ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Supporting Students with an Autism Spectrum Disorder in Engineering: K-12 and Beyond
Author: Kouo, Jennifer L.
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Students with Disabilities,Autism,Pervasive Developmental Disorders,Elementary Secondary Education,Higher Education,Educational Research,Supported Employment,Disproportionate Representation,Educational Strategies,Access to Education,Engineering Education,STEM Education

Individuals with disabilities, including individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. With the importance of STEM skills in future employment and other disciplines, effective instructional strategies must be identified to enhance early and sustained access to STEM for students with ASD. However, the literature identifying effective STEM-specific supports and practices for this population of students is sparse and regarding engineering, there are no empirical studies that focus on teaching engineering skills to students with ASD. Therefore, the article aims to provide an overview of the available literature on the perspectives of engineering educators and suggested strategies aimed at supporting students with ASD in K-12 instruction and higher education. Additionally, recommendations regarding employment preparation and shifting the workplace environment to support individuals with ASD are presented. The available literature reveals limitations and implications for future research including the presentation of the voices of individuals with ASD across the spectrum. Furthermore, there continues to be work that must be done to prepare educators, employers, peers, and colleagues to better understand the disability and support individuals with ASD in all contexts.
Using Flashcards for English Second Language Creative Writing in Grade 1
Author: Mathura, Shivona
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Grade 1,Elementary School Students,Teaching Methods,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language),Foreign Countries,Native Language,Interference (Language),Instructional Materials,Creative Writing,Writing Instruction,Action Research,Intervention,Writing Improvement,Instructional Effectiveness,African Languages,Language of Instruction,Faculty Development,Spelling,Morphemes,Grammar,Sentence Structure,Error Patterns

Background: English Second Language (ESL) learners have difficulty constructing sentences due to internalising information in their home language and thereafter translating it into English. Learners who have difficulty speaking English generally encounter problems writing it, which hampers their creative writing ability. Objectives: The purpose of the research was to identify a teaching strategy to facilitate ESL learners with creative writing. This study explored the influence of flashcards on the creative writing skills of Grade 1 ESL learners and improved the researchers' teaching practice. Method: This qualitative study depicted an action research design and utilised an inductive approach to data analysis. Convenience sampling was used when selecting the participants who were 31 Grade 1 learners in a school in Pietermaritzburg. The flashcards were used during the implementation stage of the action research process as an intervention to enhance learners' creative writing skills. Findings: The findings indicate that learners who participated in the study had improved in their written assessments. There were three themes identified, which included misspelt words, incorrect use of tenses and ungrammatical sentence construction. Flashcards revealed the correct sentence writing techniques by depicting sentences. Learners' written pieces were more logical and they participated actively during lessons. This enhanced the researcher's teaching practice, which catered to both visual and auditory learners. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the use of flashcards had a positive effect on ESL learners' creative writing skills. This encouraged participatory teaching and learning, which can be of benefit to many teachers seeking to engage learners using alternate learning styles.
Using Role Play and Explicit Strategy Instruction to Improve First-Year Students&apos; Academic Reading Proficiency
Author: Boakye, Naomi A. Y.
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Role Playing,Direct Instruction,Instructional Effectiveness,Student Attitudes,College Freshmen,Sociology,Reading Improvement,Reading Comprehension,Academic Language,Content Area Reading,Foreign Countries

Background: Many first-year students find the reading of academic texts to be challenging and overwhelming. In particular, first-year students studying sociology at the South African institution where the study was conducted complain of comprehension challenges. This may be due to the presence of numerous theoretical and abstract concepts in sociology texts, which have to be unpacked in order to gain a greater understanding of social phenomena. A high level of reading proficiency is required in the reading of sociology texts; however, some students are poor readers and find it difficult to cope. Objectives: The article reports on a support programme aimed at improving first-year sociology students' academic reading proficiency. Method: In addition to explicit strategy instruction, which has been used by many researchers to improve reading comprehension, role play was introduced to the reading of sociology texts during tutorials in order to promote deep reading and improve comprehension. Pre-tests and post-tests, together with closed-ended and open-ended questionnaires, were used to determine the efficacy of the intervention. The tests were analysed using t-tests, and the questionnaires were analysed using descriptive statistics for the closed-ended section and content analysis for the open-ended questions. Results: The findings showed that a significant number of students had improved their reading proficiency and reported both cognitive and affective benefits. Conclusion: Recommendations are made in relation to the use of role play in addition to explicit strategy instruction in order to maximise the improvement of students' academic reading ability.
Tracing the Usage of the Term &apos;Culture of Reading&apos; in South Africa: A Review of National Government Discourse (2000-2019)
Author: Biesman-Simons, Claire
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Reading Programs,Federal Programs,Independent Reading,Discourse Analysis,Literacy,Culture,Role Models,Access to Information,Reading Materials,Recreational Reading,Definitions,Misconceptions

