ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Expanding the Scope of Universal Design: Implications for Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation
Author: Couillard, Ellyn
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Access to Education,Sexual Identity,Sexual Orientation,Homosexuality,Sex Role,Gender Issues,Disabilities,College Faculty,College Students,Teacher Student Relationship,Instructional Design,Social Attitudes

This article encourages postsecondary educators to expand the scope of applications of universal design and universal instructional design by exploring how principles of UD and UID can be applied to other social identities, and specifically to gender identity and sexual orientation. There are many parallels that can be drawn between students who are excluded because of their disability and students who are marginalized on the basis of nonconforming gender identity or sexual orientation. It is important that faculty and staff understand intersectionality and interdependence among social identities and consider what steps they can take to apply UID principles in ways that consider multiple aspects of identity in order to provide inclusive educational experiences for all students. Scenarios for further discussion are provided.
Supporting Students in Building and Using Models: Development on the Quality and Complexity Dimensions
Author: Bielik, Tom
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Models,Middle School Students,Grade 7,Water Quality,Science Instruction,Computer Uses in Education,Units of Study,Integrated Activities,Instructional Effectiveness

Past research has identified elements underlying modeling as a core science and engineering practice, as well as dimensions along which students' learn how to use models and how they perceive the nature of modeling. To extend these findings by a perspective on how modeling practice can be used in classrooms, we used design-based research to investigate how the modeling practice elements, i.e., construct, use, evaluate, and revise, were integrated in a middle school unit about water quality that included using an online modeling tool. We focus on N = 3 groups as cases to track and analyze 7th grade students' modeling practice and metamodeling knowledge across the unit. Students constructed, used, evaluated, and revised their models based on data they collected and concepts they learned. Results indicate most students succeeded in constructing complex models using the modeling tool by consecutively adding and specifying variables and relationships. This is a positive finding compared to prior research on students' metamodeling knowledge. Similar to these studies, we observed several basic metamodeling conceptions and generally less progress in this field than in students' models. We discuss implications for applying modeling practice in classrooms and explain how students make use of the different modeling practice elements by developing their models in the complexity and quality dimensions.
Graphic Organizers Support Young L2 Writers&apos; Argumentative Skills
Author: Mora-González, Carlos Andrés
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Instructional Materials,Persuasive Discourse,Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Teaching Methods,Grade 6,Skill Development,Writing Instruction,Teacher Attitudes,Diaries,Writing Processes,Native Language,Connected Discourse,Secondary School Students,Grounded Theory

This qualitative study had the objective of analyzing the influence of graphic organizers on the development of written argumentative tasks in a group of sixth-grade Colombian L2 English learners. Learners are increasingly required to analyze information presented in languages other than their first critically to form reasoned opinions and solve problems. It is thus urgent to develop their argumentation skills, needed not only for academic success but also later professional life--and, indeed, by participant citizens in democratic societies. Although there has been some increased interest in teaching argumentation at primary and secondary levels, this remains relatively unexplored Colombia, certainly when considering writing in a second language. For the present study, data were collected through a questionnaire, a survey, a focus group, a teachers' journal, and students' written artifacts and analyzed through the grounded theory approach. Findings revealed that using graphic organizers influenced learners' argumentative writing skills positively, specifically through supporting strategic information planning and argumentative linearization during the pre- and while-writing stages. These understandings, which show that younger learners can develop complex argumentative writing skills in a second language, offer significant lessons for teachers of language--and content--in both the first and additional languages.
Task-Supported-Teaching to Promote EFL Oral Fluency
Author: Castillo, Rigoberto
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Oral Language,Language Fluency,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Action Research,Task Analysis,Intensive Language Courses,Language Teachers,Retention (Psychology),Video Technology,Teacher Attitudes,Teaching Methods,Correlation,Foreign Countries

