Sample records for specific learner expectations

  1. Discipline-Specific Reading Expectation and Challenges for ESL Learners in US Universities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hartshorn, K. James; Evans, Norman W.; Egbert, Jesse; Johnson, Amy

    2017-01-01

    English-medium institutions of higher education host increasing numbers of English-as-a second-language (ESL) learners in the US. English language skill is vital to their progress. Previous research examined reading challenges and expectations faculty have for their first-year students within five popular majors for international students…

  2. Procrastination, Participation, and Performance in Online Learning Environments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Michinov, Nicolas; Brunot, Sophie; Le Bohec, Olivier; Juhel, Jacques; Delaval, Marine

    2011-01-01

    The present study focuses on a specific learner characteristic in the management of time--procrastination--, and its role in an online learning environment. More specifically, it was expected that procrastination would influence the successfulness of online learning and that this could be explained by the level of participation of learners in…

  3. Comparison of expectations and beliefs about good teaching in an academic day release medical education program: a qualitative study.

    PubMed

    van Roermund, Thea A C M; Mokkink, Henk G; Bottema, Ben J A M; van Weel, Chris; Scherpbier, Albert J J A

    2014-10-03

    In a professional learner-centered(ness) educational environment, communication and alignment of expectations about teaching are indispensable. Professional education of residents could benefit from an analysis and comparison of teachers' and residents' educational expectations and beliefs. Our purpose is to identify success factors and barriers related to aligning expectations and beliefs and building a supportive professional learner-centered educational environment. We conducted semi-structured individual interviews with teachers and semi-structured focus groups with residents. A single interview format was used to make it possible to compare the results. Data were analysed using a qualitative software package (AtlasTi). Data analysis steps were followed by the author team, which identified four domains of good teaching: personal traits, knowledge, relationships and teaching qualities. Teachers and residents agreed about the importance of personal professional characteristics like being a role model and having an open and enthusiastic attitude. They all thought that having a specific knowledge base was essential for teaching. Approaching residents as adult learners was found to be an important element of the learner-centred environment and it was agreed that teachers should take practical experiences to a higher level. However, teachers and residents had different expectations about the practical consequences of being a role model, adult learning, coaching and openness, and the type of knowledge that was needed in the professional development program. Communication about different expectations appeared to be difficult. Teachers and residents agreed on a conceptual level about expectations and beliefs regarding good teaching, but disagreed on an executive level. According to the residents, the disagreement about good teaching was not the biggest barrier to creating alignment and a supportive professional relationship; instead, it was the absence of a proper dialogue regarding issues about expectations and beliefs.

  4. The Relevance of a Migration Background to the Professional Identity of Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bressler, Christoph; Rotter, Carolin

    2017-01-01

    Immigrant teachers face several specific expectations from policy makers, colleagues, as well as the media. Often new hopes are pinned on them for teaching (ethnically) diverse learners. Their professional identity is inevitably linked to these expectations. In this regard, this paper discusses the findings of a qualitative study exploring the…

  5. Creating a Global Community of Learners in Nursing and Beyond: Caring Science, Mindful Practice MOOC.

    PubMed

    Sitzman, Kathleen L; Jensen, Andrea; Chan, Sang

    The aim was to examine the usefulness of a massive open online course (MOOC) on caring and mindfulness to a broad international audience that included nurses, allied health professionals, and others. MOOCs in higher education have been evident since 2008. Very few MOOCs on nursing topics have appeared since that time. Exploration was needed regarding how MOOCs could be employed to share nursing knowledge with national and international communities. Two "Caring Science, Mindful Practice" MOOC sessions were examined. Demographics, learner satisfaction, course flow, and perceived usefulness of content were analyzed. Learners from varied backgrounds participated. Higher than expected course activity levels and completion rates suggested effective learner engagement. Excellent course ratings demonstrated that content and delivery methods were effective. Active learners communicated specific plans to apply new knowledge in the future. MOOCs facilitate learning where participants learn about topics of interest in nursing and beyond.

  6. Learner-Valued Interactions: Research into Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ley, Kathryn; Gannon-Cook, Ruth

    2014-01-01

    Online learners provide feedback that does not always match with the expectations of what university administration would expect from their feedback. Learners do not value all instructional features and conditions equally, nor do they view many of the instructional and technology features as being necessarily helpful. This paper presents research…

  7. Online Support for VET Clients: Expectations and Experiences.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Choy, Sarojni; McNickle, Cathy; Clayton, Berwyn

    Since little research existed about services for online learners in Australia, a national study was conducted to explore the expectations and experiences of online learners in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. Online learners enrolled with various Registered Training Organizations (RTOs) from the VET sector were contacted for…

  8. Types of Sensory Integrative Dysfunction among Disabled Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ayres, A. Jean

    1972-01-01

    R-technique factor analysis was used to correlate results of sensorimotor, psycholinguistic and cognitive tests given to California children with learning disabilities. Results show not all children with specific neural disorders perform poorly on related tests where low scores would be expected. (PD)

  9. Electronic Reading and Digital Library Technologies: Understanding Learner Expectation and Usage Intent for Mobile Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hyman, Jack A.; Moser, Mary T.; Segala, Laura N.

    2014-01-01

    Mobile information technology is changing the education landscape by offering learners the opportunity to engage in asynchronous, ubiquitous instruction. While there is a proliferation of mobile content management systems being developed for the mobile Web and stand-alone mobile applications, few studies have addressed learner expectations and…

  10. Learning culture and feedback: an international study of medical athletes and musicians.

    PubMed

    Watling, Christopher; Driessen, Erik; van der Vleuten, Cees P M; Lingard, Lorelei

    2014-07-01

    Feedback should facilitate learning, but within medical education it often fails to deliver on its promise. To better understand why feedback is challenging, we explored the unique perspectives of doctors who had also trained extensively in sport or music, aiming to: (i) distinguish the elements of the response to feedback that are determined by the individual learner from those determined by the learning culture, and (ii) understand how these elements interact in order to make recommendations for improving feedback in medical education. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 doctors or medical students who had high-level training and competitive or performance experience in sport (n = 15) or music (n = 12). Data were analysed iteratively using constant comparison. Key themes were identified and their relationships critically examined to derive a conceptual understanding of feedback and its impact. We identified three essential sources of influence on the meaning that feedback assumed: the individual learner; the characteristics of the feedback, and the learning culture. Individual learner traits, such as motivation and orientation toward feedback, appeared stable across learning contexts. Similarly, certain feedback characteristics, including specificity, credibility and actionability, were valued in sport, music and medicine alike. Learning culture influenced feedback in three ways: (i) by defining expectations for teachers and teacher-learner relationships; (ii) by establishing norms for and expectations of feedback, and (iii) by directing teachers' and learners' attention toward certain dimensions of performance. Learning culture therefore neither creates motivated learners nor defines 'good feedback'; rather, it creates the conditions and opportunities that allow good feedback to occur and learners to respond. An adequate understanding of feedback requires an integrated approach incorporating both the individual and the learning culture. Our research offers a clear direction for medicine's learning culture: normalise feedback; promote trusting teacher-learner relationships; define clear performance goals, and ensure that the goals of learners and teachers align. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  11. Helping Children Become More Prosocial: Ideas for Classrooms, Families, Schools, and Communities (Part 2).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Honig, Alice S.; Wittmer, Donna S.

    1996-01-01

    Reviews strategies and techniques to enhance prosocial development. Suggests ways for involving whole classrooms, entire school systems, parents, and communities in creating classroom and home climates for prosocial expectations and learner support. Gives specific activities, strategies, guidelines, and resources. (ET)

  12. Predicting Success in an Online Course Using Expectancies, Values, and Typical Mode of Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zimmerman, Whitney Alicia

    2017-01-01

    Expectancies of success and values were used to predict success in an online undergraduate-level introductory statistics course. Students who identified as primarily face-to-face learners were compared to students who identified as primarily online learners. Expectancy value theory served as a model. Expectancies of success were operationalized as…

  13. Business Studies 9. Junior High School. Teacher Resource Manual.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alberta Dept. of Education, Edmonton. Curriculum Branch.

    This manual provides learning strategies and activities, evaluation instruments, and learning resources for use by junior high school business education teachers. It is correlated with the Alberta business education curriculum. The manual begins with an overview of the course rationale and philosophy and general and specific learner expectations.…

  14. Resources to Support Disabled Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dessoff, Alan

    2008-01-01

    With 4 to 6 percent of all students in the nation's public schools classified as having specific learning disabilities, according to the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA), most teachers can expect to have students who are learning disabled in their classrooms. This presents a challenge to teachers and administrators alike, who are…

  15. Design of a Cognitive Tool to Enhance Problemsolving Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Youngmin; Nelson, David

    2005-01-01

    The design of a cognitive tool to support problem-solving performance for external representation of knowledge is described. The limitations of conventional knowledge maps are analyzed in proposing the tool. The design principles and specifications are described. This tool is expected to enhance learners problem-solving performance by allowing…

  16. Bridging the Millennial Generation Expectation Gap: Perspectives and Strategies for Physician and Interprofessional Faculty.

    PubMed

    Williams, Valerie N; Medina, Jose; Medina, Andria; Clifton, Shari

    2017-02-01

    Assigning attributes to a birth cohort is one way we identify society-wide, shared life experiences within a group collectively called a "generation." Such assigned attributes influence society's adoption of generation-based expectations held by and about people from a particular birth cohort. Census data and generational attributes inform perspectives on millennial generation birth cohort experiences and engagement as students. The eldest living generation in U.S. society has given way to 3 subsequent generations, the youngest of which is called the millennial generation. What generational attributes influence the effectiveness of teaching and learning between millennial learners and faculty members from other generations? Understanding the role of life cycle effects, period effects and cohort effects can offer medical and health professions educators' insights into different strategies for learner engagement. Discussion includes specific strategies and teaching tactics faculty members can use to engage millennials across a continuum of learning to bridge the "expectation gap." Copyright © 2017 Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. High-Leverage Principles of Effective Instruction for English Learners. From College and Career Ready Standards to Teaching and Learning in the Classroom: A Series of Resources for Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Neri, Rebecca; Lozano, Maritza; Chang, Sandy; Herman, Joan

    2016-01-01

    New college and career ready standards (CCRS) have established more rigorous expectations of learning for all learners, including English learner (EL) students, than what was expected in previous standards. A common feature in these new content-area standards, such as the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics and the…

  18. Learner-Oriented Virtual Learning: A Booster to Primary School Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Singaravelu, G.

    2013-01-01

    The present study enlightens the impact of Learner- Oriented-Virtual Learning in enriching knowledge in Environmental Education at primary level.To achieve the expected competency in Biodiversity, various approaches were adopted in the class room transaction which were not fruitful. Hence the researcher practiced the Learner-Oriented-Virtual…

  19. Optimising ICT Effectiveness in Instruction and Learning: Multilevel Transformation Theory and a Pilot Project in Secondary Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mooij, Ton

    2004-01-01

    Specific combinations of educational and ICT conditions including computer use may optimise learning processes, particularly for learners at risk. This position paper asks which curricular, instructional, and ICT characteristics can be expected to optimise learning processes and outcomes, and how to best achieve this optimization. A theoretical…

  20. Practical Implications of a Constructivist Approach to EFL Teaching in a Higher Education Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Iglesias Xamani, Montserrat

    2013-01-01

    Traditional pedagogical approaches may not be the best way to cater for the specific needs of learners in higher education settings, particularly those of university students with special expectations and professional prospects. The question of enhancing language learning awareness as a means of fostering the acquisition of a foreign language…

  1. Learner : preceptor ratios for practice-based learning across health disciplines: a systematic review.

    PubMed

    Loewen, Peter; Legal, Michael; Gamble, Allison; Shah, Kieran; Tkachuk, Stacey; Zed, Peter

    2017-02-01

    Practice-based learning is a cornerstone of developing clinical and professional competence in health disciplines. Practice-based learning systems have many interacting components, but a key facet is the number of learners per preceptor. Different learner : preceptor ratios may have unique benefits and pose unique challenges for participants. This is the first comprehensive systematic review of the topic. Our research questions were: What are the benefits and challenges of each learner : preceptor ratio in practice-based learning from the perspectives of the learners, preceptors, patients and stakeholder organisations (i.e. the placing and health care delivery organisations)? Are any ratios superior to others with respect to these characteristics and perspectives? Qualitative systematic review of published English-language literature since literature database inception, including multiple health disciplines. Seventy-three articles were included in this review. Eight learner : preceptor ratio arrangements were identified involving nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, pharmacy, dietetics, speech and language therapy, and medicine. Each arrangement offers unique benefits and challenges from the perspectives of learners, preceptors, programmes and health care delivery organisations. Patient perspectives were absent. Despite important advantages of each ratio for learners, preceptors and organisations, some of which may be profession specific, the 2 : 1 and 2+ : 2+ learner : preceptor ratios appear to be most likely to successfully balance the needs of all stakeholders. Regardless of the learner : preceptor ratio chosen for its expected benefits, our results illuminate challenges that can be anticipated and managed. Patient perspectives should be incorporated into future studies of learner : preceptor ratios. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.

  2. Comparing Learner Community Behavior in Multiple Presentations of a Massive Open Online Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gallagher, Silvia Elena; Savage, Timothy

    2015-01-01

    Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) can create large scale communities of learners who collaborate, interact and discuss learning materials and activities. MOOCs are often delivered multiple times with similar content to different cohorts of learners. However, research into the differences of learner communication, behavior and expectation between…

  3. Comparing Learner Community Behavior in Multiple Presentations of a Massive Open Online Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gallagher, Silvia Elena; Savage, Timothy

    2016-01-01

    Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) can create large scale communities of learners who collaborate, interact and discuss learning materials and activities. MOOCs are often delivered multiple times with similar content to different cohorts of learners. However, research into the differences of learner communication, behavior and expectation between…

  4. CogSkillnet: An Ontology-Based Representation of Cognitive Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Askar, Petek; Altun, Arif

    2009-01-01

    A number of studies emphasized the need to capture learners' interaction patterns in order to personalize their learning process as they study through learning objects. In education context, learning materials are designed based on pre-determined expectations and learners are evaluated to what extent they master these expectations. Representation…

  5. A Study of the Motivational Patterns of Learners of English for Academic and Professional Purposes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abrar-ul-Hassan, Shahid

    2014-01-01

    Learner motivation is considered a vital factor in second language instruction. An analysis of motivation types and degrees can reveal learners' expectations and learning objectives. The present study analyzes the motivational patterns of a group of English for academic and professional purposes (EAPP) learners while focusing on types and degrees…

  6. Communicative Language Testing: Implications for Computer Based Language Testing in French for Specific Purposes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    García Laborda, Jesús; López Santiago, Mercedes; Otero de Juan, Nuria; Álvarez Álvarez, Alfredo

    2014-01-01

    Current evolutions of language testing have led to integrating computers in FSP assessments both in oral and written communicative tasks. This paper deals with two main issues: learners' expectations about the types of questions in FSP computer based assessments and the relation with their own experience. This paper describes the experience of 23…

  7. 3D Virtual Reality Check: Learner Engagement and Constructivist Theory

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bair, Richard A.

    2013-01-01

    The inclusion of three-dimensional (3D) virtual tools has created a need to communicate the engagement of 3D tools and specify learning gains that educators and the institutions, which are funding 3D tools, can expect. A review of literature demonstrates that specific models and theories for 3D Virtual Reality (VR) learning do not exist "per…

  8. Coorientation Theory and Assessment of the RFP Solution to Client/Service Learner Matchmaking

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rogers, Cathy; Andrews, Valerie

    2013-01-01

    Tensions that result from varying expectations of service learners and clients/community partners are as common as the pedagogical practice of service learning in public relations courses. The matchmaking process between instructors and clients can influence expectations; however, the literature includes little guidance about the process of client…

  9. Visual Aids for Positive Behavior Support of Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kidder, Jaimee E.; McDonnell, Andrea P.

    2017-01-01

    Research suggests that many children with ASD are visual learners (Quill, 1997) and may struggle to comprehend expectations presented in a verbal mode only. Visually structured interventions present choices, expectations, tasks, and communication exchanges in a way that is appealing and approachable for visual learners. There are many types of…

  10. Learner Resistance in Metacognition Training? An Exploration of Mismatches between Learner and Teacher Agendas

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jing, Huang

    2006-01-01

    This paper examines how and why learner resistance (to the teacher's goals and expectations) occurred in a metacognition-training (MT) project, which aimed to enhance reflection and autonomy in EFL learning. MT was integrated into a regular EFL reading course for second-year BA TEFL undergraduates at a Chinese university. Learner resistance in the…

  11. Motivation, Gender, and Learner Performance of English as an L3 in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ahåt, Rayhangül

    2013-01-01

    Gender is considered as one of the important variables that effects learner motivation in second or foreign language acquisition. It is also believed that learner motivation has an impact on learner performance as well. Using the expectancy-value theory model of achievement motivation, this study aimed at exploring (1) the impact of gender…

  12. Nurse learners--do nurse tutors know them?

    PubMed

    Moule, P

    1995-04-01

    Research was undertaken to establish the social profile of Project 2000 (Diploma) learners, and to determine when, and with whose influence, learners make decisions to enter nursing. The image of nursing held by the group was sought and nurse tutors perceptions of the group were obtained, using a questionnaire method. Results analysed using statistical measures and content analysis showed that the majority of learners came from middle socio-economic backgrounds, generally decided to enter nursing whilst at school, and were influenced by nursing role models and the media. The learners perceptions and expectations of nursing were influenced by their experiences and showed some differences when compared with tutor responses. The findings from this small study imply the need for the dissemination of accurate and appropriate recruitment information to school personnel and career advisors. Effective marketing which addresses influences of the media and nursing role models should be employed, and finally nurse tutors need to be conversant with course content and learner expectations to facilitate effective recruitment policies and curriculum development.

  13. Mathematics. Suggested Learner Outcomes: Grades 9-12.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oklahoma State Dept. of Education, Oklahoma City.

    This publication provides suggested learner outcomes for guiding instruction and evaluation of students in grades 9-12 in Oklahoma. The goals are intended to provide teachers, administrators, school boards, parents, and other concerned citizens with a clear understanding of expected minimum learner outcomes for each mathematics course. Teachers…

  14. Fundamental Elements of Transition Program Design

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Karmelita, Courtney

    2017-01-01

    Adult learners require supports and services to help them successfully transition into taking on the demands and expectations of college students. Transition programs have grown in popularity as a means to aid adult learners as they transition to higher education. Unfortunately, previous research on adult learner participation in transition…

  15. Video Self-Modeling for English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boisvert, Précille; Rao, Kavita

    2015-01-01

    Teachers of English language learners (ELLs), expected to address grade-level standards and prepare ELLs for standardized assessments, have the difficult task of designing instruction that meets the range of needs in their classrooms. When these learners have experienced limited or interrupted education, the challenges intensify. Whereas…

  16. SMILI?: A Framework for Interfaces to Learning Data in Open Learner Models, Learning Analytics and Related Fields

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bull, Susan; Kay, Judy

    2016-01-01

    The SMILI? (Student Models that Invite the Learner In) Open Learner Model Framework was created to provide a coherent picture of the many and diverse forms of Open Learner Models (OLMs). The aim was for SMILI? to provide researchers with a systematic way to describe, compare and critique OLMs. We expected it to highlight those areas where there…

  17. Supporting Academic Persistence in Low-Skilled Adult Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Neill, Susan; Thomson, Margareta Maria

    2013-01-01

    The current literature review explores the factors that contribute to academic persistence for adult learners. The aim of the study is to identify current research-based strategies aimed at supporting learner persistence, particularly for low-skilled adults. Elements of three theoretical frameworks, namely, expectancy-value theory (EVT), goal…

  18. Treating the Non-Learner: Penicillin or Placebo?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McDonald, Carl B.; Cotroneo, Keith

    Non-learners are externally controlled students conditioned to expect both failure and success. They are aware of their basic skill deficiencies yet know that passive behavior in high school classrooms has resulted in passing grades. Given the nature of the non-learner, developmental educators cannot achieve positive results through manipulating…

  19. Keeping their attention: innovative strategies for nursing education.

    PubMed

    Herrman, Judith W

    2011-10-01

    Providing nursing education in clinical and other educational settings presents several challenges. Changes in learners, vast amounts of material to be taught, and decreasing educational resources require increased effectiveness of nurse educators and each educational experience. Current teaching strategies may be enhanced to meet learners' expectations and address the reduced attention spans characteristic of today's learners. This article provides 20 strategies and additional helpful hints to increase learner engagement, improve retention of material, and make nursing education more enjoyable for instructors and learners. Copyright 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

  20. Cultivating Effective Corpus Use by Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kennedy, Claire; Miceli, Tiziana

    2017-01-01

    While there is widespread agreement on the expected benefits of hands-on access to corpora for language learners, reports abound of the difficulties involved in realising those benefits in practice. A particular focus of discussion is the challenge of transferring the skills of the corpus linguist to learners, so that they can explore this type of…

  1. Transformative Vocational Education: Bridging Transitions of Underserved Urban Adult Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adkisson, Anthony C.; Monaghan, Catherine H.

    2014-01-01

    How our culture thinks about particular events as linear, normal, and expected does not always fit with the experiences of every learner, particularly underserved urban adult learners. As adult educators in this context, are there ways we might improve or change our pedagogy of instruction by developing a better understanding of transitional life…

  2. Experiences of Intensive English Learners: Motivations, Imagined Communities, and Identities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Juyeon

    2014-01-01

    Based on a widely held belief that immersion provides the best language learning opportunities, a large number of Asian students go to English-speaking countries to improve their English language skills. These strongly motivated learners arrive in a new country with a bag of expectations, learner beliefs, and imaginations about the new community…

  3. The Healthy Learner Model for Student Chronic Condition Management--Part II: The Asthma Initiative

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Erickson, Cecelia DuPlessis; Splett, Patricia L.; Mullett, Sara Stoltzfus; Jensen, Charlotte; Belseth, Stephanie Bisson

    2006-01-01

    The Healthy Learner Asthma Initiative (HLAI) was designed as a comprehensive, school-community initiative to improve asthma management and produce healthy learners. National asthma guidelines were translated into components of asthma management in the school setting that defined performance expectations and lead to greater quality and consistency…

  4. A Snapshot of Online Learners: E-Readiness, E-Satisfaction and Expectations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ilgaz, Hale; Gülbahar, Yasemin

    2015-01-01

    The popularity of online programs that educational institutions offer is continuously increasing at varying degrees, with the major demand coming from adult learners who have no opportunity to access traditional education. These adult learners have to be sufficiently ready and competent for online learning, and have their own varied expectations…

  5. Adapting Progress Feedback and Emotional Support to Learner Personality

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dennis, Matt; Masthoff, Judith; Mellish, Chris

    2016-01-01

    As feedback is an important part of learning and motivation, we investigate how to adapt the feedback of a conversational agent to learner personality (as well as to learner performance, as we expect an interaction effect between personality and performance on feedback). We investigate two aspects of feedback. Firstly, we investigate whether the…

  6. Designing Mobile LMS Interfaces: Learners' Expectations and Experiences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ssekakubo, Grace; Suleman, Hussein; Marsden, Gary

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: This paper aims to present findings of a study that was carried out to identify strategies of enabling learners in developing countries to fully exploit the potential of learning management systems (LMSs). The study set out to: identify the services of learning management systems that are most needed and desired by university learners in…

  7. Measuring Adult Learners' Foreign Language Anxiety, Motivational Factors, and Achievement Expectations: A Comparative Study between Chinese as a Second-Language Students and English as a Second-Language Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Li-Ching

    2013-01-01

    This dissertation focuses on interpreting the impacts of foreign language anxiety and individual characteristics on the achievement expectations of Chinese second-language learners and English second-language students at the university level. Four research questions are examined through quantitative design. In relation to methodology, this study…

  8. Staging a performance: learners' perceptions about direct observation during residency.

    PubMed

    LaDonna, Kori A; Hatala, Rose; Lingard, Lorelei; Voyer, Stephane; Watling, Christopher

    2017-05-01

    Evidence strongly supports that direct observation is a valid and reliable assessment tool; support for its impact on learning is less compelling, and we know that some learners are ambivalent about being observed. However, learners' perceptions about the impact of direct observation on their learning and professional development remain underexplored. To promote learning, we need to understand what makes direct observation valuable for learners. Informed by constructivist grounded theory, we interviewed 22 learners about their observation experiences. Data collection and analysis occurred iteratively; themes were identified using constant comparative analysis. Direct observation was widely endorsed as an important educational strategy, albeit one that created significant anxiety. Opaque expectations exacerbated participants' discomfort, and participants described that being observed felt like being assessed. Consequently, participants exchanged their 'usual' practice for a 'textbook' approach; alterations to performance generated uncertainty about their role, and raised questions about whether observers saw an authentic portrayal of their knowledge and skill. An 'observer effect' may partly explain learners' ambivalence about direct observation; being observed seemed to magnify learners' role ambiguity, intensify their tensions around professional development and raise questions about the credibility of feedback. In turn, an observer effect may impact learners' receptivity to feedback and may explain, in part, learners' perceptions that useful feedback is scant. For direct observation to be valuable, educators must be explicit about expectations, and they must be aware that how learners perform in the presence of an observer may not reflect what they do as independent practitioners. To nurture learners' professional development, educators must create a culture of observation-based coaching that is divorced from assessment and is tailored to developing learners' identities as practitioners of both the art and the science of medicine. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.

  9. Washback to the Learner: Learner and Teacher Perspectives on IELTS Preparation Course Expectations and Outcomes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Green, Anthony

    2006-01-01

    The washback effect of tests on teaching has attracted considerable attention over recent years, but the critical question of how this translates into washback on learning remains under-explored. To address this issue, questionnaires relating to academic writing instruction were distributed to 108 learners from mainland China preparing for…

  10. Goals, Motivation for, and Outcomes of Personal Learning through Networks: Results of a Tweetstorm

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sie, Rory L. L.; Pataraia, Nino; Boursinou, Eleni; Rajagopal, Kamakshi; Margaryan, Anoush; Falconer, Isobel; Bitter-Rijpkema, Marlies; Littlejohn, Allison; Sloep, Peter B.

    2013-01-01

    Recent developments in the use of social media for learning have posed serious challenges for learners. The information overload that these online social tools create has changed the way learners learn and from whom they learn. An investigation of learners' goals, motivations and expected outcomes when using a personal learning network is…

  11. Student Experiences and Perceptions of Digital Literacy Skills Development: Engaging Learners by Design?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hall, Marion; Nix, Ingrid; Baker, Kirsty

    2013-01-01

    In the current digital environment, it is vital for learners to develop digital literacy skills. The UK's Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (HE) requires graduates to demonstrate digital literacy. Employers consider these skills essential. With the high cost of HE in the UK, learners themselves also expect university courses to…

  12. PUPIL-TEACHER RELATIONSHIPS--MAJOR FACTORS IN DEVELOPING LANGUAGE ARTS IN SLOW LEARNERS.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    PRINDIVILLE, SISTER FRANCIS DE SALES

    TEACHERS INCREASE THEIR STUDENTS' DISCOURAGEMENT AND CONFUSION BY IGNORING THEIR PERSONAL GROWTH AND BY NOT RELATING SCHOOL SITUATIONS TO LIFE PROBLEMS. FOR SLOW LEARNERS, THIS MAY LEAD TO FAILURE, FRUSTRATION, AND BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS. IF THE TEACHER IS TO HELP SLOW LEARNERS, HE MUST BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY THEM, KNOW WHAT THEY EXPECT FROM EDUCATION,…

  13. Reducing Annotation Effort Using Generalized Expectation Criteria

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-11-30

    constraints additionally consider input variables. Active learning is a related problem in which the learner can choose the particular instances to be...labeled. In pool-based active learning [Cohn et al., 1994], the learner has access to a set of unlabeled instances, and can choose the instance that...has the highest expected utility according to some metric. A standard pool- based active learning method is uncertainty sampling [Lewis and Catlett

  14. ERP evidence for different strategies in the processing of case markers in native speakers and non-native learners

    PubMed Central

    Mueller, Jutta L; Hirotani, Masako; Friederici, Angela D

    2007-01-01

    Background The present experiments were designed to test how the linguistic feature of case is processed in Japanese by native and non-native listeners. We used a miniature version of Japanese as a model to compare sentence comprehension mechanisms in native speakers and non-native learners who had received training until they had mastered the system. In the first experiment we auditorily presented native Japanese speakers with sentences containing incorrect double nominatives and incorrect double accusatives, and with correct sentences. In the second experiment we tested trained non-natives with the same material. Based on previous research in German we expected an N400-P600 biphasic ERP response with specific modulations depending on the violated case and whether the listeners were native or non-native. Results For native Japanese participants the general ERP response to the case violations was an N400-P600 pattern. Double accusatives led to an additional enhancement of the P600 amplitude. For the learners a native-like P600 was present for double accusatives and for double nominatives. The additional negativity, however, was present in learners only for double nominative violations, and it was characterized by a different topographical distribution. Conclusion The results indicate that native listeners use case markers for thematic as well as syntactic structure building during incremental sentence interpretation. The modulation of the P600 component for double accusatives possibly reflects case specific syntactic restrictions in Japanese. For adult language learners later processes, as reflected in the P600, seem to be more native-like compared to earlier processes. The anterior distribution of the negativity and its selective emergence for canonical sentences were taken to suggest that the non-native learners resorted to a rather formal processing strategy whereby they relied to a large degree on the phonologically salient nominative case marker. PMID:17331265

  15. Literacy Standards for Preschool Learners.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bodrova, Elena; Leong, Deborah J.; Paynter, Diane E.

    1999-01-01

    Preschool and kindergarten teachers can help young learners meet early literacy standards without sacrificing developmentally appropriate practice. Several professional associations have described appropriate expectations for children of different age levels known as milestones, developmental accomplishments, and benchmarks. (MLH)

  16. The Effects of Different Interaction Types in Web-Based Teaching on the Attitudes of Learners towards Web-Based Teaching and Internet

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 2013

    2013-01-01

    It might be said that attitudes impact success directly in web-based teaching and timely and appropriate fulfillment of learners' expectations bear utmost significance for their success. From this perspective a properly designed web supported teaching application can provide positive contribution as well to learners' attitudes towards web…

  17. The Influence of Teacher Power on English Language Learners' Self-Perceptions of Learner Empowerment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Diaz, Abel; Cochran, Kathryn; Karlin, Nancy

    2016-01-01

    English language learners (ELL) are students with a primary language spoken other than English enrolled in U.S. educational settings. As ELL students take on the challenges of learning English and U.S. culture, they must also learn academic content. The expectation to succeed academically in a foreign culture and language, while learning to speak…

  18. ELL Excel: Using Peer Mentoring to Help English Language Learners Excel in American Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Turney, Kristilynn M.

    2013-01-01

    This action research study describes implementation of a peer mentorship program to improve the performance of English language learners at the research site, a suburban high school in Ohio. With the rapidly increasing number of English language learners at the research site as well as schools across the country and the expectations of No Child…

  19. FipsOrtho: A Spell Checker for Learners of French

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    L'Haire, Sebastien

    2007-01-01

    This paper presents FipsOrtho, a spell checker targeted at learners of French, and a corpus of learners' errors which has been gathered to test the system and to get a sample of specific language learners' errors. Spell checkers are a standard feature of many software products, however they are not designed for specific language learners' errors.…

  20. A Quantitative Causal-Comparative Nonexperimental Research Study of English Language Learner and Non-English Language Learner Students' Oral Reading Fluency Growth

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Loughlin, Tricia Ann

    2017-01-01

    Beginning learners of English progress through the same stages to acquire language. However, the length of time each student spends at a particular stage may vary greatly. Under the current educational policies, ELL students are expected to participate in the general education curriculum while developing their proficiency in the English language.…

  1. Spanish stop-rhotic sequences in Spanish-Basque bilinguals and second language learners: An acoustic study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Weissglass, Christine A.

    This dissertation investigates transfer and markedness in bilingual and L2 Spanish stop-rhotic sequences (e.g., the 'br' in brisa 'breeze'). It also examines the phonetics-phonology interface in Spanish. To this end, it explores the production of these sequences in two different experiments. Experiment 1 compares the production of these sequences by 6 Spanish monolinguals and 6 Spanish-Basque bilinguals. Experiment 2 does so for 25 L2 learners and 5 native Spanish speakers. Acoustic analysis of these sequences revealed that Spanish-Basque bilinguals produced trills 5% of the time whereas Spanish monolinguals did not have any trills. Additionally, fricative rhotics and coarticulation accounted for 35% of L2 realizations, but were not present in the native Spanish speaker dataset. These findings indicate a role for transfer in both bilingual and L2 phonological acquisition, although it is more prevalent in the L2 learner dataset. This is in line with the Speech Learning Model (Flege, 1995), which posits a stronger role for transfer amongst late learners (i.e., L2 learners) than early learners (i.e., Spanish-Basque bilinguals). In order to examine the role of markedness in bilingual and L2 phonological acquisition, this dissertation investigates the role of sonority in bilingual and L2 Spanish syllable structure. To do so, it proposes a sonority hierarchy for rhotic variants based on their specifications for voicing, intensity and continuancy. According to this hierarchy, approximant rhotics are the most sonorous, followed by taps, trills and fricative rhotics. Therefore, approximant rhotics were expected to be the most common realization followed by taps, trills and fricative rhotics. Although Spanish monolinguals adhered to this expectation, the other groups did not; taps were the most common realization for Spanish-Basque bilinguals, L2 learners, and native Spanish speakers and fricative rhotics were more common than trills for Spanish-Basque bilinguals and L2 learners. These results suggest an interaction between transfer and markedness, consistent with Major (2001). They also reflect dialectal differences in native Spanish speakers. Finally, this dissertation explores the phonetic-phonology interface in Spanish in two ways. First, it investigates the function of svarabhakti vowels, vocalic elements of variable duration that emerge between consonants, in Spanish stop-rhotic sequences. For the most part, the findings support a dissimilatory role for svarabhakti vowels in this context (see also Colantoni & Steele, 2005). Second, in order to examine the impact of gestural timing in Spanish stop-rhotic realization, it considers the role of the sounds surrounding the rhotic (see also Bradley & Schmeiser, 2003). The results can be explained in terms of different degrees of gestural overlap for all groups except L2 learners, which may be due to a strong role of transfer.

  2. Investigation of Multicultural Education Courses: The Case of Georgia State University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Basbay, Alper

    2014-01-01

    Multicultural education includes the design of learning environments according to different cultural characteristics and learners' respectful attitudes towards these characteristics. One of the teachers' expected competencies in multicultural education is recognizing learners' cultural characteristics and being respectful of these during the…

  3. The essential role of medical ethics education in achieving professionalism: the Romanell Report.

    PubMed

    Carrese, Joseph A; Malek, Janet; Watson, Katie; Lehmann, Lisa Soleymani; Green, Michael J; McCullough, Laurence B; Geller, Gail; Braddock, Clarence H; Doukas, David J

    2015-06-01

    This article-the Romanell Report-offers an analysis of the current state of medical ethics education in the United States, focusing in particular on its essential role in cultivating professionalism among medical learners. Education in ethics has become an integral part of medical education and training over the past three decades and has received particular attention in recent years because of the increasing emphasis placed on professional formation by accrediting bodies such as the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Yet, despite the development of standards, milestones, and competencies related to professionalism, there is no consensus about the specific goals of medical ethics education, the essential knowledge and skills expected of learners, the best pedagogical methods and processes for implementation, and optimal strategies for assessment. Moreover, the quality, extent, and focus of medical ethics instruction vary, particularly at the graduate medical education level. Although variation in methods of instruction and assessment may be appropriate, ultimately medical ethics education must address the overarching articulated expectations of the major accrediting organizations. With the aim of aiding medical ethics educators in meeting these expectations, the Romanell Report describes current practices in ethics education and offers guidance in several areas: educational goals and objectives, teaching methods, assessment strategies, and other challenges and opportunities (including course structure and faculty development). The report concludes by proposing an agenda for future research.

  4. Integrating Science and English Proficiency for English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Okhee; Buxton, Cory A.

    2013-01-01

    Despite the expectation that all students should achieve high academic standards, content area instruction and English for speakers of other languages instruction for English language learners (ELLs) have traditionally been conceptualized as separate domains, resulting in educational inequities for ELLs. This is because effective instruction to…

  5. Promoting Physics Among Female Learners in the Western Cape Through Active Engagement (abstract)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arendse, Gillian J.

