ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
AP, Dual Enrollment, and the Survival of Honors Education
Author: Guzy, Annmarie
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Dual Enrollment,Advanced Placement Programs,Honors Curriculum,Educational Quality,Educational Legislation,Admission Criteria,Paying for College,Time to Degree,State Policy,Relevance (Education),Institutional Survival,College Programs

A new admissions crisis has begun to emerge in the honors community. In an increasing number of states, legislatures are mandating uniform minimum AP and dual enrollment credits that public colleges and universities must accept, and consequently the honors students that have been admitted based in part on their willingness to take on challenging coursework such as AP classes are now struggling to find enough liberal-arts based honors electives to complete an honors program. Neither parents nor state legislatures want to continue paying the ever escalating costs of higher education, so fast-tracking students through a bachelor's degree program in three years has become particularly attractive. Reports of freshmen coming into public institutions with 30-60 credit hours are becoming more frequent. While parents and state governments are happily saving those tuition dollars, the traditional liberal arts foundation of honors education is being gutted. Author Annemarie Guzy reasons that in the present climate, honors educators no longer have the luxury of continuing a &quot;more vs. different&quot; debate regarding whether honors courses should be differentiated from regular courses through more assignments (frequently the default setting in honors contracts) or through qualitatively different work. She maintains that if students have already covered the material in high school, and the state mandates that they must be awarded college credit for it, then calling course work &quot;honors&quot; by offering more of the same-more papers, more tests, more books, more labs -is indeed a waste of time and tuition. Guzy calls for educators to challenge themselves to teach something substantively different because innovation is the hallmark of honors education.
Got AP?
Author: Digby, Joan
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Advanced Placement Programs,Honors Curriculum,Paying for College,Cost Effectiveness,Time to Degree,Relevance (Education),Program Attitudes,Student Experience

Families, especially those considering sending their children to a private four-year university, need all the help they can get in funding college. Annmarie Guzy's essay &quot;AP, Dual Enrollment, and the Survival of Honors Education&quot; in this issue powerfully spells out the financial benefits that accrue from using AP courses to satisfy college credits and how states have begun to legislate quite terrifying directives mandating the acceptance of &quot;uniform minimum AP . . . credits.&quot; The essential issue--as Guzy has aptly put it--boils down to money, probably even more for students headed toward private colleges and universities than those enrolling in state schools. Naturally, families search for strategies to bring down the cost of college as well as the time it takes to complete a degree. Taking college courses or AP courses in high school facilitates this plan. Both are offered at rates cheaper than college tuition, and they often permit a student to cut out as much as one whole semester. Author Joan Digby writes here that for many reasons she is in favor of accepting AP credit rather than taking the position that students have wasted time and money. AP classes boost self esteem and academic confidence. That said, Digby also points out that AP classes and so-called &quot;college classes&quot; in high school are nothing like college equivalents, and when she speaks with prospective honors students about their high school AP classes she lets them know that the college experience of core courses will be very different from high school. Digby reveals that her greatest fear is that college is pretending to be higher education, and that AP and other fast-track schemes seem based on Lady Macbeth's premise about murder that &quot;'twere well it were done quickly.&quot; Such schemes are just the edge of a more harrowing discussion current in the media about whether a college degree is a credential worth having.
Attitudes towards Communication Skills among Engineering Students
Author: Kovac, Mirjana M.
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Communication Skills,Engineering Education,Student Attitudes,Attitude Change,Followup Studies,Attitude Measures,Undergraduate Students,Cohort Analysis,Positive Attitudes,Negative Attitudes,Questionnaires

Good communication skills are of utmost importance in the education of engineering students. It is necessary to promote not only their education, but also to prepare them for the demanding and competitive job market. The purpose of this study was to compare the attitudes towards communication skills after formal instruction between the students of engineering studies in the first and sixth semesters. Data were collected using the Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) which consisted of 14 items. The target population included 31 students of engineering studies who attended the communication skills course in the first semester, and 31 students of engineering studies who attended the same course just before the completion of the undergraduate study programme. The results are in accordance with previous studies suggesting that senior and more mature students have higher positive attitudes compared to the students at the beginning of their undergraduate studies. Although both groups had noticeable positive attitudes towards learning communication skills, negative attitudes should also be taken into consideration and an attempt should be made to decrease them.
Developing Business Writing Skills and Reducing Writing Anxiety of EFL Learners through Wikis
Author: Kassem, Mohamed Ali Mohamed
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Business Communication,Writing Skills,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Anxiety,Writing Apprehension,Tests,Measures (Individuals),Scores,Statistical Analysis,Experimental Groups,Business Administration Education,Control Groups,Writing Instruction,Teaching Methods,Foreign Countries

