ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Willingness to Communicate and Second Language Proficiency: A Correlational Study
Author: Darasawang, Pornapit
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Classroom Communication,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language),Required Courses,Student Motivation,College Freshmen,Readiness,Self Efficacy,Correlation,Language Proficiency,Public Colleges,Foreign Countries

This study attempts to answer one straightforward question: &quot;what is the relationship between students' proficiency level and their willingness to communicate?&quot;, i.e., their &quot;readiness to enter into discourse at a particular time with a specific person or persons&quot;, using an L2. Understanding the link between proficiency and WTC is important as a great deal of effort is expended by teachers worldwide on encouraging learners to engage in L2, interaction more. If their willingness to do so depends (in part) on their proficiency level at the time, this may affect what type of activities and instruction are to be provided in class, especially compulsory English classes where students have less autonomy and motivation. To establish this relationship, we correlated 1836 Thai university students' English Placement Test scores with their level of WTC as measured through a three-part survey instrument, with WTC operationalised as &quot;self-perceived willingness to communicate&quot;, &quot;communicative self-confidence&quot;, and &quot;self-perceived L2 use&quot;. We found a weak to moderate correlation between WTC and language proficiency, with the construct of &quot;self-confidence&quot; being the most strongly correlated. We discuss some of the implications of these findings in relation to EFL teaching.
Fostering Computational Thinking Skills: A Didactic Proposal for Elementary School Grades
Author: Silva, Ricardo
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Computation,Thinking Skills,Skill Development,Didacticism,Elementary School Students,Robotics,Technological Literacy,Cooperative Learning

There is a growing presence of technology in the daily lives of elementary school students, with a recent exponential rise due to the constraints of remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to understand how the education system can contribute to helping students develop the required skills for technological careers, without neglecting its obligation to create conditions that allow them to acquire transversal skills and to enable them to exercise full citizenship. The integration of Educational Robotics and block programming activities in collaborative learning environments promotes the development of computational thinking and other ICT skills, as well as critical thinking, social skills, and problem solving. This paper presents a theoretical proposal of a didactic sequence for the introduction to educational robotics and programming with Scratch Jr. It is composed of three learning scenarios, designed for elementary school teaching. Its main goal is to create conditions that favour the development of computational thinking in a collaborative learning environment. With increasing complexity and degree of difficulty, all the tasks root from a common problem: How can we create an algorithm that programs the robot/sprite to reach a predetermined position?
Establishing Equity: Aligning Dual Language Bilingual Education to HB3 Sec. 11.1185 Texas Early Childhood Literacy &amp; Mathematics Proficiency Plans
Author: Núñez Porras, Patricia
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Bilingual Education,Alignment (Education),Early Childhood Education,State Legislation,Literacy,English Language Learners,Educational Legislation,Equal Education

This policy brief provides recommendations that address dual language bilingual education and House Bill 3 (HB3) Texas Early Childhood Literacy &amp; Mathematics Proficiency Plans requirement. How can the HB3 Texas Early Childhood Literacy &amp; Mathematics Proficiency Plan requirement set appropriate reading goals for dual language students designated as English Learners? These recommendations are attentive to the unique trajectory of developing literacy in two languages (biliteracy) and accurately report a students' biliteracy growth. Adopting the stated recommendations will ensure valid measures of students' literacies, establish an accountability system and drive an accurate appropriation of funds to support robust dual language bilingual education implementation.
Students&apos; Perceptions of Doctoral Defense Formats
Author: Lantsoght, Eva O. L.
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Doctoral Students,Student Attitudes,Doctoral Dissertations,Persuasive Discourse,Public Speaking,Writing for Publication,Committees,Feedback (Response),Supervision,Psychological Patterns,Teleconferencing