Background: South Africa's long-standing reading crisis is well recognised. At various stages since 2000, national government has presented the inculcation of a culture of reading as a solution to this crisis. Objectives: This article critically interrogated the term 'culture of reading' as used in national government discourse with reference to basic education. By tracing the patterns of use of the term since 2000, it aimed to show the shifts and continuities in the government's understanding of the term 'culture of reading' and how this has shaped the reading landscape. Method: Drawn from a corpus of 331 texts, a sample of 58 texts produced by national government was analysed. Employing discourse and thematic analysis, key themes were extrapolated and their relation to reading within South Africa was explored. Results: The government's call for a culture of reading occurs predominantly in response to poor literacy results and at launches of campaigns and strategies focused on addressing these results. This occurs repeatedly without clear delineation of the term or justification for recycling failed initiatives. Instead, the term acts as a rhetorical tool to obfuscate the unsuccessful implementation of reading programmes. Conclusion: The government's failure to clarify what constitutes a culture of reading prohibits a clear picture of its understanding of the term. The frequency with which 'culture of reading' is promoted indicates a failure to consider alternative approaches to addressing the reading crisis. Contribution: This article highlights the need for government to re-evaluate its response to the reading crisis, taking cognisance of the South African context.
Multiple Voices: Learners Reflect on Literature
Author: Kromhout, Jessamy
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Reader Text Relationship,Literature,English Instruction,High School Seniors,Foreign Countries,Language Usage,Student Attitudes,Student Experience,Advanced Placement Programs

Background: Much of the research in literacy focuses on what learners fail to do, especially in the early grades, but it is equally important to research successful readers. In particular learners' experiences with literature contribute to our understanding of the possibilities literary texts offer. This article focused on learners' responses to Advanced Programme (AP) English, which was an optional subject offered at an ex-Model C school, to understand how the learners had taken up these literary texts. Objectives: This study explored how matric learners spoke about the literature they had studied, in their AP English, in an informal group meeting. Methods: A qualitative case study was used to explore learners' responses to literature. A final focus group meeting at the end of their matric year provides the data for this article. The transcriptions were coded using repeated patterns for themes to explore the stances taken in relation to the literature whether efferent or aesthetic. Results: The data showed how learners had incorporated fragments from the literature into their own utterances so that their language use echoed the literature. In addition to an efferent exam focus, the literature and AP English practices were used in both Art and Home Language English examinations. Conclusions: Learners need opportunities to talk about the multiple voices of literature in their lives. This kind of talk offers a different perspective on how literature can enrich, disrupt and extend learners' thinking about literature and themselves. This research offers a counterpoint to examination results and contributes to building a nation of readers.
Improving Higher-Order Comprehension Skills of Grade 3 Learners in a Second Language at a Quintile 2 School, in Cape Town, South Africa
Author: Fatyela, Vuyokazi
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Elementary School Students,Primary Education,Grade 3,Thinking Skills,Comprehension,Second Language Learning,Critical Thinking,Reading Comprehension,Scores,Interpersonal Competence,Language Skills,Protocol Analysis,Cloze Procedure,Theater Arts,Reading Improvement,Pretests Posttests