    2009-04-01

    In 2006 the author organized a one-day intervention aimed at promoting physics among female learners at the University of Stellenbosch. The activities included an interactive lecture demonstration promoting active engagement, a hands-on session, and short presentations by female physicists addressing issues such as balancing family and career, breaking the stereotypes, and launching a successful career in physics. Each learner was expected to evaluate the program. In 2007 the author joined forces with Hip2B2 (Shuttleworth Foundation) to host a competition among grade-10 learners with the theme, ``promoting creativity through interactivity.'' The author was tasked by the Hip2B2-team to assist with a program for female learners planned for August 2008, coinciding with our national celebration of Women's Day. The event targeted 160 learners and took place in Durban, East London, Cape Town, and Johannesburg. The author shares some of the learners' experiences and personal triumphs.

  6. Comparing writing style feature-based classification methods for estimating user reputations in social media.

    PubMed

    Suh, Jong Hwan

    2016-01-01

    In recent years, the anonymous nature of the Internet has made it difficult to detect manipulated user reputations in social media, as well as to ensure the qualities of users and their posts. To deal with this, this study designs and examines an automatic approach that adopts writing style features to estimate user reputations in social media. Under varying ways of defining Good and Bad classes of user reputations based on the collected data, it evaluates the classification performance of the state-of-art methods: four writing style features, i.e. lexical, syntactic, structural, and content-specific, and eight classification techniques, i.e. four base learners-C4.5, Neural Network (NN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Naïve Bayes (NB)-and four Random Subspace (RS) ensemble methods based on the four base learners. When South Korea's Web forum, Daum Agora, was selected as a test bed, the experimental results show that the configuration of the full feature set containing content-specific features and RS-SVM combining RS and SVM gives the best accuracy for classification if the test bed poster reputations are segmented strictly into Good and Bad classes by portfolio approach. Pairwise t tests on accuracy confirm two expectations coming from the literature reviews: first, the feature set adding content-specific features outperform the others; second, ensemble learning methods are more viable than base learners. Moreover, among the four ways on defining the classes of user reputations, i.e. like, dislike, sum, and portfolio, the results show that the portfolio approach gives the highest accuracy.

  7. East-Asian Teaching Practices through the Eyes of Western Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Rainbow Tsai-Hung

    2014-01-01

    Many East-Asian countries are actively positioning themselves as receiving countries of international students. Consequently, the number of international students in these countries is steadily growing. Given the differences between Eastern and Western conceptions of teaching and learning, it could be expected that Western learners studying in the…

  8. Curriculum Policies for Students with Special Needs in Australia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aspland, Tania; Datta, Poulomee; Talukdar, Joy

    2012-01-01

    The curriculum policies for students with special needs across Australia have been reviewed. The Curriculum Framework in the Australian Capital Territory is used to inform their school based curriculum. The Northern Territory Curriculum Framework describes what learners are expected to achieve and what learners have achieved. The New South Wales…

  9. Facilitating Trust in Privacy-Preserving E-Learning Environments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anwar, M.; Greer, J.

    2012-01-01

    This research explores a new model for facilitating trust in online e-learning activities. We begin by protecting the privacy of learners through identity management (IM), where personal information can be protected through some degree of participant anonymity or pseudonymity. In order to expect learners to trust other pseudonymous participants,…

  10. Efficacy of Student Mentoring and Motivation in Learning Division of Mathematics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Singaravelu, G.; Ramaswamy, Sangeetha

    2006-01-01

    Learners at primary level had learning impediments in divisions of mathematics, which was eliminated by a student mentor's kind approach, conducive motivation, spot guidance, friendly facilitation and guidance to achieve required competency. Hence the student mentor can motivate the learners to achieve the expected learning outcomes in stipulated…

  11. Working with Slow Readers, Slow Learners.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Carl B.

    1990-01-01

    This article examines the conditions that will help teachers improve the reading comprehension of learning disabled students: (1) allow more time; (2) build a framework for comprehension; (3) intervene in the process; (4) engage the learner; (5) match student and material; and (6) expect students to succeed. Two figures are included. (RS)

  12. A holistic model for evaluating the impact of individual technology-enhanced learning resources.

    PubMed

    Pickering, James D; Joynes, Viktoria C T

    2016-12-01

    The use of technology within education has now crossed the Rubicon; student expectations, the increasing availability of both hardware and software and the push to fully blended learning environments mean that educational institutions cannot afford to turn their backs on technology-enhanced learning (TEL). The ability to meaningfully evaluate the impact of TEL resources nevertheless remains problematic. This paper aims to establish a robust means of evaluating individual resources and meaningfully measure their impact upon learning within the context of the program in which they are used. Based upon the experience of developing and evaluating a range of mobile and desktop based TEL resources, this paper outlines a new four-stage evaluation process, taking into account learner satisfaction, learner gain, and the impact of a resource on both the individual and the institution in which it has been adapted. A new multi-level model of TEL resource evaluation is proposed, which includes a preliminary evaluation of need, learner satisfaction and gain, learner impact and institutional impact. Each of these levels are discussed in detail, and in relation to existing TEL evaluation frameworks. This paper details a holistic, meaningful evaluation model for individual TEL resources within the specific context in which they are used. It is proposed that this model is adopted to ensure that TEL resources are evaluated in a more meaningful and robust manner than is currently undertaken.

  13. The neural coding of expected and unexpected monetary performance outcomes: dissociations between active and observational learning.

    PubMed

    Bellebaum, C; Jokisch, D; Gizewski, E R; Forsting, M; Daum, I

    2012-02-01

    Successful adaptation to the environment requires the learning of stimulus-response-outcome associations. Such associations can be learned actively by trial and error or by observing the behaviour and accompanying outcomes in other persons. The present study investigated similarities and differences in the neural mechanisms of active and observational learning from monetary feedback using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Two groups of 15 subjects each - active and observational learners - participated in the experiment. On every trial, active learners chose between two stimuli and received monetary feedback. Each observational learner observed the choices and outcomes of one active learner. Learning performance as assessed via active test trials without feedback was comparable between groups. Different activation patterns were observed for the processing of unexpected vs. expected monetary feedback in active and observational learners, particularly for positive outcomes. Activity for unexpected vs. expected reward was stronger in the right striatum in active learning, while activity in the hippocampus was bilaterally enhanced in observational and reduced in active learning. Modulation of activity by prediction error (PE) magnitude was observed in the right putamen in both types of learning, whereas PE related activations in the right anterior caudate nucleus and in the medial orbitofrontal cortex were stronger for active learning. The striatum and orbitofrontal cortex thus appear to link reward stimuli to own behavioural reactions and are less strongly involved when the behavioural outcome refers to another person's action. Alternative explanations such as differences in reward value between active and observational learning are also discussed. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Learner Personas in CALL

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heift, Trude

    2007-01-01

    In examining the titles of this year's conference presentations, the author noticed quite a few papers that focus on learner-specific issues, for instance, papers that address learning styles, learner needs, personality and learning, learner modeling and, more generally, pedagogical issues that deal with individual learner differences in…

  15. Recoding Strategies of German Learners of English as a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Treutlein, Anke; Schöler, Hermann; Landerl, Karin

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated whether German learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) acquire additional recoding strategies that they do not need for recoding in the consistent German orthography. Based on the psycholinguistic grain size theory (Ziegler & Goswami, 2005) we expected students with little experience in EFL to use the same…

  16. Comparing Teachers' Judgments of Learners' Speech in Chinese as a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Orton, Jane

    2014-01-01

    Pedagogical norms for Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) shared by teachers, curriculum writers, and resource designers inside and outside of Chinese societies are yet to be established. To initiate and inform dialogue within the CFL community over shared expectations of learners, this study compared the judgments of students' oral presentations…

  17. Measuring Service Quality in a Nontraditional Institution Using Importance-Performance Gap Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mugdh, Mrinal

    2004-01-01

    nd wants of these students, nontraditional colleges have adopted research strategies that take into account both student expectations as well as their perception of satisfaction to assess service quality at their institutions. As one of the model adult learner focused institutions, Empire State College used Noel-Levitz Adult Learner Inventory in…

  18. Teaching Adolescent ELs to Write Academic-Style Persuasive Essays

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ramos, Kathleen

    2014-01-01

    The wide adoption of the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in the U.S. has increased expectations for all teachers to prepare all learners to read and write in academic ways. More knowledge is needed about instructional approaches that may lead adolescent English learners (ELs) to meet this goal. Developing academic literacy practices…

  19. Silence as Right, Choice, Resistance and Strategy among Chinese "Me Generation" Students: Implications for Pedagogy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ha, Phan Le; Li, Binghui

    2014-01-01

    The topic of silence and "the Chinese learner" has been extensively studied often in relation to cross-cultural adjustment, intercultural issues, learning styles, language ability and differences of classroom expectations. These studies have often led to recommendations to understand silence and "the Chinese learner" in more…

  20. South African Teachers' Attitudes toward the Inclusion of Learners with Different Abilities in Mainstream Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donohue, Dana K.; Bornman, Juan

    2015-01-01

    This research sought to examine South African teachers' attitudes toward the inclusion of learners with different abilities in their hypothetical mainstream classrooms. Participants were 93 South African teachers who responded to the Teachers' Attitudes and Expectations Scale, a measure developed for this study, regarding four vignettes depicting…

  1. Teaching Reading Comprehension to Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Predictors of Teacher Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectancy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Accardo, Amy L.; Finnegan, Elizabeth G.; Gulkus, Steven P.; Papay, Clare K.

    2017-01-01

    Learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit difficulty in the area of reading comprehension. Research connecting the learning needs of individuals with ASD, existing effective practices, teacher training, and teacher perceptions of their own ability to teach reading comprehension is scarce. Quantitative survey methodology and…

  2. Inquiry-Based Practical Work in Physical Sciences: Equitable Access and Social Justice Issues

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tsakeni, Maria

    2018-01-01

    Physical sciences education comes with high expectations for learners to be successfully placed in tertiary institutions in related fields, and developing countries' aspirations to develop advanced and specialised skills to drive economies. However, some of the prevailing instructional strategies in science classrooms work to marginalise learners.…

  3. The English Language Learner Variable in Research: One Definition Is Not Enough

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Debossu, Stephanie C.

    2015-01-01

    Properly defining a population ensures that resources, such as funding and access, meet the needs, expectations, and intended outcomes for those represented. Ethical concerns arise when a target population, such as the English Language Learner population, is defined in numerous yet incomplete ways, and differently in research and in state policies…

  4. Metalinguistic Knowledge and Cognitive Style in Polish Classroom Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zietek, Agnieszka A.; Roehr, Karen

    2011-01-01

    In this exploratory study, we investigated the relationship between level of English metalinguistic knowledge, or explicit knowledge about the English language, and cognitive style on the wholist/analytic dimension in an intact group of young adult Polish learners of English as a foreign language. Contrary to expectation, metalinguistic knowledge…

  5. Chinese and Japanese Students' Conceptions of the "Ideal English Lesson"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Littlewood, William

    2010-01-01

    In developing strategies for increasing learner involvement, a key factor is the extent to which these strategies are compatible with learners' own expectations and preferences. In order to explore this factor, tertiary students in four Asian countries were asked (in an online survey designed on the basis of exploratory interviews) to give their…

  6. Learner Centered Classroom in Science Instruction: Providing Feedback with Technology Integration

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yilmaz, Ozkan

    2017-01-01

    "Learner centered" term points out environments that attention to the learners brings to the educational setting. This term includes teaching practices: effort to uncover what learners think in a specific problem on hand, talking about their misconceptions and, giving them situations to readjust their ideas. In Learner centered…

  7. Creating Cartoons: A Learner-Centered Approach to Comprehending Texts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Malu, Kathleen F.; McNeal, Kelly

    2017-01-01

    In this article the authors describe how a specific technique--having learners create cartoons based on a reading passage--helped learners explore their understanding of reading passages and helped the teachers reflect on what the learners had comprehended.

  8. Student Expectations as a Function of Student Retention for Adult Online Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kastroll, Herman Carl, V

    2017-01-01

    The study of retention is important to the institution, to assist in ensuring financial stability, and to the student, to provide an environment supportive of student needs for success. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between the subscales of the Priorities Survey of Online Learners (PSOL) and the enrollment…

  9. Online Interaction Quality among Adult Learners: The Role of Sense of Belonging and Perceived Learning Benefits

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Diep, Nguyet A.; Cocquyt, Celine; Zhu, Chang; Vanwing, Tom

    2017-01-01

    The present study employs social cognitive theory (SCT) and social capital as the guiding frameworks to explain online interaction quality among learners in a blended learning program (N = 179). Capturing performance expectancy by perceived learning benefits and online interaction quality with nuanced cognitive measures, the study aims to validate…

  10. Assessment and Intervention for English Language Learners with Primary Language Impairment: Research-Based Best Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pieretti, Robert A.; Roseberry-McKibbin, Celeste

    2016-01-01

    Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are experiencing the exciting challenge of serving increasing numbers of English Language Learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools. When ELLs struggle in school, they may be overreferred for speech-language services. SLPs are routinely expected to differentiate a language difference based on cultural, linguistic, and…

  11. Using No Child Left Behind Waivers to Improve English Language Learner Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Theodora

    2012-01-01

    The No Child Left Behind law fundamentally changed the expectations and data that schools should have for their English language learner students. The landmark 1974 Lau v. Nichols Supreme Court case concluded that students who speak English as a second language have a right to a "meaningful education." But No Child Left Behind--a…

  12. What School Leaders Need to Know about English Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dormer, Jan Edwards

    2016-01-01

    School leaders have the unique opportunity and responsibility to play a crucial role in creating a culture of high expectations and an environment of support so that ELLs can succeed and continue to enrich the fabric of our country. "What School Leaders Need to Know About English Learners" offers school leaders the foundation, the ideas,…

  13. Self-Directed Learning in Preparatory-Year University Students: Comparing Successful and Less-Successful English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alghamdi, Fatimah M. A.

    2016-01-01

    There is consensus among those involved in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in the Saudi educational context that students' achievement in language learning is below expectations. Much research has been directed towards finding the reasons for low achievement amongst learners. However, very few studies have looked at parameters of…

  14. Exploring the Factors Affecting Learners' Continuance Intention of MOOCs for Online Collaborative Learning: An Extended ECM Perspective

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Junjie, Zhou

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this paper was to investigate what factors influence learners' continuance intention in massive open online courses (MOOCs) for online collaborative learning. An extended expectation confirmation model (ECM) was adopted as the theoretical foundation. A total of 435 valid samples were collected in mainland China and structural…

  15. English Language Proficiency and Content Assessment Performance: A Comparison of English Learners and Native English Speakers Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miley, Suzi Keller; Farmer, Aarek

    2017-01-01

    As a result of the accountability requirements established in Title III of the Elementary and Secondary Educational Act (ESEA) legislation, English Learners (ELs) are expected to make progress in both content area academic achievement and English Language Proficiency (ELP). In Tennessee ELs progress is measured by administering WIDA-Access to…

  16. Interactions between and among Heritage Language Learners and Second Language Learners during Collaborative Writing Activities: How Learners Attend to Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walls, Laura

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates the dynamics in the Spanish classroom between heritage language learner (HLL) dyads, second language learner (L2L) dyads, and mixed HLL-L2L dyads. Specifically, it examines oral, written and embodied discourse that informs our understanding of how learners attend to language. Analysis for this dissertation examined…

  17. Left to their own devices: medical learners' use of mobile technologies.

    PubMed

    Ellaway, Rachel H; Fink, Patricia; Graves, Lisa; Campbell, Alanna

    2014-02-01

    Although many medical learners and teachers are using mobile technologies within medical education, there has been little evidence presented describing how they use mobile devices across a whole curriculum. The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) introduced a new mobile device program in 2010. Incoming undergraduate medical learners received a laptop and an iPad and learners entering year three of the four-year program received a laptop and an iPhone. A survey was sent to all learners to gather information on their use of and attitudes toward these devices. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was used to analyze the data and to generate a series of themes that synthesized student behaviors, perceptions and attitudes. Context and learner autonomy were found to be important factors with learners using multiple devices for different purposes and adopting strategic approaches to learning using these devices. The expectation that school-issued devices would be regularly and enthusiastically used to replace more traditional study media was not reflected in practice. Learners' approaches to using mobile devices are heterogeneous as is the extent to which they use them. Learners adapt their use of mobile devices to the learning cultures and contexts they find themselves in.

  18. Test Expectancy and Memory for Important Information

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Middlebrooks, Catherine D.; Murayama, Kou; Castel, Alan D.

    2017-01-01

    Prior research suggests that learners study and remember information differently depending upon the type of test they expect to later receive. The current experiments investigate how testing expectations impact the study of and memory for valuable information. Participants studied lists of words ranging in value from 1 to 10 points with the goal…

  19. Perceptions of Individual Education Plan Team on Identification of English Language Learners with Specific Learning Disability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adekanye, Emily

    2017-01-01

    Students identified as learners with specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) represent almost half of the total special education population. With the high numbers of students identified as SLD, there has also been the concern of over-identification of immigrant students called English language learners (ELLs), which leads to disproportionality in…

  20. The Impact of Learner Attributes and Learner Choice in an Agent-Based Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Yanghee; Wei, Quan

    2011-01-01

    This study examined the impact of learners' attributes (gender and ethnicity) on their choice of a pedagogical agent and the impact of the attributes and choice on their perceptions of agent affability, task-specific attitudes, task-specific self-efficacy, and learning gains. Participants were 210 high-school male and female, Caucasian and…

  1. Post learning sleep improves cognitive-emotional decision-making: evidence for a 'deck B sleep effect' in the Iowa Gambling Task.

    PubMed

    Seeley, Corrine J; Beninger, Richard J; Smith, Carlyle T

    2014-01-01

    The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is widely used to assess real life decision-making impairment in a wide variety of clinical populations. Our study evaluated how IGT learning occurs across two sessions, and whether a period of intervening sleep between sessions can enhance learning. Furthermore, we investigate whether pre-sleep learning is necessary for this improvement. A 200-trial version of the IGT was administered at two sessions separated by wake, sleep or sleep and wake (time-of-day control). Participants were categorized as learners and non-learners based on initial performance in session one. In session one, participants initially preferred the high-frequency reward decks B and D, however, a subset of learners decreased choice from negative expected value 'bad' deck B and increased choices towards with a positive expected value 'good' decks (decks C and D). The learners who had a period of sleep (sleep and sleep/wake control conditions) between sessions showed significantly larger reduction in choices from deck B and increase in choices from good decks compared to learners that had intervening wake. Our results are the first to show that post-learning sleep can improve performance on a complex decision-making task such as the IGT. These results provide new insights into IGT learning and have important implications for understanding the neural mechanisms of "sleeping on" a decision.

  2. English as a "Global Language" in China: An Investigation into Learners' and Teachers' Language Beliefs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pan, Lin; Block, David

    2011-01-01

    This paper discusses issues related to language beliefs held by teachers and students of English in China; namely, the status of English, the learners' expectations of English and the focus of English teaching and learning in China. These beliefs are examined in the context of globalization and China's ever-deepening integration into the global…

  3. The Teaching of English Idioms in Kenyan Secondary Schools: Difficulties and Effective Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gathigia, Moses Gatambuki; Njoroge, Martin C.

    2016-01-01

    The acquisition of idiomatic expressions is one of the primary challenges to learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) in multilingual contexts such as Kenya; yet, the learners are expected to use these expressions in their writing. The study on which this paper is based sought to assess the teaching of English idiomatic expressions in Kenyan…

  4. Common Core State Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects for English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    de Oliveira, Luciana C., Ed.

    2016-01-01

    This volume in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Learners series was designed to deepen teacher's knowledge and provides instructional approaches and practices for supporting grades 6-12 ELLs as they meet the ambitious expectations of the CCSS for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. This…

  5. Effects of Planning on Task Load, Knowledge, and Tool Preference: A Comparison of Two Tools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bonestroo, Wilco J.; de Jong, Ton

    2012-01-01

    Self-regulated learners are expected to plan their own learning. Because planning is a complex task, it is not self-evident that all learners can perform this task successfully. In this study, we examined the effects of two planning support tools on the quality of created plans, planning behavior, task load, and acquired knowledge. Sixty-five…

  6. Developing Literacy in English Language Learners: Findings from a Review of the Experimental Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    August, Diane; McCardle, Peggy; Shanahan, Timothy

    2014-01-01

    In the past decade the proportion of school-aged children in the United States who are English language learners (ELLs) grew by 32%, compared with a 4.9% overall increase in U.S. school enrollment. This only heightens the already important challenge of providing effective, appropriate reading instruction for ELLs because all teachers can expect to…

  7. Developing and Implementing an Interactive End-of-Life Education Module Using Raptivity and iSpring: Lessons Learned

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lewis-Pierre, LaToya; Aziza, Khitam

    2017-01-01

    The 21st century nurse is a forward-thinking individual who is expected to deliver holistic nursing care. Multigenerational learners are seeking degrees and the new Net generation learner will reflect the majority of the workforce. Thus, the integration of a multilevel interactive classroom is instrumental in facilitating the student's knowledge…

  8. The Impact of Western Criticisms of Japanese Rhetorical Approaches on Learners of Japanese

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McKinley, Jim

    2014-01-01

    For learners of Japanese, a conundrum arises at university level as they are expected to be able to shift between direct and indirect language in various writing tasks. The apparent indirectness in inductive language is required of regular writing tasks such as response essays and e-mails, while the directness of deductive academic writing, a…

  9. Practice and Incentive Effects on Learner Performance: Aircraft Instrument Comprehension Task.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tenpas, Barbara G.; Higgins, Norman C.

    To study the effects of practice and incentive on learner performance on the aircraft instrument comprehension task, 48 third-year Air Force cadets were chosen as subjects. The subjects were expected to be able to identify which one of four pictures of aircraft in flight most nearly corresponded to the position indicated on a panel of attitude and…

  10. Benefiting from Authentic Education to a Sustainable Social Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Watagodakumbura, Chandana

    2013-01-01

    Authentic education provides a unique learning experience to individual learners, specifically by addressing their psychological and neurological needs. The assessment of learners is done through generic attributes that have more validity and relates to intrinsic learner characteristics that could last throughout the life span of the learner.…

  11. An Open Learner Model for Trainee Pilots

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gakhal, Inderdip; Bull, Susan

    2008-01-01

    This paper investigates the potential for simple open learner models for highly motivated, independent learners, using the example of trainee pilots. In particular we consider whether such users access their learner model to help them identify their current knowledge level, areas of difficulty and specific misconceptions, to help them plan their…

  12. Dynamic Learner Profiling and Automatic Learner Classification for Adaptive E-Learning Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Premlatha, K. R.; Dharani, B.; Geetha, T. V.

    2016-01-01

    E-learning allows learners individually to learn "anywhere, anytime" and offers immediate access to specific information. However, learners have different behaviors, learning styles, attitudes, and aptitudes, which affect their learning process, and therefore learning environments need to adapt according to these differences, so as to…

  13. Analysis of severe photoreceptor loss and Morris water-maze performance in aged rats.

    PubMed

    O'Steen, W K; Spencer, R L; Bare, D J; McEwen, B S

    1995-06-01

    In a study of aging and memory in 25-27-month-old albino rats, performance on a Morris water maze was found to be dependent on the structural integrity of the retina. Generally, as expected, 'learners' had intact retinas, while 'non-learners' had retinas with severe photoreceptor loss and a non-continuous outer nuclear layer, consisting of scattered cell nuclei. However, contrary to this general correlation between learning ability and photoreceptor presence, some learners had severely degenerated retinas and occasionally, non-learners had photoreceptor populations that apparently were comparable to those of learners. Rat retinas from these unpredictable, borderline response categories were examined histopathologically and morphometrically with the purpose of determining the minimal number of photoreceptors (PRs) necessary for animals to be rated as learners on the Morris water maze. However, among these severely damaged retinas of borderline groups, total number of surviving photoreceptors did not vary significantly among the learner, ambiguous or marginal and non-learner groups. The population of surviving PRs in learners was as low as 0.04% and in non-learners as high as 0.4%, as compared to that of young, adult rats. Therefore, borderline learners and non-learners had overlapping surviving PR numbers and the results did not clarify the response difference between these groups in the Morris water maze. It is suggested that the pattern of surviving PRs over the retinal surface, as well as the ratio of surviving rods to cones and their connectivity with other retinal neurons, may be related to the residual function of degenerated retinas of learner rats.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

  14. A Process Model of L2 Learners' Motivation: From the Perspectives of General Tendency and Individual Differences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hiromori, Tomohito

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine a process model of L2 learners' motivation. To investigate the overall process of motivation, the motivation of 148 university students was analyzed. Data were collected on three variables from the pre-decisional phase of motivation (i.e., value, expectancy, and intention) and four variables from the…

  15. Timelines for English Language Acquisition: A Study of the Rates of Second Language Acquisition among Hispanic English Language Learners Including Exceptionalities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dixon, Jennifer J.

    2012-01-01

    This study explores No Child Left Behind's required timetable for English language learners (ELLs) to reach English language proficiency within five years, as outlined in the Annual Measurable Achievement Outcomes (AMAOs), despite the lack of research evidence to support this as a reasonable expectation. Analysis was conducted on the archived data…

  16. EFL Learners' Development of Voice in Academic Writing: Lexical Bundles, Boosters/Hedges and Stance-Taking Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fallas Escobar, Christian; Chaves Fernández, Lindsay

    2017-01-01

    In EFL composition courses, teaching and learning normally orbit around norms of unity, coherence, support, and sentence skills that L2 learners are expected to comply with, at the expense of opportunities to develop voice. Against this backdrop, we resolved to examine the extent to which students' exposure to and practice with lexical bundles,…

  17. Strengthening Policies and Practices for the Initial Classification of English Learners: Insights from a National Working Session

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cook, H. Gary; Linquanti, Robert

    2015-01-01

    This report summarizes and further develops ideas discussed at a national working session held on May 23, 2014, to examine issues and options associated with initially classifying English learners (ELs). It is the third in a series of guidance papers intended to support states in large-scale assessment consortia that are expected to move toward a…

  18. South African Law and Policy Regulating Learner Absenteeism at Public Schools: Supporting an Ecosystemic Management Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coetzee, Susan; Venter, Rienie

    2016-01-01

    Learner absenteeism often occurs involuntarily due to learners' social and economic circumstances. Notwithstanding this fact, there is a worldwide trend towards a more punitive and retributory management approach to address learner absenteeism. Because such an approach neglects to consider absentees' specific circumstances, it fails to address…

  19. Bilingualism Affects 9-Month-Old Infants' Expectations about How Words Refer to Kinds

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Byers-Heinlein, Krista

    2017-01-01

    Infants are precocious word learners, and seem to possess systematic expectations about how words refer to object kinds. For example, while monolingual infants show a one-to-one mapping bias (e.g. mutual exclusivity), expecting each object to have only one basic level label, previous research has shown that this is less robust in bi- and…

  20. Bedside Teaching in Undergraduate Medical Education: Issues, Strategies, and New Models for Better Preparation of New Generation Doctors

    PubMed Central

    Salam, Abdus; Siraj, Harlina Halizah; Mohamad, Nabishah; Das, Srijit; Rabeya, Yousuf

    2011-01-01

    Bedside teaching is a vital component of medical education. It is applicable to any situation where teaching is imparted in the presence of patients. In teaching in the patients’ presence, learners have the opportunities to use all of their senses and learn the humanistic aspect of medicine such as role modeling, which is vital but difficult to communicate in words. Unfortunately, bedside teaching has been on the decline. To investigate the reasons for the decline in bedside teaching, its importance and its revival, a review of literature was carried out using PubMed and other data bases. The review revealed that the major concerns of bedside teaching were time constraint, false preceptors’ concern about patients’ comfort, short stay of patients in hospitals, learner distraction by technology, lack of experience and unrealistic faculty expectation. Whatsoever the reasons, bedside teaching cannot be replaced with anything else. There are newer approaches of effective bedside teaching, and the core focus of all such approaches is educational process. A bedside teacher must learn how to involve patients and learners in the educational processes. Moreover, bedside teaching is the process through which learners acquire the skills of communication by asking patients’ permission, establishing ground rules, setting time limit, introducing the team, diagnosing learner, diagnosing patient, conducting focused teaching, using simple language, asking patient if there is any question, closing with encouraging thanks, and giving feedback privately. It is most important to ensure a comfortable environment for all participants, the learner, the patient and the bedside teacher. Ongoing faculty development programs on educational processes and realistic faculty expectations may overcome the problems. PMID:23365470

  1. Bedside teaching in undergraduate medical education: issues, strategies, and new models for better preparation of new generation doctors.

    PubMed

    Salam, Abdus; Siraj, Harlina Halizah; Mohamad, Nabishah; Das, Srijit; Rabeya, Yousuf

    2011-03-01

    Bedside teaching is a vital component of medical education. It is applicable to any situation where teaching is imparted in the presence of patients. In teaching in the patients' presence, learners have the opportunities to use all of their senses and learn the humanistic aspect of medicine such as role modeling, which is vital but difficult to communicate in words. Unfortunately, bedside teaching has been on the decline. To investigate the reasons for the decline in bedside teaching, its importance and its revival, a review of literature was carried out using PubMed and other data bases. The review revealed that the major concerns of bedside teaching were time constraint, false preceptors' concern about patients' comfort, short stay of patients in hospitals, learner distraction by technology, lack of experience and unrealistic faculty expectation. Whatsoever the reasons, bedside teaching cannot be replaced with anything else. There are newer approaches of effective bedside teaching, and the core focus of all such approaches is educational process. A bedside teacher must learn how to involve patients and learners in the educational processes. Moreover, bedside teaching is the process through which learners acquire the skills of communication by asking patients' permission, establishing ground rules, setting time limit, introducing the team, diagnosing learner, diagnosing patient, conducting focused teaching, using simple language, asking patient if there is any question, closing with encouraging thanks, and giving feedback privately. It is most important to ensure a comfortable environment for all participants, the learner, the patient and the bedside teacher. Ongoing faculty development programs on educational processes and realistic faculty expectations may overcome the problems.

  2. Modality-specific processing precedes amodal linguistic processing during L2 sign language acquisition: A longitudinal study.

    PubMed

    Williams, Joshua T; Darcy, Isabelle; Newman, Sharlene D

    2016-02-01

    The present study tracked activation pattern differences in response to sign language processing by late hearing second language learners of American Sign Language. Learners were scanned before the start of their language courses. They were scanned again after their first semester of instruction and their second, for a total of 10 months of instruction. The study aimed to characterize modality-specific to modality-general processing throughout the acquisition of sign language. Results indicated that before the acquisition of sign language, neural substrates related to modality-specific processing were present. After approximately 45 h of instruction, the learners transitioned into processing signs on a phonological basis (e.g., supramarginal gyrus, putamen). After one more semester of input, learners transitioned once more to a lexico-semantic processing stage (e.g., left inferior frontal gyrus) at which language control mechanisms (e.g., left caudate, cingulate gyrus) were activated. During these transitional steps right hemispheric recruitment was observed, with increasing left-lateralization, which is similar to other native signers and L2 learners of spoken language; however, specialization for sign language processing with activation in the inferior parietal lobule (i.e., angular gyrus), even for late learners, was observed. As such, the present study is the first to track L2 acquisition of sign language learners in order to characterize modality-independent and modality-specific mechanisms for bilingual language processing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Enlisting New Teachers in Clinical Environments (ENTICE); novel ways to engage clinicians.

    PubMed

    Peyser, Bruce; Daily, Kathryn A; Hudak, Nicholas M; Railey, Kenyon; Bosworth, Hayden B

    2014-01-01

    To explore the barriers and incentives that affect primary care providers who precept students in outpatient clinics in the US. In 2013, leadership of our large primary care group sent a 20-question survey via e-mail to all of the 180 providers within the network. The survey assessed provider demographics, precepting history, learner preferences, and other issues that might affect future decisions about teaching. The response rate was 50% (90 providers). The top reasons for precepting in the past were enjoyment for teaching and personal interaction with learners. The most commonly cited reason for not precepting previously was a perceived lack of time followed by increased productivity demands. When questioned about the future, 65% (59 respondents) indicated that they were likely to precept within the next 6 months. A desired reduction in productivity expectations was the most commonly cited motivator, followed by anticipated monetary compensation and adjusted appointment times. A top barrier to future precepting was a belief that teaching decreases productivity and requires large amounts of time. This survey represents an opportunity to study a change in focus for a cohort of busy clinicians who were mostly new to teaching but not new to clinical practice. The survey provides further insight into clinician educators' perceptions regarding the education of a variety of different learners. The results align with data from previous studies in that time pressures and productivity demands transcend specific programs and learner backgrounds. This information is critical for future clerkship directors and hospital administrators in order to understand how to increase support for potential preceptors in medical education.

  4. Microevaluating Learners' Task-Specific Motivation in a Task-Based Business Spanish Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Torres, Julio; Serafini, Ellen J.

    2016-01-01

    Scholars of task-based language teaching (TBLT) advocate for the identification of learners' communicative needs to inform syllabus design, particularly in language for specific purposes contexts (e.g., Long 2015). However, little research has applied TBLT principles in designing Spanish for specific purposes curricula. Moreover, despite the…

  5. An Evaluation of a Self-Access Centre through EFL Learners' Eyes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Balcikanli, Cem

    2017-01-01

    Learner autonomy has become a central concern in the recent history of language learning. Self-Access Centres (SACs) play a critical role in fostering learner autonomy specifically in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) settings. As SACs aim at enabling learning to occur independent of teaching, in these centres, language learners are given more…

  6. Facilitative Effects of Learner-Directed Codeswitching: Evidence from Chinese Learners of English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhu, Xiye; Vanek, Norbert

    2017-01-01

    This study examines the interaction between learner-oriented codeswitching (CS) practices and the degree to which intermediate Chinese L2 learners of English engage in classroom interaction. The guiding questions are whether the teacher's CS use facilitates classroom interaction at moderate L2 proficiency, and if so, at which specific stages of…

  7. The Use and Misuse of Academic Words in Writing: Analyzing the Writing of Secondary English Learners and Redesignated Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cons, Andrea Marie

    2012-01-01

    This study investigated the specific ways secondary English learners (ELs) and redesignated fluent English-proficient learners (RFEPs) use academic vocabulary that assesses interpretive reading and analytical writing ability. The research examines how ELs and RFEPs, formerly ELs, differ in use and misuse of academic words. The study extends…

  8. How do I know what I can do? Anticipating expectancy of success regarding novel academic tasks.

    PubMed

    Gorges, Julia; Göke, Thomas

    2015-03-01

    After graduation from secondary school, academic tasks (i.e., learning contents) are no longer structured in terms of school subjects (i.e., English, mathematics). Therefore, learners lack past performance and mastery experience to inform their expectancy of success (i.e., ability beliefs) regarding novel tasks. In this paper, we investigate how individuals establish expectancy of success regarding novel academic tasks. We hypothesize that individuals draw on ability beliefs regarding known tasks that are deemed similar to novel tasks to estimate expectancy of success (generalization hypothesis). Participants were first-year students (n = 354) in the field of business administration (Study 1), and (Study 2) psychology students predominantly (n = 174). In Study 1, we analysed relations between ability beliefs (i.e., academic self-concepts of ability) regarding four school subjects and four fields of study varying in similarity. In Study 2, we assessed mastery experience regarding two school subjects and expectancy of success (i.e., self-efficacy) regarding a fictitious course manipulating participants' similarity judgement. We analysed the data using mainly structural equation modelling. Results support the generalization hypothesis regarding both indicators of expectancy of success (i.e., self-concept and self-efficacy). Subject-specific self-concepts of ability predict study-related self-concepts of ability according to individuals' similarity judgements. Subject-specific mastery experience predicts expectancy of success only if the respective school subject is emphasized in the course description. Individuals apparently draw on established ability beliefs regarding known tasks to inform their expectancy of success regarding novel tasks. Findings further our understanding of the development of motivation to learn in adulthood. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

  9. The Development of Self-Regulated Learning during the Pre-Clinical Stage of Medical School: A Comparison between a Lecture-Based and a Problem-Based Curriculum

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lucieer, Susanna M.; van der Geest, Jos N.; Elói-Santos, Silvana M.; de Faria, Rosa M. Dellbone; Jonker, Laura; Visscher, Chris; Rikers, Remy M. J. P.; Themmen, Axel P. N.