The present study aimed at investigating the effect of using wikis on developing business writing skills and reducing writing anxiety of Business Administration students at Prince Sattam bin Abdul Aziz University, KSA. Sixty students, who were randomly chosen and divided into two equivalent groups: control and experimental, participated in the study. Two main tools were devised to collect data: Test of Business Writing Skills (TBWS) and Writing Anxiety Inventory (WAI). The experiment was conducted during the second semester of the academic year 2015-2016. A t-test was utilized to calculate the differences between the mean scores of the two groups in pre- and post-intervention. The findings of the study showed statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the post-TBWS in favor of the experimental group. In addition, the writing anxiety level of the experimental group, after the intervention, was significantly less than the control group. These findings revealed the positive effects of wikis on developing business writing skills and reducing writing anxiety of EFL learners. It is recommended that sufficient training should be provided to instructors on how to integrate wikis in business writing instruction. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for further research are presented.
Improving Students' Vocabulary Mastery by Using Total Physical Response
Author: Fahrurrozi
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Vocabulary Development,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Instructional Effectiveness,Foreign Countries,Action Research,Grade 3,Elementary School Students,Statistical Analysis,Scores,Pretests Posttests

This study aims to describe how Total Physical Response improves students' vocabulary learning outcomes at the third-grade elementary school Guntur 03 South Jakarta, Indonesia. This research was conducted in the first semester of the academic year 2015-2016 with the number of students as many as 40 students. The method used in this research is a Classroom Action Research using the cycle model of Kemmis and Taggart. Class Action Research is conducted through the plan, class action or implementation, observation, and reflection stages. The data collection was done by using a non-test, test instruments and monitoring instruments in the form of action, and field notes. Validity and reliability of the instrument were reached through expert judgment. The results obtained from this study was the improvement in vocabulary learning outcomes of students by applying the Total Physical Response (TPR) method. Percentage of learning outcomes in the first cycle reached 74.13% and 83.38% in the second cycle. The percentage shows improvement of learning effectiveness by applying the Total Physical Response method. The first cycle resulted in an improvement of 64.29% and the second cycle resulted in an increase of 87.14%. Thus, learning process by using Total Physical Response (TPR) can improve students' vocabulary learning outcomes. The implication of this study is that teaching vocabulary using the Total Physical Response is more effective.
Integrating True Short Stories into English Classes: The Case of Foundation Students in Oman
Author: Al Siyabi, Munira Said
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Teaching Methods,Reading Processes,Literary Genres,Educational Benefits,Participant Observation,Language Teachers,Foreign Countries,College Students,Language Proficiency,Action Research,Mixed Methods Research,Questionnaires

Searching for practical ways to improve students' English language skills is a real concern for all English teachers. There is a consensus among ELT practitioners regarding the significance of reading for learning new languages, since reading gives depth to language learning (Stern, 2001). Thus, teachers are obligated to provide their students with interesting and suitable texts to read. Real stories are by far more interesting and involving than scientific and historical texts. The present study aimed to investigate students' perceptions of reading true short stories and its benefits. The study data were collected through a survey and participant observation of 19 level D students in Oman. The study findings indicated that using stories during English class was an interesting experience and had good potential as a tool to improve English language skills. The meaningful context created by the true short stories made it much easier for the teacher to conduct and run the class.
Should Dictionaries Be Used in Translation Tests and Examinations?
Author: Mahmoud, Abdulmoneim
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Translation,Dictionaries,Semitic Languages,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Electronic Publishing,Undergraduate Students,Error Analysis (Language),Error Patterns,Statistical Analysis,Language Tests