This paper presents a study that looked into the structuring of tasks that may foster oral fluency in an intensive eight-week course with 25 young adult and adult learners of English as a foreign language in a format of tutoring sessions for conversation. The action research involved two teachers and a research advisor, coauthors of this paper. Researchers identified two drawbacks: learners claimed that instruction was not helpful for them to use English outside the classroom, and that they had difficulty in retaining information in long-term memory. With surveys, interviews, observations and videos, the research team gathered data on students' progress, goals, performance and beliefs. The pedagogical intervention with &quot;Task-Supported Teaching&quot; (TST) produced these results: a) TST promoted cooperation b) the degree of participation correlated with the students' purpose for learning English, and c) TST raised awareness on the acquisition of speaking.
Impact of Social Media on the English Language Writing Abilities of Undergraduates in Ekpoma, Nigeria
Author: Omoera, Osakue Stevenson
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Social Media,Foreign Countries,Writing Skills,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Student Attitudes,College Faculty,Language Variation,Pidgins,Language Patterns,Language Usage,Phrase Structure,Undergraduate Students

This article examined the impact of social media on the writing abilities of Nigerian youths in English, which is the language of mass communication in Nigeria. Deploying cultivation theory of the media, this study used quantitative and qualitative methods to unpack the Nigerian youths' opinions on the impact of the use of social media on their writing abilities, using undergraduates in Ekpoma, Nigeria as a study case. To do this, data was collected through the use of 110 copies of a survey questionnaire administered to selected students. Additional information was garnered from focused group discussions (FGDs) with students and in-depth interviews (IDIs) with some tertiary institutions' lecturers as well as the researchers' direct observation of the issue under investigation. The study discovered that a majority of the youths adopt a certain option/brand of English which cannot be located within the matrix of Standard English (SE) or even popular Nigerian English variant which is called Pidgin English (PE). Consequently, expressions such as 'u' for 'you' 'gr8t' for 'great', 'ur/urs' for 'your/yours', among other deviational patterns, have crept into their writing consciousness in classes and examinations, which make a lot of 'sense' in informal settings among the youths, but smacks of sub-literacy in formal writing situations under which they are being trained. This development can have serious implications for effective and efficient writing among Nigerian youths, especially in formal situations. The study recommends, amongst others, that further studies should be carried out on the deviational patterns of English words and phrases which are commonly used by youths in Nigeria and elsewhere, with a view to possibly getting the 'new words' standardized by the relevant educational authorities to ensure uniformity in usage, and to keep pace with the dynamically trendy social media culture.
Exploring Social Skills and Character Education of Students through Storytelling in L2
Author: León-Garzón, Rosmery
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Values Education,English (Second Language),Action Research,Transformative Learning,Interpersonal Competence,Workshops,Grade 7,Student Reaction,Peer Relationship,Rejection (Psychology),Foreign Countries,Reflection,Student Attitudes,Teaching Methods

Little is known about character education and social skills within a transformative curriculum framework in the L2 classroom. This action research study stems from identifying peer rejection in 7th grade English language classrooms as a social issue hampering English language practices for some students. Four L2 storytelling workshops were designed and implemented adapting social and linguistic contents. Data comprising students' reactions to the content of the adapted short stories were collected using classroom interaction transcriptions, students' artifacts, field notes, semi-structured interviews with students, and the evaluation of the storytelling workshops made by the students. Data analysis demonstrates that students could learn to live in a community creating healthy L2 learning environments when there is a sense of awareness about accepting differences whilst practicing the use of the English language.
EFL Teachers&apos; Professional Development: Towards a Counterpart of the English Language Supremacy
Author: Estacio, Aura María
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Faculty Development,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Language Teachers,Masters Theses,Decision Making,Foreign Policy,Native Speakers,Language Attitudes,Language Role,Teaching Methods,Language Variation,Language Usage

This article aims at contributing to the ongoing discussion about the English language Supremacy and its influence in the EFL field. The theoretical discussion presented is retrieved from the literature reviewed in the development of the authors' master thesis, where it was possible to identify that there are ideological, economical, and sociopolitical aspects immersed in the decision to learn and use English, having as a result that EFL teachers' educational decisions and practices have been affected. Thereupon, the main contribution of this reflection article is, then, to explore from a theoretical perspective, a resistance discourse that promotes professional development by understanding and reflecting upon the colonial ideas in which this foreign language teaching has been immersed over the years.
Developing Autonomy through Student-Centered English Language Learning Process for Engineering Students
Author: Olaya, Marian Lissett
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Centered Learning,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,College Students,Independent Study,Learning Processes,Engineering Education,State Universities,Student Attitudes,Teaching Methods,Student Motivation,Electronic Publishing,Intervention,Course Descriptions,Educational Technology,Foreign Countries