    2016-01-01

    Society expects physicians to always improve their competencies and to be up to date with developments in their field. Therefore, an important aim of medical schools is to educate future medical doctors to become self-regulated, lifelong learners. However, it is unclear if medical students become better self-regulated learners during the…

  10. Simulation and rubrics: technology and grading student performance in nurse anesthesia education.

    PubMed

    Overstreet, Maria; McCarver, Lewis; Shields, John; Patterson, Jordan

    2015-06-01

    The use of simulation technology has introduced a challenge for simulation nurse educators: evaluation of student performance. The subjectivity of student performance evaluation has been in need of improvement. It is imperative to provide clear and consistent information to the learner of expectations for their performance. Educators use objectives to define for the learner what the primary focus will be in the learning activities. Creation of rubrics to replace checklists to evaluate learner performance is a team task. Improved rubrics assist instructors in providing valuable, immediate, and postactivity feedback and consistency among instructors, and improved inter-rater reliability. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Tool Use of Experienced Learners in Computer-Based Learning Environments: Can Tools Be Beneficial?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Juarez Collazo, Norma A.; Corradi, David; Elen, Jan; Clarebout, Geraldine

    2014-01-01

    Research has documented the use of tools in computer-based learning environments as problematic, that is, learners do not use the tools and when they do, they tend to do it suboptimally. This study attempts to disentangle cause and effect of this suboptimal tool use for experienced learners. More specifically, learner variables (metacognitive and…

  12. Suggestions for Vocabulary Focused Reading Lessons for Mainstream Classrooms Addressing Both L1 and L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Seifert, Susanne; Kulmhofer, Andrea; Paleczek, Lisa; Schwab, Susanne; Gasteiger-Klicpera, Barbara

    2017-01-01

    The increasing number of second language learners in classrooms all around the world has required teachers to adapt their teaching methods and materials to the various learners' needs. Second language learners in particular need specific learning strategies, which not only aim at helping them understand the linguistic structure of the language of…

  13. Mobile Learning in Medical Education: Review.

    PubMed

    Walsh, Kieran

    2015-10-01

    In the past several years, mobile learning made rapid inroads into the provision of medical education. There are significant advantages associated with mobile learning. These include high access, low cost, more situated and contextual learning, convenience for the learner, continuous communication and interaction between learner and tutor and between learner and other learners, and the ability to self-assess themselves while learning. Like any other form of medical pedagogy, mobile learning has its downsides. Disadvantages of mobile learning include: inadequate technology, a risk of distraction from learning by using a device that can be used for multiple purposes, and the potential for breakdown in barriers between personal usage of the mobile device and professional or educational use. Despite these caveats, there is no question but that mobile learning offers much potential. In the future, it is likely that the strategy of mobile first, whereby providers of e-learning think of the user experience on a mobile first, will result in learners who increasingly expect that all e-learning provision will work seamlessly on a mobile device.

  14. Exploring the use of tablet PCs in veterinary medical education: opportunity or obstacle?

    PubMed

    Wang, Hong; Rush, Bonnie R; Wilkerson, Melinda; van der Merwe, Deon

    2014-01-01

    A tablet PC is a laptop computer with a touch screen and a digital pen or stylus that can be used for handwritten notes and drawings. The use of tablet PCs has been investigated in many disciplines such as engineering, mathematics, science, and education. The purpose of this article is to explore student and faculty attitudes toward and experiences with tablet PCs 6 years after the implementation of a tablet PC program in the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) at Kansas State University (K-State). This study reports that the use of tablet PCs has enhanced students' learning experiences through learner-interface interaction, learner-content interaction, learner-instructor interaction, and learner-learner interaction. This study also identifies digital distraction as the major negative experience with tablet PCs during class time. The tablet PC program provides CVM faculty the potential to pursue technology integration strategies that support expected learning outcomes and provides students the potential to develop self-monitoring and self-discipline skills that support learning with digital technologies.

  15. Preparing the High School Classroom for Migrant English Language Learners (Preparación del aula de secundaria para estudiantes migrantes que aprenden inglés)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rouse, Megan Elizabeth

    2014-01-01

    In United States schools, the rate of immigrant English language learners is rapidly rising, affecting the lives of both students and teachers. This article will discuss the best ways to facilitate the students' language learning in a school setting; the type of structure, goals, and standards that can be expected; as well as ways to change the…

  16. A poster presentation as an evaluation method to facilitate reflective thinking skills in nursing education.

    PubMed

    Chabeli, M M

    2002-08-01

    This article seeks to establish whether the poster presentation of a specific theme can facilitate the student's thinking skills in nursing education. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design where twenty students volunteered to take part in the study by signing an informed consent was followed. Descriptive naïve sketches were used for data collection followed by individual interviews to validate the findings. Data was analysed by means of the descriptive method of open coding of Tesch (in Creswell, 1994:155). DENOSA's ethical standards for research (1998:7) were considered. The findings indicated both positive and negative perceptions. The positive perceptions were: a poster presentation as an evaluation method facilitates creative, critical and reflective thinking skills; group work facilitates student participation; it facilitates problem solving skills; it increases the student's independence and a sense of ownership; and the evaluation is fair. The negative perceptions were that there was a lack of clarity on the student's expectations and that group activity is difficult. Trustworthiness was maintained in accordance with Lincoln and Guba's principles (1985:290-327). It is concluded that a poster presentation, used effectively as an evaluation method, can facilitate the learner's critical and reflective thinking skills. It is recommended that other learner-centred methods of assessment and evaluation be researched for their effective use in facilitating the higher order thinking skills of learners.

  17. Observation versus classification in supervised category learning.

    PubMed

    Levering, Kimery R; Kurtz, Kenneth J

    2015-02-01

    The traditional supervised classification paradigm encourages learners to acquire only the knowledge needed to predict category membership (a discriminative approach). An alternative that aligns with important aspects of real-world concept formation is learning with a broader focus to acquire knowledge of the internal structure of each category (a generative approach). Our work addresses the impact of a particular component of the traditional classification task: the guess-and-correct cycle. We compare classification learning to a supervised observational learning task in which learners are shown labeled examples but make no classification response. The goals of this work sit at two levels: (1) testing for differences in the nature of the category representations that arise from two basic learning modes; and (2) evaluating the generative/discriminative continuum as a theoretical tool for understand learning modes and their outcomes. Specifically, we view the guess-and-correct cycle as consistent with a more discriminative approach and therefore expected it to lead to narrower category knowledge. Across two experiments, the observational mode led to greater sensitivity to distributional properties of features and correlations between features. We conclude that a relatively subtle procedural difference in supervised category learning substantially impacts what learners come to know about the categories. The results demonstrate the value of the generative/discriminative continuum as a tool for advancing the psychology of category learning and also provide a valuable constraint for formal models and associated theories.

  18. Adult Learners.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brodzinski, Frederick R., Ed.; Shriberg, Arthur, Ed.

    1984-01-01

    Presents nine articles which provide a broad overview of issues and concerns related to the delivery of student services to adult learners. Specific topics include needs and interests of adult learners, marketing, special technology, adult resource centers, adult support groups, and the role of the chief student affairs officer. (JAC)

  19. Assistive Software for Disabled Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Clark, Sharon; Baggaley, Jon

    2004-01-01

    Previous reports in this series (#32 and 36) have discussed online software features of value to disabled learners in distance education. The current report evaluates four specific assistive software products with useful features for visually and hearing impaired learners: "ATutor", "ACollab", "Natural Voice", and "Just Vanilla". The evaluative…

  20. Urban school leadership for elementary science education: Meeting the needs of English Language Learners

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alarcon, Maricela H.

    Science education reform and state testing accountability call upon principals to become instructional leaders in science. Specifically, elementary school principals must take an active role in science instruction to effectively improve science education for all students including English Language Learners. As such, the research questioned posed in this study centered on How are elementary school principals addressing the academic needs of Latino Spanish-speaking English language learners within science education? This study employed a qualitative research design to identify the factors contributing to the exemplary performance in science, as measured by the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), for English Language Learner students in three high poverty bilingual elementary schools based on a multiple case study. As part of the data collection process, interviews were conducted with three school principals, three science academic support teachers, and two 5th grade bilingual teachers. Additionally, observations were acquired through school principal shadowing. The findings revealed four attributes necessary for effective instructional leadership in science education. First, Positive School Culture was defined as the core that linked the other three instructional leadership attributes and thus increased their effectiveness. Second, Clear Goals and Expectations were set by making science a priority and ensuring that English language learners were transitioning from Spanish to English instruction by the fifth grade. Third, Critical Resourcing involved hiring a science academic support teacher, securing a science classroom on campus, and purchasing bilingual instructional materials. Fourth, principal led and supported Collaboration in which teachers met to discuss student performance based data in addition to curriculum and instruction. These research findings are vital because by implementing these best practices of elementary school principals, educators are positioned to lay the foundation for science needed for ELLs to continue their educational career with the tools needed to succeed in future science classes and in turn college, answering the call to effectively improve science within the educational system.

  1. "Finding an Appropriate Fit for Me": Examining the (In)Flexibilities of International Distance Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Selwyn, Neil

    2011-01-01

    The concept of "flexibility" lies at the heart of contemporary post-compulsory education. Educational institutions are now expected to take a flexible approach to their provision of courses, as well as staffing, curriculum and assessment arrangements. Similarly, individual learners are expected to take an increasingly pragmatic,…

  2. The Mathematics Syllabus and Adult Learners in Community Colleges: Integrating Technique with Content.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baker, Robert N.

    2001-01-01

    Presents a brief discussion of the challenges presented to mathematics education by changes in social dependence on mathematics, in professional response to the needs of students, in institutional expectations of students and teachers, and in student demographics and expectations. Provides an extended outline for a syllabus used to clearly…

  3. Unifying Experiences: Learner and Instructor Approaches and Reactions to ePortfolio Usage in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scholz, Kyle; Tse, Crystal; Lithgow, Katherine

    2017-01-01

    This paper explores the alignment of student and instructor experiences when employing ePortfolio activities in a Canadian higher education context. Successful ePortfolio activities are operationalized as exhibiting alignment of expectations between students and instructors, whereas misalignment of expectations is characteristic of a poorer…

  4. The Fine-Tuning of Linguistic Expectations over the Course of L2 Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leal, Tania; Slabakova, Roumyana; Farmer, Thomas A.

    2017-01-01

    This study investigates the degree to which native-English-speaking learners of Spanish can generate expectations for information likely to occur in upcoming portions of an unfolding linguistic signal. We examine Spanish clitic left dislocation, a long-distance dependency between a topicalized object and an agreeing clitic, whose felicity depends…

  5. Preservice Teachers' Expectations for Schools with Children of Color and Second-Language Learners.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Terrill, Marguerite; Mark, Dianne L. H.

    2000-01-01

    Investigated preservice teachers' expectations for racially and linguistically diverse students in different school settings. Most respondents were white, with low comfort and safety levels for schools and communities with children of color. Most wanted to teach in white, suburban schools; had little experience teaching minority children; and held…

  6. Online Learner Engagement: Opportunities and Challenges with Using Data Analytics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bodily, Robert; Graham, Charles R.; Bush, Michael D.

    2017-01-01

    This article describes the crossroads between learning analytics and learner engagement. The authors do this by describing specific challenges of using analytics to support student engagement from three distinct perspectives: pedagogical considerations, technological issues, and interface design concerns. While engaging online learners presents a…

  7. Authenticity in the Language Classroom and Beyond: Adult Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rilling, Sarah, Ed.; Dantas-Whitney, Maria, Ed.

    2009-01-01

    Adult language learners have specific learning goals that reflect their lives within a global society, and adults negotiate multiple and changing identities throughout their personal, academic, and professional lives. Chapters in "Authenticity in the Language Classroom and Beyond: Adult Learners" highlight how teachers have the ability…

  8. A Framework for Learning Analytics Using Commodity Wearable Devices.

    PubMed

    Lu, Yu; Zhang, Sen; Zhang, Zhiqiang; Xiao, Wendong; Yu, Shengquan

    2017-06-14

    We advocate for and introduce LEARNSense, a framework for learning analytics using commodity wearable devices to capture learner's physical actions and accordingly infer learner context (e.g., student activities and engagement status in class). Our work is motivated by the observations that: (a) the fine-grained individual-specific learner actions are crucial to understand learners and their context information; (b) sensor data available on the latest wearable devices (e.g., wrist-worn and eye wear devices) can effectively recognize learner actions and help to infer learner context information; (c) the commodity wearable devices that are widely available on the market can provide a hassle-free and non-intrusive solution. Following the above observations and under the proposed framework, we design and implement a sensor-based learner context collector running on the wearable devices. The latest data mining and sensor data processing techniques are employed to detect different types of learner actions and context information. Furthermore, we detail all of the above efforts by offering a novel and exemplary use case: it successfully provides the accurate detection of student actions and infers the student engagement states in class. The specifically designed learner context collector has been implemented on the commodity wrist-worn device. Based on the collected and inferred learner information, the novel intervention and incentivizing feedback are introduced into the system service. Finally, a comprehensive evaluation with the real-world experiments, surveys and interviews demonstrates the effectiveness and impact of the proposed framework and this use case. The F1 score for the student action classification tasks achieve 0.9, and the system can effectively differentiate the defined three learner states. Finally, the survey results show that the learners are satisfied with the use of our system (mean score of 3.7 with a standard deviation of 0.55).

  9. The Double Parallel Curriculum in Palliative Care: Teaching Learners to Teach End-of-Life Care at the Bedside.

    PubMed

    Healy, Jennifer; Chappell, Phylliss; Lee, Shuko; Ross, Jeanette; Sanchez-Reilly, Sandra

    2017-11-01

    Dying is a natural process, yet physicians are often uncomfortable caring for dying patients. Learners have limited exposure to curriculum on caring for dying patients and often navigate these encounters without appropriate skills and confidence. We developed and implemented the Double Parallel Curriculum in Palliative Care (DP-PC): End-of-Life (EOL) module. The DP-PC focuses on teaching third-year medical students (MS3) to not only take care of patients in their last hours of life but give learners the confidence to teach patient's families what to expect as they hold vigil at their loved one's bedside. To develop and implement an educational intervention that improves learners' knowledge and confidence in EOL patient and family care. To expand learner confidence to a dual level (learners become teachers) with a simplified and culturally sensitive electronic bedside teaching tool designed to guide learners and patients/families conversations. Curriculum was completed during MS3 ambulatory rotation and included pre-/posttests, an online case-based module, faculty demonstration, and learner role-play using the bedside teaching tool. A total of 247 participants took the pretest, 222 participants took the posttest, and 222 participants matched the pre-/posttest surveys. Students' knowledge of EOL care and the confidence to teach other learners and families about EOL care significantly improved after completing the curriculum. The DP-PC is a technology-savvy educational intervention that improves learner confidence and knowledge toward caring for dying patients and their families. Easy access, technology-based teaching tools may enhance bedside teaching of health-care learners and improve the care of patients and their families at the end of life.

  10. Transfer and Semantic Universals in the L2 Acquisition of the English Article System by Child L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morales-Reyes, Alexandra; Soler, Inmaculada Gómez

    2016-01-01

    L2 learners' problems with English articles have been linked to learners' L1 and their access to universal semantic features (e.g., definiteness and specificity). Studies suggest that L2 adults rely on their L1 knowledge, while child L2 learners rely more on their access to semantic universals. The present study investigates whether child L2…

  11. Enlisting New Teachers in Clinical Environments (ENTICE); novel ways to engage clinicians

    PubMed Central

    Peyser, Bruce; Daily, Kathryn A; Hudak, Nicholas M; Railey, Kenyon; Bosworth, Hayden B

    2014-01-01

    Purpose To explore the barriers and incentives that affect primary care providers who precept students in outpatient clinics in the US. Method In 2013, leadership of our large primary care group sent a 20-question survey via e-mail to all of the 180 providers within the network. The survey assessed provider demographics, precepting history, learner preferences, and other issues that might affect future decisions about teaching. Results The response rate was 50% (90 providers). The top reasons for precepting in the past were enjoyment for teaching and personal interaction with learners. The most commonly cited reason for not precepting previously was a perceived lack of time followed by increased productivity demands. When questioned about the future, 65% (59 respondents) indicated that they were likely to precept within the next 6 months. A desired reduction in productivity expectations was the most commonly cited motivator, followed by anticipated monetary compensation and adjusted appointment times. A top barrier to future precepting was a belief that teaching decreases productivity and requires large amounts of time. Conclusion This survey represents an opportunity to study a change in focus for a cohort of busy clinicians who were mostly new to teaching but not new to clinical practice. The survey provides further insight into clinician educators’ perceptions regarding the education of a variety of different learners. The results align with data from previous studies in that time pressures and productivity demands transcend specific programs and learner backgrounds. This information is critical for future clerkship directors and hospital administrators in order to understand how to increase support for potential preceptors in medical education. PMID:25337001

  12. Cultivating Bilingual Learners' Language Arts Knowledge: A Framework for Successful Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Almaguer, Isela; Esquierdo, J. Joy

    2013-01-01

    It is essential to support bilingual learners' language and academic development; however, teaching second language learners English has taken precedence over teaching content area knowledge and vocabulary, specifically for language arts. The focus has shifted from content area instruction to primarily second language instruction due to an…

  13. The Experience of Adult Learners in Academic Service Learning Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Finley, Amy E.

    2017-01-01

    Adult learners represent a significant, and growing, portion of enrollment at higher education institutions. Despite their growing enrollment, adult learners are not retained at nearly the rate of their "traditional" peers, leaving colleges and universities with the need to identify programs and services that specifically address the…

  14. The healthy learner model for student chronic condition management--part II: the asthma initiative.

    PubMed

    Erickson, Cecelia DuPlessis; Splett, Patricia L; Mullett, Sara Stoltzfus; Jensen, Charlotte; Belseth, Stephanie Bisson

    2006-12-01

    The Healthy Learner Asthma Initiative (HLAI) was designed as a comprehensive, school-community initiative to improve asthma management and produce healthy learners. National asthma guidelines were translated into components of asthma management in the school setting that defined performance expectations and lead to greater quality and consistency of asthma care. The HLAI incorporated evidence-based practice and introduced the role of the asthma resource nurse. Leadership, capacity building, and strong partnerships among school nurses, students, families, and health care providers were essential to the implementation and sustainability of the HLAI. Professional school nursing and evaluation were defined as key requisites to a successful initiative. Evaluation results indicated positive effects on nursing practice, fewer asthma visits to the health office, and better attendance among students who received asthma care in the school health office. The HLAI provided the basis for development of the Healthy Learner Model for Student Chronic Condition Management.

  15. Decreasing Cognitive Load for Novice EFL Learners: Effects of Question and Descriptive Advance Organizers in Facilitating EFL Learners' Comprehension of an Animation-Based Content Lesson

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Huifen; Chen, Tsuiping

    2006-01-01

    Cognitive load can be defined as the amount of mental effort that performing a specific task imposes on a learner's cognitive system. It can be measured by the number of new concepts embedded in a learning task. English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, with their limited English proficiency and minimal entry knowledge of a subject matter,…

  16. Building Foundational and Vocabulary Knowledge in the Common Core, K-8: Developmentally-Grounded Instruction about Words

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Templeton, Shane

    2015-01-01

    How young children's and older students' knowledge of words develops--their structure, their meanings, how they work in context--is reflected in the Common Core English Language Arts expectations. Meeting these expectations for each learner requires that we teach in a developmentally-responsive manner. This includes our being familiar with the…

  17. An Analysis of Factors Affecting Community College Students' Expectations on E-Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kilic-Cakmak, Ebru; Karatas, Sercin; Ocak, Mehmet Akif

    2009-01-01

    There are many factors that affect the e-learning process. Instructor, assessment and evaluation, communication, and technical support are among the leading factors. It is obvious that these factors influence the effectiveness of e-learning and may be related to different expectations of e-learners. Therefore, this study focuses on examining the…

  18. Using Academic Language to Level the Playing Field for English-Language Learners in Physical Education: Part 1

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Constantinou, Phoebe; Wuest, Deborah A.

    2015-01-01

    With the common core emphasis on English language art and mathematics skills, physical educators are faced with a challenging task. Educators, in general, are expected to identifying the language demands of their discipline and develop academic language skills within each disciplinary area. In other words, educators are expected to prepare…

  19. How Do I Know What I Can Do? Anticipating Expectancy of Success Regarding Novel Academic Tasks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gorges, Julia; Göke, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    Background: After graduation from secondary school, academic tasks (i.e., learning contents) are no longer structured in terms of school subjects (i.e., English, mathematics). Therefore, learners lack past performance and mastery experience to inform their expectancy of success (i.e., ability beliefs) regarding novel tasks. Aims: In this paper, we…

  20. A Framework for Learning Analytics Using Commodity Wearable Devices

    PubMed Central

    Lu, Yu; Zhang, Sen; Zhang, Zhiqiang; Xiao, Wendong; Yu, Shengquan

    2017-01-01

    We advocate for and introduce LEARNSense, a framework for learning analytics using commodity wearable devices to capture learner’s physical actions and accordingly infer learner context (e.g., student activities and engagement status in class). Our work is motivated by the observations that: (a) the fine-grained individual-specific learner actions are crucial to understand learners and their context information; (b) sensor data available on the latest wearable devices (e.g., wrist-worn and eye wear devices) can effectively recognize learner actions and help to infer learner context information; (c) the commodity wearable devices that are widely available on the market can provide a hassle-free and non-intrusive solution. Following the above observations and under the proposed framework, we design and implement a sensor-based learner context collector running on the wearable devices. The latest data mining and sensor data processing techniques are employed to detect different types of learner actions and context information. Furthermore, we detail all of the above efforts by offering a novel and exemplary use case: it successfully provides the accurate detection of student actions and infers the student engagement states in class. The specifically designed learner context collector has been implemented on the commodity wrist-worn device. Based on the collected and inferred learner information, the novel intervention and incentivizing feedback are introduced into the system service. Finally, a comprehensive evaluation with the real-world experiments, surveys and interviews demonstrates the effectiveness and impact of the proposed framework and this use case. The F1 score for the student action classification tasks achieve 0.9, and the system can effectively differentiate the defined three learner states. Finally, the survey results show that the learners are satisfied with the use of our system (mean score of 3.7 with a standard deviation of 0.55). PMID:28613236

  1. The development and validation of the Self-Efficacy Beliefs about Equitable Science Teaching and learning instrument for prospective elementary teachers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ritter, Jennifer M.

    1999-12-01

    The purpose of this study was to develop, validate and establish the reliability of an instrument to assess the self-efficacy beliefs of prospective elementary teachers with regards to science teaching and learning for diverse learners. The study used Bandura's theoretical framework, in that the instrument would use the self-efficacy construct to explore the beliefs of prospective elementary science teachers with regards to science teaching and learning to diverse learners: specifically the two dimensions of self-efficacy beliefs defined by Bandura (1977): personal self-efficacy and outcome expectancy. A seven step plan was designed and followed in the process of developing the instrument, which was titled the Self-Efficacy Beliefs about Equitable Science Teaching or SEBEST. Diverse learners as recognized by Science for All Americans (1989) are "those who in the past who have largely been bypassed in science and mathematics education: ethnic and language minorities and girls" (p. xviii). That definition was extended by this researcher to include children from low socioeconomic backgrounds based on the research by Gomez and Tabachnick (1992). The SEBEST was administered to 226 prospective elementary teachers at The Pennsylvania State University. Using the results from factor analyses, Coefficient Alpha, and Chi-Square a 34 item instrument was found to achieve the greatest balance across the construct validity, reliability and item balance with the content matrix. The 34 item SEBEST was found to load purely on four factors across the content matrix thus providing evidence construct validity. The Coefficient Alpha reliability for the 34 item SEBEST was .90 and .82 for the PSE sub-scale and .78 for the OE sub-scale. A Chi-Square test (X2 = 2.7 1, df = 7, p > .05) was used to confirm that the 34 items were balanced across the Personal Self-Efficacy/Outcome Expectancy and Ethnicity/LanguageMinority/Gender Socioeconomic Status/dimensions of the content matrix. Based on the standardized development procedures used and the associated evidence, the SEBEST appears to be a content and construct valid instrument, with high internal reliability and moderate test-retest reliability qualities, for use with prospective elementary teachers to assess self-efficacy beliefs for teaching and learning science for diverse learners.

  2. Explicit Instruction, Bilingualism, and the Older Adult Learner

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cox, Jessica G.

    2017-01-01

    Little is known about older adult language learners and effects of aging on L2 learning. This study investigated learning in older age through interactions of learner-internal and -external variables; specifically, late-learned L2 (bilingualism) and provision of grammar explanation (explicit instruction, EI). Forty-three older adults (age 60+) who…

  3. The Common Core, English Learners, and Morphology 101: Unpacking LS.4 for ELLs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hickey, Pamela J.; Lewis, Tarie

    2013-01-01

    The Common Core Learning Standards set forth learning goals for all students, including English learners, but this document does not provide information on effective literacy instruction for English learners or unpack the specific resources and challenges that bilingual students bring to the classroom. Language Standard 4 addresses morphological…

  4. Adult Learning and Learners. PREL Briefing Paper.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Timarong, Alvina; Temaungil, Marianne; Sukrad, Wilma

    A survey of literature on adult learning and learners conducted for Palau Community College (PCC), Koror, Palau, found a lack of literature specific to the United States-affiliated Pacific region. Background information was compiled on development of formal education in Palau. A survey was administered in fall 2001 to adult learners working toward…

  5. Supporting English Language Learners in Math Class, Grades 6-8

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Melanese, Kathy; Chung, Luz; Forbes, Cheryl

    2011-01-01

    This new addition to Math Solutions "Supporting English Language Learners in Math Class series" offers a wealth of lessons and strategies for modifying grades 6-8 instruction. Section I presents an overview of teaching math to English learners: the research, the challenges, the linguistic demands of a math lesson, and specific strategies and…

  6. High School Graduation Rates across English Learner Student Subgroups in Arizona. REL 2017-205

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huang, Min; Haas, Eric; Zhu, Niufeng; Tran, Loan

    2016-01-01

    Recent studies have documented differences in academic achievement between current and former English learner students. These differences validate calls for more focused analyses of achievement across English learner student subgroups. Specifically, there is interest in examining variation in academic success based on the amount of time a student…

  7. Theories in Developing Oral Communication for Specific Learner Group

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hadi, Marham Jupri

    2016-01-01

    The current article presents some key theories most relevant to the development of oral communication skills in an Indonesian senior high school. Critical analysis on the learners' background is employed to figure out their strengths and weaknesses. The brief overview of the learning context and learners' characteristic are used to identify which…

  8. English Learners with Learning Disabilities: What Is the Current State?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rodríguez, Ashley; Rodríguez, Diane

    2017-01-01

    As the demographics across the United States continues to change, specifically with increases in school age English Learners who speak a home language other than English, it is imperative that schools meet the diverse needs of these children. This article summarizes studies about English Learners with learning disabilities. It reports on the…

  9. Learning Words for Life: Promoting Vocabulary in Dual Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gillanders, Cristina; Castro, Dina C.; Franco, Ximena

    2014-01-01

    Vocabulary development plays a critical role in young dual language learners' success in school. As teachers become aware of how they use language in the classroom, systematically teach specific words in a variety of ways, and learn about dual language learners' level of English acquisition and sociocultural experiences, they can help…

  10. Teaching English to Young Learners Through Indonesian - Translated Songs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sukirmiyadi

    2018-01-01

    As an international language, English is taught and learnt by almost all of the people in the world. In Indonesia for example, English has been introduced since the learners are studying at the elementary school. Even many of the Kindergarten Schools too, have already introduced this language to their students. However, we cannot deny that teaching foreign language is not such an easy thing due to the fact thatmany of the learners are not capable of speaking English very well although they have been learning it for more than ten years (Elementary: 6 years, Junior and Senior High School: 6 years). In line with this problem, this study aims at providing a solution by offering one teaching technique which seems to make the learners (especially young learners) enjoy learning through singing songs (Kasihani, 1999).Furthermore, Phillips(1995) said that young learners really enjoyed learning and singing songs with highly motivating. Based on those two researches andin efforts to make it easier in English language learning, especially to young learners, the writer translated the very common and popular Indonesian kid songs into English. Thesetranslated songswere then used to teach the students of Kindergarten up to Elementary ones of the first and second grade. This meant that before a teacher started to teach, s/he had to translate the Indonesian kid songsat first into English.Due to its popularity and familiarity, it was expected that this teaching technique would be more effective and efficient to apply especially to young learners.

  11. Exploring the roles of interaction and flow in explaining nurses' e-learning acceptance.

    PubMed

    Cheng, Yung-Ming

    2013-01-01

    To provide safe and competent patient care, it is very important that medical institutions should provide nurses with continuing education by using appropriate learning methods. As compared to traditional learning, electronic learning (e-learning) is a more flexible method for nurses' in-service learning. Hence, e-learning is expected to play a pivotal role in providing continuing education for nurses. This study's purpose was to explore the role and relevance of interaction factors, intrinsic motivator (i.e., flow), and extrinsic motivators (i.e., perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU)) in explaining nurses' intention to use the e-learning system. Based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) with the flow theory, this study's research model presents three types of interaction factors, learner-system interaction, instructor-learner interaction, and learner-learner interaction to construct an extended TAM to explore nurses' intention to use the e-learning system. Sample data were gathered from nurses at two regional hospitals in Taiwan. A total of 320 questionnaires were distributed, 254 (79.375%) questionnaires were returned. Consequently, 218 usable questionnaires were analyzed in this study, with a usable response rate of 68.125%. First, confirmatory factor analysis was used to develop the measurement model. Second, to explore the causal relationships among all constructs, the structural model for the research model was tested by using structural equation modeling. First, learner-system interaction, instructor-learner interaction, and learner-learner interaction respectively had significant effects on PU, PEOU, and flow. Next, flow had significant effects on PU and PEOU, and PEOU had a significant effect on PU. Finally, the effects of flow, PU, and PEOU on intention to use were significant. Synthetically speaking, learner-system interaction, instructor-learner interaction, and learner-learner interaction can indirectly make significant impacts on nurses' usage intention of the e-learning system via their extrinsic motivators (i.e., PU and PEOU) and intrinsic motivator (i.e., flow). Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Investigating the Measurement of Grammatical Knowledge and Civics Content Knowledge in the Context of an English-for Specific-Purposes Program Designed for Adult Learners with Low English Proficiency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dakin, Jee Wha

    2010-01-01

    In the context of adult learners with low English proficiency enrolled in an organization offering instruction in both language and civics content, the purpose of the study was to determine. (1) the nature of grammatical knowledge in the context in the learners' second language (L2) and the nature of civics content knowledge in the learners' first…

  13. When Less Is More in Cognitive Diagnosis: A Rapid Online Method for Diagnosing Learner Task-Specific Expertise

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kalyuga, Slava

    2008-01-01

    Rapid cognitive diagnosis allows measuring current levels of learner domain-specific knowledge in online learning environments. Such measures are required for individualizing instructional support in real time, as students progress through a learning session. This article describes 2 experiments designed to validate a rapid online diagnostic…

  14. Modeling the effects of multicontextual physics instruction on learner expectations and understanding of force and motion systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Deese Becht, Sara-Maria Francis

    1999-11-01

    The purpose of this study is two-fold involving both practical and theoretical modeling components. The practical component, an experiential-learning phase, investigated a study population for effects that increasing levels of multicontextual physics activities have on student understanding of Newtonian systems of motion. This contextual-learning model measured learner convictions and non-response gaps and analyzed learner response trends on context, technology, challenge, growth, and success. The theoretical component, a model-building phase, designed a dynamic-knowing model for learning along a range of experiential tasks, from low to high context, monitored for indicators of learning in science and mathematics: learner academic performance and ability, learner control and academic attitude, and a learner non- response gap. This knowing model characterized a learner's process-of-knowing on a less to more expert- like learner-response continuum using performance and perspective indices associated with level of contextual- imagery referent system. Data for the contextual-learning model were collected on 180 secondary subjects: 72 middle and 108 high, with 36 physics subjects as local experts. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups differing only on context level of force and motion activities. Three levels of information were presented through context-based tasks: momentum constancy as inertia, momentum change as impulse, and momentum rate of change as force. The statistical analysis used a multi-level factorial design with repeated measures and discriminate analysis of response-conviction items. Subject grouping criteria included school level, ability level in science and mathematics, gender and race. Assessment criteria used pre/post performance scores, confidence level in physics concepts held, and attitude towards science, mathematics, and technology. Learner indices were computed from logit- transforms applied to learner outcomes and to study control and prediction criteria parameters. Findings suggest learner success rates vary with multicontextual experience level. When controlling for context, learner success seems to depend on technology level of assessment tool, learner attitude toward technology learning tools, learner attitude toward science and mathematics, and challenge level of force and motion problems. A learner non-response gap seems important when monitoring learner conviction. Application of the knowing model to the study population pictures learners on a journey towards success referenced to a local expert response.

  15. Power Distance in Online Learning: Experience of Chinese Learners in U.S. Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Yi (Leaf)

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this research study was to explore the influence of Confucian-heritage culture on Chinese learners' online learning and engagement in online discussion in U.S. higher education. More specifically, this research studied Chinese learners' perceptions of power distance and its impact on their interactions with instructors and peers in…

  16. Advising Experiences and Needs of Online, Cohort, and Classroom Adult Graduate Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schroeder, Shawnda M.; Terras, Katherine L.

    2015-01-01

    Although a majority of graduate students fall under the definition of adult learners (over age 24 years), many traditional institutions do not offer advising specific to them, nor do they recognize advising needs of these older students in online, classroom, or cohort situations. In this phenomenological study, 9 adult graduate learners were…

  17. Factors Affecting the Level of Test Anxiety among EFL Learners at Elementary Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aydin, Selami

    2013-01-01

    Many studies on test anxiety among adult language learners have been performed, while only a few studies have dealt with overall test anxiety. In addition, these studies do not specifically address test anxiety in foreign language learning among elementary school language learners. Thus, this study aims to investigate the level of test anxiety…

  18. Phonological Memory and the Acquisition of Grammar in Child L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Verhagen, Josje; Leseman, Paul; Messer, Marielle

    2015-01-01

    Previous studies show that second language (L2) learners with large phonological memory spans outperform learners with smaller memory spans on tests of L2 grammar. The current study investigated the relationship between phonological memory and L2 grammar in more detail than has been done earlier. Specifically, we asked how phonological memory…

  19. Video as a Professional Development Tool to Support Novice Teachers as They Learn to Teach English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Estapa, Anne; Pinnow, Rachel J.; Chval, Kathryn B.

    2016-01-01

    This two-year study investigated how an innovative video tool enhanced novice-teacher noticing abilities and instructional practice in relation to teaching mathematics to English language learners in third grade classrooms. Specifically, teachers viewed videos of their mathematics lessons that were filmed by Latino English language learners who…

  20. Teaching at the Bedside. Maximal Impact in Minimal Time.

    PubMed

    Carlos, William G; Kritek, Patricia A; Clay, Alison S; Luks, Andrew M; Thomson, Carey C

    2016-04-01

    Academic physicians encounter many demands on their time including patient care, quality and performance requirements, research, and education. In an era when patient volume is prioritized and competition for research funding is intense, there is a risk that medical education will become marginalized. Bedside teaching, a responsibility of academic physicians regardless of professional track, is challenged in particular out of concern that it generates inefficiency, and distractions from direct patient care, and can distort physician-patient relationships. At the same time, the bedside is a powerful location for teaching as learners more easily engage with educational content when they can directly see its practical relevance for patient care. Also, bedside teaching enables patients and family members to engage directly in the educational process. Successful bedside teaching can be aided by consideration of four factors: climate, attention, reasoning, and evaluation. Creating a safe environment for learning and patient care is essential. We recommend that educators set expectations about use of medical jargon and engagement of the patient and family before they enter the patient room with trainees. Keep learners focused by asking relevant questions of all members of the team and by maintaining a collective leadership style. Assess and model clinical reasoning through a hypothesis-driven approach that explores the rationale for clinical decisions. Focused, specific, real-time feedback is essential for the learner to modify behaviors for future patient encounters. Together, these strategies may alleviate challenges associated with bedside teaching and ensure it remains a part of physician practice in academic medicine.

  1. Adaptive and Qualitative Changes in Encoding Strategy with Experience: Evidence from the Test-Expectancy Paradigm

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Finley, Jason R.; Benjamin, Aaron S.

