language,Second Language Instruction,Associative Learning,Retention (Psychology),Foreign Countries,Task Analysis,Scores,Instructional Effectiveness

In recent years, idioms have received overwhelming attention in language pedagogy. Experts in the field have sought ways to optimize learning and teaching of these prefabricated language chunks. It is now maintained that the meaning of idioms which was once deemed as arbitrary is somehow &quot;motivated&quot; by their literal, original usage. Referring to the etymology of idioms in order to understand their idiomatic meaning is called &quot;etymological elaboration&quot;. This study sought to explore the effect of this technique on learners' comprehension as well as retention of idioms. It appears that this effect can be explained by Dual Coding Theory where the etymological association calls up a mental image of a concrete scene which can be stored alongside the verbal form in memory. In this experiment 50 Iranian advanced students studying English at Bahar Language Institute, Shiraz were divided into two homogeneous groups of experimental and control. The test of the former group comprised a matching task pertaining to the origin of idioms, a multiple-choice task concerning the idiomatic meaning of idioms, a multiple-choice task regarding the idiomatic meaning of idioms and a gap-filling task in which subjects were supposed to provide the missing keyword for each idiom. The control group just had a test including multiple choice as well as gap filling tasks. The matching task was utilized as a treatment to demonstrate the effect of knowing the origin of idioms on the participants' performance on the other tasks. The participants' mean scores were calculated, in both &quot;identify-the-meaning&quot; and &quot;gap-filling&quot; tasks, the mean score of participants provided with the etymological elaboration was more than those who did not receive this treatment, which indicated that etymological elaboration enhanced the learners' comprehension and retention of idioms effectively. (Contains 6 tables.)
Characteristics of Interactional Management Functions in Group Oral by Japanese Learners of English
Author: Negishi, Junko
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Performance Tests,Interaction Process Analysis,Second Language Learning,Japanese,Native Speakers,Oral Language,Language Aptitude,English (Second Language),Group Dynamics,Language Tests,Communicative Competence (Languages),Qualitative Research,Cooperation,Second Language Instruction,Foreign Countries,Junior High School Students,High School Students,College Students

This study attempted to investigate the characteristics of interaction dynamics in a group oral interaction carried out by Japanese learners of English. The relationship between the participants' language development and interactional management functions (IMFs) was also explored. Oral performance tests in a paired or a small group have recently been introduced because the assessment of L2 learners' authentic conversational competence is considered important in the current era of globalization. Qualitative analysis showed that some characteristics, namely, modifying or developing the topic and negotiation of meaning, displayed an association with the development of the participants' language ability. More proficient speakers' dialogues of this study showed a more complex, co-constructed, and collaborative nature, with more interactions and negotiation of meaning. (Contains 3 figures.)
Assessing the Role of Depth and Breadth of Vocabulary Knowledge in Reading Comprehension of Iranian EFL Learners
Author: Rashidi, Nasser
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reading Comprehension,Vocabulary Development,Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Language Tests,Associative Learning,College Students,Correlation

This study was conducted to investigate the extent to which scores on depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge as two dimensions of vocabulary knowledge would contribute to predicting the EFL learners' reading performance with a minimum vocabulary size of 3000 word families and also to find out the difference, if any, between the reading comprehension performance of two groups as having high and low depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge. All instruments (Word-Associate Test (WAT) (Read, 1993) measuring depth of vocabulary knowledge (DVK), Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) (Nation, 1983) measuring Vocabulary Size (VS), and Reading  Comprehension Test (RC) were administered together within the same session to 38 Iranian senior university students. Then the gathered data were analyzed by a Pearson correlation and two independent t-tests. Results revealed that (a) the interrelations among DVK, VS, and RC were high and positive; (b) depth of vocabulary knowledge provided a significant contribution to the prediction of reading comprehension; and (c) the students who had stronger depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge performed better on reading comprehension. These findings provided empirical support for the importance of depth of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension. Regarding this, the necessity of incorporating this aspect into EFL programs and activities is desirable. (Contains 7 tables.)
English Relativization and Learners' Problems
Author: Phoocharoensil, Supakorn
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Form Classes (Languages),Learning Strategies,Transfer of Training,Thai,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Foreign Countries,Phrase Structure,Grammar,Error Analysis (Language)