This article focuses on how the incorporation of autonomy into university students' learning process improves their English language performance. The participants of this study were 25 students of engineering programs in a public university. Data collection was done through observation, a survey, and a group interview. Two categories that emerged after the data analysis supported the main finding that technology-based activities can be conceived as a starting point for the incorporation of autonomous learning in the English language education at the university.
A Qualitative Investigation of Pragmatic Development in Foreign and Target Context
Author: Tulgar, Aysegül Takkaç
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Pragmatics,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Turkish,Foreign Countries,Case Studies,Comparative Analysis,Student Attitudes,Content Analysis,Teaching Methods,College Students

The effects of learning environment on language development in general and pragmatic competence have received increasing attention in the last few decades. The existing studies examined the effects of ESL and EFL settings on pragmatic development from a variety of standpoints. Taking these studies as the basis, this comparative case study aimed to investigate the effects of target context and foreign context on the pragmatic development of two groups of learners, one learning a foreign language (English) and the other learning a second language (Turkish). What differentiates this study from the previous ones is that it compares the cases of learning foreign and second languages (by two different student groups) in the same country (Turkey) The participants, selected on purposeful sampling, were one group of Turkish learners of English in an EFL department in Turkey and the other group was learners from different nationalities learning Turkish in Turkey. The data were collected through participants' self-reports, interviews and in-class observations by the researcher. The content analysis mainly revealed that the foreign context did not offer learners adequate chances for exposure to and practice in the target language, which negatively influenced their pragmatic development. However, the target context provided ample chances of natural and authentic communication in which learners of Turkish could develop their pragmatic knowledge and production. Based on these results, some pedagogical and practical suggestions are provided.
&quot;I&apos;m Not a Person That Reads&quot;: Identity Work, Adult Learners, and Educational (Dis)Engagement
Author: McLean, Scott
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Identification (Psychology),Adults,Adult Learning,Independent Study,Self Help Programs,Reading

The concept of identity has become prominent in the study of Canadian education. We further the understanding of identity by examining the ways through which adults present themselves as subjects in learning processes. We recruited 134 adults who had recently read self-help books pertaining to health, careers, or relationships, and conducted qualitative interviews that focused on the motivations, goals, and learning outcomes that they attributed to their reading. We found that, during the process of being interviewed about their self-help reading experience, roughly half of our interviewees engaged in unsolicited &quot;identity talk&quot;--rhetorically embracing or distancing themselves from the social role of the self-help reader. Our study provides three key contributions to the scholarship of education: a nuanced ethnographic description of the complex and diverse ways in which adult learners position themselves as subjects in self-directed learning processes; an illustration of the theoretical utility and limitations of research focused on the identity work of individuals; and an exhortation to further research concerned with understanding the role of identity in processes of educational engagement/disengagement.
Exploring Equity in Ontario: A Provincial Scan of Equity Policies across School Boards
Author: Shewchuk, Samantha Jo
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Equal Education,Educational Policy,Boards of Education,Board of Education Policy,Inclusion,Information Dissemination,Religion,Homosexuality,Capacity Building,Minority Groups

Canada--and Ontario, in particular--is proud to be characterized as one of the most equitable education systems in the world. However, diversity poses unique challenges for Canadian education systems. This study presents findings from an environmental scan of equity policies across the 72 school boards in Ontario, which yielded 785 equity policies for analysis. Data extraction focused on five dimensions of knowledge mobilization: structures, brokering, co-production, dissemination, and exchange. Findings show that many topics remain under-represented in school board policy coverage, including religious accommodation, antiracism and ethno-cultural discrimination, anti-discrimination procedures for LGBTQ2+ students, gender identity, and socio-economic status.
Early Childhood Educators&apos; and Teachers&apos; Early Mathematics Education Knowledge, Beliefs, and Pedagogy
Author: Youmans, Alexandra
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preschool Teachers,Early Childhood Education,Mathematics Instruction,Knowledge Level,Teacher Attitudes,Beliefs,Mathematics Teachers,Foreign Countries,Teacher Surveys,Grade 1,Elementary School Teachers,Mathematical Concepts,Achievement Gap