The doctoral defense is an important step in the doctoral journey and an essential requirement for obtaining a doctoral degree. Past research on the doctoral defense has focused solely on national practices. In this work, I investigate the potential link between the doctoral defense format based on its major and minor elements and the perception of the defense by the student. For this purpose, I first reviewed the different defense formats used internationally to extract the different elements of the doctoral defense, and the literature on students' perceptions of the doctoral defense. Then, I carried out an international survey which received 297 responses, of which 204 were completed surveys which I used for the analysis in this article. I first analyzed the outcomes of the survey using qualitative and quantitative methods, and then cross-correlated the outcomes of defense format with the outcomes of student perception. From this analysis, I observed that the defense elements that positively impact the student's perception are: publication of the thesis before the defense, receiving committee feedback before the defense, knowing the recommendations of one or more committee member in advance, having the supervisor present in the audience or as part of the committee, using a dress code, and including a laudatio. The final conclusion of this work is threefold. The first conclusion is that the details of the defense format impact most the students' perception. The second conclusion is that doctoral students, on average, value the defense as a positive experience. The third conclusion is that the defense format cannot influence two important aspects of how a student perceives the defense: the student's inner life and experience during the defense, and the behavior of the committee members.
Teacher-Student Reflections: A Critical Conversation about Values and Cultural Awareness in Community Development Work, and Implications for Teaching and Practice
Author: Sheridan, Louise
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reflection,Critical Theory,Undergraduate Students,Teacher Educators,Informal Education,Community Development,Bachelors Degrees,Consciousness Raising,Social Values,Social Change,Social Justice,Cultural Awareness,Cultural Pluralism,Ethics,Standards,Foreign Countries

This reflective, autoethnographic piece provides some insights into our involvement with a program that promotes a value-driven approach to community development work. As a 'conversation' between a lecturer and a graduate, or Educator of Informal Educators and Informal Educator, we discuss the process of teaching and learning about values within day-to-day community development practice. We emphasise that a value-driven approach enables informal educators to celebrate cultural diversity, which can be complex in community settings. As the educator of informal educators (Louise), I reflect on the need to explore and demonstrate what value-driven practice looks like in day-to-day practice within community work and not simply state that values are important. This was prompted by self-reflection and the realisation that my teaching failed to illuminate how to bring values to life in all aspects of community work to achieve anti-discriminatory, inclusive and empowering practice. As an informal educator (Matthew), I consider how community development theories and values translate into meaningful practice that celebrates cultural diversity. Reflections are influenced by theories from Paulo Freire, with a focus on his notion that 'educators should respect the autonomy of the students and respect cultural identities'. An example of Freirean dialogue, the article discusses our critical consciousness through praxis as educator and informal educator. Acknowledging that we are never fully complete--we are always 'becoming'--we hope the article will be of interest to both Educators of Informal Educators and Informal Educators alike.
Out of the Classroom and Less Likely to Graduate: The Relationship between Exclusionary Discipline and Four-Year Graduation Rates in Texas
Author: Lenderman, Kristian
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Graduation Rate,Discipline,Suspension,Nontraditional Education,Program Effectiveness,Grade 9,Disproportionate Representation,Racial Bias,African American Students,Hispanic American Students,At Risk Students,Expulsion,Juvenile Justice,Correlation,Gender Differences,Ethnicity,Special Education,Socioeconomic Status,White Students

Exclusionary discipline has been a topic of focus for Texas lawmakers in recent legislative sessions. While studies show the negative impact of exclusionary discipline on students, few explore how children who enter Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs fare later in their educational careers. The following paper outlines data collected from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) highlighting the relationship between assignments to DAEPs with graduation rates for ninth graders. This analysis shows the disproportional use of exclusionary discipline assignments on Black and Latinx students and the negative relationship between assignments to exclusionary discipline and four-year graduation rates for students. These issues are relevant as legislators and districts contemplate new discipline protocols in response to the public health crisis.
Temperature Measurement--Inquiry-Based Learning Activities for Third Graders
Author: Gerhátová, Žaneta
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Science Activities,Active Learning,Inquiry,Grade 3,Elementary School Students,Foreign Countries,Technology Uses in Education,Instructional Effectiveness,Scientific Concepts