Motivated by the conflicting views regarding the use of the dictionary in translation tests and examinations this study was intended to verify the dictionary-free vs dictionary-based translation hypotheses. The subjects were 135 Arabic-speaking male and female EFL third-year university students. A group consisting of 62 students translated a text from English to Arabic without a dictionary at the beginning of the semester and translated the same text with a dictionary at the end of the semester. Another group of 73 students translated a text from Arabic to English twice in the same way in the same semester. Both groups used electronic mobile dictionaries in the second translation. The lexical errors were detected and statistically analyzed. The t-tests revealed a highly significant difference in favor of dictionary-based translation. The errors committed in the dictionary-based translation were remarkably less than those committed in dictionary-free translation. Further research is needed to settle the dispute.
Sharing Views of CLIL Lesson Planning in Language Teacher Education
Author: Banegas, Dario Luis
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Lesson Plans,Language Teachers,Teacher Education Programs,Foreign Countries,Second Language Learning,Curriculum Development,English (Second Language),Course Content,Comparative Analysis,Preservice Teachers,Language of Instruction,Secondary School Students,Secondary School Teachers,Teaching Methods,Guidelines,Likert Scales,Student Attitudes

Argentina seems to favour CLIL (content and language integrated learning) as a language-driven approach in secondary and higher education. In this paper, I investigate curriculum development and lesson planning based on trainees' perceptions and lesson plans submitted to pass a module on Didactics as part of their formal initial English language teacher education. My aim is to compare what a group of trainees does in relation to the notion of CLIL as forward curriculum planning and the frameworks posited in the CLIL literature. My theoretical framework is guided by the concept of didactic transposition applied to CLIL and the literature on CLIL lessons plans drawing on teachers' voices through their plans. In this paper I discuss how language-driven CLIL was envisaged by a group of 47 trainees enrolled in a teacher education course in southern Argentina. Data emerged from a survey and lesson plans aimed at secondary-school learners for whom English was usually taught two hours a week. Results show that language-driven CLIL follows forward design; it focuses more on content than on explicit knowledge of the language, and it is aimed at revising language with older learners.
Applying CLIL to English Language Teaching in Thailand: Issues and Challenges
Author: Suwannoppharat, Khwanchit
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Course Content,Case Studies,Labor Market,Cultural Awareness,Teaching Methods,Guidelines,Language Teachers,Teacher Attitudes,Language Fluency,Language of Instruction,Interdisciplinary Approach

Most countries in the world have been influenced by the trends of globalization and interculturality; accordingly, the English language and related cultures have come to play more important roles in global communication. Educational research, a primary source for language teaching and learning development, has increasingly emphasized the importance of integrating language and culture in teaching and learning processes. However, it is not easy for students who use English as a foreign language (EFL) to speak English fluently in an environment where English is rarely used outside the classroom. Teachers nevertheless try to find out the most appropriate teaching approach to develop their students' English skills in order to serve the demands for English in the labor markets. This article discusses the application of CLIL in an EFL context--a case study in Thailand--with an emphasis on explanation of CLIL framework and principles and how these are implemented in Thailand as guidelines for developing EFL courses or curriculum. Both advantages and disadvantages of applying CLIL are examined and the difficulties of applying CLIL in the classroom are clarified to help EFL teachers plan their courses more effectively.
The Dialogues between Content and Language: Cautions and Challenges in the Emergence of a Bilingual Education Program
Author: Aguilar Cortés, Carlos Eduardo
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Bilingual Education Programs,Course Content,Teaching Methods,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Interdisciplinary Approach,Science Instruction,English (Second Language),Correlation,Spanish,Foreign Countries,Cytology,Language of Instruction,Elementary School Students