    2012-01-01

    Three experiments demonstrated learners' abilities to adaptively and qualitatively accommodate their encoding strategies to the demands of an upcoming test. Stimuli were word pairs. In Experiment 1, test expectancy was induced for either cued recall (of targets given cues) or free recall (of targets only) across 4 study-test cycles of the same…

  2. Preclinical Students' Predispositions towards Social Forms of Instruction and Self-Directed Learning: A Challenge for the Development of Autonomous and Collaborative Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Raidal, S. L.; Volet, S. E.

    2009-01-01

    Self-directed and social forms of learning are fundamentally different from traditional didactic educational settings from which students are selected for veterinary, medical and other professional degree courses. It is therefore expected that a mismatch may emerge between students' conceptions of effective learning and expectations inherent to…

  3. Use of clinical simulations for patient education: targeting an untapped audience.

    PubMed

    Siwe, Karin; Berterö, Carina; Pugh, Carla; Wijma, Barbro

    2009-01-01

    In most cases, the health professional has been the target for simulation based learning curricula. We have developed a simulation based curriculum for patient education. In our curriculum lay-women learn how to perform the clinical female pelvic examination using a manikin-based trainer. Learner assessments show that prior negative expectations turned into positive expectations regarding future pelvic examinations.

  4. Using Academic Language to Level the Playing Field for English Language Learners in Physical Education: Part 2

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Constantinou, Phoebe; Wuest, Deborah A.

    2015-01-01

    The common core, with its emphasis on the development of English language art and mathematics skills and literacy, presents challenges for teachers of all subjects. Academic language is expected to be developed within each disciplinary area. In other words, educators are expected to identify the language demands of their discipline and prepare…

  5. An English Language Curriculum for Technical Students. Practical Papers in English Education, Volume 2.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hutchinson, Tom; And Others

    This curriculum for technical students aims at linking the identity of the learner, his initial linguistic and technical competence, and his expectations with the competence expected of him on entering the technical college. The materials of the curriculum make use of a wide variety of information and data sources such as school-level science…

  6. Improving the content of feedback.

    PubMed

    McKinley, Robert K; Williams, Valerie; Stephenson, Catherine

    2010-09-01

    Feedback, although an important element of skills teaching, is not well regarded by students. This lack of regard may be perpetuated by the differing expectations of tutors and learners, by the weakness of the process and by the apparent irrelevance of its content to learners. We contend that the content of feedback is critical, and has previously been neglected. We describe a concept for a tutor support tool (a glossary of strategies for improvement) that any group responsible for skills development within an institution can develop in-house and disseminate to improve the content of the feedback given to its learners. All institutions have skills assessment criteria that represent what students are expected to achieve. Conversely, they can also identify the likely range of deficiencies in students' skills, which can therefore be used as a template for identifying a core set of strategies for improvement. The strategies can be quickly developed by a group of experienced tutors, and then shared with all tutors and students. By monitoring the feedback provided to learners, potential new strategies or revisions of existing strategies can be identified. If these new strategies are considered useful they can be included in updates. In this way the collective wisdom of the school's tutors can be captured and shared. We suggest that this approach has the potential to increase congruence between the taught and assessed curriculum. If it is shared with students it may reduce the gap between the hidden and published curriculum. We encourage others to experiment with this approach. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2010.

  7. Toward Defining the Foundation of the MD Degree: Core Entrustable Professional Activities for Entering Residency.

    PubMed

    Englander, Robert; Flynn, Timothy; Call, Stephanie; Carraccio, Carol; Cleary, Lynn; Fulton, Tracy B; Garrity, Maureen J; Lieberman, Steven A; Lindeman, Brenessa; Lypson, Monica L; Minter, Rebecca M; Rosenfield, Jay; Thomas, Joe; Wilson, Mark C; Aschenbrener, Carol A

    2016-10-01

    Currently, no standard defines the clinical skills that medical students must demonstrate upon graduation. The Liaison Committee on Medical Education bases its standards on required subject matter and student experiences rather than on observable educational outcomes. The absence of such established outcomes for MD graduates contributes to the gap between program directors' expectations and new residents' performance.In response, in 2013, the Association of American Medical Colleges convened a panel of experts from undergraduate and graduate medical education to define the professional activities that every resident should be able to do without direct supervision on day one of residency, regardless of specialty. Using a conceptual framework of entrustable professional activities (EPAs), this Drafting Panel reviewed the literature and sought input from the health professions education community. The result of this process was the publication of 13 core EPAs for entering residency in 2014. Each EPA includes a description, a list of key functions, links to critical competencies and milestones, and narrative descriptions of expected behaviors and clinical vignettes for both novice learners and learners ready for entrustment.The medical education community has already begun to develop the curricula, assessment tools, faculty development resources, and pathways to entrustment for each of the 13 EPAs. Adoption of these core EPAs could significantly narrow the gap between program directors' expectations and new residents' performance, enhancing patient safety and increasing residents', educators', and patients' confidence in the care these learners provide in the first months of their residency training.

  8. Latino Parents of English Learners in Catholic Schools: Home vs. School Based Educational Involvement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vera, Elizabeth M.; Heineke, Amy; Carr, Andrea L.; Camacho, Daniel; Israel, Marla Susman; Goldberger, Nancy; Clawson, Angela; Hill, Martin

    2017-01-01

    This study sought to expand the field's understanding of the educational involvement of Latino parents whose children were English Learners and attended Catholic schools. Specifically, we attempted to identify factors that facilitate as well as prohibit involvement in two home-based types of educational involvement and two specific school-based…

  9. Identifying Strategies that Facilitate EFL Learners' Oral Communication: A Classroom Study Using Multiple Data Collection Procedures

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nakatani, Yasuo

    2010-01-01

    This article considers whether the use of specific communication strategies can improve learners' English proficiency in communicative tasks. Japanese college students (n= 62) participated in a 12-week course of English lessons using a communicative approach with strategy training. To investigate the influence of specific strategy use, their…

  10. Transforming English Language Learners' Work Readiness: Case Studies in Explicit, Work-Specific Vocabulary Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Madrigal-Hopes, Diana L.; Villavicencio, Edna; Foote, Martha M.; Green, Chris

    2014-01-01

    This qualitative study examined the impact of a six-step framework for work-specific vocabulary instruction in adult English language learners (ELLs). Guided by research in English as a second language (ESL) methodology and the transactional theory, the researchers sought to unveil how these processes supported the acquisition and application of…

  11. The Effects of Repeated Readings on the Reading Performances of Hispanic English Language Learners with Specific Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Landa, Katrina G.; Barbetta, Patricia M.

    2017-01-01

    A multiple probe across participants design was used to explore the effects of repeated readings on the reading fluency, errors, and comprehension of 4, third-to-fifth grade English language learners (ELLs) with specific learning disabilities (SLD). Also, generalization measures to untaught passages and maintenance data were collected. In…

  12. Borrowing Legitimacy as English Learner (EL) Leaders: Indiana's 14-Year History with English Language Proficiency Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morita-Mullaney, Trish

    2017-01-01

    English language proficiency or English language development (ELP/D) standards guide how content-specific instruction and assessment is practiced by teachers and how English learners (ELs) at varying levels of English proficiency can perform grade-level-specific academic standards in K-12 US schools. With the transition from the state-developed…

  13. Disability-Aware Adaptive and Personalised Learning for Students with Multiple Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nganji, Julius T.; Brayshaw, Mike

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address how virtual learning environments (VLEs) can be designed to include the needs of learners with multiple disabilities. Specifically, it employs AI to show how specific learning materials from a huge repository of learning materials can be recommended to learners with various disabilities. This is…

  14. The Relationship between Mathematics and Language: Academic Implications for Children with Specific Language Impairment and English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alt, Mary; Arizmendi, Genesis D.; Beal, Carole R.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: The present study examined the relationship between mathematics and language to better understand the nature of the deficit and the academic implications associated with specific language impairment (SLI) and academic implications for English language learners (ELLs). Method: School-age children (N = 61; 20 SLI, 20 ELL, 21 native…

  15. Coaching as a Strategy for Helping Adults

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wax, Dorothy M.; Wertheim, Judith

    2015-01-01

    This chapter focuses on the use of coaching for adult learners, the specific characteristics adults bring to the learning environment, and strategies for dealing with the obstacles adult learners may face.

  16. Effectiveness of Proactive Intensive FFI in Cultivating Grammatical Knowledge of Iranian EFL Learners at Different Proficiency Levels

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rooholamin, Amir; Biria, Reza; Haghverdi, Hamid Reza

    2016-01-01

    The present study provides a report on an experiment seeking the effect of proactive intensive form-focused instruction on the grammatical development of intermediate and advanced Iranian EFL learners. More specifically the aim of the study was to discern (a) whether the grammatical knowledge of Iranian EFL learners at different proficiency levels…

  17. Between Learning and Playing? Exploring Learners' Perceptions of Corrective Feedback in an Immersive Game for English Pragmatics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cornillie, Frederik; Clarebout, Geraldine; Desmet, Piet

    2012-01-01

    This paper aims to provide a rationale for the utility of corrective feedback (CF) in digital games designed for language learning, with specific reference to learners' perceptions. Explicit and elaborate CF has the potential to increase learners' understanding of language, but might not be found useful in a game-based learning environment where…

  18. English- and Mandarin-Learning Infants' Discrimination of Actions and Objects in Dynamic Events

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Jie; Tardif, Twila; Pulverman, Rachel; Casasola, Marianella; Zhu, Liqi; Zheng, Xiaobei; Meng, Xiangzhi

    2015-01-01

    The present studies examined the role of linguistic experience in directing English and Mandarin learners' attention to aspects of a visual scene. Specifically, they asked whether young language learners in these 2 cultures attend to differential aspects of a word-learning situation. Two groups of English and Mandarin learners, 6-8-month-olds (n =…

  19. Is Collaborative Learners' Adoption of Metacognitive Regulation Related to Students' Content Processing Strategies and the Level of Transactivity in Their Peer Discussions?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    De Backer, Liesje; Van Keer, Hilde; Valcke, Martin

    2017-01-01

    The present study investigates collaborative learners' adoption of key regulation activities (i.e., orienting, planning, monitoring, and evaluating) and a deep-level regulation approach in relation to characteristics of their collaboration on the cognitive and communicative level. More specifically, the correlation of collaborative learners'…

  20. Strategy Use for Reading English for General and Specific Academic Purposes in Testing and Nontesting Contexts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chou, Mu-hsuan

    2013-01-01

    Language-use strategies are considered potentially effective approaches that learners select to accomplish a second- or foreign-language task. In the past three decades, there has been a proliferation of research concerned with learners' strategy use at different levels of language ability and the influence of L1 learner strategies on L2 language…

  1. Exploring the Transformative Potential of Recognition of Prior Informal Learning for Learners: A Case Study in Scotland

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Julie

    2017-01-01

    This article presents an overview of the findings of a recently completed study exploring the potentially transformative impact upon learners of recognition of prior informal learning (RPL). The specific transformative dimension being reported is learner identity. In addition to providing a starting point for an evidence base within Scotland, the…

  2. d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing Multilingual Learners: The Development of Communication and Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pizzo, Lianna

    2016-01-01

    The author examines the theory and research relevant to educating d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing Multilingual Learners (DMLs). There is minimal research on this population, yet a synthesis of related theory, research, and practice on spoken-language bilinguals can be used to add to the body of knowledge on these learners. Specifically, the author…

  3. Internet messenger based smart virtual class learning using ubiquitous computing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Umam, K.; Mardi, S. N. S.; Hariadi, M.

    2017-06-01

    Internet messenger (IM) has become an important educational technology component in college education, IM makes it possible for students to engage in learning and collaborating at smart virtual class learning (SVCL) using ubiquitous computing. However, the model of IM-based smart virtual class learning using ubiquitous computing and empirical evidence that would favor a broad application to improve engagement and behavior are still limited. In addition, the expectation that IM based SVCL using ubiquitous computing could improve engagement and behavior on smart class cannot be confirmed because the majority of the reviewed studies followed instructions paradigms. This article aims to present the model of IM-based SVCL using ubiquitous computing and showing learners’ experiences in improved engagement and behavior for learner-learner and learner-lecturer interactions. The method applied in this paper includes design process and quantitative analysis techniques, with the purpose of identifying scenarios of ubiquitous computing and realize the impressions of learners and lecturers about engagement and behavior aspect and its contribution to learning

  4. A method for evaluating competency in assessment and management of suicide risk.

    PubMed

    Hung, Erick K; Binder, Renée L; Fordwood, Samantha R; Hall, Stephen E; Cramer, Robert J; McNiel, Dale E

    2012-01-01

    Although health professionals increasingly are expected to be able to assess and manage patients' risk for suicide, few methods are available to evaluate this competency. This report describes development of a competency-assessment instrument for suicide risk-assessment (CAI-S), and evaluates its use in an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). The authors developed the CAI-S on the basis of the literature on suicide risk-assessment and management, and consultation with faculty focus groups from three sites in a large academic psychiatry department. The CAI-S structures faculty ratings regarding interviewing and data collection, case formulation and presentation, treatment-planning, and documentation. To evaluate the CAI-S, 31 faculty members used it to rate the performance of 31 learners (26 psychiatric residents and 5 clinical psychology interns) who participated in an OSCE. After interviewing a standardized patient, learners presented their risk-assessment findings and treatment plans. Faculty used the CAI-S to structure feedback to the learners. In a subsidiary study of interrater reliability, six faculty members rated video-recorded suicide risk-assessments. The CAI-S showed good internal consistency, reliability, and interrater reliability. Concurrent validity was supported by the finding that CAI-S ratings were higher for senior learners than junior learners, and were higher for learners with more clinical experience with suicidal patients than learners with less clinical experience. Faculty and learners rated the method as helpful for structuring feedback and supervision. The findings support the usefulness of the CAI-S for evaluating competency in suicide risk-assessment and management.

  5. A Quantitative Content Analysis of the Common Core State Standards Compared to Missouri's Grade-Level Expectations Using the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy Framework

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gallia, Toni

    2012-01-01

    With the pressure in education to develop a 21st century learner with higher-level thinking skills, many educators connected previous state curriculum to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Missouri's Department of Education experts paired the previous state's curriculum known as the Missouri Grade Level Expectations (MO GLEs) with a…

  6. An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Online Text-to-Speech Tools in Improving EFL Teacher Trainees' Pronunciation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eksi, Gonca Yangin; Yesilçinar, Sabahattin

    2016-01-01

    Given the limited time for instruction in the classroom, pronunciation often ends up as the most neglected aspect of language teaching. However, in cases when the learner's pronunciation is expected to be good or native-like, as is expected of language teacher trainees, out-of-class self-study options become prominent. This study aimed to…

  7. The Effect of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) on Reading Comprehension in English for Specific Purposes Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Farahani, Fahimeh

    2018-01-01

    Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) has potential to help language learners; however, it has received scant attention. The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect of NLP techniques on reading comprehension of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners at an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course. To achieve this goal, two…

  8. Teacher- or Learner-Centred? Science Teacher Beliefs Related to Topic Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A South African Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mavhunga, Elizabeth; Rollnick, Marissa

    2016-01-01

    In science education, learner-centred classroom practices are widely accepted as desirable and are associated with responsive and reformed kinds of teacher beliefs. They are further associated with high-quality Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). Topic-Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TSPCK), a version of PCK defined at topic level, is…

  9. Differentiating Second Language Acquisition from Specific Learning Disability: An Observational Tool Assessing Dual Language Learners' Pragmatic Competence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Farnsworth, Megan

    2018-01-01

    Overrepresentation of Dual Language Learners (DLLs) in special education remains a problem even after 40 years of inquiry. One factor is that the U.S. federal government has neither clearly explained the definition of Specific Learning Disability (SLD) nor operationally defined it to identify children for special education services. This lack of…

  10. "I Prefer Success": Subject Specificity in a First Grade

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Levstik, Linda S.; Yessin, Ruby

    Research on restructuring domain-specific knowledge suggests that inferences made by a learner are based more on what and how concepts are structured and organized in particular domains than on the age of the learner. In this view, it is possible for children to operate more expertly in a particular area than could be explained by global stage or…

  11. Beyond "Brown": Empirical Research on Diverse Learners with or At-Risk for Specific Learning Disabilities from 1994-2012

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Trent, Stanley C.; Drivers, Melissa; Rodriguez, Diane; Oh, Kevin; Stewart, Shavon; Kea, Cathy; Artiles, Alfredo; Hull, Michael

    2014-01-01

    We conducted a literature review to determine the presence of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners in research on specific learning disabilities (SLD) from 1994-2012. We believed that disaggregation of results by category might identify nuances that will guide future policies, research, and practice. We deemed it logical to begin…

  12. Computer-assisted generation of individual training concepts for advanced education in manufacturing metrology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Werner, Teresa; Weckenmann, Albert

    2010-05-01

    Due to increasing requirements on the accuracy and reproducibility of measurement results together with a rapid development of novel technologies for the execution of measurements, there is a high demand for adequately qualified metrologists. Accordingly, a variety of training offers are provided by machine manufacturers, universities and other institutions. Yet, for an interested learner it is very difficult to define an optimal training schedule for his/her individual demands. Therefore, a computer-based assistance tool is developed to support a demand-responsive scheduling of training. Based on the difference between the actual and intended competence profile and under consideration of amending requirements, an optimally customized qualification concept is derived. For this, available training offers are categorized according to different dimensions: regarding contents of the course, but also intended target groups, focus of the imparted competences, implemented methods of learning and teaching, expected constraints for learning and necessary preknowledge. After completing a course, the achieved competences and the transferability of gathered knowledge are evaluated. Based on the results, recommendations for amending measures of learning are provided. Thus, a customized qualification for manufacturing metrology is facilitated, adapted to the specific needs and constraints of each individual learner.

  13. Simulation in resuscitation teaching and training, an evidence based practice review.

    PubMed

    Sahu, Sandeep; Lata, Indu

    2010-10-01

    In the management of a patient in cardiac arrest, it is sometimes the least experienced provider giving chest compressions, intubating the patient, and running the code during the most crucial moment in that patient's life. Traditional methods of educating residents and medical students using lectures and bedside teaching are no longer sufficient. Today's generation of trainees grew up in a multimedia environment, learning on the electronic method of learning (online, internet) instead of reading books. It is unreasonable to expect the educational model developed 50 years ago to be able to adequately train the medical students and residents of today. One area that is difficult to teach is the diagnosis and management of the critically ill patient, specifically who require resuscitation for cardiac emergencies and cardiac arrest. Patient simulation has emerged as an educational tool that allows the learner to practice patient care, away from the bedside, in a controlled and safe environment, giving the learner the opportunity to practice the educational principles of deliberate practice and self-refection. We performed a qualitative literature review of the uses of simulators in resuscitation training with a focus on their current and potential applications in cardiac arrest and emergencies.

  14. Simulation in resuscitation teaching and training, an evidence based practice review

    PubMed Central

    Sahu, Sandeep; Lata, Indu

    2010-01-01

    In the management of a patient in cardiac arrest, it is sometimes the least experienced provider giving chest compressions, intubating the patient, and running the code during the most crucial moment in that patient’s life. Traditional methods of educating residents and medical students using lectures and bedside teaching are no longer sufficient. Today’s generation of trainees grew up in a multimedia environment, learning on the electronic method of learning (online, internet) instead of reading books. It is unreasonable to expect the educational model developed 50 years ago to be able to adequately train the medical students and residents of today. One area that is difficult to teach is the diagnosis and management of the critically ill patient, specifically who require resuscitation for cardiac emergencies and cardiac arrest. Patient simulation has emerged as an educational tool that allows the learner to practice patient care, away from the bedside, in a controlled and safe environment, giving the learner the opportunity to practice the educational principles of deliberate practice and self-refection. We performed a qualitative literature review of the uses of simulators in resuscitation training with a focus on their current and potential applications in cardiac arrest and emergencies. PMID:21063561

  15. The use of simulation in the education of emergency care providers for cardiac emergencies.

    PubMed

    Okuda, Yasuharu; Quinones, Joshua

    2008-06-01

    Traditional methods of educating residents and medical students using lectures and bedside teaching are no longer sufficient. Today's generation of trainees grew up in a multimedia environment, learning on the World Wide Web instead of reading books. It is unreasonable to expect the educational model developed 50 years ago to be able to adequately train the medical students and residents of today. One area that is difficult to teach is the diagnosis and management of the critically ill patient, specifically cardiac emergencies and cardiac arrest. In the management of a patient in cardiac arrest, it is sometimes the least experienced provider giving chest compressions, intubating the patient, and running the code during the most crucial moment in that patient's life. Patient simulation has emerged as an educational tool that allows the learner to practice patient care, away from the bedside, in a controlled and safe environment, giving the learner the opportunity to practice the educational principles of deliberate practice and self-reflection. We performed a qualitative literature review of the uses of simulators in medical training with a focus on their current and potential applications in cardiac emergencies.

  16. Problematizing a general physics class: Understanding student engagement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Spaid, Mark Randall

    This research paper describes the problems in democratizing a high school physics course and the disparate engagement students during class activities that promote scientific inquiry. Results from the Learning Orientation Questionnaire (Martinez, 2000) guide the participant observations and semi-formal interviews. Approximately 60% of the participants self-report a "resistant" or "conforming" approach to learning science; they expect to receive science knowledge from the teacher, and their engagement is influenced by affective and conative factors. These surface learners exhibit second order thinking (Kegan, 1994), do not understand abstract science concepts, and learn best from structured inquiry. To sustain engagement, conforming learners require motivational and instructional discourse from their teacher and peers. Resisting learners do not value learning and do not engage in most science class activities. The "performing" learners are able to deal with abstractions and can see relationships between lessons and activities, but they do not usually self-reflect or think critically (they are between Kegan's second order and third order thinking). They may select a deeper learning strategy if they value the knowledge for a future goal; however, they are oriented toward assessment and rely on the science teacher as an authority. They are influenced by affective and conative factors during structured and guided inquiry-based teaching, and benefit from motivational discourse and sustain engagement if they are interested in the topic. The transforming learners are more independent, self-assessing and self-directed. These students are third order thinkers (Kegan, 1994) who hold a sophisticated epistemology that includes critical thinking and reflection. These students select deep learning strategies without regard to affective and conative factors. They value instructional discourse from the teacher, but prefer less structured inquiry activities. Although specific teacher interventions during inquiry lessons which promote scientific inquiry are sometimes successful in moving students from a conforming learning approach to performing, those students usually regress to a previous orientation due to affective and conative factors, especially if they believe the instructional discourse is inadequate. When working in cooperative groups, the disparate epistemologies of students from each learning orientation category becomes problematic.

  17. EFL Arab Learners' Peer Revision of Writing in a Facebook Group: Contributions to Written Texts and Sense of Online Community

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Razak, Norizan Abdul; Saeed, Murad Abdu

    2015-01-01

    This qualitative study investigated peer writing revision among English as foreign language (EFL) Arab students in a Facebook group. Specifically, it aimed to identify the text revisions made by the learners and to determine their contributions to the learners' written texts and sense of online community outside the college classroom context.…

  18. Designing a Topic-Based Syllabus for Young Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bourke, James M.

    2006-01-01

    In recent years there has been a good deal of debate on the teaching of English to young learners. Although the article looks at the teaching of English to lower primary children in an ESL context in Southeast Asia, it is not specific to one region. The young learners in question are aged 6 to 8 years. The main focus of the article is how best to…

  19. Investigating the Interactions among Genre, Task Complexity, and Proficiency in L2 Writing: A Comprehensive Text Analysis and Study of Learner Perceptions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yoon, Hyung-Jo

    2017-01-01

    In this study, I explored the interactions among genre, task complexity, and L2 proficiency in learners' writing task performance. Specifically, after identifying the lack of valid operationalizations of genre and task dimensions in L2 writing research, I examined how genre functions as a task complexity variable, and how learners' perceptions and…

  20. Challenging Representations: Constructing the Adult Literacy Learner over 30 Years of Policy and Practice in the United Kingdom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hamilton, Mary; Pitt, Kathy

    2011-01-01

    This article addresses the question, How do changes in policy discourses shape public representations of literacy learners and the goals of adult literacy education? It examines specifically how the agency of adult literacy learners is constructed. We carry out a critical discourse analysis of two key adult literacy policy documents from the U.K.:…

  1. Do Learners Lighten Up?: Phonetic and Allophonic Acquisition of Spanish /l/ by English-Speaking Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Solon, Megan

    2017-01-01

    This study explores the second language (L2) acquisition of a segment that exists in learners' first language (L1) and in their L2 but that differs in its phonetic realization and allophonic patterning in the two languages. Specifically, this research tracks development in one aspect of the production of the alveolar lateral /l/ in the L2 Spanish…

  2. Components of Task-Based Needs Analysis of the ESP Learners with the Specialization of Business and Tourism

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Poghosyan, Naira

    2016-01-01

    In the following paper we shall thoroughly analyze the target learning needs of the learners within an ESP (English for Specific Purposes) context. The main concerns of ESP have always been and remain with the needs analysis, text analysis and preparing learners to communicate effectively in the tasks prescribed by their study or work situation.…

  3. Building Personal and Nation-State Identities: Research and Practice.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fleming, Douglas

    2003-01-01

    Discusses issues related to teaching newcomers to Canada, such as learner identity, multiculturalism, changing visions of Canadian culture, changing expectations of English-as-a-Second-Language teachers. Highlights four studies on the topic. (Author/VWL)

  4. Fostering learners' reflection and self-assessment.

    PubMed

    Westberg, J; Jason, H

    1994-05-01

    In most medical schools and residency programs, little or no attention is given to fostering learners' reflection or self-assessment. Yet learners who do not value or who are not effective at these skills are unlikely to extract the maximum benefit from their education. They are at risk of becoming unsafe physicians. To be optimally helpful, teachers need access to the diagnostic information about learners that is provided by their reflections and self-assessments. There are major barriers to learners being reflective and self-assessing. Medicine is dominated by unreflective doing. In the fiercely competitive environment of many teaching programs, many learners correctly perceive that it is unsafe to reveal their fears and deficiencies. Learners often retain this cautious posture even after moving to programs where it is unnecessary. Many learners and teachers have grown accustomed to authoritarian educational approaches in which teachers decide what the learners need and unilaterally evaluate their performance. In this review of the available literature, we summarize the compelling reasons for fostering reflection and self-assessment and for helping learners become their own coaches. Specific strategies and tools for creating programs that foster these values and activities are presented.

  5. Blended learning in chemistry laboratory courses: Enhancing learning outcomes and aligning student needs with available resources

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Burchett, Shayna Brianne

    Freshman science courses are intended to prepare students for the rigor and expectations of subsequent college science. While secondary education aims to prepare students for the college curriculum, many incoming freshman lack the sense of responsibility for their own learning that is essential for success in a college-level course. The freshman general-chemistry laboratory course at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) was identified as a bottleneck course with a demand beyond accommodation capacity. To address the bottleneck and develop a sense of learner responsibility, a decision was made to investigate laboratory course delivery strategies. As a result of the investigation into delivery strategies, a blended freshman general-chemistry laboratory course was designed and implemented at Missouri S&T, which increased student access to the bottleneck course and improved learner engagement while meeting American Chemical Society (ACS) guidelines. The implementation of the Missouri S&T project and its continued evolution at other institutions have a great potential to provide insight on the impact of blended teaching on learner success. This dissertation describes research and design of a blended laboratory course that economically improves capacity while intentionally focusing pedagogy to support learner success, meet industry expectations, and maintain ACS certification. To evaluate success, the project documented and analyzed student performance during the development of the transformation to a blended freshman chemistry laboratory course at Missouri S&T. The findings support the efficacy of the blended teaching model and offer a structure upon which future courses may build.

  6. Polyester non-woven fabric finger cover as a TRUCT Braille reading assistance tool for Braille learners.

    PubMed

    Doi, Kouki; Fujimoto, Hiroshi

    2007-11-01

    Transparent resinous ultraviolet-curing type (TRUCT) Braille signs are becoming more and more popular in Japan, especially when they are printed together with visual characters. These signs are made by screen printing, a technique that can be applied to various base materials, such as paper, metal, and plastic. TRUCT Braille signs have begun to be used in public facilities, such as on tactile maps and on handrails. Naturally, it is expected that Braille beginners will utilize these signs. However, it has been pointed out that the friction between the forefinger and the base material may affect reading accuracy and speed. In this study, we developed a finger cover made of soft, thin polyester non-woven fabric to reduce friction during Braille reading. We also carried out a study to investigate the effect of its use. The subjects were 12 Braille learners with acquired visual impairment, who were asked to read randomly selected characters with and without the finger cover. The results showed that most participants could read TRUCT Braille significantly faster and more accurately with a finger cover than without it, regardless of the base material and dot height. This result suggests that wearing the finger cover enables Braille learners to read TRUCT Braille more efficiently. The finger cover can be used as a Braille reading assistance tool for Braille learners. An additional, health-related advantage of the finger cover is that the forefinger remains clean. We expect that the finger cover will be in practical use in Japan within 1 or 2 years.

  7. Using a cashbook as textbook.

    PubMed

    Mullinix, B B

    1985-11-01

    In the Gambia, an innovative shceme was developed by government and parastatal organizations to provide small-scale businessmen and women with the skills required for banking and record-keeping. The course they developed applied the approach of specific literacy and numeracy. Specific literacy identifies and transmits a select group of literacy skills necessary to perform a given task. The course encouraged the learner to recognize, copy, and associate words with objects or ideas and, at the same time, learn to identify sounds with written letters. Role plays, homework assignments, self-corrected quizzes, and cashbook/workbooks were some of the techniques used to ensure that learners were able to create records and keep accurate account of their daily cash flow. The purpose of this short 6-month course was not to achieve full literacy for each and every learner, but to introduce specific skills that integrated literacy and business. In this way, the course emphasized the essentials of record-keeping, and hopefully encouraged the learners to develop their own practice: to create a system of written conventions they would use reularly to monitor their business transactions.

  8. A Cross-Cultural Study of Offering Advice Speech Acts by Iranian EFL Learners and English Native Speakers: Pragmatic Transfer in Focus

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Babaie, Sherveh; Shahrokhi, Mohsen

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to compare the speech act of offering advice as realized by Iranian EFL learners and English native speakers. The study, more specifically, attempted to find out whether there was any pragmatic transfer from Persian (L1) among Iranian EFL learners while offering advice in English. It also examined whether…

  9. A Hypermedia Training Module for the Navy’s P-3C Armament System

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1993-07-01

    procedures. Both aural , and visual cues are used throughout the program as necessary to alert the learner to specific items requiring his attention... learner the opportunity for a great deal of interactivity and feedback. The project is divided into five chapters including an introduction, review of the...literature, methodology, program description, and summary and conclusions. The literature review concentrates on the foliowing topics: adult learners

  10. The comprehension and production of quantifiers in isiXhosa-speaking Grade 1 learners

    PubMed Central

    Southwood, Frenette

    2016-01-01

    Background Quantifiers form part of the discourse-internal linguistic devices that children need to access and produce narratives and other classroom discourse. Little is known about the development - especially the prodiction - of quantifiers in child language, specifically in speakers of an African language. Objectives The study aimed to ascertain how well Grade 1 isiXhosa first language (L1) learners perform at the beginning and at the end of Grade 1 on quantifier comprehension and production tasks. Method Two low socioeconomic groups of L1 isiXhosa learners with either isiXhosa or English as language of learning and teaching (LOLT) were tested in February and November of their Grade 1 year with tasks targeting several quantifiers. Results The isiXhosa LOLT group comprehended no/none, any and all fully either in February or then in November of Grade 1, and they produced all assessed quantifiers in February of Grade 1. For the English LOLT group, neither the comprehension nor the production of quantifiers was mastered by the end of Grade 1, although there was a significant increase in both their comprehension and production scores. Conclusion The English LOLT group made significant progress in comprehension and production of quantifiers, but still performed worse than peers who had their L1 as LOLT. Generally, children with no or very little prior knowledge of the LOLT need either, (1) more deliberate exposure to quantifier-rich language or, (2) longer exposure to general classroom language before quantifiers can be expected to be mastered sufficiently to allow access to quantifier-related curriculum content. PMID:27245132

  11. The Impact of Secondary School Students' Preconceptions on the Evolution of their Mental Models of the Greenhouse effect and Global Warming

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reinfried, Sibylle; Tempelmann, Sebastian

    2014-01-01

    This paper provides a video-based learning process study that investigates the kinds of mental models of the atmospheric greenhouse effect 13-year-old learners have and how these mental models change with a learning environment, which is optimised in regard to instructional psychology. The objective of this explorative study was to observe and analyse the learners' learning pathways according to their previous knowledge in detail and to understand the mental model formation processes associated with them more precisely. For the analysis of the learning pathways, drawings, texts, video and interview transcripts from 12 students were studied using qualitative methods. The learning pathways pursued by the learners significantly depend on their domain-specific previous knowledge. The learners' preconceptions could be typified based on specific characteristics, whereby three preconception types could be formed. The 'isolated pieces of knowledge' type of learners, who have very little or no previous knowledge about the greenhouse effect, build new mental models that are close to the target model. 'Reduced heat output' type of learners, who have previous knowledge that indicates compliances with central ideas of the normative model, reconstruct their knowledge by reorganising and interpreting their existing knowledge structures. 'Increasing heat input' type of learners, whose previous knowledge consists of subjective worldly knowledge, which has a greater personal explanatory value than the information from the learning environment, have more difficulties changing their mental models. They have to fundamentally reconstruct their mental models.

  12. We are what we do: Examining learner-generated content in the anatomy laboratory through the lens of activity theory.

    PubMed

    Doubleday, Alison F; Wille, Sarah J

    2014-01-01

    Video and photography are often used for delivering content within the anatomical sciences. However, instructors typically produce these resources to provide instructional or procedural information. Although the benefits of learner-generated content have been explored within educational research, virtually no studies have investigated the use of learner-generated video and photograph content within anatomy dissection laboratories. This study outlines an activity involving learner-generated video diaries and learner-generated photograph assignments produced during anatomy laboratory sessions. The learner-generated photographs and videos provided instructors with a means of formative assessment and allowed instructors to identify evidence of collaborative behavior in the laboratory. Student questionnaires (n = 21) and interviews (n = 5), as well as in-class observations, were conducted to examine student perspectives on the laboratory activities. The quantitative and qualitative data were examined using the framework of activity theory to identify contradictions between student expectations of, and engagement with, the activity and the actual experiences of the students. Results indicate that learner-generated photograph and video content can act as a rich source of data on student learning processes and can be used for formative assessment, for observing collaborative behavior, and as a starting point for class discussions. This study stresses the idea that technology choice for activities must align with instructional goals. This research also highlights the utility of activity theory as a framework for assessing classroom and laboratory activities, demonstrating that this approach can guide the development of laboratory activities. © 2014 American Association of Anatomists.

  13. Exploring high school learners' perceptions of bullying.

    PubMed

    Blake, Patricia; Louw, Johann

    2010-12-01

    Learners' perceptions of aspects of school life that are sufficiently serious to interfere with their schoolwork were investigated. Bullying was a form of behaviour that was singled out for inclusion and further exploration in the study. Learners from three coeducational Western Cape Education Department schools were surveyed: 414 Grade 8 and 474 Grade 9 learners completed an anonymous, voluntary self-report questionnaire. Factors identified as most frequently interfering with their schoolwork included classmates not listening in class, feeling overwhelmed by schoolwork, teacher absenteeism, and verbal fighting. When asked specifically about bullying, 40% of learners indicated that they frequently experienced bullying at school-although they ranked it as much lower when compared to other potentially problematic school experiences. Furthermore, although the majority of learners indicated they thought teachers considered bullying a problem, few felt there was anything that school staff could do to counteract bullying effectively. These findings suggest that learners perceive bullying as an unavoidable part of school experience and have normalised this aggressive behaviour.