The article presents our Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) activities in the project-based Science education of third graders (8--9-year-old pupils) in the Slovak Republic. Individual tasks of project assignment titled &quot;Temperature Measurement&quot; were conceived for &quot;guided inquiry&quot;. We also supported the IBL of pupils by interactive education strategy--Integrated e-Learning (INTe-L). The strategy was built on the role of interactive simulations and experimenting at the knowledge acquisition. The following INTe-L components were used: (a) on-site and remote experiments, (b) interactive simulations and (c) electronic study materials. The research was based the hypothesis that the project-based teaching of the topic &quot;Temperature Measurement&quot; using the IBL activities is significantly more efficient than traditional (instructivist) way of teaching. To verify the hypothesis, we carried out a pedagogical experiment on a sample of 60 respondents. The third graders were divided into two parallel groups: an experimental group (EG, 30 pupils) and control group (CG, 30 pupils). To get a relevant feedback, pre-test and post-test were developed and applied. The results attained in the EG were statistically processed, evaluated, and subsequently compared with those in the CG. The analysis of the results attained by the EG showed that their knowledge acquisition has been increased by 24% compared to CG. We have created a methodology for making simple scientific project assignments with the implementation of all components of the new integrated e-learning education strategy (real and real remote experiment, e-simulation, e-learning material). On a specific example of the topic &quot;Temperature Measurement&quot; in primary education, we have presented the possibility of using a &quot;guided inquiry&quot; in the implementation of individual experimental tasks. We have introduced a form of teamwork that allows to harmonize the teaching requirements with individual learning approach and helps to prepare pupils for planned work and independent knowledge acquisition and problem solving. The study has shown that complex IBL activities can be successfully applied at primary school 3rd grade level already. Our form of education with the wider use of modern information and communication technologies (ICT) was attractive for the learners and helped them to develop interdisciplinary relationships. The integrated e-learning has helped third grades to develop a deeper conceptual understanding of temperature and allowed them to prepare presentations to demonstrate their conceptual knowledge. The approach allowed pupils to gain key competencies in Science (discussion and presentation of results). It has also increased the pupils' interest in Science in general and helped them to understand links between different subjects.
Assessing the Impact of a Distance-Based Spatial Factor on Retention in the U.S. Colleges
Author: Varol, Serkan
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Proximity,Geographic Location,School Location,School Holding Power,Academic Persistence,College Students,Public Colleges,Institutional Characteristics,Correlation,Urban Universities,Rural Urban Differences,Racial Differences,Age Differences

Student retention is a wide-reaching issue that causes a concern to postsecondary institutions and policy-makers. This research aimed to examine the impact of a geo-spatial factor--distance to the closest metropolitan area--on student retention from a multi-institutional perspective, through the data collected from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (2017) of the U.S. Department of Education. Using the K-means clustering technique, 329 geographically dispersed higher education institutions with similar characteristics were identified. A spatial lag model was adopted to account for spatial autocorrelation detected within the dataset. A series of hierarchical regression was then conducted to measure how well the spatial variable explained student retention rate after accounting for institutional level attributes. The student retention rate was found to decrease as a university is located away from the closest metropolitan area. This finding has crucial policy and administrative implications if analyzed within the context of rural--urban discrepancies in higher education. Extending the spatial scope of retention analysis is an important step in accurately determining the set of factors that provides a better understanding of this complex problem.
Shooting for the STAAR: An Authentic Assessment Pilot Proposal to Replace Inequitable High-Stakes Accountability
Author: Madrigal, Alejandro, III
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Performance Based Assessment,Standardized Tests,High Stakes Tests,Testing Problems,State Legislation,Educational Legislation,Accountability,Pilot Projects,Achievement Tests

This brief is organized into four (4) main sections. We first discuss the inadequacy, inefficacy, and bias of standardized, high-stakes assessments. These assessments do not deliver on promises made by proponents and that they, in fact, do long-term harm to teachers and students, with a disproportionate negative impact on communities of color. The second section identifies the (unintended) deleterious effects of these assessments on classroom instruction and curriculum. The third section of this brief introduces HB 1867, a bill that establishes a Texas Commission on Assessment and Accountability to make recommendations for a high-quality accountability system that moves beyond the costly, racist, reproductive, and punitive system that currently plagues the state, its students, and its educators. We conclude with recommendations for an amendment to HB 1867, which includes the development of a pilot program for districts to explore and develop a system of authentic assessments to replace STAAR.
Motivational, Emotional, and Social Factors Explain Academic Achievement in Children Aged 6-12 Years: A Meta-Analysis
Author: Quílez-Robres, Alberto
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Motivation,Psychological Patterns,Social Influences,Academic Achievement,Elementary School Students,Meta Analysis,Predictor Variables,Self Concept,Self Esteem,Emotional Intelligence,Well Being,Interpersonal Competence,Age Differences,Gender Differences,Differences,Regional Characteristics,Foreign Countries