Background: Developing higher-order comprehension skills of learners in primary schools is a challenge that faces many countries. South Africa is no exception. Primary school learners in South Africa have particularly low literacy and comprehension skills: many learners struggle to read for understanding. There is little published scholarship that focuses on developing the comprehension skills of Grade 3 learners in a second language. A lack of practical classroom knowledge in this area is what this article seeks to address. Objectives: To improve the higher-order comprehension skills of Grade 3 learners in a second language. Method: A qualitative approach, using a case study design, within an interpretivist paradigm was devised and deployed. Five struggling Grade 3 learners were purposively selected to participate in an intervention programme. Their parents or guardians and two current Grade 3 teachers were interviewed. Data were collected over a 10-week intervention programme. The first and last weeks were devoted to pre-testing and post-testing. The entire intervention lasted for 10 weeks. Results: All the five Grade 3 learners showed significant improvements in their comprehension skills when comparing their pre-test and post-test scores. Conclusion: The post-test scores revealed the importance of a structured intervention programme for improving the four comprehension skills highlighted. Mediation and scaffolding in the Zone of Proximal Development were employed while concurrently developing their cognitive, social and language skills.
The Open University and Prison Education in the UK -- The First 50 Years
Author: Earle, Rod
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Open Universities,Correctional Education,Institutionalized Persons,Foreign Countries,Educational History,Access to Education,Outcomes of Education,Educational Practices,Transformative Learning,Lifelong Learning,Distance Education,Self Concept

In 2019, The Open University (henceforth, The OU), based in Milton Keynes in the UK, celebrated its 50th anniversary. Since 1971 it has pioneered the delivery of Higher Education in prisons and other secure settings. Some 50 years on, in 2021 there is much to celebrate and still more to learn. In this article we briefly review the establishment of the OU in 1969 and explore how it has maintained access to higher education in the prison system. It draws from a collection of essays and reflections on prison learning experiences developed by OU academics and former and continuing OU students in prison (Earle &amp; Mehigan, 2019). We begin by outlining the unique features of the OU and the circumstances of its establishment in the post-war period in the UK. We then present an account of its work with students in prison in the UK (and elsewhere) and conclude with some critical reflections on the place and prospects of higher education in an expanding Higher Education sector and an escalating preference for carceral punishment in the UK. No country on Earth can match the penal preferences of the United States, but the UK's habit of slipstreaming behind its massive carceral bulk tends to obscure the fact that the UK punishes more people with imprisonment, and with longer sentences, than any other Western European state. It also manages to exceed the United States in rates of racial disproportionality in its carceral population (Phillips, 2013). Despite these outlier features in incarceration, a silver lining to the carceral cloud can be found in The OU's pioneering work with imprisoned men and women.
Trust, Power, and Transformation in the Prison Classroom
Author: Fairbairn, Fran
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Trust (Psychology),Transformative Learning,Correctional Education,Power Structure,College Faculty,Teaching Assistants,Student Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,College Students

This article does three things. First, it asks a new question about transformative education, namely 'what is the role of power and trust in the decision of whether to transform one's meaning scheme in the face of new information or whether to simply reject the new information?' Secondly, it develops a five-stage model which elaborates on the role of this decision in transformative learning. Finally, it uses grounded-theory and the five-stage model to argue that power and trust play an important role in facilitating transformative learning.
Integrating Listening and Speaking Skills to Promote Speech Production and Language Development
Author: Mart, Çagri Tugrul
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language),Phonological Awareness,Listening Comprehension,Speech Communication,Teaching Methods,Language Proficiency,Oral Language,Correlation,Grammar,Accuracy,Linguistic Input,Metacognition,Learning Activities,Undergraduate Students,Foreign Countries,Comparative Analysis

The practice of integrating listening and speaking in the classroom emanates from a belief that the attainment of proficiency in oral production is associated with listening since learners are plunged into the rich exposure of language input by means of listening tasks. Engaging in meaningful communication puts great demands on grammatical accuracy and vocabulary range. In this regard, listening provides an avenue for coming to good terms with knowledge of language structures, lexical units, phonological awareness and metacognition development. In addition, listening demonstrates overall positive effect on the development of oral production for it allows learners to experience good language models to communicate effectively. The study was designed to explore the influence of listening with a focus on top-down and bottom-up processes on the development of oral production. The present study adopted a quantitative approach and the participants were 45 English as a foreign language (EFL) first-year students. It was found that listening and speaking integrated language activities helped learners arrive at understanding of messages; thus, created the basis for production practice.
A Genre-Based Approach to Listening: Factors and Outcomes
Author: González, Graciela Arizmendi
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Language Styles,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Recall (Psychology),Listening Comprehension,Task Analysis,Teaching Methods,Comparative Analysis,English (Second Language),Undergraduate Students,Oral Language,Films,Language Usage,Pronunciation,Metacognition,Cognitive Processes,Outcomes of Education,Learning Strategies