  14. Don’t Assume Deaf Students are Visual Learners

    PubMed Central

    Marschark, Marc; Paivio, Allan; Spencer, Linda J.; Durkin, Andreana; Borgna, Georgianna; Convertino, Carol; Machmer, Elizabeth

    2016-01-01

    In the education of deaf learners, from primary school to postsecondary settings, it frequently is suggested that deaf students are visual learners. That assumption appears to be based on the visual nature of signed languages—used by some but not all deaf individuals—and the fact that with greater hearing losses, deaf students will rely relatively more on vision than audition. However, the questions of whether individuals with hearing loss are more likely to be visual learners than verbal learners or more likely than hearing peers to be visual learners have not been empirically explored. Several recent studies, in fact, have indicated that hearing learners typically perform as well or better than deaf learners on a variety of visual-spatial tasks. The present study used two standardized instruments to examine learning styles among college deaf students who primarily rely on sign language or spoken language and their hearing peers. The visual-verbal dimension was of particular interest. Consistent with recent indirect findings, results indicated that deaf students are no more likely than hearing students to be visual learners and are no stronger in their visual skills and habits than their verbal skills and habits, nor are deaf students’ visual orientations associated with sign language skills. The results clearly have specific implications for the educating of deaf learners. PMID:28344430

  15. Best Practices. Premiere PD

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Ryan; Ernst, Jeremy; Clark, Aaron; DeLuca, Bill; Kelly, Daniel

    2017-01-01

    Educators who engage in best practices utilize a variety of instructional delivery methods to assist all learners in achieving success in concept mastery. Best practices help educators set expectations for completing activities/lessons/projects/units, differentiate instruction, integrate curricula, and provide active learning opportunities for…

  16. Ubiquitous learning model using interactive internet messenger group (IIMG) to improve engagement and behavior for smart campus

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Umam, K.; Mardi, S. N. S.; Hariadi, M.

    2017-01-01

    The recent popularity of internet messenger based smartphone technologies has motivated some university lecturers to use them for educational activities. These technologies have enormous potential to enhance the teaching and ubiquitous learning experience for smart campus development. However, the design ubiquitous learning model using interactive internet messenger group (IIMG) and empirical evidence that would favor a broad application of mobile and ubiquitous learning in smart campus settings to improve engagement and behavior is still limited. In addition, the expectation that mobile learning could improve engagement and behavior on smart campus cannot be confirmed because the majority of the reviewed studies followed instructions paradigms. This article aims to present ubiquitous learning model design and showing learners’ experiences in improved engagement and behavior using IIMG for learner-learner and learner-lecturer interactions. The method applied in this paper includes design process and quantitative analysis techniques, with the purpose of identifying scenarios of ubiquitous learning and realize the impressions of learners and lecturers about engagement and behavior aspect, and its contribution to learning.

  17. What do emergency medicine learners want from their teachers? A multicenter focus group analysis.

    PubMed

    Thurgur, Lisa; Bandiera, Glen; Lee, Shirley; Tiberius, Richard

    2005-09-01

    To the best of the authors' knowledge, there are no reports describing what learners believe are good emergency medicine (EM) teaching practices. EM faculty developers are compromised by this lack of knowledge about what EM learners appreciate in their teachers. To determine what Canadian EM learners consider to be good prerequisites and strategies for effective teaching in the emergency department (ED). Clinical clerks and residents from the Canadian College of Family Physicians, Emergency Medicine certification [CCFP(EM)] fellowship program, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Emergency Medicine certification [FRCP(EM)] fellowship program, and off-service programs from all five Ontario medical schools participated in monitored focus-group sessions. Conversations were recorded, transcribed by a third party, and coded by two independent assessors using standard grounded theory methods. The text was categorized based on the final code into basic themes and specific qualifiers, which were then sorted by frequency of mention in the focus groups. Results are presented in descriptive fashion. Twenty-eight learners participated. They identified 14 major principles for good EM teaching, and a further 30 specific qualifiers. The top five principles were: "has a positive teacher attitude," "takes time to teach," "uses teachable moments well," "tailors teaching to the learner," and "gives appropriate feedback." Agreement on classification of ideas was 86%. Learners are sensitive to the constraints of the ED teaching environment, and have consistent views about good ED teaching practices. Among 14 general principles identified, "takes time to teach," "gives feedback," "tailors teaching to the learner," "uses teachable moments," and "has a good teacher attitude" were the most commonly reported.

  18. Twelve tips for facilitating Millennials' learning.

    PubMed

    Roberts, David H; Newman, Lori R; Schwartzstein, Richard M

    2012-01-01

    The current, so-called "Millennial" generation of learners is frequently characterized as having deep understanding of, and appreciation for, technology and social connectedness. This generation of learners has also been molded by a unique set of cultural influences that are essential for medical educators to consider in all aspects of their teaching, including curriculum design, student assessment, and interactions between faculty and learners.  The following tips outline an approach to facilitating learning of our current generation of medical trainees.  The method is based on the available literature and the authors' experiences with Millennial Learners in medical training.  The 12 tips provide detailed approaches and specific strategies for understanding and engaging Millennial Learners and enhancing their learning.  With an increased understanding of the characteristics of the current generation of medical trainees, faculty will be better able to facilitate learning and optimize interactions with Millennial Learners.

  19. Development of a supervisory skills course for hospital pharmacy workplaces.

    PubMed

    Woloschuk, Donna M M; Raymond, Colette B

    2010-07-01

    Many Canadian hospital pharmacies are experiencing difficulties recruiting supervisory personnel. It was expected that, through a "learning-by-doing" course, pharmacy staff would learn to apply basic skills in the day-to-day supervision of pharmacy operations and human resources and to apply the principles of supervisory documentation. A supervisory skills course targeted to pharmacy staff members was developed and implemented by the pharmacy department of a large urban health region. The course was initially offered to practising pharmacy technicians. The course design emphasized a constructivist framework incorporating authentic learning and reflective practice during seminars, with experiential and self-directed learning in the workplace. Preceptors assisted learners to achieve the course goals. Learners and preceptors provided feedback about hours spent (as the course progressed) and about their satisfaction with the course itself (at the end of the course). Learners and preceptors completed a post-program evaluation 2 months after completing the course to help in the assessment of the transfer of learning (lasting impact) associated with the course. Overall performance in the course was assessed on a pass/fail basis. Eighteen pharmacy technicians were admitted to the program, but one withdrew because of a job change. All learners successfully completed the course. Two months after the course, learners and preceptors described enhanced organization, time management, leadership, communication, and conflict-resolution skills on the part of learners, as well as their increased confidence, maturity, and ability to supervise staff. Learners' evaluations revealed a broadened perspective of pharmacy. The preceptors valued the enhancement of learners' skills and their increased enthusiasm. At the time of writing, 6 of the participants had secured supervisory positions. Creating formal instruction that engages pharmacy staff to pursue management positions is challenging. Instructional design grounded in constructivist theory and incorporating authentic learning experiences and reflection resulted in high learner satisfaction with learning outcomes.

  20. Uncovering Students' Preconceptions of Undergraduate Research Experiences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adedokun, Omolola A.; Burgess, Wilella D.

    2011-01-01

    Like all learners, undergraduate research interns bring to their research internships a variety of initial ideas, opinions, expectations, beliefs and attitudes about research internships. However, there is little published research on students' preconceptions about research internships and the relationships of these preconceptions to actual…

  1. Are Deaf Students Visual Learners?

    PubMed Central

    Marschark, Marc; Morrison, Carolyn; Lukomski, Jennifer; Borgna, Georgianna; Convertino, Carol

    2013-01-01

    It is frequently assumed that by virtue of their hearing losses, deaf students are visual learners. Deaf individuals have some visual-spatial advantages relative to hearing individuals, but most have been are linked to use of sign language rather than auditory deprivation. How such cognitive differences might affect academic performance has been investigated only rarely. This study examined relations among deaf college students’ language and visual-spatial abilities, mathematics problem solving, and hearing thresholds. Results extended some previous findings and clarified others. Contrary to what might be expected, hearing students exhibited visual-spatial skills equal to or better than deaf students. Scores on a Spatial Relations task were associated with better mathematics problem solving. Relations among the several variables, however, suggested that deaf students are no more likely to be visual learners than hearing students and that their visual-spatial skill may be related more to their hearing than to sign language skills. PMID:23750095

  2. Fellows as Teachers: Raising the Educational Bar.

    PubMed

    Miloslavsky, Eli M; Boyer, Debra; Winn, Ariel S; Stafford, Diane E J; McSparron, Jakob I

    2016-04-01

    Fellows are expected to educate trainees, peers, and patients, during and long after fellowship. However, there has been relatively little emphasis on the acquisition of teaching skills in fellowship programs. Challenges to teaching by fellows during subspecialty training include demanding clinical duties, their limited knowledge base in the field, brief contact time with learners during consultative roles, and, for new fellows, personal unfamiliarity with the learners and hospital culture. Fellows' teaching skills can be improved by formal curricula addressing teaching, and by direct observation and feedback of teaching akin to what is provided for learning clinical care. Further expansion of fellow-as-teacher programs will allow in-depth training for fellows seeking careers as medical educators. Even without such dedicated programs, emphasis on honing teaching skills during fellowship will telegraph the importance of teaching and help evolve divisional culture. Such efforts can have a positive impact on patients and learners, and enhance the teaching skills of future faculty.

  3. Literacies, Narratives, and Adult Learning in Libraries

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Elmborg, Jim

    2010-01-01

    Learners within academic library settings use information resources toward specific ends--learner-constructed research and writing projects that offer new perspectives on particular topics. Such projects may take the form of individual research papers and/or class presentations, literature reviews, theses, e-portfolios, web pages, or…

  4. Methods and Materials for Teaching the Gifted.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Karnes, Frances A., Ed.; Bean, Suzanne M., Ed.

    This book is designed to provide strategies and resources for differentiating the instruction of gifted learners. It addresses characteristics and needs of gifted learners, instructional planning and evaluation, strategies for best practices, and supporting and enhancing gifted programs. Specific chapters include: (1) "Gifted and Talented…

  5. Show Me The Data! Data Visualizations Make Climate Change & Climate Impacts Real

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Turrin, M.; Ryan, W. B. F.; Porter, D. F.

    2016-12-01

    Today's learner is technology proficient. Whether we reference K12, undergraduate, or life long learners we expect that they are not only comfortable interacting with a range of digital media, from computer, to tablet, to a smart phone, but that they expect it. Technology is a central part of how most of us spend large portions of our day; connecting, communicating, recreating and learning. So why would we expect that today's learners would prefer to read about climate change and climate impacts from plain text? As educators we must embrace cutting edge methods and materials to engage our students and learners, meeting them where they are most comfortable. `Polar Explorer: Sea Level' is an app that uses interactive data maps to engage the users in the story of changing sea level. Designed for a general audience this free app (http://www.polarexplorer.org) is a great resource for life-long learners, teachers, students and the curious public. Built around a series of questions that are structured like book chapters, users select from a range of choices like: What is sea level? Why does sea level change? Where is it changing now? What about the polar regions? What about in the past? Who is vulnerable? Each section moves the user through layers of maps that address causes, impacts, future predictions and special vulnerabilities of a rising sea level. Users can select any pathway to build a story that captures their attention as they interact with the data and move through different layers of the app. Each map is interactive and supported by information 'snippits', audio clips and a link to further information. A series of `quests' are available for the app. Each quest is a story with a main science theme at its center that leads a planned excursion through a series of map layers while revealing a story in the data. The combination of physical science in what and where is sea level changing, with human impacts in the `who is vulnerable', builds a series of stories with a personal connection for the app user. Follow a quest to learn why sea level is falling on the Scandinavian coastline, or where you would find the highest mountain peak in Greenland or Antarctica. Users are encouraged to create their own quests and submit them to a shared repository. This app was developed as part of the PoLAR partnership supported by NSF (DUE-1239783).

  6. Teachers Reading Aloud

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McQuillan, Kristin

    2009-01-01

    Creating research-based expectations and education strategies for all teachers to implement consistently are the beginning steps in giving all students access to standards-based curriculum and in creating readers, writers, and content learners. Reading aloud is one research-based practice that enhances achievement for all students, whether they…

  7. Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Science Teacher, 2016

    2016-01-01

    Science teachers and mentors continue to be challenged to meet the high expectations of "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" and the "Next Generation Science Standards." Indeed the Framework urges teachers to help learners "[build] progressively more sophisticated explanations of natural phenomena..." while the…

  8. Promising Practices for Education Technology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zielezinski, Molly B.

    2017-01-01

    Despite all of the celebratory rhetoric around our nation's declining dropout rates, during a given year, nearly 20 percent of students expected to graduate do not. Furthermore, according to Johns Hopkins University and Civic Enterprises, "unacceptably low levels of minority, low-income, English Language Learners, and special education…

  9. Milestones and Millennials: A Perfect Pairing-Competency-Based Medical Education and the Learning Preferences of Generation Y.

    PubMed

    Desy, Janeve R; Reed, Darcy A; Wolanskyj, Alexandra P

    2017-02-01

    Millennials are quickly becoming the most prevalent generation of medical learners. These individuals have a unique outlook on education and have different preferences and expectations than their predecessors. As evidenced by its implementation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in the United States and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Canada, competency based medical education is rapidly gaining international acceptance. Characteristics of competency based medical education can be perfectly paired with Millennial educational needs in several dimensions including educational expectations, the educational process, attention to emotional quotient and professionalism, assessment, feedback, and intended outcomes. We propose that with its attention to transparency, personalized learning, and frequent formative assessment, competency based medical education is an ideal fit for the Millennial generation as it realigns education and assessment with the needs of these 21st century learners. Copyright © 2016 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Rescuing Students from the Slow Learner Trap

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shaw, Steven R.

    2010-01-01

    Slow learners, such as students with borderline intellectual functioning, represent one of the most challenging student populations for administrators and teachers. Standard systems and supports are often ineffective--even counterproductive--because they fail to meet students' specific learning needs and instead create a cycle of failure. This…

  11. Creative Writing in the Language Arts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ediger, Marlow

    Pupils need to express themselves in creative processes and products in the language arts curriculum. Too frequently, teachers require behavior which involves conformity on the part of learners. Specific objectives many times delimit pupils' opportunities to express original ideas that come from within the involved learners. Many activities can…

  12. Teaching Reading Strategies to English Language Learners.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jenks, Christopher J.

    This paper discusses the importance of teaching English language learners (ELLs) three reading strategies to help facilitate a productive literacy environment, suggesting that students must be taught specific reading strategies in which purpose, comprehension, and memorization are facilitated. The first section presents a pre-reading strategy,…

  13. Learner-Centred Education and "Cultural Translation"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thompson, Paul

    2013-01-01

    This paper contests the proposal that learner-centred education (LCE) may simply be a western construct, irrelevant to the current educational needs of developing countries, by arguing that its specific forms will be more effective when introduced through small-scale institutional relationships than through large-scale contracts with national…

  14. Translanguaging and the Writing of Bilingual Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Velasco, Patricia; García, Ofelia

    2014-01-01

    This article makes the case for using translanguaging in developing the academic writing of bilinguals. It reviews the emerging literature on learning and teaching theories of translanguaging and presents theoretical understandings of biliteracy development and specifically on the teaching of writing to bilingual learners. The article analyzes…

  15. Academic self-handicapping: relationships with learning specific and general self-perceptions and academic performance over time.

    PubMed

    Gadbois, Shannon A; Sturgeon, Ryan D

    2011-06-01

    Academic self-handicapping (ASH) tendencies, strategies students employ that increase their chances of failure on assessments while protecting self-esteem, are correlated with classroom goal structures and to learners' general self-perceptions and learning strategies. In particular, greater ASH is related to poorer academic performance but has yet to be examined with respect to learners' performance across a series of tests. This research was designed to examine the relationship between students' ASH tendencies and their self-concept clarity, learning strategies, and performance on a series of tests in a university course. A total of 209 (153 female; 56 male) Canadian university psychology students participated in this study. Participants' ASH tendencies, self-concept clarity, approaches to learning, and self-regulatory learning strategies were assessed along with expected grades and hours of study in the course from which they were recruited. Finally, students' grades were obtained for the three tests for the course from which they were recruited. Students reporting greater self-handicapping tendencies reported lower self-concept clarity, lower academic self-efficacy, greater test anxiety, more superficial learning strategies, and scored lower on all tests in the course. The relationships of ASH scores and learner variables with performance varied across the three performance indices. In particular, ASH scores were more strongly related to second and third tests, and prior performances were accounted for. ASH scores accounted for a relatively small but significant proportion of variance for all three tests. These results showed that ASH is a unique contributing factor in student performance outcomes, and may be particularly important after students complete the initial assessment in a course. ©2010 The British Psychological Society.

  16. When math operations have visuospatial meanings versus purely symbolic definitions: Which solving stages and brain regions are affected?

    PubMed

    Pyke, Aryn A; Fincham, Jon M; Anderson, John R

    2017-06-01

    How does processing differ during purely symbolic problem solving versus when mathematical operations can be mentally associated with meaningful (here, visuospatial) referents? Learners were trained on novel math operations (↓, ↑), that were defined strictly symbolically or in terms of a visuospatial interpretation (operands mapped to dimensions of shaded areas, answer = total area). During testing (scanner session), no visuospatial representations were displayed. However, we expected visuospatially-trained learners to form mental visuospatial representations for problems, and exhibit distinct activations. Since some solution intervals were long (~10s) and visuospatial representations might only be instantiated in some stages during solving, group differences were difficult to detect when treating the solving interval as a whole. However, an HSMM-MVPA process (Anderson and Fincham, 2014a) to parse fMRI data identified four distinct problem-solving stages in each group, dubbed: 1) encode; 2) plan; 3) compute; and 4) respond. We assessed stage-specific differences across groups. During encoding, several regions implicated in general semantic processing and/or mental imagery were more active in visuospatially-trained learners, including: bilateral supramarginal, precuneus, cuneus, parahippocampus, and left middle temporal regions. Four of these regions again emerged in the computation stage: precuneus, right supramarginal/angular, left supramarginal/inferior parietal, and left parahippocampal gyrus. Thus, mental visuospatial representations may not just inform initial problem interpretation (followed by symbolic computation), but may scaffold on-going computation. In the second stage, higher activations were found among symbolically-trained solvers in frontal regions (R. medial and inferior and L. superior) and the right angular and middle temporal gyrus. Activations in contrasting regions may shed light on solvers' degree of use of symbolic versus mental visuospatial strategies, even in absence of behavioral differences. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. I Get to Use an iPod in School? Using Technology-Based Advance Organizers to Support the Academic Success of English Learners

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Billings, Elsa S.; Mathison, Carla

    2012-08-01

    This study investigated the impact of technology-based advance organizers (TBAOs) on the academic performance of 240 4th grade English learners (ELs) participating in a science class in School in the Park (SITP), a museum-school collaboration. While SITP provides a rich, hands-on learning environment, ELs face significant linguistic challenges in their ability to access the dense academic language and concepts provided in SITP's English only curriculum, thus negatively impacting ELs' engagement and learning. The TBAOs were designed in response to this issue. The study investigated two forms of treatment: TBAOs viewed on individual handheld mobile devices (HMDs), specifically iPods; and, TBAOs viewed as a whole class on DVD. The study utilized both qualitative and quantitative data sources, including a pre- and posttest, hands-on and performance-based assessments, as well as focus interviews. Results showed a significant interaction effect between group assignment, language status and application assessments, indicating ELs performed significantly better in the treatment groups. Students who used the HMD instead of the DVD or no treatment improved their total scores significantly on hands-on, performance-based measurements. Differences between treatment and control groups' performance on pre-/posttests approached significance. Furthermore, students reported TBAOs supported learning by introducing new material, introducing and reviewing daily academic vocabulary, and helping them anticipate behavioral and procedural expectations of hands-on activities. Classroom and museum educators reported an increase in the treatment groups' motivation and engagement. The study provided important implications in the use and power of learner-controlled technology in supporting ELs' linguistic and academic success.

  18. Nudge, Nudge: Teacher Interventions in Task-Based Learner Talk.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lynch, Tony

    1997-01-01

    Discusses whether teachers should intervene when communication between learners of English as a Second Language breaks down and, if so, what form that intervention should take. The article concludes that teachers should resist intervention at the outset of communication problems and that any subsequent intervention must be specifically tailored to…

  19. Instructional Design as Manipulation of, or Cooperation with, Learners?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Matthews, Michael T.; Yanchar, Stephen C.

    2018-01-01

    We present a qualitative study of the tension between manipulative and cooperative approaches to instructional design. We found that our participants struggled to resist manipulative tendencies in their work contexts. More specifically, our findings suggest that our participants sought to design with their learners in mind to foster a more…

  20. Teaching Reading to English Language Learners: Insights from Linguistics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lems, Kristin; Miller, Leah D.; Soro, Tenena M.

    2009-01-01

    Written specifically for K-12 educators, this accessible book explains the processes involved in second-language acquisition and provides a wealth of practical strategies for helping English language learners (ELLs) succeed at reading. The authors integrate knowledge from two fields that often remain disconnected--linguistics and literacy--with a…

  1. Teaching Reading to Struggling Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Minskoff, Esther

    2005-01-01

    Identifying the best way to help students who struggle with reading--whether they have learning disabilities, are English language learners, or just need extra support--is a challenge for any teacher. Schools can make that task easier with this indispensable resource, a complete guide to addressing each student's specific instructional needs and…

  2. Potential of Social Networking Sites for Distance Education Student Engagement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lester, Jaime; Perini, Michael

    2010-01-01

    This chapter explores the potential of social networking sites for increasing student engagement for distance education learners. The authors present a modified student engagement model with a focus on the integration of technology, specifically social networking sites for community college distance education learners. The chapter concludes with…

  3. The Education of English Language Learners: Research to Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shatz, Marilyn, Ed.; Wilkinson, Louise C., Ed.

    2010-01-01

    This comprehensive volume describes evidence-based strategies for supporting English language learners (ELLs) by promoting meaningful communication and language use across the curriculum. Leading experts explain how and why learning is different for ELLs and pinpoint specific best practices for the classroom, illustrated with vivid examples.…

  4. Learner-Generated Designs in Participatory Culture: What They Are and How They Are Shaping Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Beaumie; Tan, Lynde; Bielaczyc, Katerine

    2015-01-01

    In this special issue, the authors purport to interrogate and further their understanding of the commonly cited term, "design," specifically "learner-generated designs." This issue brings together scholars from multiple disciplines, including learning sciences, literacy studies, science education, digital media, and pedagogy,…

  5. Intelligent Tutoring Systems and Learning Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ma, Wenting; Adesope, Olusola O.; Nesbit, John C.; Liu, Qing

    2014-01-01

    Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) are computer programs that model learners' psychological states to provide individualized instruction. They have been developed for diverse subject areas (e.g., algebra, medicine, law, reading) to help learners acquire domain-specific, cognitive and metacognitive knowledge. A meta-analysis was conducted on…

  6. A Functional-Notional Syllabus for Adult Learners of Irish.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Little, David, Comp.; And Others

    The first functional-notional syllabus for adult learners of Irish, written in Irish and English, is presented. The syllabus begins with an introductory section about functional-notional syllabi, their definitions and implications, and the characteristics of this syllabus. The second section provides the general aims and specific behavioral…

  7. Differentiation for Gifted Learners: Going beyond the Basics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heacox, Diane; Cash, Richard M.

    2014-01-01

    Within a group of advanced learners, the variety of abilities, talents, interests, and learning styles can be formidable. For the first time, this book connects the unique learning differences among gifted students to the specific teaching methods used to tailor their educational experiences. Differentiated instruction for gifted and talented…

  8. Becoming Adult Learners: Principles and Practices for Effective Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Drago-Severson, Eleanor

    2004-01-01

    This book offers a new and promising way to support adults in Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) programs specifically, and learners in adult education, in general. Applying renowned Harvard University psychologist Robert Kegan's constructive-development theory, Drago-Severson depicts an in-depth…

  9. Developing Learner Autonomy through Project Work in an ESP Class

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Díaz Ramírez, Martha Isabel

    2014-01-01

    This article presents the findings of an action research study on developing learner autonomy through project work in an English for Specific Purposes class. The study was conducted at a Colombian regional and public university with environmental engineering undergraduates. The instruments for data collection were field notes, semi-structured…

  10. Working with Bilingual Learners: An Introduction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Willenberg, Ingrid

    2015-01-01

    This article seeks to provide a theoretical overview of bilingualism and discuss the key concepts and theories that inform classroom pedagogy with bilingual learners. Although some specific classroom strategies are introduced, the primary purpose is not to offer strategies, but rather to offer guiding principles based on theory and research to…

  11. Exploring Learner Autonomy: Language Learning Locus of Control in Multilinguals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peek, Ron

    2016-01-01

    By using data from an online language learning beliefs survey (n?=?841), defining language learning experience in terms of participants' multilingualism, and using a domain-specific language learning locus of control (LLLOC) instrument, this article examines whether more experienced language learners can also be seen as more autonomous language…

  12. English Language Learners Utilizing the Accelerated Reader Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gomez, Frank, II

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact (positive, negative, or neutral) of Accelerated Readers (AR), a standard based intervention, on the academic achievement of English Language Learners at Carolina Herrera Elementary School. Carolina Herrera Elementary School, was analyzed using these specific lenses: (1) curriculum and…

  13. Discrimination of Arabic Contrasts by American Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al Mahmoud, Mahmoud S.

    2013-01-01

    This article reports on second language perception of non-native contrasts. The study specifically tests the perceptual assimilation model (PAM) by examining American learners' ability to discriminate Arabic contrasts. Twenty two native American speakers enrolled in a university level Arabic language program took part in a forced choice AXB…

  14. Young L2 Learners' Performance on a Novel Morpheme Task

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kohnert, Kathryn; Danahy, Kerry

    2007-01-01

    The teaching of an invented language rule has been proposed as a possible non-biased, language-independent assessment technique useful in differentiating young L2 learners with specific language impairment from their typically developing peers. The current study explores these notions by testing typically developing sequential bilingual children's…

  15. Spanish Native-Speaker Perception of Accentedness in Learner Speech

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moranski, Kara

    2012-01-01

    Building upon current research in native-speaker (NS) perception of L2 learner phonology (Zielinski, 2008; Derwing & Munro, 2009), the present investigation analyzed multiple dimensions of NS speech perception in order to achieve a more complete understanding of the specific linguistic elements and attitudinal variables that contribute to…

  16. Teaching Pronunciation in the Learner-Centered Classroom.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Hsiang-Pao; And Others

    Specific tools and techniques to help students of English as a Second Language overcome pronunciation problems are presented. The selection of problems addressed is based on the frequency and seriousness of errors that many native Chinese-speaking learners produce. Ways to resolve various problems (e.g., missing final consonants, misplaced stress…

  17. Autonomous Language Learning on Twitter: Performing Affiliation with Target Language Users through #hashtags

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Solmaz, Osman

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine the potential of social networking sites for autonomous language learners, specifically the role of hashtag literacies in learners' affiliation performances with native speakers. Informed by ecological approach and guided by Zappavigna's (2012) concepts of "searchable talk" and "ambient…

  18. Spotlight on Making Music with Special Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2004

    2004-01-01

    The newest publication in the Spotlight series, this book gathers articles from state music educators association journals that give music teachers ideas on how to include special needs students, discuss why special learners benefit from music education, offer suggestions for dealing with specific types of special needs students, and address…

  19. Examining Learner Autonomy Dimensions: Students' Perceptions of Their Responsibility and Ability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gamble, Craig; Yoshida, Keiko; Aliponga, Jonathan; Ando, Shirley; Koshiyama, Yasuko; Wilkins, Michael

    2012-01-01

    This paper was written to clarify misconceptions that East Asian students are somehow less autonomous than learners from other cultural backgrounds. Specifically, based on motivational levels, it examines Japanese university students' perceptions of their responsibility and ability of autonomous English learning and what they can do inside and…

  20. Concept Selection and Developmental Effects in Bilingual Speech Production

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schwieter, John; Sunderman, Gretchen

    2009-01-01

    The present study investigates the locus of language selection in less and more proficient language learners, specifically testing differential predictions of La Heij's (2005) concept selection model (CSM) and Kroll and Stewart's (1994) revised hierarchical model (RHM). Less and more proficient English dominant learners of Spanish participated in…

  1. Aiming for Equity: Preparing Mainstream Teachers for Inclusion or Inclusive Classrooms?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coady, Maria R.; Harper, Candace; de Jong, Ester J.

    2016-01-01

    Mainstream teachers throughout the world are increasingly expected to differentiate instruction for primary-grade students with diverse learning needs, including second or English language learners (ELLs). Does teacher preparation translate into instructional practices for English language development? What do graduates of those programs do…

  2. Supporting Reflective Activities in Information Seeking on the Web

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Saito, Hitomi; Miwa, Kazuhisa

    Recently, many opportunities have emerged to use the Internet in daily life and classrooms. However, with the growth of the World Wide Web (Web), it is becoming increasingly difficult to find target information on the Internet. In this study, we explore a method for developing the ability of users in information seeking on the Web and construct a search process feedback system supporting reflective activities of information seeking on the Web. Reflection is defined as a cognitive activity for monitoring, evaluating, and modifying one's thinking and process. In the field of learning science, many researchers have investigated reflective activities that facilitate learners' problem solving and deep understanding. The characteristics of this system are: (1) to show learners' search processes on the Web as described, based on a cognitive schema, and (2) to prompt learners to reflect on their search processes. We expect that users of this system can reflect on their search processes by receiving information on their own search processes provided by the system, and that these types of reflective activity helps them to deepen their understanding of information seeking activities. We have conducted an experiment to investigate the effects of our system. The experimental results confirmed that (1) the system actually facilitated the learners' reflective activities by providing process visualization and prompts, and (2) the learners who reflected on their search processes more actively understood their own search processes more deeply.

  3. Quality indicators for learner-centered postgraduate medical e-learning.

    PubMed

    de Leeuw, Robert A; Westerman, Michiel; Scheele, Fedde

    2017-04-27

    The objectives of this study were to identify the needs and expectations of learners and educational experts in postgraduate medical e-learning, and to contribute to the current literature. We performed four focus-group discussions with e-learning end-users (learners) and didactic experts. The participants were postgraduate learners with varying levels of experience, educational experts from a Dutch e-learning task group, and commercial experts from a Dutch e-learning company. Verbatim transcribed interview recordings were analyzed using King's template analysis. The initial template was created with reference to recent literature on postgraduate medical e-learning quality indicators. The transcripts were coded, after which the emerging differences in template interpretation were discussed until a consensus was reached within the team. The final template consisted of three domains of positive e-learning influencers (motivators, learning enhancers, and real-world translation) and three domains of negatively influential parameters (barriers, learning discouragers, and poor preparation). The interpretation of the final template showed three subjects which form the basis of e-learning, namely, Motivate, Learn and Apply. This study forms a basis for learning in general and could be applied to many educational instruments. Individual characteristics should be adapted to the target audience. Three subjects form the basis of, and six themes cover all items needed for, good (enough) postgraduate e-learning. Further research should be carried out with learners and real-world e-learning to validate this template.

  4. Individual characteristics of language learners in lesson planning for specific purposes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ivleva, N. V.

    2016-04-01

    This paper provides a summary of internationally recognized methods and approaches in teaching foreign languages with the focus on teaching foreign languages for specific purposes. It also covers the idea of mastering a foreign language through knowing speech units which are necessary for individual language learners in the professional area with due regard to criteria provided by the author. The criteria were developed on the basis of the theory on adaptation of complex systems and also observation in the teaching process.

  5. Communication guidelines as a learning tool: an exploration of user preferences in general practice.

    PubMed

    Veldhuijzen, Wemke; Ram, Paul M; van der Weijden, Trudy; van der Vleuten, Cees P M

    2013-02-01

    To explore characteristics of written communication guidelines that enhance the success of training aimed at the application of the recommendations in the guidelines. Seven mixed focus groups were held consisting of communication skill teachers and communication skill learners and three groups with only learners. Analysis was done in line with principles of grounded theory. Five key attributes of guidelines for communication skill training were identified: complexity, level of detail, format and organization, type of information, and trustworthiness/validity. The desired use of these attributes is related to specific educational purposes and learners' expertise. The low complexity of current communication guidelines is appreciated, but seems ad odds with the wish for more valid communication guidelines. Which guideline characteristics are preferred by users depends on the expertise of the learners and the educational purpose of the guideline. Communication guidelines can be improved by modifying the key attributes in line with specific educational functions and learner expertise. For example: the communication guidelines used in GP training in the Netherlands, seem to offer an oversimplified model of doctor patient communication. This model may be suited for undergraduate learning, but does not meet the validity demands of physicians in training. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Optimizing performance through intrinsic motivation and attention for learning: The OPTIMAL theory of motor learning.

    PubMed

    Wulf, Gabriele; Lewthwaite, Rebecca

    2016-10-01

    Effective motor performance is important for surviving and thriving, and skilled movement is critical in many activities. Much theorizing over the past few decades has focused on how certain practice conditions affect the processing of task-related information to affect learning. Yet, existing theoretical perspectives do not accommodate significant recent lines of evidence demonstrating motivational and attentional effects on performance and learning. These include research on (a) conditions that enhance expectancies for future performance, (b) variables that influence learners' autonomy, and (c) an external focus of attention on the intended movement effect. We propose the OPTIMAL (Optimizing Performance through Intrinsic Motivation and Attention for Learning) theory of motor learning. We suggest that motivational and attentional factors contribute to performance and learning by strengthening the coupling of goals to actions. We provide explanations for the performance and learning advantages of these variables on psychological and neuroscientific grounds. We describe a plausible mechanism for expectancy effects rooted in responses of dopamine to the anticipation of positive experience and temporally associated with skill practice. Learner autonomy acts perhaps largely through an enhanced expectancy pathway. Furthermore, we consider the influence of an external focus for the establishment of efficient functional connections across brain networks that subserve skilled movement. We speculate that enhanced expectancies and an external focus propel performers' cognitive and motor systems in productive "forward" directions and prevent "backsliding" into self- and non-task focused states. Expected success presumably breeds further success and helps consolidate memories. We discuss practical implications and future research directions.

  7. Testing domain general learning in an Australian lizard.

    PubMed

    Qi, Yin; Noble, Daniel W A; Fu, Jinzhong; Whiting, Martin J

    2018-06-02

    A key question in cognition is whether animals that are proficient in a specific cognitive domain (domain specific hypothesis), such as spatial learning, are also proficient in other domains (domain general hypothesis) or whether there is a trade-off. Studies testing among these hypotheses are biased towards mammals and birds. To understand constraints on the evolution of cognition more generally, we need broader taxonomic and phylogenetic coverage. We used Australian eastern water skinks (Eulamprus quoyii) with known spatial learning ability in three additional tasks: an instrumental and two discrimination tasks. Under domain specific learning we predicted that lizards that were good at spatial learning would perform less well in the discrimination tasks. Conversely, we predicted that lizards that did not meet our criterion for spatial learning would likewise perform better in discrimination tasks. Lizards with domain general learning should perform approximately equally well (or poorly) in these tasks. Lizards classified as spatial learners performed no differently to non-spatial learners in both the instrumental and discrimination learning tasks. Nevertheless, lizards were proficient in all tasks. Our results reveal two patterns: domain general learning in spatial learners and domain specific learning in non-spatial learners. We suggest that delineating learning into domain general and domain specific may be overly simplistic and we need to instead focus on individual variation in learning ability, which ultimately, is likely to play a key role in fitness. These results, in combination with previously published work on this species, suggests that this species has behavioral flexibility because they are competent across multiple cognitive domains and are capable of reversal learning.