In the spring of 2017, an educational needs assessment of early mathematics education in Ontario was conducted using an online survey for early childhood educators, kindergarten teachers, and Grade 1 teachers. The purpose of the needs assessment was to acquire a brief account of the state of early mathematics education in the province and to identify any potential gaps between current and desired early mathematics education practices. Educators' responses (n = 130) about their early mathematics knowledge, beliefs, and pedagogy revealed four critical areas that need to be addressed to improve the quality of early mathematics education.
Alberta School Principals&apos; Use of Professional Portfolios in Teacher Hiring
Author: Kelly, Darron
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Principals,Portfolios (Background Materials),Personnel Selection,Preservice Teachers,Administrators,Preservice Teacher Education,Administrator Surveys,Administrator Attitudes

Creating a professional portfolio is a requirement for most pre-service teachers in Alberta. Little is known, however, about principals' use of applicant portfolios in hiring. In response, researchers conducted an online survey of principals throughout the province. Findings indicate a preference for traditional job application items (e.g., a resumé, reference letters, and letter of introduction) and teacher competence indicators (e.g., teacher mentor and school administrator assessments, student assessment methods, and a classroom management plan). Examining attitudes and hiring practices provides direction for creating portfolios that attend to the actual needs and interests of principals in the province, thereby enhancing the employment prospects of new teachers.
Personality and Ability Traits of Teachers: Student Perceptions
Author: Ibad, Fareeda
Date: 2018-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Personality Traits,Ability,Teacher Characteristics,College Faculty,College Students,Student Attitudes,Teacher Evaluation,Student Evaluation of Teacher Performance,Teacher Effectiveness,Foreign Countries,Teacher Student Relationship,Emotional Intelligence,Communication Skills,Teaching Methods

The study attempts to explore higher education students' perceptions of proficient teachers, which is of importance to them in their learning. Since no effective system of teacher evaluation was in place in Pakistan until recently to distinguish between good and poor teachers, research shows that poor teaching quality is pervasive in higher education institutions in the country. The study analyzed students' views of good and poor teaching through two focus group discussions with students from two engineering schools in Pakistan. The thematic coding of data yielded the desired outcomes of students' views according to the personality and ability traits their teachers demonstrated. It was revealed that teachers possessed both categories of characteristics to a certain extent with the shortcomings of approachability, ability to bring knowledge to the level of the students, low emotional intelligence and poor communication ability resulting there from. It is expected that action to improve teaching quality would result in awareness of the problem.
Comparing Traditional Teaching Method and Experiential Teaching Method Using Experimental Research
Author: Raja, Farhan Uddin
Date: 2018-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,College Students,Business Administration Education,Business Communication,Teaching Methods,Conventional Instruction,Experiential Learning,Instructional Effectiveness,Comparative Analysis,Scores

The modern time is shaping a world of opportunities that has glorified the role and functions of multinational organizations across the globe. An individual has become a global citizen, who explores employment opportunities in different countries of the world. This has signified the importance of interpersonal skills that allow individuals to connect with people from different cultures. As a result, the role of business communication instructors has become vital because they impart the skills of communication among their students. For this, instructors' sensitivity towards the teaching methods used in classrooms are of prime significance. These methods determine the interest level and motivation of students towards learning and acquisition of communication skills. Therefore, this study aims to compare experiential learning method and traditional learning method to explore which method inculcates and improves the communication skills of business administration students of a private sector university. The study was conducted in a quantitative paradigm using an experimental research design. The sample size comprised 60 BBA students from two different sections of business communication courses. The data were collected using a pretest and posttest. For the pretest, communication skills were imparted to both the groups using the traditional teaching method that heavily employed lecturing. For the posttest, the controlled group was taught using the same traditional teaching method while the treatment group was taught using the experiential learning method. Mean scores 20.46 &amp; 19.90 with a significant value of 0.375 for the pretest established identical nature of both groups. Mean scores 27.80 &amp; 30.36 with a significant value of 0.002 of posttest showed that the two groups under study had different identities in scores, which proved that experiential learning method improves students' communication skills better than traditional communication skills.