In a study of approaches to teaching listening, an experimental group (EG) of seventeen English as a Foreign Language (EFL) undergraduates received genre-based instruction, beginning with a guided analysis of the context of oral production, the language used, the variations and organization of second language (L2) oral texts about films, leading slowly up to an independent reconstruction of another similar text. Data were collected from a pre- and post-listening task, stimulated recalls (SR), and semi-structured interviews (SSI). The results suggest that, in the EG's post-tasks, the identification of linguistic elements positively influences the participants' ability to comprehend the structural rhetoric of an oral text. Findings reveal that the analysis of the linguistic elements permits identification of the narrator's accent, the type of text, and its organization. Overall, the findings indicate that the comprehension of listening texts is affected by the interaction between the various cognitive processes to build meaning, the specific metacognitive strategies used to reconstruct the listening text at hand, and socio-affective strategies. These results are not generalizable due to the small sample size, but they help to understand teaching listening through Genre-Based Approach.
Discrimination in the Mexican TESOL Field: Are We Solving the Problem?
Author: Garcia-Ponce, Edgar Emmanuell
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language),Foreign Countries,Language Teachers,Native Speakers,Teacher Characteristics,Social Discrimination,Teacher Attitudes,Peer Relationship,Age Differences,Race,Gender Differences

In the last few decades, it has been documented that the field of TESOL is filled with discriminatory practices that affect professionals who dedicate their lives, time and academic backgrounds to teaching English as a foreign language. Previous research evidence has shown that these practices are mostly initiated by issues concerning the language status of these professionals, (i.e., native-versus non-native English-speaking teachers). However, based upon our experience as English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in Mexico, our argument is that discrimination in the field of TESOL is far more complex than just a distinction between native-versus non-native English teachers. To show this, the present article draws on extensive data collected through an online questionnaire administered to 78 EFL teachers working in Mexico regarding their perceived discriminatory acts that they felt they had experienced in their careers. The evidence shows that discrimination in the TESOL field is due to a wide range of discriminatory acts. Results of this research study show that discrimination is still alive, despite the fact that there are a number of position statements in TESOL that promote the idea of diversity of languages and peoples' backgrounds.
Professional Development for Bilingual Faculty at a Dual Language (English-Spanish) Institution in Higher Education: Conceptualizing the TPL Design
Author: Herrera, Luis Javier Pentón
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Bilingual Teachers,College Faculty,Biculturalism,Faculty Development,Mentors,Bilingual Education Programs,Program Effectiveness,Universities,Teacher Workshops,Teaching Methods,Literacy Education,Program Design,Spanish,English (Second Language),English,Hispanic American Students,Minority Serving Institutions

In this article the authors analyze the synergy of the theoretical, practical, and linguistic (TPL) design and its impact on the effectiveness of professional development in a dual language university setting. The theoretical, practical, and linguistic components of the TPL design are explained and the workshops given within each component are briefly analyzed. In addition, we look at the opportunities bilingual faculty members have to become mentors after successfully completing the required training within each of the three components. The TPL design is addressed in this article as a professional development tool that shapes bilingual faculty's skills and helps them sharpen their pedagogical approaches to effectively teach a bilingual, bicultural, and biliterate student population. Lastly, in this paper, on the premise that professional development is a foundational condition for effective dual language/bilingual programs, we reflect on how the TPL design could be implemented in other dual language programs in higher education.
Training EFL Learners on Debating: Effects on Their Oral and Written
Author: Kassem, Hassan M.
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Debate,Persuasive Discourse,Oral Language,Written Language,Foreign Countries,Anxiety,Communication (Thought Transfer),Self Concept,College Students,Males,Instructional Effectiveness

This study aimed to explore the relative effect of training English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in debates on their oral and written performance. It also investigated the effect of training on students' ideal second language (L2) self and communication apprehension. An intact class of English majors at a Saudi college (N=32) received training on debating for two months. Tools of data collection included a speaking test, a writing test, and a questionnaire probing students' level of ideal L2 self and communication apprehension. Paired samples t-test revealed significant improvements in oral and written performance from pre- to post-testing. Surprisingly, the training had a significantly stronger effect on students' writing than on their speaking. It is surprising because what comes to mind when the word debate is mentioned is speaking, not writing. Group debating performance also improved from pre- to post-testing. Finally, training significantly improved students' ideal L2 self and reduced their communication apprehension. The debate activity thus apparently enhances EFL learners' oral and written performance, as well as their ideal L2 self. It also seemed effective in reducing their communication apprehension. A number of pedagogical implications are offered.