This paper presents a set of ideas about the basics for developing interdisciplinary dialogues between content (science) and language (English) in bilingual educational processes, under the premise that a satisfactory relationship between those elements help guarantee successful content-based instruction (CBI) in its form known as &quot;sheltered instruction.&quot; Additionally, a practical example (based on a science curriculum) is presented to demonstrate some principles that inform approaches to teaching such content. Finally, based on the authors' interdisciplinary work and pedagogical experiences, some recommendations on teaching content and language in bilingual settings are presented in the form of cautions (a balance of actions) and challenges (prospects).
Theme-Based Culture Capsules and EFL Learners' Multicultural Attitude: The Efficiency of Explicit and Implicit Instruction
Author: Saeedi, Zari
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Student Attitudes,Direct Instruction,Incidental Learning,Instructional Effectiveness,Efficiency,Multivariate Analysis,Foreign Countries,Cultural Education,Pretests Posttests

The current study aims at gaining insight into the effectiveness of the explicit and implicit instructions of the culture capsules through multimedia resources and tracks EFL learners|' multicultural attitudes. The study sampled 43 advanced EFL learners who took part in speaking courses at Shoukoh and Safiran institutes. The researchers applied one-stage cluster sampling to select two groups of participants. The first group received both input (multimedia resources) and the explicit instruction of L2 culture capsules and the second group were exposed to the same cultural input through the implicit instruction. In order to track down the potential enhancement of the multicultural attitudes of the learners, Munroe and Pearson's (2006) multicultural attitude scale (MASQUE) was administered to the respondents at the pre-test stage and after the treatment phase. In order to have an exhaustive analysis, the researchers evaluated different levels of multicultural attitude, that is, multicultural knowledge, care, and act. The findings of the study, through one-way MANOVA, showed that the learners in the first group significantly outperformed in multicultural knowledge (? = 0.001) and care (? = 0.039), but there was no significant difference between the groups regarding the multicultural act (? = 0.177) at p&lt; 0.05 level of significance. Based on the findings, it can be suggested that the positive multicultural attitude can be achieved through the proper input and explicit instruction.
Strengthening Integrated Learning: Towards a New Era for Pluriliteracies and Intercultural Learning
Author: Coyle, Do
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Course Content,Teaching Methods,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Multiple Literacies,Guidelines,Language of Instruction,Cultural Awareness,Language Usage,Models,Language Skills,Lesson Plans,Language Teachers,Teacher Education

The expansion of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) on a global scale has brought to the fore challenges of how alternative, more holistic approaches to learning might transform classrooms into language-rich transcultural environments. Integrated approaches can offer learners opportunities to engage in meaning-making and language progression through cognitively challenging and culturally-embedded sequenced activities, as reflected in the 4Cs Framework (Content, Cognition, Communication, and Culture). These emphasise classroom language as well as learners' needs to access the variety of language that helps them learn an additional language effectively--as represented in the Language Triptych. However, it is well documented that complex contextual variables make it difficult to realise CLIL's potential. Recent research by the Graz Group into how to better integrate the 4Cs' components has led to development of the Pluriliteracies Framework, in which conceptualization and communication come together and learners are encouraged to language (or articulate) their learning in their own words. This demands new ways of conceptualizing, planning, and sequencing activities that support learners in accessing new knowledge whilst developing existing and new language skills must be shared and understood by teachers. The Pluriliteracies model is evolving, and there is a clear need for further work.
Turkish Version of Students' Ideas about Nature of Science Questionnaire: A Validation Study
Author: Cansiz, Mustafa
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Scientific Principles,Science Education,Middle School Students,Scientific Concepts,Test Validity,Test Reliability,Questionnaires,Translation,Turkish,Concept Formation,Factor Analysis,Regression (Statistics),Attitude Measures,Gender Differences,Prior Learning,Correlation

Mass assessment of large samples' nature of science views has been one of the core concerns in science education research. Due to impracticality of using open-ended questionnaires or conducting interviews with large groups, another line of research has been required for mass assessment of pupils' nature of science conception meaningfully. Considering these issues, Chen et al. (2013) developed the questionnaire titled Students' Ideas about Nature of Science (SINOS) to evaluate young students' NoS views. This study targeted to translate and adapt SINOS into Turkish with the aim of measuring Turkish middle-school students' nature of science (NoS) views. Analysis results presented confirmation for the reliability and validity of Turkish version of the questionnaire with seven-factor structure as similar to the original questionnaire. The study concluded with recommendations for use of SINOS in Turkish context in order to improve NoS perspectives in national science curriculum.