The present study aims at investigating the learning strategies on which Thai EFL learners rely in learning English relative clauses (ERCs). Not only do these strategies facilitate their ERC acquisition, but they are also found to lead them to certain kinds of problems. Such problems related to the learning strategies are first language transfer, transfer of training, avoidance, and overgeneralization. Thai learners seem to transfer a lack of some relative clause types in their native language to learning L2 ERCs. They also avoid the RC constructions, e.g. the object-of-preposition relative and the genitive relative, as well as the relativizers &quot;whose&quot; and &quot;whom&quot;, which they probably consider too complex or unfamiliar. In addition, the previous ERC instruction apparently has a negative effect on their subsequent ERC learning, making the learners overproduce the relative marker &quot;that.&quot; Furthermore, they even extend the use of &quot;that&quot; to non-restrictive RCs, which is grammatically incorrect in English. (Contains 5 tables and 4 footnotes.)
Cultural Identity in Korean English
Author: Chang, Bok-Myung
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Intelligence,Cultural Awareness,Second Language Learning,Native Speakers,English (Second Language),Korean,Self Concept,Intercultural Communication,Syntax,Structural Analysis (Linguistics),Language Variation,Cultural Influences,Foreign Countries

This study aims to investigate the cultural identity of Korean English and to make the intercultural communications among non-native speakers successful. The purposes of this study can be summarized as follows: 1) to recognize the concept  of English as an International Language (EIL), 2) to emphasize cross-cultural understanding in the globalized world, 3) to investigate the cultural identity in Korean English, and 4) to suggest a good model for cultivating the cultural intelligence in EFL. For these purposes, this study focuses on investigating characteristics of Korean English based on value systems. Also this research surveys the para-linguistic features and socio-cultural characteristics of Korean English through analyzing word's connotations, syntactic differences, non verbal actions and gestures, address terms, interpersonal relations among Koreans, communicative behaviors, pragmatic features of Korean English, and emotions. As a conclusion, it is necessary to cultivate the cultural intelligence among English language learners in the globalized world. (Contains 3 tables and 1 footnote.)
Preserving the American Dream: A Teacher-Turned-Congressman Starts a National Dialogue on Equity
Author: Honda, Michael
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Civil Rights,Democratic Values,Educational Opportunities,Equal Education,Social Justice,Agenda Setting,Educational Policy,Educational Finance,Educational History

While the worst of the Great Recession has passed, it has become clear that persistently high unemployment, coupled with budget woes that stretch from federal to local government, will be a reality for the foreseeable future. Knowing this, Congress, the Obama administration, and constituents across the country are having a serious discussion about the nation's economy and what needs to be done to keep people competitive in the 21st century. To make sure that education is where it belongs--at the heart of the conversation--people need to reframe what the president and others have called the civil rights issue of the time. Education is not only one of the greatest civil rights issues of the time, but it is also one of the greatest competitiveness issues, making it one of the greatest long-term economic issues, and by extension, one of the greatest national security issues people are faced with today. In this article, the author kick-starts that conversation by sharing his vision, what he is doing to build that political will, and what he thinks people need to do in order to create real equity.
English Textbooks in Japan and Korea
Author: Yuasa, Katsura
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Textbook Content,Communication (Thought Transfer),Textbooks,Foreign Culture,Foreign Countries,Textbook Evaluation,Textbook Research,Textbook Standards,Readability,Text Structure,Comparative Analysis,Comparative Education,English (Second Language),English Instruction,Second Language Programs

English education in Japan and Korea are similar in some respects. Although both countries are not completely but mostly monolingual societies, where citizens do not need English in their daily life, they have begun to realize the importance of English as a tool for international communication, and as a result their English education is becoming more and more communication-oriented. It seems that Korea is the forerunner in communicative teaching and Japan is following. This report compares English textbooks used at  schools in Japan and Korea, which shows a great deal on how English is taught in both countries. Since English is taught as a regular subject for 3rd to 6th grade at elementary schools in Korea but not in Japan (tentatively taught for 5th and 6th grade), the English taught at Korean middle schools (junior high schools) is much more advanced than that of Japan, however, it is not necessarily true of the senior high school level. The goal of English textbooks in each country is slightly different: Koreans aim to express themselves and exchange ideas in English, while  Japanese textbooks are designed to arouse learners' interests in foreign culture and to foster their communicative attitude. (Contains 4 tables.)