  8. Learning Skills Workshops Supporting First-Year Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grills, Sheilagh

    2017-01-01

    Student Services support, including learning skills assistance, can be integral in empowering learners. First-year students are expected to be self-directed in their learning, yet may have neither been challenged nor experienced negative consequences for a lack of perseverance. Academic skills professionals can be partners with teaching faculty in…

  9. Tinkering from the Top

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Potts, Nichola; Nolan, Shane; O'Keeffe, Alan; Hill, Karen

    2017-01-01

    Sometimes teachers just have to go for it. Breathe and expect the unexpected. A leap of faith can be quite liberating, especially for a new Headteacher of a "Requires Improvement" school. Watching staff and children work tirelessly to improve, the author realised that teachers had to be risk takers, problem-solvers and learners, just as…

  10. The Role of Online Education Preferences on Student's Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baturay, Meltem Huri; Yukselturk, Erman

    2015-01-01

    Online education has expanded and is expected to continue growing rapidly in time along with technological innovations. It is obvious that there is a movement toward online learning which necessitates the need of more empirical evidence on effective learning and learners' achievement. This study investigated effect of the variables: demographics…

  11. Resistance: A Precondition for Change.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Rita

    The phenomenon of resistance to change takes several forms. When and whether it should be challenged or encouraged is discussed here. As anticipation of change from customary habits expectably produces anxiety, resistance is mainly protective. The learner may reveal his resistance to or rejection of a new idea by ignorance, doubt, or merely a…

  12. Epistemic Gameplay and Discovery in Computational Model-Based Inquiry Activities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilkerson, Michelle Hoda; Shareff, Rebecca; Laina, Vasiliki; Gravel, Brian

    2018-01-01

    In computational modeling activities, learners are expected to discover the inner workings of scientific and mathematical systems: First elaborating their understandings of a given system through constructing a computer model, then "debugging" that knowledge by testing and refining the model. While such activities have been shown to…

  13. How Design Guides Learning from Matrix Diagrams

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    van der Meij, Jan; van Amelsvoort, Marije; Anjewierden, Anjo

    2017-01-01

    Compared to text, diagrams are superior in their ability to structure and summarize information and to show relations between concepts and ideas. Perceptual cues, like arrows, are expected to improve the retention of diagrams by guiding the learner towards important elements or showing a preferred reading sequence. In our experiment, we analyzed…

  14. Supporting At-Risk Learners: Introduction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hutchinson, Nancy

    2015-01-01

    In its final report, the At-risk Working Group, which reported to the Ontario Minister of Education, described at-risk secondary students as performing significantly below the provincial standard, failing to meet curriculum expectations, and being disengaged from school (O'Connor, 2003, p. 5). In this special issue, authors examine this topic,…

  15. Changing Practices in Chinese Cultures of Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jin, Lixian; Cortazzi, Martin

    2006-01-01

    This paper analyses some changing aspects of learning and "cultures of learning" in China: these are related to meeting the needs of Chinese learners studying in higher education in the UK. We use the term "cultures of learning" to draw attention to the socio-cultural aspects of key practices, expectations and interpretations…

  16. Classroom Management Strategies for Difficult Students: Promoting Change through Relationships

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beaty-O'Ferrall, Mary Ellen; Green, Alan; Hanna, Fred

    2010-01-01

    Teachers in middle level schools face overwhelming demands and challenges in their classrooms. They are expected to know content and pedagogy, develop engaging lessons that meet the needs of diverse learners, and use a variety of instructional strategies that will boost student achievement while they simultaneously develop positive relationships…

  17. Guidelines for Effective Teleconference Presentations in Continuing Medical Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Raszkowski, Robert R.; Chute, Alan G.

    Designing teleconference programs for the physician learner puts unique demands on the teleconferencing medium. Typically, physicians expect a 1-hour lecture presentation with high information density. To effectively present the medical content material in an audio medium, strategies which structure and organize the content material are necessary.…

  18. Collaboration of General and Special Education Teachers: Perspectives and Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Da Fonte, M. Alexandra; Barton-Arwood, Sally M.

    2017-01-01

    Schools today focus on inclusive models of education for students with disabilities that include higher expectations and increased teacher accountability. Within this inclusion framework, both general and special education teachers have responsibilities for the education of diverse learners. Collaboration skills take time to develop, with many…

  19. Faculty as Learners: Developing Thinking Communities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eddy, Pamela L.; Garza Mitchell, Regina L.

    2012-01-01

    The shifting demographics of faculty ranks, expansion of faculty work, and the expectations of accountability and revenue production place new demands on today's faculty. Collaborating with other faculty members is one option for easing workload demands and reinvigorating faculty members in the conduct of their teaching and research. In this…

  20. Beyond Blackboard and into Virtual Communities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cleaver, Samantha

    2008-01-01

    Online learning is evolving into much more than discussions via Blackboard. Today's online learners are spending time engaged in discussions, meeting in virtual classrooms, and combining online and on-the-ground learning, even if they live time zones away from campus. In response, universities are adjusting their curriculum, learning expectations,…

  1. Millennial Expectations and Constructivist Methodologies: Their Corresponding Characteristics and Alignment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carter, Timothy L.

    2008-01-01

    In recent years, much emphasis has been placed on constructivist methodologies and their potential benefit for learners of various ages (Brandt & Perkins, 2000; Brooks, 1990). Although certain aspects of the constructivist paradigm have replaced several aspects of the behaviorist paradigm for a large contingency of stakeholders (particularly,…

  2. Mobile Learning: An Analysis of Student Preferences and Perceptions Surrounding Podcasting

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCombs, Shawn William

    2010-01-01

    Today's learner arrives on our campuses with certain expectations, among them are technology innovation and availability, and the use of modern and efficient technology solutions to communicate and coexist. Meanwhile, institutions of higher learning across the country struggle with increased operating costs, decreasing legislative funding, and…

  3. The Use of Internet of EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Srichanyachon, A. Napaporn

    2013-01-01

    This study investigated attitudes toward using the Internet as a learning tool among students at Bangkok University; students' expectation of social networks and search engines in learning English, as well as their perceived usefulness. It also examined their use of the Internet for learning English. The samples were 198 undergraduate students…

  4. Caring Closes the Language-Learning Gap

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Borba, Mary

    2009-01-01

    The gap in academic achievement between English speakers and English learners continues to concern educators, parents, and legislators. Rising expectations for literacy and the increasing number of students from diverse backgrounds contribute to this achievement gap. In this article, the author discusses a variety of strategies for reaching out to…

  5. Rule Fossilization: A Tentative Model

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vigil, Neddy A.; Oller, John W.

    1976-01-01

    A cybernetic model of factors involved in the fossilization of grammatical and lexical forms in learner grammars is offered. A distinction is made between affective and cognitive dimensions of a multidimensional channel of human communication; and the effect of expected and unexpected feedback on these two dimensions is discussed. (Author/POP)

  6. Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education in US Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DeCapua, Andrea; Marshall, Helaine W.

    2010-01-01

    Considerable attention has focused on the challenges of English language learners without age-appropriate formal education and first language literacy. They are viewed here as students with high-context learning experiences and expectations (Hall in Beyond culture, Anchor, New York, 1976), and a collectivistic orientation, with a pragmatic, rather…

  7. Students' Motivation towards Computer Use in EFL Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Genc, Gulten; Aydin, Selami

    2010-01-01

    It has been widely recognized that language instruction that integrates technology has become popular, and has had a tremendous impact on language learning process whereas learners are expected to be more motivated in a web-based Computer assisted language learning program, and improve their comprehensive language ability. Thus, the present paper…

  8. Stealth Learning: Unexpected Learning Opportunities through Games

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sharp, Laura A.

    2012-01-01

    Educators across the country struggle to create engaging, motivating learning environments for their Net Gen students. These learners expect instant gratification that traditional lectures do not provide. This leaves educators searching for innovative ways to engage students in order to encourage learning. One solution is for educators to use…

  9. Translating Learning into Numbers: A Generic Framework for Learning Analytics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Greller, Wolfgang; Drachsler, Hendrik

    2012-01-01

    With the increase in available educational data, it is expected that Learning Analytics will become a powerful means to inform and support learners, teachers and their institutions in better understanding and predicting personal learning needs and performance. However, the processes and requirements behind the beneficial application of Learning…

  10. Assessment for Learning: A Catalyst for Student Self-Regulation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hawe, Eleanor; Dixon, Helen

    2017-01-01

    The development of students as lifelong, self-regulating learners is a valued outcome of higher education. To this end, the current project investigated how students in an undergraduate course experienced and responded to a teaching-learning environment where they were expected to take responsibility for their learning. The pedagogic environment…

  11. Junior High Computer Studies: Teacher Resource Manual.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alberta Dept. of Education, Edmonton. Curriculum Branch.

    This manual is designed to help classroom teachers in Alberta, Canada implement the Junior High Computer Studies Program. The first eight sections cover the following material: (1) introduction to the teacher resource manual; (2) program rationale and philosophy; (3) general learner expectations; (4) program framework and flexibility; (5) program…

  12. Associations between Perceptions of School Connectedness and Adolescent Health Risk Behaviors in South African High School Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Govender, Kaymarlin; Naicker, Sara Naomi; Meyer-Weitz, Anna; Fanner, Joanne; Naidoo, Avanya; Penfold, Wendy Leigh

    2013-01-01

    Background: This study investigated the relationship between school connectedness and health risk behaviors, specifically, substance abuse, violence-related behaviors, sexual risk behaviors, and suicidal ideation among school-going adolescents. School connectedness was understood to encompass a range of aspects pertaining to a learner's sense of…

  13. Developing Interactional Competence through Video-Based Computer-Mediated Conversations: Beginning Learners of Spanish

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tecedor Cabrero, Marta

    2013-01-01

    This dissertation examines the discourse produced by beginning learners of Spanish using social media. Specifically, it looks at the use and development of interactional resources during two video-mediated conversations. Through a combination of Conversation Analysis tools and quantitative data analysis, the use of turn-taking strategies, repair…

  14. The Impact of Language Factors on Learner Achievement in Science

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Prinsloo, C. H.; Rogers, S. C.; Harvey, J. C.

    2018-01-01

    South African learner achievement remains poor, despite large investment in schooling over the last two decades. Literature and research findings offer no single explanation or solution. In this article, the authors explored the relative contribution of specific language factors such as the role of home- and school-language equivalence, cultural…

  15. Accommodating Taboo Language in English Language Teaching: Issues of Appropriacy and Authenticity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liyanage, Indika; Walker, Tony; Bartlett, Brendan; Guo, Xuhong

    2015-01-01

    Culturally specific language practices related to vernacular uses of taboo language such as swearing represent a socially communicative minefield for learners of English. The role of classroom learning experiences to prepare learners for negotiation of taboo language use in social interactions is correspondingly complicated and ignored in much of…

  16. Teaching Life Sciences to Blind and Visually Impaired Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fraser, William John; Maguvhe, Mbulaheni Obert

    2008-01-01

    This study reports on the teaching of life sciences (biology) to blind and visually impaired learners in South Africa at 11 special schools with specific reference to the development of science process skills in outcomes-based classrooms. Individual structured interviews were conducted with nine science educators teaching at the different special…

  17. Learners' Perceptions of Listening Comprehension Problems.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hasan, Ali S.

    2000-01-01

    Reports a study of listening problems encountered in the English-as-a-foreign-language classroom in the English for Specific Purposes Centre at Damascus University in Syria. Looks particularly at learner strategies, features of the listening text, characteristics of the speaker, attitudes of the listener, the task to be completed as a result of…

  18. Competence Visualisation: Making Sense of Data from 21st-Century Technologies in Language Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bull, Susan; Wasson, Barbara

    2016-01-01

    This paper introduces an open learner model approach to learning analytics to combine the variety of data available from the range of applications and technologies in language learning, for visualisation of language learning competences to learners and teachers in the European language context. Specific examples are provided as illustrations…

  19. The Relationship between Iranian ESP Learners' Translation Ability and Resilience in Reading Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Malekan, Fatemeh; Hajimohammadi, Reza

    2017-01-01

    The present study was an attempt to investigate the relationship between Iranian ESP Learners' translation ability and resilience in reading comprehension. More specifically, the study aimed to study the resilience cognitive and metacognitive effect on raising L2 reading comprehension through translation. Secondly, the study aimed at pursuing the…

  20. Job Satisfaction Amongst Teachers at Special Needs Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Strydom, Louise; Nortjé, Nico; Beukes, Roelf; Esterhuyse, Karel; van der Westhuizen, Jeanne

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this study was to establish the level of job satisfaction amongst teachers at special schools. Teachers in special schools need to cope with curriculum changes, the administrative duties that come with these changes, and the learners with their diverse needs. Learners with special needs require a specific educational programme and also…

  1. Exploring the Educational Involvement of Parents of English Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vera, Elizabeth M.; Israel, Marla Susman; Coyle, Laura; Cross, Joanna; Knight-Lynn, Laura; Moallem, Isabel; Bartucci, Gina; Goldberger, Nancy

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the relationships among a range of specific barriers and facilitators of parent involvement and a variety of types of school involvement within a diverse group of immigrant parents of English Learners (ELs) in four elementary school districts. In-home types of educational involvement such as…

  2. Adult Learners and Professional Development: Peer-to-Peer Learning in a Networked Community

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Guldberg, Karen

    2008-01-01

    This paper analyses how adult learners on a professional development course learn and develop through online dialogue. The research uses Wenger's community of practice framework, and assesses whether the concept of "legitimate peripheral participation" is useful in relation to this specific case study in which the students are practitioners and…

  3. Preparing Teachers for English Learners: Integrating Academic Language and Community Service Projects

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    He, Ye; Journell, Wayne; Faircloth, Josh

    2018-01-01

    In this article we highlight elements of culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy that prepare teachers to work with English Learners (ELs) from a variety of backgrounds. Specifically, we focus on the learning experiences and practices of one secondary social studies teacher to explore promising practices with ELs and effective teacher…

  4. The Consequences of Fading Instructional Guidance on Delayed Performance: The Case of Financial Services Training

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kissane, Mark; Kalyuga, Slava; Chandler, Paul; Sweller, John

    2008-01-01

    Empirical studies within a cognitive load framework have determined that for novice learners, worked examples provide appropriate levels of instructional guidance. As learners advance in specific subject domains, worked examples should be gradually replaced by practice problems with limited guidance. This study compared performance, both…

  5. Exploratory Investigation of Drivers of Attainment in Ethnic Minority Adult Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Frumkin, Lara A.; Koutsoubou, Maria

    2013-01-01

    There is evidence that ethnic minority learners in further education in England either under-achieve or are under-represented because they face various inhibitors connected to their ethnicity. Motivators may be in place, however, which increase attainment specifically for some ethnic groups. This exploratory study intends to examine what works and…

  6. Integrating Pedagogy into Intercultural Teaching in a Vietnamese Setting: From Policy to the Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nguyen, Long

    2014-01-01

    Language education policy needs to be realised in the language classroom. For example, when a specific policy advocates the development of learners' competence in interacting with people from other cultures, classroom teaching practices and assessment have to address learners' intercultural competence. Teachers need to fully understand the…

  7. Learner Perspectives on Task Design for Oral-Visual eTandem Language Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    El-Hariri, Yasmin

    2016-01-01

    Constituting a more specific form of online collaboration, eTandem Language Learning (eTLL) shows great potential for non-formal, self-directed language learning. Research in this field, particularly regarding task design, is still scarce. Focusing on their beliefs and attitudes, this article examines what learners think about how…

  8. The Influence of Topics on Listening Strategy Use for English for Academic Purposes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chou, Mu-hsuan

    2015-01-01

    Listening is an essential skill for English as a Foreign Language learners studying in English-speaking universities to succeed in various fields of study. To comprehend subject material and improve listening effectiveness, learners are generally advised to develop strategies which help them process the target language in specific contexts.…

  9. Spelling: Computerised Feedback for Self-Correction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lawley, Jim

    2016-01-01

    Research has shown that any assumption that L2 learners of English do well to rely on the feedback provided by generic spell checkers (for example, the MS Word spell checker) is misplaced. Efforts to develop spell checkers specifically for L2 learners have focused on training software to offer more appropriate suggestion lists for replacing…

  10. Adaptations for English Language Learners: Differentiating between Linguistic and Instructional Accommodations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pappamihiel, N. Eleni; Lynn, C. Allen

    2016-01-01

    While many teachers and teacher educators in the United States K-12 system acknowledge that the English language learners (ELLs) in our schools need modifications and accommodations to help them succeed in school, few attempt to parse out how different types of accommodations may affect learning in the mainstream classroom, specifically linguistic…

  11. Effects of Semantic Ambiguity Detection Training on Reading Comprehension Achievement of English Learners with Learning Difficulties

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jozwik, Sara L.; Douglas, Karen H.

    2016-01-01

    This study examined how explicit instruction in semantic ambiguity detection affected the reading comprehension and metalinguistic awareness of five English learners (ELs) with learning difficulties (e.g., attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, specific learning disability). A multiple probe across participants design (Gast & Ledford, 2010)…

  12. Helping Learners to Orient to the Inverted or Flipped Language Classroom: Mediation via Informational Video

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moranski, Kara; Henery, Ashlie

    2017-01-01

    Inverted ("flipped") pedagogical models are rapidly increasing in prevalence within language education. These models are particularly relevant for language learning given that they promote learner agency and encourage the use of artifacts to mediate cognition. However, the specific methods used in these models are often not anticipated…

  13. Referencing in a Second Language: Korean EFL Learners' Cohesive Use of References in Written Narrative Discourse

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kang, Jennifer Yusun

    2009-01-01

    This study examined Korean English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' ability to establish textual cohesion in English through appropriate selection of reference forms and reference management strategies in their written narrative discourse. It employed both quantitative and qualitative analysis to explore how the language-specific reference…

  14. Assessment and Accommodations for English Language Learners: Issues and Recommendations. CRESST Policy Brief 4, Summer 2001.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abedi, Jamal

    This policy brief addresses the inclusion of English language learners (ELLs) in large-scale assessments and ELL assessment accommodations. The inclusion of ELL students creates specific accountability policy challenges. States differ in the students they include and their inclusion policies and accommodation practices, and, at present, inclusion…

  15. Race, Difference, Meritocracy, and English: Majoritarian Stories in the Education of Secondary Multilingual Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mitchell, Kara

    2013-01-01

    In this study, empirical and conceptual scholarship (approximately 100 studies) regarding the education of secondary multilingual learners and their teachers are analyzed through the lens of critical race theory (CRT). Specifically, four common majoritarian stories are identified that are both challenged and endorsed in the research literature:…

  16. Up Close and Personal: A Case Study of Three University-Level Second Language Learners' Vocabulary Learning Experiences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cornell, Rebecca; Dean, Julie; Tomaš, Zuzana

    2016-01-01

    This study examines vocabulary-learning experiences of three advanced-level, university English as a second language (ESL) students. Through a case study approach, the researchers explore these second language learners' experiences with completing vocabulary-specific requirements for their ESL courses, focusing on their independent study outside…

  17. Differentiated Literacy Strategies for English Language Learners, Grades K-6

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gregory, Gayle H.; Burkman, Amy

    2011-01-01

    As you tailor your teaching to engage the increasing number of English language learners, the key to success is focusing on literacy. Adapted from the highly successful "Differentiated Literacy Strategies for Student Growth and Achievement in Grades K-6", this book provides a wealth of grade-specific literacy strategies that not only increase…

  18. Urban School Leadership for Elementary Science Education: Meeting the Needs of English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alarcon, Maricela H.

    2012-01-01

    Science education reform and state testing accountability call upon principals to become instructional leaders in science. Specifically, elementary school principals must take an active role in science instruction to effectively improve science education for all students including English Language Learners. As such, the research questioned posed…

  19. Observations in the Computer Room: L2 Output and Learner Behaviour

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leahy, Christine

    2004-01-01

    This article draws on second language theory, particularly output theory as defined by Swain (1995), in order to conceptualise observations made in a computer-assisted language learning setting. It investigates second language output and learner behaviour within an electronic role-play setting, based on a subject-specific problem solving task and…

  20. Teacher Leadership to Support English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Russell, Felice Atesoglu; Von Esch, Kerry Soo

    2018-01-01

    As today's K-12 schools become increasingly diverse, many teachers are struggling to meet the needs of English language learners and teach them in a culturally and linguistically responsive manner. The authors provide a pair of examples to illustrate specific ways teacher leaders can be effective advocates for better instruction and services for…

  1. Examining English Language Development among English Language Learners with Specific Learning Disability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Estrada, Karla V.

    2013-01-01

    As the population of English Language Learners (ELLs) continues to grow in schools, so does the concern for their lack of academic progress and the possible inequitable representation of this culturally and linguistically diverse population in special education (Artiles, Rueda, Salazar, & Higareda, 2005; Guiberson, 2009; Mac Swan &…

  2. The Role of Gender, Embedded Questions, and Domain Specific Readings with Learners of Spanish

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brantmeier, Cindy; Callender, Aimee; McDaniel, Mark

    2013-01-01

    The present study utilizes readings taken from texts in social psychology to examine the effects by gender of embedded "what" questions and elaborative "why" questions on reading comprehension. During regular class time, 97 advanced second language (L2) learners of Spanish read two different vignettes, either with or without…

  3. The ESP Instruction: A Study Based on the Pattern of Autonomous Inquiry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Jianfeng

    2013-01-01

    Autonomous inquiry learning is a kind of learning model, which relies mainly on learners and emphasizes that learners should inquire knowledge actively; moreover, ESP, which emphasizes the combination of language learning and specific purposes learning, is a goal-oriented and well targeted instruction system. Therefore, ESP and autonomous inquiry…

  4. The Acquisition of Differential Object Marking in L2 Spanish Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martoccio, Alyssa Marie

    2012-01-01

    This dissertation tests a grammatical structure, differential object marking (DOM), which is particularly difficult for L2 learners to acquire. DOM is a phenomenon in which some direct objects are morphologically marked to distinguish them from subjects (Comrie, 1979). In Spanish, animate and specific direct objects are marked with the preposition…

  5. A Basic Hybrid Library Support Model to Distance Learners in Sudan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abdelrahman, Omer Hassan

    2012-01-01

    Distance learning has flourished in Sudan during the last two decades; more and more higher education institutions offer distance learning programmes to off-campus students. Like on-campus students, distance learners should have access to appropriate library and information support services. They also have specific needs for library and…

  6. Online Peer Discourse in a Writing Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Choi, Jessie

    2014-01-01

    This paper is an attempt to explore the interaction discourse of second language undergraduate learners in the online peer review process of a writing classroom in Hong Kong. Specifically, the writer sought to investigate the types of online discourse learners have in the peer discussions on their writing, and to examine the role of explicit…

  7. Developing Language Awareness for Teachers of Emergent Bilingual Learners Using Dialogic Inquiry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wallen, Matthew; Kelly-Holmes, Helen

    2017-01-01

    This study endeavoured to awaken mainstream teachers' awareness of language, specifically related to teaching emergent bilingual children who are learning English as an additional language (EAL) in the Republic of Ireland. Because EAL learners spend the majority of the day in the mainstream classroom, mainstream teachers' language awareness may…

  8. An Exploration into Learner Experiences with Mandated Learning Portfolios in Graduate Medical Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mulligan, Margaret H.

    2009-01-01

    In 1999, the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) began the Outcome Project which re-focused program accreditation decisions. Six competency areas detailed new standards, calling for programs to measure and provide evidence of learner's acquisition of the knowledge and skills for independent practice in a specific specialty.…

  9. Syntactic and Semantic Specifications in Online English Learners' Dictionaries

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rizo-Rodriguez, Alfonso

    2009-01-01

    Among the multifarious linguistic resources currently available on the Internet, learners of English as a foreign language, as well as teachers and translators, can effortlessly access a vast variety of electronic dictionaries well suited to a multiplicity of lookup operations. A particular kind of lexicographical work on the Web is the…

  10. How Setting Goals Enhances Learners' Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Listening Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ballesteros Muñoz, Liliana; Tutistar Jojoa, Silvana

    2014-01-01

    This article outlines a study that explores the relationship between SMART goal setting (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based) and learning English in Colombia concerning a foreign language learners' self-efficacy beliefs in listening. The participants were seventh and ninth grade students of two schools in Bogotá, Colombia.…

  11. Successful Learning: Strategies for College and University Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fleet, Joan; And Others

    This manual was written to help college students become better students and more successful learners. The goals of the book are to raise awareness of, and interest in, the learning process generally; increase each student's awareness of her/himself as a learner; introduce specific strategies for more effective learning; suggest that each student…

  12. Iterative Processes in Mathematics Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mudaly, Vimolan

    2009-01-01

    There are many arguments that reflect on inductive versus deductive methods in mathematics. Claims are often made that teaching from the general to the specific does make understanding better for learners or vice versa. I discuss an intervention conducted with Grade 10 (15-year-old) learners in a small suburb in South Africa. I reflect on the…

  13. Do Specific Classroom Reading Activities Predict English Language Learners' Later Reading Achievement?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Swanson, H. Lee; Orosco, Michael J.; Kudo, Milagros Fatima

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated the relationship between elementary classroom (N = 50) reading activities in Year 1 and reading performance (i.e., passage comprehension, letter-word identification, and word attack) 1 year later for English language learners (ELLs; N = 270). A cross-classification hierarchical model indicated that compared to other reading…

  14. Captions and Reduced Forms Instruction: The Impact on EFL Students' Listening Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Jie Chi; Chang, Peichin

    2014-01-01

    For many EFL learners, listening poses a grave challenge. The difficulty in segmenting a stream of speech and limited capacity in short-term memory are common weaknesses for language learners. Specifically, reduced forms, which frequently appear in authentic informal conversations, compound the challenges in listening comprehension. Numerous…

  15. How Do Novice and Expert Learners Represent, Understand, and Discuss Geologic Time?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Layow, Erica Amanda

    This dissertation examined the representations novice and expert learners constructed for the geologic timescale. Learners engaged in a three-part activity. The purpose was to compare novice learners' representations to those of expert learners. This provided insight into the similarities and differences between their strategies for event ordering, assigning values and scale to the geologic timescale model, as well as their language and practices to complete the model. With a qualitative approach to data analysis informed by an expert-novice theoretical framework grounded in phenomenography, learner responses comprised the data analyzed. These data highlighted learners' metacognitive thoughts that might not otherwise be shared through lectures or laboratory activities. Learners' responses were analyzed using a discourse framework that positioned learners as knowers. Novice and expert learners both excelled at ordering and discussing events before the Phanerozoic, but were challenged with events during the Phanerozoic. Novice learners had difficulty assigning values to events and establishing a scale for their models. Expert learners expressed difficulty with determining a scale because of the size of the model, yet eventually used anchor points and unitized the model to establish a scale. Despite challenges constructing their models, novice learners spoke confidently using claims and few hedging phrases indicating their confidence in statements made. Experts used more hedges than novices, however the hedging comments were made about more complex conceptions. Using both phenomenographic and discourse analysis approaches for analysis foregrounded learners' discussions of how they perceived geologic time and their ways of knowing and doing. This research is intended to enhance the geoscience community's understanding of the ways novice and expert learners think and discuss conceptions of geologic time, including the events and values of time, and the strategies used to determine accuracy of scale. This knowledge will provide a base from which to support geoscience curriculum development at the university level, specifically to design activities that will not only engage and express learners' metacognitive scientific practices, but to encourage their construction of scientific identities and membership in the geoscience community.

  16. Energy Tracking Diagrams

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Scherr, Rachel E.; Harrer, Benedikt W.; Close, Hunter G.; Daane, Abigail R.; DeWater, Lezlie S.; Robertson, Amy D.; Seeley, Lane; Vokos, Stamatis

    2016-02-01

    Energy is a crosscutting concept in science and features prominently in national science education documents. In the Next Generation Science Standards, the primary conceptual learning goal is for learners to conserve energy as they track the transfers and transformations of energy within, into, or out of the system of interest in complex physical processes. As part of tracking energy transfers among objects, learners should (i) distinguish energy from matter, including recognizing that energy flow does not uniformly align with the movement of matter, and should (ii) identify specific mechanisms by which energy is transferred among objects, such as mechanical work and thermal conduction. As part of tracking energy transformations within objects, learners should (iii) associate specific forms with specific models and indicators (e.g., kinetic energy with speed and/or coordinated motion of molecules, thermal energy with random molecular motion and/or temperature) and (iv) identify specific mechanisms by which energy is converted from one form to another, such as incandescence and metabolism. Eventually, we may hope for learners to be able to optimize systems to maximize some energy transfers and transformations and minimize others, subject to constraints based in both imputed mechanism (e.g., objects must have motion energy in order for gravitational energy to change) and the second law of thermodynamics (e.g., heating is irreversible). We hypothesize that a subsequent goal of energy learning—innovating to meet socially relevant needs—depends crucially on the extent to which these goals have been met.

  17. From shared contexts to syntactic categories: The role of distributional information in learning linguistic form-classes

    PubMed Central

    Reeder, Patricia A.; Newport, Elissa L.; Aslin, Richard N.

    2012-01-01

    A fundamental component of language acquisition involves organizing words into grammatical categories. Previous literature has suggested a number of ways in which this categorization task might be accomplished. Here we ask whether the patterning of the words in a corpus of linguistic input (distributional information) is sufficient, along with a small set of learning biases, to extract these underlying structural categories. In a series of experiments, we show that learners can acquire linguistic form-classes, generalizing from instances of the distributional contexts of individual words in the exposure set to the full range of contexts for all the words in the set. Crucially, we explore how several specific distributional variables enable learners to form a category of lexical items and generalize to novel words, yet also allow for exceptions that maintain lexical specificity. We suggest that learners are sensitive to the contexts of individual words, the overlaps among contexts across words, the non-overlap of contexts (or systematic gaps in information), and the size of the exposure set. We also ask how learners determine the category membership of a new word for which there is very sparse contextual information. We find that, when there are strong category cues and robust category learning of other words, adults readily generalize the distributional properties of the learned category to a new word that shares just one context with the other category members. However, as the distributional cues regarding the category become sparser and contain more consistent gaps, learners show more conservatism in generalizing distributional properties to the novel word. Taken together, these results show that learners are highly systematic in their use of the distributional properties of the input corpus, using them in a principled way to determine when to generalize and when to preserve lexical specificity. PMID:23089290

  18. From shared contexts to syntactic categories: the role of distributional information in learning linguistic form-classes.

    PubMed

    Reeder, Patricia A; Newport, Elissa L; Aslin, Richard N

    2013-02-01

    A fundamental component of language acquisition involves organizing words into grammatical categories. Previous literature has suggested a number of ways in which this categorization task might be accomplished. Here we ask whether the patterning of the words in a corpus of linguistic input (distributional information) is sufficient, along with a small set of learning biases, to extract these underlying structural categories. In a series of experiments, we show that learners can acquire linguistic form-classes, generalizing from instances of the distributional contexts of individual words in the exposure set to the full range of contexts for all the words in the set. Crucially, we explore how several specific distributional variables enable learners to form a category of lexical items and generalize to novel words, yet also allow for exceptions that maintain lexical specificity. We suggest that learners are sensitive to the contexts of individual words, the overlaps among contexts across words, the non-overlap of contexts (or systematic gaps in information), and the size of the exposure set. We also ask how learners determine the category membership of a new word for which there is very sparse contextual information. We find that, when there are strong category cues and robust category learning of other words, adults readily generalize the distributional properties of the learned category to a new word that shares just one context with the other category members. However, as the distributional cues regarding the category become sparser and contain more consistent gaps, learners show more conservatism in generalizing distributional properties to the novel word. Taken together, these results show that learners are highly systematic in their use of the distributional properties of the input corpus, using them in a principled way to determine when to generalize and when to preserve lexical specificity. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. [The challenge of adult didactics: is self-instruction with support the solution?].

    PubMed

    Klopper, H

    1995-03-01

    The current teaching approach in nursing is mainly tutor-centred: during a formal lecture the tutor provides the facts, the students stays a passive listener and has to memorize facts for reproduction during evaluation. In this paper the argument is focused on a student-centered approach that implies selfstudy with accompaniment when needed. The rationale for this approach is to develop a academic-scientific student, as it is impossible to provide all the information to learners in this technological despensation. The student is expected to remain a lifelong learner "A student cannot claim to have been educated successfully at university or college unless he has learned to study independently".

  20. Exploring the story, science, and adventure of small worlds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Swann, J. L.; Elkins-Tanton, L. T.; Anbar, A. D.; Klug Boonstra, S.; Tamer, A. J.; Mead, C.; Hunsley, D.

    2017-12-01

    Small worlds are a strategic focus at NASA, reflected by missions such as Osiris Rex and Psyche among others. The Infiniscope project, with funding from NASA SMD, is building on this scientific and public interest to teach formal and informal learners about asteroids and other small worlds. The digital learning experience, "Where are the small worlds?", and future Infiniscope experiences, incorporate a design theory that we describe as "education through exploration" (ETX) which is provided through an adaptive e-learning platform. This design ensures that learners actively engage in exploration and discovery, while receiving targeted feedback to push through challenges. To ensure that this and future experiences reach and meet the needs of as many educators as possible, Infiniscope includes a digital teaching network to host the experiences and support the reuse and adaptation of digital resources in new lessons. "Where are the small worlds?" puts learners in an interactive simulation of the solar system and provides a mission structure in which they hunt for "astrocaches" on near earth objects, main belt asteroids, and Kuiper-belt objects. These activities allow the learner to discover the locations of the small worlds in the solar system and develop an intuitive understanding for the relative motion of objects at various distances from the Sun. The experience is NGSS-aligned and accompanied by a lesson plan for integration into the classroom. In testing with more than 500 middle-school students, 83% of participants said they wanted to do more experiences like "Where are the small worlds?" They also found the experience both "fun" and "interesting" while being moderately difficult. "Where are the small worlds?" is one of many visualizations and lessons that is available within the Infiniscope teaching network. The network already has hundreds of members and is expected to grow in both numbers and engagement over time. Currently, educators can search and use pre-existing experiences, but as the visualization library expands and educators learn more about exploration-learning design, they may modify existing experiences and even build entirely new experiences to meet specific needs. In parallel, we are also developing a professional development program that builds understanding of the principles of ETX design.

  1. Convergent Differential Regulation of Parvalbumin in the Brains of Vocal Learners

    PubMed Central

    Hara, Erina; Rivas, Miriam V.; Ward, James M.; Okanoya, Kazuo; Jarvis, Erich D.

    2012-01-01

    Spoken language and learned song are complex communication behaviors found in only a few species, including humans and three groups of distantly related birds – songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds. Despite their large phylogenetic distances, these vocal learners show convergent behaviors and associated brain pathways for vocal communication. However, it is not clear whether this behavioral and anatomical convergence is associated with molecular convergence. Here we used oligo microarrays to screen for genes differentially regulated in brain nuclei necessary for producing learned vocalizations relative to adjacent brain areas that control other behaviors in avian vocal learners versus vocal non-learners. A top candidate gene in our screen was a calcium-binding protein, parvalbumin (PV). In situ hybridization verification revealed that PV was expressed significantly higher throughout the song motor pathway, including brainstem vocal motor neurons relative to the surrounding brain regions of all distantly related avian vocal learners. This differential expression was specific to PV and vocal learners, as it was not found in avian vocal non-learners nor for control genes in learners and non-learners. Similar to the vocal learning birds, higher PV up-regulation was found in the brainstem tongue motor neurons used for speech production in humans relative to a non-human primate, macaques. These results suggest repeated convergent evolution of differential PV up-regulation in the brains of vocal learners separated by more than 65–300 million years from a common ancestor and that the specialized behaviors of learned song and speech may require extra calcium buffering and signaling. PMID:22238614

  2. Collaborative Supervised Learning for Sensor Networks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wagstaff, Kiri L.; Rebbapragada, Umaa; Lane, Terran

    2011-01-01

    Collaboration methods for distributed machine-learning algorithms involve the specification of communication protocols for the learners, which can query other learners and/or broadcast their findings preemptively. Each learner incorporates information from its neighbors into its own training set, and they are thereby able to bootstrap each other to higher performance. Each learner resides at a different node in the sensor network and makes observations (collects data) independently of the other learners. After being seeded with an initial labeled training set, each learner proceeds to learn in an iterative fashion. New data is collected and classified. The learner can then either broadcast its most confident classifications for use by other learners, or can query neighbors for their classifications of its least confident items. As such, collaborative learning combines elements of both passive (broadcast) and active (query) learning. It also uses ideas from ensemble learning to combine the multiple responses to a given query into a single useful label. This approach has been evaluated against current non-collaborative alternatives, including training a single classifier and deploying it at all nodes with no further learning possible, and permitting learners to learn from their own most confident judgments, absent interaction with their neighbors. On several data sets, it has been consistently found that active collaboration is the best strategy for a distributed learner network. The main advantages include the ability for learning to take place autonomously by collaboration rather than by requiring intervention from an oracle (usually human), and also the ability to learn in a distributed environment, permitting decisions to be made in situ and to yield faster response time.

  3. Reading comprehension and its underlying components in second-language learners: A meta-analysis of studies comparing first- and second-language learners.