Recent studies highlight the effect of cognitive factors on academic achievement, ignoring motivational, emotional, and social factors. This provides the background for the present study, a meta-analysis on the relationship between academic achievement and motivational factors (motivation, self-concept, and self-esteem), emotional factors (emotional intelligence, emotional competence, and emotional well-being), and social factors (social intelligence, social competence, and social skills) in children aged 6-12 years (37 samples, n = 15,777). The methodology based on the PRISMA protocols was applied: phases of inclusion and exclusion of articles, analysis of effect size, heterogeneity, publication bias, and, finally, meta-regressions and moderation analysis. The results showed a moderate positive effect size (0.321) for motivational and social factors (0.210) and a small positive effect size (0.172) for emotional factors. The moderating effects of age (65% on social factors) and geographical area (52% on motivational factors, 17% on emotional factors, and 76% on social factors) were studied. These results highlight the importance of motivational and social factors regarding academic achievement. In addition, along with the moderating effect of age, that of geographical area emerges strongly given the diversity of contexts studied. Our results highlight the importance that these factors have on academic performance and, therefore, the need to design school plans that address the correct development of these variables.
Analysis of Light Verb Construction Use in L1 and L2: Insights from British and Malaysian Student Writing
Author: Ong, Christina Sook Beng
Date: 2021-08-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Verbs,Native Language,Second Language Instruction,English,English (Second Language),Writing (Composition),Teaching Methods,Writing Processes,Cultural Differences,Grammar,Language Usage,Form Classes (Languages),Nouns,Undergraduate Students

This study investigates the use of DO, HAVE, MAKE, GIVE and TAKE in light verb constructions (LVCs) and their corresponding simplex verb forms in British L1 and Malaysian L2 students' writing. The students' essay sub-corpus of the International Corpus of English (ICE) of Great Britain (ICE-GB) and Malaysia (ICE-Malaysia) formed the data of this study. The analysis revealed that most LVCs in the L1 and L2 student writings are basic in structure, comprising indefinite article, no modifier, and in the active voice. The analysis also showed that although LVCs are common in the students' writing, the corresponding simplex verb form of the verbs are higher in frequency. The only notable difference between the two groups is the overuse of zero article LVCs in the L2 students' writing, which is possibly due to their L1 influence.
Designing Materials for Emergency Remote Language Teaching Contexts: A Qualitative Study of Pre-Service Teachers&apos; Experiences
Author: Huertas-Abril, Cristina A.
Date: 2021-08-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: COVID-19,Pandemics,School Closing,Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Elementary School Teachers,Bilingual Teachers,Culturally Relevant Education,Social Influences,Teacher Attitudes,Instructional Materials,Creative Thinking,Distance Education,Teacher Education,Foreign Countries

Emergency Remote Language Teaching is a new term coined after the concept of Emergency Remote Teaching (Hodges, et al., 2020), which emphasizes that teaching that is being done during emergencies and crises, as the pandemic caused by COVID-19, is neither distance nor online teaching properly. This paper explores the attitudes and perceptions of pre-service bilingual primary teachers at the University of Córdoba (Spain) regarding the design of socially and culturally responsive learning materials in a real Emergency Remote Language Teaching context. Due to the nature of this exploratory research, this study was designed to perform a qualitative analysis. To analyze the data, the grounded-theory scheme was followed to establish different categories and topics, then content analysis was applied, and finally, a manual SWOT analysis was created. Participants showed positive attitudes towards the design of materials for Emergency Remote Language Teaching, emphasizing the feeling of real teachers, the design of resources with a meaningful purpose, and the importance of 'thinking outside the box.' They also found challenges derived from the new, complex situation, and the lack of experience designing materials for distance teaching. Recommendations are proposed for teacher training and materials design in Emergency Remote Language Teaching contexts.
Effects of Different Sources of Pre-Task Planning on Second Language Oral Performance: A Study of Korean EFL Learners
Author: Park, Mi Sun
Date: 2021-08-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,College Students,Second Language Learning,English (Second Language),Planning,Oral Language,Decision Making,Language Fluency,Syntax,Scores,Accuracy,Task Analysis

Previous research has documented positive effects of pre-task planning on task-based performance, commonly analyzed in terms of complexity, accuracy, and fluency, in an L2. However, the sources of planning have rarely been examined in the research of task-based language teaching. The present study explored EFL learners' oral performance across the three sources of pre-task planning--teacher-led, group-based, and solitary--and their perceptions toward pre-task planning. Forty-eight L1 Korean college students were divided into four different source-of-planning conditions and took a decision-making task in English. Results show that there was a general planning effect on the learners' fluency and complexity. The solitary planning condition was effective in producing more fluent speech, and the group-based planning condition produced the highest syntactic complexity scores. The teacher-led planning condition helped learners produce L2 speech that is more accurate and richer in vocabulary, but the effects on accuracy were not statistically significant. Most of the planners perceived the opportunity for planning to be beneficial, but some behavioral differences were found among the planning groups, providing some implications for the implementation of pre-task planning.