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Increasing student readiness for higher education is an objective and goal for many college-level preparation programs. Within the college-level programs, there is a group of students who will need additional preparation and support to make the successful transition into higher education. Adult English language (AEL) learners have the task of learning the target language with all of the rules and exceptions to the rules, while applying the language in a meaningful, memorable, and useful manner. When AEL learners are engaged in hands-on project-based learning (PBL) activities, the English language becomes more applicable for everyday use inside and outside the classroom. Learners also have the opportunity to develop additional skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, information gathering, synthesizing, evaluating, and collaborating with a team. All of these skills are critical for success in higher education and transferrable with AEL learners who are completing their college-level preparatory programs.

This chapter discusses the in-class approach of implementing a high-quality PBL activity that integrates English language learning in an authentic real-world manner. Practitioners of AEL programs can draw on their in-class practices and the theories of adult education to utilize PBL in their classroom as a means to facilitate the language acquisition process. Through the PBL process, practitioners become facilitators who help learners meet the challenges of learning English, developing their understanding of American classrooms and improving their readiness for transition into higher education.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight how accreditation of prior experiential learning (APEL) is implemented, the challenges faced by the APEL assessors while assessing candidates as well as to suggest recommendations for improving the APEL process.

This paper is written based on the critical reflection of two accreditation of prior experiential learning: admissions (APEL-A) assessors appointed from a Malaysian Qualifications Agency approved assessment centre. This process would add depth and breadth to the study based on the assessor’s experience.

The study identified five challenges in the implementation of APEL-A. They are limited literature and records of the existing practices, conceptualisation of the APEL process, complicated and time-consuming APEL process, standard of acceptance vary according to discipline and lack of continuous training for APEL assessors. The four recommendations for improvements are as follows: the need for transparent and clear guidelines, ensuring consistency in practices and fairness to those from conventional learning, integrating APEL as part of the institution’s academic policy and providing continuous training for all APEL assessors.

Until now, not much research has been done regarding its implementation in Malaysia. The number of learners enrolled through this form of assessment may be low but growing. The feedback on the implementation of the APEL-A assessment process would be greatly beneficial to the stakeholders involved in improving its implementation process. The highlighted challenges faced as well as the recommendations put forth may also be useful for the continuous improvement of the APEL-A assessment process. Relevant stakeholders would benefit from this study.

This chapter uses discourse analysis to explain why entrepreneurship has become a primary response to Africa’s youth employment challenge. It analyses almost 20 years of academic literature and publications from one of the world’s foremost authorities on entrepreneurship: the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). The study found that youth were positioned within a discourse of entrepreneurial essentialism; where entrepreneurship was narrativised as the only option for youth employment; and youth were framed as entrepreneurship being the natural solution for them. Youth were concurrently framed within numerous contradictory entrepreneurial discourses which were used to elevate and legitimise entrepreneurship as the key pathway for addressing Africa’s youth employment challenge. An important finding in this study was that the dominant model of entrepreneurship being promoted by GEM to address the challenge is a mainly skills-based pathway to self-employment and low-growth microenterprise development. This is concerning for two reasons: firstly, global evidence does not demonstrate much support for such an approach, and secondly, it undermines other responses to youth unemployment, particularly those which seek to address more structural, demand-side barriers to employment.

The purpose of this study is to assess the comparative influence of two empathy dimensions (cognitive and emotional attributes) on emotional service experience and behavioral intention among business and leisure hotel guests. Studies relevant to empathy dimensions are relatively scarce in tourism and hospitality.

The current study reviewed the concepts of empathy, and empirically compared perceptions of empathy attributes between the two groups. The survey was intended to examine how well the hotel employees emotionally handle hotel guests’ incidents or inquiries related to any discomforts through personalized attention. The data were collected from 330 hotel guests who had actually complained about service failures while staying at the hotel during the record-breaking summer of 2013 in terms of number of visitors to Jeju. An active empathetic listening (AEL) tool has been taken to measure the hotel guest’s cognitive views and behavioral intentions, as well as emotional empathy measures under the empathic concern and emotional contagion.

The results revealed that empathetic dimensions strongly influenced the service experiences of hotel guests. While the emotional service experience of business guests was almost completely determined by the cognitive empathy, the emotional service experience of the leisure guests was mainly governed by the emotional empathy.

These outcomes suggest that the empathetic services through a “purpose of visit”-oriented manner might enhance the guest’s overall emotion positively.

According to the prior literatures and empirical findings in hospitality and tourism, empathy can be seen as subscale in SERVQUAL instrument. This paper focus on insights of empathy dimensions, and it was revealed that the interaction of both the cognitive and emotional dimensions of empathy conjointly determines the overall emotional service experience and intention of hotel guests.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the challenges international students face during their higher education in the USA. This research study was conducted at a private university in the Eastern region of the USA from October 2012 through May 2013 (Fall and Spring semesters) with undergraduate and graduate international students. International students for this study are defined as those students who are on an international student visa status (F1).

This research adopts an online survey method to understand the challenges international students encounter in a single university. A total of 111 students responded providing a response rate of 33 percent. The results were analyzed using frequencies and percentages.

The findings of this study suggest that the primary learning challenges of international students are inadequate writing skills, non-participation, and comprehension abilities. The predominant learning needs are writing academic papers, enhancing class participation, and having local mentors. The students recommend that professors offer detailed feedback, encourage nurturing environments, and provide informal feedback for assignments. The preferred pedagogies are class lectures, class discussions, and individual assignments.

This study provides implications for both faculty and administrative staff in managing international students better.

This paper provides a holistic picture of the challenges international students face during their higher education in the USA. Most of the research on this population focuses only on one of the elements addressed in this research. The results of this empirical study will help guide both local faculty and global academic institutions in understanding this student population better.

The purpose of this paper is to examine support needs of African refugee new parents in Canada, and identifies support preferences that may enhance the mental health of refugee parents and children.

In all, 72 refugee new parents from Zimbabwe (n=36) and Sudan (n=36) participated in individual interviews. All had a child aged four months to five years born in Canada. Refugee new parents completed standardized measures on social support resources and support seeking as a coping strategy. Four group interviews (n=30) with refugee new parents were subsequently conducted. In addition, two group interviews (n=30) were held with service providers and policy influencers.

Separated from their traditional family and cultural supports, refugee new parents reported isolation and loneliness. They lacked support during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum and had limited interactions with people from similar cultural backgrounds. Refugees required support to access services and overcome barriers such as language, complex systems, and limited financial resources. Support preferences included emotional and information support from peers from their cultural community and culturally sensitive service providers.

Psychometric evaluation of the quantitative measures with the two specific populations included in this study had not been conducted, although these measures have been used with ethnically diverse populations by other researchers.

The study findings can inform culturally appropriate health professional practice, program and policy development.

The study bridges gaps in research examining support needs and support intervention preferences of African refugee new parents.