    PubMed

    Melby-Lervåg, Monica; Lervåg, Arne

    2014-03-01

    We report a systematic meta-analytic review of studies comparing reading comprehension and its underlying components (language comprehension, decoding, and phonological awareness) in first- and second-language learners. The review included 82 studies, and 576 effect sizes were calculated for reading comprehension and underlying components. Key findings were that, compared to first-language learners, second-language learners display a medium-sized deficit in reading comprehension (pooled effect size d = -0.62), a large deficit in language comprehension (pooled effect size d = -1.12), but only small differences in phonological awareness (pooled effect size d = -0.08) and decoding (pooled effect size d = -0.12). A moderator analysis showed that characteristics related to the type of reading comprehension test reliably explained the variation in the differences in reading comprehension between first- and second-language learners. For language comprehension, studies of samples from low socioeconomic backgrounds and samples where only the first language was used at home generated the largest group differences in favor of first-language learners. Test characteristics and study origin reliably contributed to the variations between the studies of language comprehension. For decoding, Canadian studies showed group differences in favor of second-language learners, whereas the opposite was the case for U.S. studies. Regarding implications, unless specific decoding problems are detected, interventions that aim to ameliorate reading comprehension problems among second-language learners should focus on language comprehension skills.

  4. "I Don't Know Why I'm Learning This": Preservice English Teachers' Engagement in a Language Development Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ramanayake, Selena; Williams, Cheri

    2017-01-01

    Despite the increase of English learners in the U.S. and of standards for linguistically responsive teaching practices, teacher education programs often fall short of preparing preservice teachers to teach diverse learners. In this case study, specifically designed to improve a pedagogical course on English language development, the researchers…

  5. Effects of a Multimodal Approach on ESL/EFL University Students' Attitudes towards Poetry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Freyn, Amy L.

    2017-01-01

    Poetry is a specific genre of literature that has been long argued as being too difficult for ESL/EFL learners. However, poetry is considered a valuable and authentic material for teaching language learners and teaching poetry in the language classroom can lead to a meaningful language learning experience. This study examined the implementation of…

  6. Middle School Mathematics Teachers' Perceptions of Differentiated Instruction for English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murray, Vicki

    2013-01-01

    English language learner (ELL) mathematics students at a California middle school did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) toward state standards in 2010. The purpose of this project study was to examine 6th and 7th grade mathematics teachers' perceptions regarding differentiated instruction for ELL students' specific academic needs and to…

  7. Mental Constructions and Constructions of Web Sites: Learner and Teacher Points of View

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hazzan, Orit

    2004-01-01

    This research focuses on knowledge and ways in which knowledge may be constructed in the learner's mind. Specifically, it addresses the Web as a cognitive supporter for learning, organising and constructing a new domain of knowledge. In particular, the research analyses student reflection on constructing web sites. The analysis is based on an…

  8. Predicting Workplace Transfer of Learning: A Study of Adult Learners Enrolled in a Continuing Professional Education Training Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nafukho, Fredrick Muyia; Alfred, Mary; Chakraborty, Misha; Johnson, Michelle; Cherrstrom, Catherine A.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to predict transfer of learning to workplace among adult learners enrolled in a continuing professional education (CPE) training program, specifically training courses offered through face-to-face, blended and online instruction formats. The study examined the predictive capacity of trainee…

  9. Designing Websites for ESL Learners: A Usability Testing Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Min; Traphagan, Tomoko; Huh, Jin; Koh, Young Ihn; Choi, Gilok; McGregor, Allison

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to report on a usability study for ESL websites conducted to gain insights from learners of English as a second language (ESL) as they interacted with specific sites. Five carefully selected ESL sites were tested by 10 different users generating a total of fifty testing sessions. Two major research questions guided the…

  10. Multi-Criteria Adaptation in a Personalized Multimedia Testing Tool Based on Semantic Technologies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lazarinis, Fotis; Green, Steve; Pearson, Elaine

    2011-01-01

    In this article, we present the characteristics and the design of a modular personalized multimedia testing tool based fully on XML learning specifications. Personalization is based on the characteristics of the individual learners, thus the testing paths are tailored to their needs and goals. The system maintains learner profiles rich in content…

  11. The Role of Principal Leadership in Achievement beyond Test Scores: An Examination of Leadership, Differentiated Curriculum and High-Achieving Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Else, Danielle F.

    2013-01-01

    Though research has validated a link between principal leadership and student achievement, questions remain regarding the specific relationship between the principal and high-achieving learners. This association facilitates understanding about forming curricular decisions for high ability learners. The study was conducted to examine the perceived…

  12. Language Learning Strategies of English for Specific Purposes Students at a Public University in Malaysia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shah, Mohamed Ismail Ahamad; Ismail, Yusof; Esa, Zaleha; Muhamad, Ainon Jariah

    2013-01-01

    Studies on strategy research have shown the usefulness and importance of language learning strategies (LLS) for ESL and EFL learners. However, research on content-based learners in relation to English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) has yet to be undertaken. This study, therefore, investigated the learning…

  13. Literacy Instruction in Multilingual Classrooms: Engaging English Language Learners in Elementary School. Language & Literacy Series--Practitioners Bookshelf

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Helman, Lori

    2012-01-01

    This hands-on guide shows elementary school teachers how to create multilingual classroom communities that support every learner's success in reading, writing, and general literacy development. The author provides a practical overview of key ideas and techniques and describes specific literacy activities that lead to vocabulary and oral English…

  14. Educating Adult Learners: Twelve Tips for Teaching Business Professionals. Reflection on Theory and Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kisamore, Jennifer L.; Aldridge, Dayle; Alexander, Evangeline; White, Dana Leann

    2008-01-01

    The goal of this paper is to provide specific suggestions for teaching adult business professionals. The suggestions we present are based on our combined experiences as instructors of business professionals who have returned to school for continuing education and as adult learners ourselves. In this article, we discuss the unique characteristics…

  15. Exploring an Invisible Medium: Teacher Language Awareness among Preservice K12 Educators of English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lindahl, Kristen Marie

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates the construct of Teacher Language Awareness (TLA) in a group of preservice mainstream K-12 teachers who are developing skills to work with English Language Learners (ELLs) in United States (US) public school contexts. Specifically, the study seeks to explore how preservice teachers' participation in directed university…

  16. The Relationship of Preservice Teachers to English Language Learners in Mainstream Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alford, Susan F.

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship of preservice teachers by examining their attitudes and perceptions to English Language Learners in the mainstream classroom. An ever-increasing population of ELLs in U.S. classrooms has challenged the preparation of preservice teachers to meet the specific needs of this group of students.…

  17. Embracing a Customer Service Mindset: A Fresh Examination of Services for Distance Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Steiner, Heidi

    2013-01-01

    Library literature and blogs frequently discuss customer service and user experience in physical libraries and Web sites, but little is said about this mentality toward services for distance learners specifically. This paper takes customer service best practices from well-known thinkers of the business world and makes connections to services for…

  18. An Intervention-Based Model of Student Retention in Adult Learners: Factors Predicting Intention to Consider Leaving or Staying

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mooshegian, Stephanie E.

    2010-01-01

    The current study merges theory and research in higher education and organizational psychology in order to investigate student retention in adult learners. Factors that are associated with student retention were examined and points of intervention are recommended. Specifically, this study focuses on the role of campus environment, classroom…

  19. Teaching Vocabulary to Turkish Young Learners in Semantically Related and Semantically Unrelated Sets by Using Digital Storytelling

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aitkuzhinova-Arslan, Ainur; Gün, Süleyman; Üstünel, Eda

    2016-01-01

    Teaching vocabulary is a comprehensive process in foreign language learning requiring specific techniques of appropriate instruction and accurate strategy. The present study was conducted to examine the effects of teaching vocabulary to Turkish young learners in a semantic clustering way through digital storytelling. To investigate this aim, six…

  20. Becoming-Learner: Coordinates for Mapping the Space and Subject of Nomadic Pedagogy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fendler, Rachel

    2013-01-01

    How can the process of "becoming learner" be observed, documented, and shared? What methodology could be used to discuss nomadic qualities of learning mobilities? This article argues in favor of an arts-based research approach, specifically social cartography, as a tool that can encourage young people to reflect on their identity as…

  1. Effects of Captions and Subtitles on the Listening Process: Insights from EFL Learners' Listening Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hosogoshi, Kyoko

    2016-01-01

    Captions and subtitles as a form of scaffolding for audiovisual materials has gained much attention in second or foreign language (L2) learning in recent years and various studies report their positive effects on learners' listening comprehension. However, few attempts have been made to investigate how textual information specifically affects the…

  2. Effects of Pretask Modeling on Attention to Form and Question Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, YouJin

    2013-01-01

    Over the last two decades, a growing body of research has shown positive impacts for task planning in task-based instruction (e.g., Ellis, 2005; Foster & Skehan, 1996). However, what learners plan during pretask planning, and whether any specific planning strategies are more beneficial in encouraging learners to attend to linguistic forms and…

  3. A Genealogy of the "Future": Antipodean Trajectories and Travels of the "21st Century Learner"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Williams, Carolyn; Gannon, Susanne; Sawyer, Wayne

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, from the particular positioning of educational researchers working in Australia, we unpack the figure of the "21st century learner" from both broad and specific perspectives. The paper begins with a policy genealogy that traces this figure through networks of documents, events and bodies that transcend borders and…

  4. Tightening the Grip over an Elusive System: Innovative Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vennakkadan, Abdul Latheef; Irudayasamy, Julius

    2014-01-01

    The present study examines the need for a specific approach to spelling instruction in ELT curriculum for ESL/EFL learners as it is an area where the L2 learners encounter a lot of learning difficulties or experience both inter/intra linguistic transfer. The study further explores the rationale for combating the spelling difficulties of ESL/EFL…

  5. Organizing English Learner Instruction in New Immigrant Destinations: District Infrastructure and Subject-Specific School Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hopkins, Megan; Lowenhaupt, Rebecca; Sweet, Tracy M.

    2015-01-01

    In the context of shifting demographics and standards-based reform, school districts in new immigrant destinations are charged with designing infrastructures that support teaching and learning for English learners (ELs) in core academic subjects. This article uses qualitative data and social network analysis to examine how one district in the…

  6. Principals Supporting Teachers in Providing Language Instruction to English Learners in Elementary School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Munguia, Celia

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of the study was to examine the systems of support that principals establish at their school sites to support teachers with the academic achievement of the English learner population. Two schools from a single district were selected. Specific strategies, structures, and processes that support teachers and principals of English learners…

  7. Designing On-Demand Education for Simultaneous Development of Domain-Specific and Self-Directed Learning Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Taminiau, E. M. C.; Kester, L.; Corbalan, G.; Spector, J. M.; Kirschner, P. A.; Van Merriënboer, J. J. G.

    2015-01-01

    On-demand education enables individual learners to choose their learning pathways according to their own learning needs. They must use self-directed learning (SDL) skills involving self-assessment and task selection to determine appropriate pathways for learning. Learners who lack these skills must develop them because SDL skills are prerequisite…

  8. The Web of Reclassification for English Language Learners--A Cyclical Journey Waiting to Be Interrupted: Discussion of Realities, Challenges, and Opportunities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Okhremtchouk, I.; Levine-Smith, J.; Clark, Adam T.

    2018-01-01

    In this article we unpack the obstacles and opportunities associated with language minority student classification practices and, more specifically, English language learners' reclassification to fluent proficient status. First, we discuss classification permanency for language minority students. Second, we provide an overview of national…

  9. The Impact of Metacognitive Strategies and Self-Regulating Processes of Solving Math Word Problems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vula, Eda; Avdyli, Rrezarta; Berisha, Valbona; Saqipi, Blerim; Elezi, Shpetim

    2017-01-01

    This empirical study investigates the impact of metacognitive strategies and self-regulating processes in learners' achievement on solving math word problems. It specifically analyzes the impact of the linguistic factor and the number of steps and arithmetical operations that learners need to apply during the process of solving math word problems.…

  10. The Effects of Clustering and Curriculum on the Development of Gifted Learners' Math Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pierce, Rebecca L.; Cassady, Jerrell C.; Adams, Cheryll M.; Speirs Neumeister, Kristie L.; Dixon, Felicia A.; Cross, Tracy L.

    2011-01-01

    There is a paucity of empirical studies dealing with benefits of gifted programming in mathematics for elementary students. The current study reports on the impact of using cluster grouping and specific curriculum to support gifted learners' math achievement in urban elementary schools. Although the results of Year 3 provide the most compelling…

  11. Characteristics of English Language Learners in the School District of Philadelphia. PERC Research Brief

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Joshua; Hughes, Rosemary; Long, Daniel; Kim, Dae

    2016-01-01

    As a group, English Language Learners (ELLs) are diverse and come from a variety of home languages, cultures, educational backgrounds, and educational needs. This brief focuses on descriptive characteristics of the ELL students served by the School District of Philadelphia in 2014-2015. Specifically, this brief highlights the diversity of the ELL…

  12. Effective Teaching Strategies for Predicting Reading Growth in English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Melgarejo, Melina

    2017-01-01

    The goal of the present study was to examine how effective use of teaching strategies predict reading growth among a sample of English Language Learners. The study specifically examined whether the types of teaching strategies that predict growth in decoding skills also predict growth in comprehension skills. The sample consisted of students in…

  13. The Effectiveness of Using Mobile on EFL Learners' Reading Practices in Najran University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hazaea, Abduljalil Nasr; Alzubi, Ali Abbas

    2016-01-01

    This paper investigates the efficiency of using mobile technology in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading classroom of 30 male students at Preparatory Year, Najran University. Specifically, the study aims to explore the role of this new integrated method in enhancing the EFL learners' reading practices. Integrating Freebody and Luke's…

  14. Oxford Guide to British and American Culture for Learners of English.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crowther, Jonathan, Ed.; Kavanagh, Kathryn, Ed.

    The guide to American and British culture, for upper secondary- and university-level students, is intended for use by learners of English as a second language. It is designed to explain specific aspects of British and American life and traditions not generally included in English language dictionaries. The guide has a dictionary format, with terms…

  15. Talking to Learn: A Mixed-Methods Study of a Professional Development Program for Teachers of English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shea, Lauren M.

    2012-01-01

    Most teachers of English language learners (ELLs) have had virtually no specialized, in-service training in adapting instruction for their students. Prior research fails to investigate the impact of professional development (PD) specifically designed for teachers of ELLs. This dissertation examines a PD program that attempted to prepare teachers…

  16. The Influence of Self-Regulated Learning and Prior Knowledge on Knowledge Acquisition in Computer-Based Learning Environments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bernacki, Matthew

    2010-01-01

    This study examined how learners construct textbase and situation model knowledge in hypertext computer-based learning environments (CBLEs) and documented the influence of specific self-regulated learning (SRL) tactics, prior knowledge, and characteristics of the learner on posttest knowledge scores from exposure to a hypertext. A sample of 160…

  17. Identifying and Supporting English Learner Students with Learning Disabilities: Key Issues in the Literature and State Practice. REL 2015-086

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burr, Elizabeth; Haas, Eric; Ferriere, Karen

    2015-01-01

    While the literature on learning disabilities and on second-language acquisition is relatively extensive within the field of education, less is known about the specific characteristics and representation of English learner students with learning disabilities. Because there are no definitive resources and processes for identifying and determining…

  18. Professional Development for Teachers of English Language Learners: Discursive Norms, Learning Processes, and Professional Communities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Molle, Daniella

    2010-01-01

    The lack of empirical scholarship on professional development initiatives for teachers of English language learners (ELLs) in US schools has been repeatedly documented in educational research. The present dissertation project examines a professional development course specifically designed for K-12 teachers of ELLs. The course aims to foster the…

  19. Narrating Unfinished Business: Adult Learners Using Credit Transfer to Re-Engage with Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pegg, Ann; Di Paolo, Terry

    2013-01-01

    This paper seeks to advance our understanding of the credit transfer phenomenon in the UK, specifically how students draw on a credit as a form of institutional cultural capital. Drawing on interviews with 26 part-time mature learners, this paper examines the progressive and retrospective orientations to study that surfaced in students' accounts…

  20. Goats Don't Wear Coats: An Examination of Semantic Interference in Rhyming Assessments of Reading Readiness for English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moreira, Sylvia; Hamilton, Maryellen

    2006-01-01

    Rhyming tests have historically been used in the education system to assess reading readiness. English language learners (ELLs) have consistently scored poorly on these assessment tools. The current article examines a possible reason for this poor performance by ELLs. Specifically, the authors examined the relationship between semantic…

  1. An Intelligent Learning Diagnosis System for Web-Based Thematic Learning Platform

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huang, Chenn-Jung; Liu, Ming-Chou; Chu, San-Shine; Cheng, Chih-Lun

    2007-01-01

    This work proposes an intelligent learning diagnosis system that supports a Web-based thematic learning model, which aims to cultivate learners' ability of knowledge integration by giving the learners the opportunities to select the learning topics that they are interested, and gain knowledge on the specific topics by surfing on the Internet to…

  2. Repeated Retention or Dropout? Disputing Hobson's Choice in South African Township Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grossen, Silke; Grobler, Adelene A.; Lacante, Marlies

    2017-01-01

    South Africa, like many developing countries, is heavily burdened by high dropout and unemployment rates and an undersupply of skilled workers. Grade retention is a common practice when learners do not meet the specific requirements--especially in countries with limited socio-economic resources. In South Africa, 52% of the learners are retained at…

  3. Bridging the Great Divide: Connecting Alaska Native Learners and Leaders via "High Touch-High Tech" Distance Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berkshire, Steven; Smith, Gary

    The Rural Alaska Native Adult program of Alaska Pacific University is specifically designed for adult Native learners. Courses in business administration, human services, and teacher education are offered to rural Native adult students via an interactive Internet-based format after an initial 1-week residency. The Internet component is facilitated…

  4. Selection of magister learners in nursing science at the Rand Afrikaans University.

    PubMed

    Botes, A

    2001-05-01

    Selection of learners implies that candidates are assessed according to criteria with the purpose of selecting the most suitable learners for the course. A magister qualification is on level 8A of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The purpose of a magister qualification in Nursing is the development of advanced research, clinical, professional, managerial, educational, leadership and consultative abilities (knowledge, skills, values and attitudes) for the promotion of individual, family, group and community health. From the above introduction it becomes clear that there is a high expectations of a person with a magister qualification. Such a person should be a specialist, scientist, leader and role model in the profession. A magister programme is human-power intensive as well as capital intensive for both the learner and higher education institutions. It is therefore important to select learners with the ability to achieve the outcomes of the programme. Limited research has been conducted on the selection of post graduate learners. This leads to the question whether the current selection criteria (undergraduate mark and the mark in Research Methodology) are reasonable predictors of success for the magister programmes. In order to answer this question, hypotheses with the following variables were formulated. Achievement/success in the magister programme as reflected by The mark for the dissertation or mini-dissertation. The level of input by the supervisor during the magister programme. The quality of the research article reflecting the research in the magister programme. Undergraduate mark Mark for Research Methodology In order to test the hypotheses a quantitative correlation design was used incorporating documented data of 74 magister graduates. Descriptive and inferential data analysis (Pearson's correlation coefficient, ANOVA and multivariate test) were used. The findings showed Research Methodology to be the best indicator of success in the magister programmes.

  5. Strategies to improve the performance of learners in a nursing college. Part I: Issues pertaining to nursing education.

    PubMed

    Waterson, E; Harms, E; Qupe, L; Maritz, J; Manning, M; Makobe, K; Chabeli, M

    2006-05-01

    The aim of this contextual, exploratory, descriptive and qualitative study was to describe strategies to improve the performance of learners in a nursing college. The article seeks to deal with factors relating to nursing education that contribute to the poor performance of learners and to outline related strategies to improve the situation. Three focus group interviews were conducted. One group was formed by seven tutors, and the other two groups were formed by fourth-year learners following a four-year comprehensive diploma course. All participants voluntarily took part in the study. Data was analyzed using the descriptive method of open coding by Tesch (in Creswell, 1994:154-156). Trustworthiness was ensured in accordance with Lincoln and Guba's (1985:290-326) principles of credibility, conformability, transferability and dependability. The findings were categorized into issues pertaining to nursing education as follows: curriculum overload; lack of theory and practice integration; teaching and assessment methods that do not promote critical thinking; tutors' lack of skills and experience; inadequate preparation of tutors for lectures; insufficient knowledge of tutors regarding outcomes-based education approach to teaching and learning; inadequate process of remedial teaching; discrepancies between tutors' marking; lack of clinical role-models and high expectations from the affiliated university as regards standards of nursing development programme by the staff development committee of the nursing college under study for implementation. Future research should focus on the effectiveness of the described strategies to improve the learners' performance. It is also recommended that similar studies be conducted or replicated in other nursing colleges to address the problem of poor performance of learners engaged in a four-year comprehensive diploma course.

  6. Quality indicators for learner-centered postgraduate medical e-learning

    PubMed Central

    Westerman, Michiel; Scheele, Fedde

    2017-01-01

    Objectives The objectives of this study were to identify the needs and expectations of learners and educational experts in postgraduate medical e-learning, and to contribute to the current literature. Methods We performed four focus-group discussions with e-learning end-users (learners) and didactic experts. The participants were postgraduate learners with varying levels of experience, educational experts from a Dutch e-learning task group, and commercial experts from a Dutch e-learning company. Verbatim transcribed interview recordings were analyzed using King’s template analysis. The initial template was created with reference to recent literature on postgraduate medical e-learning quality indicators. The transcripts were coded, after which the emerging differences in template interpretation were discussed until a consensus was reached within the team. Results The final template consisted of three domains of positive e-learning influencers (motivators, learning enhancers, and real-world translation) and three domains of negatively influential parameters (barriers, learning discouragers, and poor preparation). The interpretation of the final template showed three subjects which form the basis of e-learning, namely, Motivate, Learn and Apply. Conclusions This study forms a basis for learning in general and could be applied to many educational instruments. Individual characteristics should be adapted to the target audience. Three subjects form the basis of, and six themes cover all items needed for, good (enough) postgraduate e-learning. Further research should be carried out with learners and real-world e-learning to validate this template. PMID:28456781

  7. Evidence-Based Principles for Using Technology-Enhanced Learning in the Continuing Professional Development of Health Professionals.

    PubMed

    Scott, Karen M; Baur, Louise; Barrett, Jenny

    2017-01-01

    Increasingly, health professional training involves the use of educational technologies through what is broadly termed "Technology-Enhanced Learning" (TEL). TEL includes hardware, such as computers and mobile devices, and software, such as software applications (apps), learning management systems, and discussion boards. For many years, TEL has formed an integral part of health professional programs and is growing in acceptance, if not expectation, in postgraduate training and continuing education. TEL generally aims to be flexible, engaging, learner focused and interactive, and may involve collaboration and communication. It offers many benefits for learning and teaching, whether used on its own or in conjunction with face-to-face teaching through blended learning. The ubiquity of mobile devices in clinical settings means TEL is ideal for busy clinicians, both as learners and teachers. TEL enables participants to learn at a time and place that is convenient to them, so learners living in geographically dispersed locations can access standardized courses. To realize these potential benefits, we recommend that those developing TEL programs for health professionals take a systematic approach to planning, development, implementation, and evaluation. To that end, we propose 10 principles: clarify purpose and conduct a needs assessment; allocate adequate time and technology; incorporate proven approaches to improve learning; consider the need for a skills component; enable interaction between learners and with others; create different resources for different groups; pilot before implementing; incorporate measures to retain learners; provide opportunities for revision to aid retention; and evaluate learning outcomes, not just satisfaction.

  8. Comprehension Strategies for Middle Grade Learners: A Handbook for Content Area Teachers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sadler, Charlotte Rose

    Although students are expected to read and comprehend grade-level texts by the time they reach middle school, classroom teachers are constantly challenged to instruct students who have difficulty comprehending what they read. But how does a middle school teacher approach this task, particularly a teacher with limited experience in reading…

  9. Evaluating Portfolio Use as a Learning Tool for Professionals.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Kari; Tillema, Harm

    1998-01-01

    Studies of portfolio construction and compilation involving 35 Israeli principals and 14 Dutch managers show that high-quality portfolios can only be expected after sustained use, but that the use of portfolios has an immediate impact on views toward assessment. Portfolios are time-consuming, but can provide effective feedback to the learner. (SLD)

  10. Assisting Pupils in Mathematics Achievement (The Common Core Standards)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ediger, Marlow

    2011-01-01

    Mathematics teachers must expect reasonably high standards of achievement from pupils. Too frequently, pupils attain at a substandard level and more optimal achievement is necessary. Thus, pupils should have self esteem needs met in the school and classroom setting. Thus, learners feel that mathematics is worthwhile and effort must be put forth to…

  11. Assessment and the Quality of Educational Programmes: What Constitutes Evidence?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shay, Sueellen; Jawitz, Jeff

    2005-01-01

    In a climate of growing accountability for Higher Education, there is an increased demand on assessment to play an evaluative role. National, professional and institutional quality assurance systems expect that the assessment of student performance can be used to evaluate the quality of teachers, learners, programmes and even institutions for the…

  12. Investigating Correspondence between Language Proficiency Standards and Academic Content Standards: A Generalizability Theory Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Chih-Kai; Zhang, Jinming

    2014-01-01

    Research on the relationship between English language proficiency standards and academic content standards serves to provide information about the extent to which English language learners (ELLs) are expected to encounter academic language use that facilitates their content learning, such as in mathematics and science. Standards-to-standards…

  13. Learning Languages: Any Place, Any Time

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Day, Allyson

    2014-01-01

    The job description for a homeschool Spanish teacher has many of the requirements one would expect. The candidate must be fluent in Spanish, love working with children, be willing to work with all kinds of learners, communicate well with parents and students, and have great enthusiasm for teaching. The Home School Assistance Program (HSAP) classes…

  14. Making Sense of Learner Performance on Tests of Productive Vocabulary Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fitzpatrick, Tess; Clenton, Jon

    2017-01-01

    This article offers a solution to a significant problem for teachers and researchers of language learning that confounds their interpretations and expectations of test data: The apparent simplicity of tests of vocabulary knowledge masks the complexity of the constructs they claim to measure. The authors first scrutinise task elements in two widely…

  15. Smooth Transitions: Helping Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder Navigate the School Day

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hume, Kara; Sreckovic, Melissa; Snyder, Kate; Carnahan, Christina R.

    2014-01-01

    In school, students are expected to navigate different types of transitions every day, including those between instructors, subjects, and instructional formats, as well as classrooms. Despite the routines that many teachers develop to facilitate efficient transitions and maximize instructional time, many learners with ASD continue to struggle with…

  16. Just Be There: Campus, Department, Classroom... and Kitchen?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Covone, Nicole; Lamm, Mia

    2010-01-01

    As learners and information users are changing, so must library services. Meeting user needs and expectations is a priority within the academic library experience. Embracing a proactive approach to library service is necessary in order to be successful and relevant in the academic environment. Breaking out of the stereotypical librarian mold, this…

  17. Differentiating Heritage and Foreign Language Learners of Spanish: Needs, Perceptions, and Expectations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hedgcock, John S.; Lefkowitz, Natalie

    2016-01-01

    Research on heritage language (HL) development and education has characterized the unique linguistic, sociocultural, and affective profiles of heritage-language (HL) students, yet foreign-language (FL) education has only begun to understand HL students in relation to non-heritage students (Carreira & Kagan, 2011; Felix, 2008). To deepen our…

  18. Self-Directed Lifelong Learning in Hybrid Learning Configurations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cremers, Petra H. M.; Wals, Arjen E. J.; Wesselink, Renate; Nieveen, Nienke; Mulder, Martin

    2014-01-01

    Present-day students are expected to be lifelong learners throughout their working life. Higher education must therefore prepare students to self-direct their learning beyond formal education, in real-life working settings. This can be achieved in so-called hybrid learning configurations in which working and learning are integrated. In such a…

  19. Does Blueprint Publication Affect Students' Perception of Validity of the Evaluation Process?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McLaughlin, Kevin; Coderre, Sylvain; Woloschuk, Wayne; Mandin, Henry

    2005-01-01

    Context: A major goal of any evaluation is to demonstrate content validity, which considers both curricular content as well as the ability expected of learners. Whether evaluation blueprints should be published and the degree of blueprint transparency is controversial. Objectives: To examine the effect of blueprint publication on students'…

  20. Why They Didn't Learn What We Wanted Them to Learn.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Allard, P. Bailey

    1991-01-01

    Factors affecting program participants' failure to learn as expected include (1) carelessness in details; (2) confusion over program goals; (3) lack of commitment from management, participants, or trainers; (4) lack of clarity and courage; (5) lack of cultural sensitivity; and (6) disagreement between educators and learners about what is to be…

  1. Exceeding Expectations: Scaffolding Agentic Engagement through Assessment as Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fletcher, Anna Katarina

    2016-01-01

    Background: The active involvement of learners as critical, reflective and capable agents in the learning process is a core aim in contemporary education policy in Australia, and is regarded as a significant factor for academic success. However, within the relevant literature, the issue of positioning students as agents in the learning process has…

  2. Collaborative Reasoning: Language-Rich Discussions for English Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Jie; Dougherty Stahl, Katherine A.

    2012-01-01

    Collaborative Reasoning (CR) is a peer-led, small group discussion approach that aims to promote intellectual and personal engagement in elementary school classrooms. In CR, students read a text that raises an unresolved issue with multiple and competing points of view. Students are expected to take positions on a big question, support the…

  3. Motivational Factors Affecting Online Learning by Japanese MBA Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kikuchi, Hisayo

    2006-01-01

    In Japan, Internet based learning is still at an early stage. However, adult learners in Japanese society expect the development of flexible e-learning programs. This case study examines motivational factors affecting online learning in a Japanese and Australian MBA program, using observations, interviews and a questionnaire survey. The data were…

  4. Achievement Motivational Characteristics of University Foreign Language Learners: From the Classroom to the Tutoring Table

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Matthews, Paul H.

    2008-01-01

    What influences who seeks foreign language tutoring? Using expectancy value theory, the present study researches the characteristics of university foreign language students in the language classroom (n = 258) and seeking tutoring (n = 29). Students' performance and mastery goal orientations, achievement task values, self-efficacy for foreign…

  5. Mountains. Science Education Research Unit. Working Paper No. 202.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Happs, John C.

    The Learning in Science Project has adopted the view that science teaching might be improved if teachers can be given some appreciation of students' views of the world and the beliefs, expectations, and language that learners bring to new learning situations. This investigation compares and contrasts views that children and scientists have on…

  6. Making Sense of Student Agency in the Early Grades

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vaughn, Margaret

    2018-01-01

    The development of agency is often described as critically important for all students. Countless school mission statements speak of the need to help young people become independent thinkers, for example. Colleges and universities expect high school graduates to be self-driven learners. And business leaders are forever calling upon K-12 education…

  7. Classroom Incivilities: Students' Perceptions about Professors' Behaviors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stork, Elizabeth; Hartley, Nell Tabor

    2009-01-01

    A learning environment is a social one, and as a social environment it impacts what learners retain, how they form ideas, and what connections are made and lost when acquiring new skills and knowledge (Goleman, 2006). Today's college students' expectations for and perceptions of professors in the classroom are likely to influence their learning…

  8. A Passage in Time

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Language Teaching, 2014

    2014-01-01

    There is no denying that English is an international language, and as such we must expect to encounter a multitude of local varieties: not only the national Englishes, such as American, British, Australian, etc. but also an even greater number of learner Englishes, such as French English, Brazilian English, Japanese English and the like. But the…

  9. The Relationship between Preservice Teachers Health-Related Fitness and Movement Competency in Gymnastics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Webster, Collin Andrew; Webster, Liana; Cribbs, Jason; Wellborn, Benjamin; Lineberger, Matthew Blake; Doan, Rob

    2014-01-01

    The current National Initial Standards for Physical Education Teacher Education state that preservice teachers should achieve and maintain a level of health-related fitness consistent with that expected of K12 learners. However, little research has addressed the relevance of teacher fitness to effective physical education teaching. This study…

  10. Learning Problems Reported by College Students: Are They Using Learning Strategies?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rachal, K. Chris; Daigle, Sherri; Rachal, Windy S.

    2007-01-01

    As teachers of higher education, we expect students to enter college with some understanding of what it means to be an effective learner and the ability to apply effective learning strategies. Unfortunately, many students do not develop effective learning strategies unless they receive explicit instruction and the opportunity to apply these…

  11. Ownership, Risk-Taking, and Collaboration in an Elementary Language Arts Classroom.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sturdivant, Cynthia

    1992-01-01

    A teacher of fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students with deafness in a residential school shares methods and activities found to be effective. The methods stress the importance of expectations for learners, ways that design of the learning environment can encourage student ownership, risk taking, and responsibility. (Author/DB)

  12. Outside the Green Box: Embedding Education for Sustainable Development through Cooperative Inquiry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Summers, Denise; Turner, Rebecca

    2011-01-01

    By 2010 all educators in the English lifelong learning sector were expected to embed "education for sustainable development" to support their learners in becoming sustainable citizens. The teacher training team at a college in southwest England used a "cooperative inquiry" approach to develop themselves and their curriculum, to…

  13. Lexical Bundles: Facilitating University "Talk" in Group Discussions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heng, Chan Swee; Kashiha, Hadi; Tan, Helen

    2014-01-01

    Group discussion forms an integral language experience for most language learners, providing them with an opportunity to express themselves in a naturalistic setting. Multi-word expressions are commonly used and one of them is lexical bundles. Lexical bundles are types of extended collocations that occur more commonly than we expect; they are…

  14. Preservice Teachers' Motivational Beliefs and Self-Regulation of Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bembenutty, Hefer

    2007-01-01

    Successful learners are those who engage in self-regulation of learning by using learning strategies to secure task completion. They exercise behavioral control to not only choose or plan valuable academic tasks, but also to maintain motivation and intention in the light of distracting alternatives. It was expected that teachers' self-efficacy…

  15. Glaciers. Science Education Research Unit. Working Paper No. 203.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Happs, John C.

    The Learning in Science Project has adopted the view that science teaching might be improved if teachers can be given some appreciation of students' views of the world and the beliefs, expectations, and language that learners bring to new learning situations. This investigation compares and contrasts views that children and scientists have on…

  16. Evaluating Through Counting Learner Benefits.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alvir, Howard P.

    This paper examines three ways in which attempts at program evaluation are most often thwarted. The first, fingerpointing, may be either positive or negative. It may be positive by pointing to the individual who is "doing a good job considering--", it may be threatening by expecting too much of any one individual (e.g. "Evaluation should be made…

  17. Beginning Course Surveys: Bridges for Knowing and Bridges for Being

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Starr-Glass, David

    2011-01-01

    The use of a participant survey, administered at the outset of an online course, can provide information useful in the management of the learning environment and in its subsequent redesign. Such information can clarify participants' prior experience, expectations, and demographics. But the very act of enquiring about the learner also signals the…

  18. "I Thought I Was Prepared!" Meeting the Challenges of Diversity in High-Need, High-Potential Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jung, Eunjoo; Angell, Maureen E.; Moore, Marilyn K.; Lippert, Lance R.; Hunt, Stephen K.; Simonds, Brent

    2010-01-01

    This article reports descriptive findings of a qualitative investigation of early-career teachers' perceptions of their preparedness to teach diverse learners in high-need, high-potential urban schools. Interviews revealed new teachers' insights into their teacher preparation programs and the challenging expectations involved in teaching diverse…

  19. Development of a Supervisory Skills Course for Hospital Pharmacy Workplaces

    PubMed Central

    Woloschuk, Donna M M; Raymond, Colette B

    2010-01-01

    Background and Objective: Many Canadian hospital pharmacies are experiencing difficulties recruiting supervisory personnel. It was expected that, through a “learning-by-doing” course, pharmacy staff would learn to apply basic skills in the day-to-day supervision of pharmacy operations and human resources and to apply the principles of supervisory documentation. Methods: A supervisory skills course targeted to pharmacy staff members was developed and implemented by the pharmacy department of a large urban health region. The course was initially offered to practising pharmacy technicians. The course design emphasized a constructivist framework incorporating authentic learning and reflective practice during seminars, with experiential and self-directed learning in the workplace. Preceptors assisted learners to achieve the course goals. Learners and preceptors provided feedback about hours spent (as the course progressed) and about their satisfaction with the course itself (at the end of the course). Learners and preceptors completed a post-program evaluation 2 months after completing the course to help in the assessment of the transfer of learning (lasting impact) associated with the course. Overall performance in the course was assessed on a pass/fail basis. Results: Eighteen pharmacy technicians were admitted to the program, but one withdrew because of a job change. All learners successfully completed the course. Two months after the course, learners and preceptors described enhanced organization, time management, leadership, communication, and conflict-resolution skills on the part of learners, as well as their increased confidence, maturity, and ability to supervise staff. Learners’ evaluations revealed a broadened perspective of pharmacy. The preceptors valued the enhancement of learners’ skills and their increased enthusiasm. At the time of writing, 6 of the participants had secured supervisory positions. Conclusion: Creating formal instruction that engages pharmacy staff to pursue management positions is challenging. Instructional design grounded in constructivist theory and incorporating authentic learning experiences and reflection resulted in high learner satisfaction with learning outcomes. PMID:22478992

  20. Robotic surgical skill acquisition: What one needs to know?

    PubMed Central

    Sood, Akshay; Jeong, Wooju; Ahlawat, Rajesh; Campbell, Logan; Aggarwal, Shruti; Menon, Mani; Bhandari, Mahendra

    2015-01-01

    Robotic surgery has been eagerly adopted by patients and surgeons alike in the field of urology, over the last decade. However, there is a lack of standardization in training curricula and accreditation guidelines to ensure surgeon competence and patient safety. Accordingly, in this review, we aim to highlight ‘who’ needs to learn ‘what’ and ‘how’, to become competent in robotic surgery. We demonstrate that both novice and experienced open surgeons require supervision and mentoring during the initial phases of robotic surgery skill acquisition. The experienced open surgeons possess domain knowledge, however, need to acquire technical knowledge under supervision (either in simulated or clinical environment) to successfully transition to robotic surgery, whereas, novice surgeons need to acquire both domain as well as technical knowledge to become competent in robotic surgery. With regard to training curricula, a variety of training programs such as academic fellowships, mini-fellowships, and mentored skill courses exist, and cater to the needs and expectations of postgraduate surgeons adequately. Fellowships provide the most comprehensive training, however, may not be suitable to all surgeon-learners secondary to the long-term time commitment. For these surgeon-learners short-term courses such as the mini-fellowships or mentored skill courses might be more apt. Lastly, with regards to credentialing uniformity in criteria regarding accreditation is lacking but earnest efforts are underway. Currently, accreditation for competence in robotic surgery is institutional specific. PMID:25598593

  1. Robotic surgical skill acquisition: What one needs to know?

    PubMed

    Sood, Akshay; Jeong, Wooju; Ahlawat, Rajesh; Campbell, Logan; Aggarwal, Shruti; Menon, Mani; Bhandari, Mahendra

    2015-01-01

    Robotic surgery has been eagerly adopted by patients and surgeons alike in the field of urology, over the last decade. However, there is a lack of standardization in training curricula and accreditation guidelines to ensure surgeon competence and patient safety. Accordingly, in this review, we aim to highlight 'who' needs to learn 'what' and 'how', to become competent in robotic surgery. We demonstrate that both novice and experienced open surgeons require supervision and mentoring during the initial phases of robotic surgery skill acquisition. The experienced open surgeons possess domain knowledge, however, need to acquire technical knowledge under supervision (either in simulated or clinical environment) to successfully transition to robotic surgery, whereas, novice surgeons need to acquire both domain as well as technical knowledge to become competent in robotic surgery. With regard to training curricula, a variety of training programs such as academic fellowships, mini-fellowships, and mentored skill courses exist, and cater to the needs and expectations of postgraduate surgeons adequately. Fellowships provide the most comprehensive training, however, may not be suitable to all surgeon-learners secondary to the long-term time commitment. For these surgeon-learners short-term courses such as the mini-fellowships or mentored skill courses might be more apt. Lastly, with regards to credentialing uniformity in criteria regarding accreditation is lacking but earnest efforts are underway. Currently, accreditation for competence in robotic surgery is institutional specific.

  2. Educational Programs for Graduate Level Learners and Professionals - National Radio Astronomy Observatory National and International Non-Traditional Exchange Program

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wingate, Lory Mitchell

    2017-01-01

    The National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s (NRAO) National and International Non-Traditional Exchange (NINE) Program teaches concepts of project management and systems engineering to chosen participants within a nine-week program held at NRAO in New Mexico. Participants are typically graduate level students or professionals. Participation in the NINE Program is through a competitive process. The program includes a hands-on service project designed to increase the participants knowledge of radio astronomy. The approach demonstrate clearly to the learner the positive net effects of following methodical approaches to achieving optimal science results.The NINE teaches participants important sustainable skills associated with constructing, operating and maintaining radio astronomy observatories. NINE Program learners are expected to return to their host sites and implement the program in their own location as a NINE Hub. This requires forming a committed relationship (through a formal Letter of Agreement), establishing a site location, and developing a program that takes into consideration the needs of the community they represent. The anticipated outcome of this program is worldwide partnerships with fast growing radio astronomy communities designed to facilitate the exchange of staff and the mentoring of under-represented groups of learners, thereby developing a strong pipeline of global talent to construct, operate and maintain radio astronomy observatories.

  3. Number sense in the transition from natural to rational numbers.

    PubMed

    Van Hoof, Jo; Verschaffel, Lieven; Van Dooren, Wim

    2017-03-01

    Rational numbers are of critical importance both in mathematics and in other fields of science. However, they form a stumbling block for learners. One widely known source of the difficulty learners have with rational numbers is the natural number bias, that is the tendency to (inappropriately) apply natural number properties in rational number tasks. Still, it has been shown that a good understanding of natural numbers is highly predictive for mathematics achievement in general, and for performance on rational number tasks in particular. In this study, we further investigated the relation between learners' natural and rational number knowledge, specifically in cases where a natural number bias may lead to errors. Participants were 140 sixth graders from six different primary schools. Participants completed a symbolic and a non-symbolic natural number comparison task, a number line estimation task, and a rational number sense test. Learners' natural number knowledge was found to be a good predictor of their rational number knowledge. However, after first controlling for learners' general mathematics achievement, their natural number knowledge only predicted the subaspect of operations with rational numbers. The results of this study suggest that the relation between learners' natural and rational number knowledge can largely be explained by their relation with learners' general mathematics achievement. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

  4. The Gender Gap in Second Language Acquisition: Gender Differences in the Acquisition of Dutch among Immigrants from 88 Countries with 49 Mother Tongues.

    PubMed

    van der Slik, Frans W P; van Hout, Roeland W N M; Schepens, Job J

    2015-01-01

    Gender differences were analyzed across countries of origin and continents, and across mother tongues and language families, using a large-scale database, containing information on 27,119 adult learners of Dutch as a second language. Female learners consistently outperformed male learners in speaking and writing proficiency in Dutch as a second language. This gender gap remained remarkably robust and constant when other learner characteristics were taken into account, such as education, age of arrival, length of residence and hours studying Dutch. For reading and listening skills in Dutch, no gender gap was found. In addition, we found a general gender by education effect for all four language skills in Dutch for speaking, writing, reading, and listening. Female language learners turned out to profit more from higher educational training than male learners do in adult second language acquisition. These findings do not seem to match nurture-oriented explanatory frameworks based for instance on a human capital approach or gender-specific acculturation processes. Rather, they seem to corroborate a nature-based, gene-environment correlational framework in which language proficiency being a genetically-influenced ability interacting with environmental factors such as motivation, orientation, education, and learner strategies that still mediate between endowment and acquiring language proficiency at an adult stage.

  5. Emotional and behavioural barriers to learning and development in the inclusive education classrooms in South Africa: Developing a training programme for teachers.

    PubMed

    Potgieter-Groot, Lucia; Visser, Maretha; Lubbe-de Beer, Carien

    2012-07-01

    The interaction between teachers, classroom strategies and learners experiencing emotional and behavioural barriers to learning and development in a system of inclusive education results in multiple dynamics on different levels. Many teachers in mainstream education lack training to deal with learners experiencing emotional and behavioural barriers. Resistance towards inclusive education is therefore evident. This paper describes the process of developing an in-service training programme for teachers who deal with learners with emotional and behavioural barriers in their classrooms. A process of action research was used to allow the researcher, in collaboration with 47 teachers from 2 primary schools, to develop a training programme to address the specific needs of teachers in dealing with learners experiencing emotional and behavioural barriers in their classes. Qualitative feedback from teachers and observations by the researcher and external observers were used to evaluate the appropriateness of the training. Teachers experienced that appropriate classroom management strategies made a significant difference in the behaviour of learners experiencing emotional and behavioural barriers. The training affected teachers' attitudes, teacher-learner interaction, learner behaviour and school organisation. In-service training for teachers can affect the effective implementation of inclusive education. This programme can be adapted to address the needs of teachers in other areas.

  6. Merging Problem-Based Learning with Simulation-Based Learning in the Medical Undergraduate Curriculum: The PAIRED Framework for Enhancing Lifelong Learning

    PubMed Central

    Koh, Jansen

    2016-01-01

    Lifelong learning is an essential trait that is expected of every physician. The CanMeds 2005 Physician Competency Framework emphasizes lifelong learning as a key competency that physicians must achieve in becoming better physicians. However, many physicians are not competent at engaging in lifelong learning. The current medical education system is deficient in preparing medical students to develop and carry out their own lifelong learning curriculum upon graduation. Despite understanding how physicians learn at work, medical students are not trained to learn while working. Similarly, although barriers to lifelong learning are known, medical students are not adequately skilled in overcoming these barriers. Learning to learn is just as important, if not more, as acquiring the skills and knowledge required of a physician. The medical undergraduate curriculum lacks a specific learning strategy to prepare medical students in becoming an adept lifelong learner. In this article, we propose a learning strategy for lifelong learning at the undergraduate level. In developing this novel strategy, we paid particular attention to two parameters. First, this strategy should be grounded on literature describing a physician’s lifelong learning process. Second, the framework for implementing this strategy must be based on existing undergraduate learning strategies to obviate the need for additional resources, learner burden, and faculty time. In this paper, we propose a Problem, Analysis, Independent Research Reporting, Experimentation Debriefing (PAIRED) framework that follows the learning process of a physician and serves to synergize the components of problem-based learning and simulation-based learning in specifically targeting the barriers to lifelong learning. PMID:27446767

  7. Emergence of representations through repeated training on pronouncing novel letter combinations leads to efficient reading.

    PubMed

    Takashima, Atsuko; Hulzink, Iris; Wagensveld, Barbara; Verhoeven, Ludo

    2016-08-01

    Printed text can be decoded by utilizing different processing routes depending on the familiarity of the script. A predominant use of word-level decoding strategies can be expected in the case of a familiar script, and an almost exclusive use of letter-level decoding strategies for unfamiliar scripts. Behavioural studies have revealed that frequently occurring words are read more efficiently, suggesting that these words are read in a more holistic way at the word-level, than infrequent and unfamiliar words. To test whether repeated exposure to specific letter combinations leads to holistic reading, we monitored both behavioural and neural responses during novel script decoding and examined changes related to repeated exposure. We trained a group of Dutch university students to decode pseudowords written in an unfamiliar script, i.e., Korean Hangul characters. We compared behavioural and neural responses to pronouncing trained versus untrained two-character pseudowords (equivalent to two-syllable pseudowords). We tested once shortly after the initial training and again after a four days' delay that included another training session. We found that trained pseudowords were pronounced faster and more accurately than novel combinations of radicals (equivalent to letters). Imaging data revealed that pronunciation of trained pseudowords engaged the posterior temporo-parietal region, and engagement of this network was predictive of reading efficiency a month later. The results imply that repeated exposure to specific combinations of graphemes can lead to emergence of holistic representations that result in efficient reading. Furthermore, inter-individual differences revealed that good learners retained efficiency more than bad learners one month later. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Prereferral Process with Latino English Language Learners with Specific Learning Disabilities: Perceptions of English-as-a-Second-Language Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ferlis, Emily; Xu, Yaoying

    2016-01-01

    This study explored perceptions of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teachers on the prereferral process for Latino English language learners (ELLs). Using Colaizzi's (1978) phenomenological approach, qualitative data were collected through interviews with four ESL teachers. Analyses of the data indicated that the ESL teachers used research-based…

  9. Lexical Availability of Young Spanish EFL Learners: Emotion Words versus Non-Emotion Words

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jiménez Catalán, Rosa M.; Dewaele, Jean-Marc

    2017-01-01

    This study intends to contribute to L2 emotion vocabulary research by looking at the words that primary-school English as foreign language learners produce in response to prompts in a lexical availability task. Specifically, it aims to ascertain whether emotion prompts (Love, Hate, Happy and Sad) generate a greater number of words than non-emotion…

  10. Shufflegolf: Teaching Golf Strategies and Etiquette to Young Children and Learners with Intellectual Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kozub, Francis M.

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to share a unique curricular idea with physical educators interested about adding golf concepts to their curriculum. The focus is on a modified golf game that helps teach tactics, strategies, rules, and etiquette to young learners and those with intellectual disabilities. The specific content for this unit focuses on…

  11. Task Repetition Effects on L1 Use in EFL Child Task-Based Interaction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Azkarai, Agurtzane; García Mayo, María del Pilar

    2017-01-01

    Research has shown that tasks provide second language (L2) learners with many opportunities to learn the L2. Task repetition has been claimed to benefit L2 learning since familiarity with procedure and/or content gives learners the chance to focus on more specific aspects of language. Most research on task repetition has focused on adult…

  12. Mapping Self-Guided Learners' Searches for Video Tutorials on YouTube

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Garrett, Nathan

    2016-01-01

    While YouTube has a wealth of educational videos, how self-guided learners use these resources has not been fully described. An analysis of search engine queries for help with the use of Microsoft Excel shows that few users search for specific features or functions but instead use very general terms. Because the same videos are returned in…

  13. Program vs. Learner Control of Selection of Instruction and Amount of Practice in Computer-Assisted Instruction.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Judd, Wilson A.

    A study was conducted to investigate learner control of instruction in contrast to response sensitive branching algorithms with respect to two specific types of instructional decisions: (1) whether a student should enter and study a particular instructional module given his score on an associated diagnostic pretest; and (2) when a student should…

  14. The Effects of Instructor Control of Online Learning Environments on Satisfaction and Perceived Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Costley, Jamie; Lange, Christopher

    2016-01-01

    Instructional design is important as it helps set the discourse, context, and content of learning in an online environment. Specific instructional design decisions do not only play a part in the discourse of the learners, but they can affect the learners' levels of satisfaction and perceived learning as well. Numerous studies have shown the value…

  15. An Investigation of Big Five and Narrow Personality Traits in Relation to Learner Self-Direction in Undergraduate Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kirwan, Jeral

    2014-01-01

    Self-direction in learning is a major topic in the field of adult learning. There has been extensive coverage of the topic by theorists, researchers, and practitioners. However, there have been few studies which look at learner self-direction specifically as a personality trait. The present study addresses the relationship between learner…

  16. Regular Classroom Teachers' Recognition and Support of the Creative Potential of Mildly Gifted Mathematics Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mhlolo, Michael Kainose

    2017-01-01

    Post independent reforms in South Africa moved from separate education for the gifted learners to inclusive education in regular classrooms. A specific concern that has been totally ignored since then is whether or not the regular classroom would expand or limit the gifted child's creativity. This study aimed at investigating the extent to which…

  17. National Evaluation of Title III Implementation Supplemental Report: Exploring Approaches to Setting English Language Proficiency Performance Criteria and Monitoring English Learner Progress

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cook, Gary; Linquanti, Robert; Chinen, Marjorie; Jung, Hyekyung

    2012-01-01

    The "Elementary and Secondary Education Act" ("ESEA"), as amended by the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" inaugurated important changes in assessment and accountability for English Learner (EL) students. Specifically, Title III of the law required states to develop or adopt English-language proficiency (ELP)…

  18. Do We Believe Pictures More or Spoken Words? How Specific Information Affects How Students Learn about Animals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Štefaniková, Sona; Prokop, Pavol

    2015-01-01

    The popularity of science education is decreasing in certain parts of the world and negative attitudes toward science are common in learners from various cultures. Learners' interest in science and the effectiveness of their memory can be enhanced by utilizing modern concepts of an evolutionary-based approach in psychology. Survival-relevant…

  19. Lost in Translation: Strategies Japanese Language Learners Use in Communicating Culturally Specific L1 Expressions in English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Inoue, Noriyuki; Molina, Sarina Chugani

    2011-01-01

    Communicating in a second language could be seen as a process requiring the deconstruction and reconstruction of cultural meanings. If this is the case, how do second language (L2) learners express cultural meanings of their first language (L1) expressions that do not have semantically equivalent L2 expressions? Twenty-nine Japanese students…

  20. Text Enhancement and the Acquisition of English Verbal Inflection "-s" by L1 Haitian Creole Speakers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    De Santis, Paulina

    2008-01-01

    This article contributes to the growing body of research investigating the effects of drawing learner attention to the problematic aspects of the linguistic input in the context of meaning-focused instruction. One specific approach to concentrate learner attention on form in the written input is known as textual enhancement. The pilot study…

  1. Animacy Effect and Language Specificity: Judgment of Unaccusative Verbs by Korean Learners of English as a Foreign Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pae, Hye K.; Schanding, Brian; Kwon, Yeon-Jin; Lee, Yong-Won

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated the tendency of overpassivization of unaccusative verbs by Korean learners of English as a foreign language (FL). Sixty Korean native college students participated in the study, along with 17 English-speaking counterparts serving as a comparison group. Consistent with the findings of previous research, this study found…

  2. Direct Written Corrective Feedback, Learner Differences, and the Acquisition of Second Language Article Use for Generic and Specific Plural Reference

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stefanou, Charis; Revesz, Andrea

    2015-01-01

    This article reports on a classroom-based study that investigated the effectiveness of direct written corrective feedback in relation to learner differences in grammatical sensitivity and knowledge of metalanguage. The study employed a pretest-posttest-delayed posttest design with two treatment sessions. Eighty-nine Greek English as a foreign…

  3. Educator Perceptions of Instructional Strategies for Standards-Based Education of English Language Learners with Disabilities. ELLs with Disabilities Report 7

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thurlow, Martha; Albus, Deb; Shyyan, Vitaliy; Liu, Kristin; Barrera, Manuel

    2004-01-01

    The study reported here was conducted as part of a larger investigation designed to identify instructional strategies most beneficial for English language learners with disabilities. Other aspects of the investigation are examining the research literature, information from parents and students, and the effects of specific strategies. In this…

  4. On the Effects of Focus on Form, Focus on Meaning, and Focus on Forms on Learners' Vocabulary Learning in ESP Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saeidi, Mahnaz; Zaferanieh, Elaheh; Shatery, Hafez

    2012-01-01

    This study investigated the effectiveness of three kinds of vocabulary instruction. Seventy learners in the classes of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) were divided into three different groups receiving different instructions: Focus on Form Instruction (FoF) (Dictogloss task), Focus on Meaning Instruction (FoM) (Reading and Discussion task),…

  5. Metalinguistic Awareness in L2 Vocabulary Acquisition: Which Factors Influence Learners' Motivations of Form-Meaning Connections?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Candry, Sarah; Deconinck, Julie; Eyckmans, June

    2017-01-01

    Research has shown that prompting learners to elaborate on the appropriateness of form-meaning links can be an efficient vocabulary learning exercise (Deconinck, Boers & Eyckmans, 2017). In this paper we wish to shed more light on the mental processes that occur during this specific elaborative task by investigating the influence of individual…

  6. Addressing Gender-Based Violence at Schools for Learners with Intellectual Disability in Gauteng, South Africa: A Multiple Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phasha, T. N.; Nyokangi, D.

    2012-01-01

    This paper reports part of the findings of the study which investigated sexual violence at two schools catering specifically for learners with mild intellectual disability in Gauteng Province. It looks particularly on participants' suggestions for addressing sexual violence in such school. A multiple case study within the qualitative research…

  7. Helping Learners Think More Hopefully about Life after School: The Usefulness of Participatory Visual Strategies to Make Career Education More Contextually Relevant

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smit, Suegnet; Wood, Lesley; Neethling, Marinda

    2015-01-01

    Learners living in challenging socio-economic circumstances face limited opportunities for further education and employment. In this context, formal career guidance which merely provides information about specific jobs and how to access them may be of little use. This article explores the usefulness of participatory visual strategies as a…

  8. Pedagogical Models of Concordance Use: Correlations between Concordance User Preferences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ballance, Oliver James

    2017-01-01

    One of the most promising avenues of research in computer-assisted language learning is the potential for language learners to make use of language corpora. However, using a corpus requires use of a corpus tool as an interface, typically a concordancer. How such a tool can be made most accessible to learners is an important issue. Specifically,…

  9. Universal Design for Learning in the Classroom: Practical Applications. What Works for Special-Needs Learners Series

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hall, Tracey E., Ed.; Meyer, Anne, Ed.; Rose, David H., Ed.

    2012-01-01

    Clearly written and well organized, this book shows how to apply the principles of universal design for learning (UDL) across all subject areas and grade levels. The editors and contributors describe practical ways to develop classroom goals, assessments, materials, and methods that use UDL to meet the needs of all learners. Specific teaching…

  10. Exploring Learning Performance toward Cognitive Approaches of a Virtual Companion System in LINE App for m-Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hsieh, Sheng-Wen; Wu, Min-Ping

    2013-01-01

    This paper used a Virtual Companion System (VCS) to examine how specific design variables within virtual learning companion affect the learning process of learners as defined by the cognitive continuum of field-dependent, field-independent and field-mixed learners in LINE app for m-learning. The data were collected from 198 participants in a…

  11. Andragogy for Teen and Young Adult Learners with Intellectual Disabilities: Learning, Independence, and Best Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bowman, Stephanie L.; Plourde, Lee A.

    2012-01-01

    Teens and young adults with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) meet the criteria of teen and adult learners chronologically, but may be deficient in many other areas of teen and adult learning. The spectrum of intellectual and adaptive capabilities among teens and adults with ID is vast, with each individual being unique. There are specific teaching…

  12. Anxiety in English Language Learning: A Case Study of English Language Learners in Saudi Arabia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sadiq, Jamilah Mohammed

    2017-01-01

    Language anxiety as a specific aspect of language acquisition has occupied a great body of research for the past few decades. In this study, the level of foreign language anxiety among English language learners was investigated. This study was carried out with a quantitative research design using a survey methodology to collect data about the…

  13. Teacher and learner: Supervised and unsupervised learning in communities.

    PubMed

    Shafto, Michael G; Seifert, Colleen M

    2015-01-01

    How far can teaching methods go to enhance learning? Optimal methods of teaching have been considered in research on supervised and unsupervised learning. Locally optimal methods are usually hybrids of teaching and self-directed approaches. The costs and benefits of specific methods have been shown to depend on the structure of the learning task, the learners, the teachers, and the environment.

  14. Examining the Effects of MOOCs Learners' Social Searching Results on Learning Behaviors and Learning Outcomes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Su, Yu-Sheng; Huang, Chester S. J.

    2016-01-01

    MOOCs social media has appealed to most instructors and learners like strong magnets by using ubiquitous handheld devices to share and discuss films, pictures, and messages. Through the social platform, users can share, track, and search for the information of their specific interests. Thus, they can make interactive discussions as well as social…

  15. Assessment Skills: A Case of Mathematics Examination and Its Place in Math-Teacher Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Qudah, Ahmad Hassan

    2016-01-01

    The research aims to reveal the specific way to evaluate learning mathematics, so that we get the "measuring tool" for the achievement of learners in mathematics that reflect their level of understanding by score (mark), which we trust it with high degree. The behavior of the learner can be measured by a professional way to build the…

  16. Scaffolding Learning: Developing Materials to Support the Learning of Science and Language by Non-Native English-Speaking Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Afitska, Oksana

    2016-01-01

    In recent years, the UK, like many other English first-language-speaking countries, has encountered a steady and continuous increase in the numbers of non-native English-speaking learners entering state primary and secondary schools. A significant proportion of these learners has specific language and subject learning needs, many of which can only…

  17. Ethical issues identified by obstetrics and gynecology learners through a novel ethics curriculum.

    PubMed

    Mejia, Rachel B; Shinkunas, Laura A; Ryan, Ginny L

    2015-12-01

    Obstetrics and gynecology (ob/gyn) is fraught with bioethical issues, the professional significance of which may vary based on clinical experience. Our objective was to utilize our novel ethics curriculum to identify ethics and professionalism issues highlighted by ob/gyn learners and to compare responses between learner levels to further inform curricular development. We introduced an integrated and dynamic ob/gyn ethics and professionalism curriculum and mixed methods analysis of 181 resulting written reflections (case observation and assessments) from third-year medical students and from first- to fourth-year ob/gyn residents. Content was compared by learner level using basic thematic analysis and summary statistics. Within the 7 major ethics and professionalism domains, learners wrote most frequently about miscellaneous ob/gyn issues such as periviability and abortion (22% of students, 20% of residents) and problematic treatment decisions (20% of students, 19% of residents) rather than professional duty, communication, justice, student-/resident-specific issues, or quality of care. The most commonly discussed ob/gyn area by both learner groups was obstetrics rather than gynecology, gynecologic oncology, or reproductive endocrinology and infertility, although residents were more likely to discuss obstetrics-related concerns than students (65% vs 48%; P = .04) and students wrote about gynecologic oncology-related concerns more frequently than residents (25% vs 6%; P = .002). In their reflections, sources of ethical value (eg, the 4 classic ethics principles, professional guidelines, and consequentialism) were cited more frequently and in greater number by students than by residents (82% of students cited at least 1 source of ethical value vs 65% of residents; P = .01). Residents disagreed more frequently with the ethical propriety of clinical management than did students (67% vs 43%; P = .005). Our study introduces an innovative and dynamic approach to an ob/gyn ethics and professionalism curriculum that highlights important learner-identified ethics and professionalism issues both specific to ob/gyn and common to clinical medicine. Findings will help ob/gyn educators best utilize and refine this flexible curriculum such that it is appropriately focused on topics relevant to each learner level. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Aligning interprofessional education collaborative sub-competencies to a progression of learning.

    PubMed

    Patel Gunaldo, Tina; Brisolara, Kari Fitzmorris; Davis, Alison H; Moore, Robert

    2017-05-01

    In the United States, the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) developed four core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice. Even though the IPEC competencies and respective sub-competencies were not created in a hierarchal manner, one might reflect upon a logical progression of learning as well as learners accruing skills allowing them to master one level of learning and building on the aggregate of skills before advancing to the next level. The Louisiana State University Health-New Orleans Center for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice (CIPECP) determined the need to align the sub-competencies with the level of behavioural expectations in order to simplify the process of developing an interprofessional education experience targeted to specific learning levels. In order to determine the most effective alignment, CIPECP discussions revolved around current programmatic expectations across the institution. Faculty recognised the need to align sub-competencies with student learning objectives. Simultaneously, a progression of learning existing within each of the four IPEC domains was noted. Ultimately, the faculty and staff team agreed upon categorising the sub-competencies in a hierarchical manner for the four domains into either a "basic, intermediate, or advanced" level of competency.

  19. Enhancing performance expectancies through visual illusions facilitates motor learning in children.

    PubMed

    Bahmani, Moslem; Wulf, Gabriele; Ghadiri, Farhad; Karimi, Saeed; Lewthwaite, Rebecca

    2017-10-01

    In a recent study by Chauvel, Wulf, and Maquestiaux (2015), golf putting performance was found to be affected by the Ebbinghaus illusion. Specifically, adult participants demonstrated more effective learning when they practiced with a hole that was surrounded by small circles, making it look larger, than when the hole was surrounded by large circles, making it look smaller. The present study examined whether this learning advantage would generalize to children who are assumed to be less sensitive to the visual illusion. Two groups of 10-year olds practiced putting golf balls from a distance of 2m, with perceived larger or smaller holes resulting from the visual illusion. Self-efficacy was increased in the group with the perceived larger hole. The latter group also demonstrated more accurate putting performance during practice. Importantly, learning (i.e., delayed retention performance without the illusion) was enhanced in the group that practiced with the perceived larger hole. The findings replicate previous results with adult learners and are in line with the notion that enhanced performance expectancies are key to optimal motor learning (Wulf & Lewthwaite, 2016). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Mind the Gap: Developing the Roles, Expectations and Boundaries in the Doctoral Supervisor-Supervisee Relationship

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Parker-Jenkins, Marie

    2018-01-01

    Does one need really need boundaries between doctoral supervisor and supervisee when talking about mature learners? Drawing on reflection from her extensive experience, the author believes it is critical to maintain this divide. There is an increase in doctoral students, proliferation of doctoral programmes globally and practices which vary from…

  1. Rocks and Minerals. Science Education Research Unit. Working Paper No. 204.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Happs, John C.

    The Learning in Science Project has adopted the view that science teaching might be improved if teachers can be given some appreciation of students' views of the world and the beliefs, expectations, and language that learners bring to new learning situations. This investigation focuses on the views that children (N=34) may have about rocks and…

  2. Counting the Cost, Reconciling the Benefits: Understanding Employer Investment in Higher Apprenticeships in Accounting

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gambin, Lynn; Hogarth, Terence

    2016-01-01

    Lack of progression to higher education amongst those who complete an Advanced Apprenticeship in England and the country's need for higher level skills led to the introduction of Higher Apprenticeships in 2009. Whilst Higher Apprenticeships would be expected to facilitate learner progression, the volume of these has remained low. In this paper,…

  3. A Basic Engineering English Word List for Less Proficient Foundation Engineering Undergraduates

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ward, Jeremy

    2009-01-01

    This paper concerns the teaching of English to learners who are studying, or will soon study, engineering and who are expected to do at least part of their studying through textbooks written in English. Such students, especially in universities in developing countries, often find themselves very poorly equipped by their secondary education for…

  4. Adapting Reference for a Unique Group of Distance Learners: Serving the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martin, Maria Mathilde

    2004-01-01

    When a university acquires the library of a national institute and the institute's active and worldwide membership expects continued and uninterrupted access to services from the collection, shockwaves can reverberate throughout the university's main library and among its staff. This was especially true for the Reference Department of the…

  5. Pedagogical Beliefs in Work-Based Learning: An Analysis and Implications of Teachers' Belief Orientations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Abukari, Abdulai

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents findings of a research project that aimed to critically examine the pedagogical beliefs of work-based learning teachers, and their potential implication on practice and expectations of learners and employers. Based on an online tool, qualitative and quantitative (descriptive) data were generated from a purposive sample of some…

  6. Uniting Technology and Pedagogy: The Evolution of an Online Teaching Certification Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Riedinger, Bonnie; Rosenberg, Paul

    2006-01-01

    Like all learners, new online instructors need hands-on experience, feedback, and ongoing support to become comfortable and proficient in the virtual classroom. It is unrealistic to expect even the most self-motivated, creatively pedagogical, and technically inclined instructor to fly solo after just a few hours of training. With the authors'…

  7. Developing a Capacity to Make "English for Everyone" Worthwhile: Reconsidering Outcomes and How to Start Achieving Them

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wedell, Martin

    2008-01-01

    Past decades have seen a growing assumption worldwide that national governments should provide "English for Everyone" (EFE) as a core component of their school curricula. Personal and national benefits expected from such English provision are generally expressed in terms of developing learners' abilities to communicate in English. Despite enormous…

  8. Child, Family, and Childcare Predictors of Delayed School Entry and Kindergarten Retention among Linguistically and Ethnically Diverse Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Winsler, Adam; Hutchison, Lindsey A.; De Feyter, Jessica J.; Manfra, Louis; Bleiker, Charles; Hartman, Suzanne C.; Levitt, Jerome

    2012-01-01

    Concern about kindergarten retention is on the rise within the current climate of high-stakes testing and escalating kindergarten expectations. Kindergarten retention has been linked in previous research to various risk factors such as poverty, low maternal education, single parent status, minority status, English language learner (ELL) status,…

  9. What's an Adult Numeracy Teacher to Teach? Negotiating the Complexity of Adult Numeracy Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ginsburg, Lynda

    2017-01-01

    In this Forum article, the author addresses how to assist adults in improving mathematics and numeracy literacy. Ginsburg observes educators who strive to address their learners' educational gaps and needs are finding themselves in an environment of competing priorities and expectations that can be expressed as mathematics numeracy education. What…

  10. Interplay of Entrepreneurial Learning Forms: A Case Study of Experiential Learning Settings

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ramsgaard, Michael Breum; Christensen, Marie Ernst

    2018-01-01

    This paper explores the concept of learning in a setting of experiential knowledge acquisition. The main focus is how facilitators of learning processes can design learning spaces, where the boundaries of what is expected from the learner are challenged. The aim is to explore the action-based learning processes occurring in experiential learning…

  11. Instructor Presence Helps Bridge the Gap between Online and On-Campus Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kennette, Lynne N.; Redd, Bibia R.

    2015-01-01

    In every course, instructors expect students to learn; therefore, we attempt to be present for learners, and provide enriched learning environments which nurture this learning. However, in online courses developing such environments can be more difficult (or, at the very least, may come less naturally and require more conscious effort on the part…

  12. Cultural Competencies and Planning for Teaching Mathematics: Preservice Teachers Responding to Expectations, Opportunities, and Resources

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilson, Susanna; McChesney, Jane; Brown, Liz

    2017-01-01

    In this article, the authors report on a small-scale study set in a context of a firstyear mathematics education course for preservice primary teachers. Professional documentation from three different sources were analysed in relation to the national document "Tataiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Maori Learners," which was…

  13. Soils. Science Education Research Unit. Working Paper 201.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Happs, John C.

    The Learning in Science Project has adopted the view that science teaching might be improved if teachers can be given some appreciation of students' views of the world and the beliefs, expectations, and language that learners bring to new learning situations. This investigation looks at the topic of soil, one of the basic resources of New Zealand…

  14. Constructivism and Reflectivism as the Logical Counterparts in TESOL: Learning Theory versus Teaching Methodology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    al Mahmud, Abdullah

    2013-01-01

    The gist of the entire constructivist learning theory is that learners are self-builders of their learning that occurs through a mental process in a social context or communication setting, and teachers as facilitators generate learning by creating the expected environment and/or utilizing the process. This article theoretically proves…

  15. Integrating CALL in ESOL Classrooms: Understanding Teachers' Perspectives and Meeting Students' Needs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nia, Sara Farshad; Davey, Ronnie

    2014-01-01

    In line with the needs of the 21st century learners and dramatic improvements in schools' technological infrastructures, it is expected that the integration of digital tools into language learning courses would take a quicker pace and a smoother path. However, current research indicates that although this might be the case for foreign language…

  16. The Impact of Altered Realities: Implications of Online Delivery for Learners' Interactions, Expectations, and Learning Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reisetter, Marcy; LaPointe, Loralee; Korcuska, James

    2007-01-01

    Although research consistently demonstrates that students learn content in online classes as well as their campus based counterparts and are equally satisfied with the quality of their learning, more information is needed that describes how the learning experiences themselves may vary. A traditional group of students was compared with an online…

  17. Podcasts: Are They an Effective Tool to Enhance Student Learning? A Case Study from McMaster University, Hamilton Canada

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vajoczki, Susan; Watt, Susan; Marquis, Nick; Holshausen, Katherine

    2010-01-01

    As universities turn to technology to become more learner-centred and address challenges created by increasing class sizes, changing consumer expectations, and increasing numbers of disability accommodation requests it is important to test the utility of technology solutions. This presentation describes a study to determine the effects of…

  18. Assessing Teaching and Assessment Competences of Biology Teacher Trainees: Lessons from Item Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hasse, Sascha; Joachim, Cora; Bögeholz, Susanne; Hammann, Marcus

    2014-01-01

    In Germany, science education standards for students at the end of grade nine have been in existance since 2005. Some of these standards are dedicated to scientific inquiry (e.g. experimentation). They describe which abilities learners are expected to possess at the end of grade nine. In the USA, several documents describe standards for…

  19. Immigration, Language, and Education: How Does Language Policy Structure Opportunity?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gandara, Patricia; Rumberger, Russell W.

    2009-01-01

    Background/Context: According to U.S. Census figures, 11 million elementary and secondary students of immigrant families were enrolled in the public schools in October 2005, representing 20% of all students, and this figure is expected to grow in the coming years. Most of these students enter school as English learners (ELs), and most ELs have…

  20. Flipping an Agricultural Education Teaching Methods Course

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Conner, Nathan W.; Stripling, Christopher T.; Blythe, Jessica M.; Roberts, T. Grady; Stedman, Nicole L. P.

    2014-01-01

    Flipping or inverting a course is a relatively new approach to structuring a course. Using this method, the lectures traditionally delivered during regularly scheduled class time are converted to a media for delivery online, often in the form of videos. Learners are expected to view the online lectures prior to class. Then in turn, in-class time…

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