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1 – 10 of over 12000Laya Heidari Darani and Nafiseh Hosseinpour
The purpose of this paper is to investigate and compare the effects of group-to-whole student-led oral discussion and small-group collaborative drafting as pre-writing tasks on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate and compare the effects of group-to-whole student-led oral discussion and small-group collaborative drafting as pre-writing tasks on Iranian intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ writing performance. Additionally, the difference between the writing components was examined.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve these objectives, a group of 120 intermediate EFL learners participated in a pretest–posttest study in which they were randomly assigned into two experimental groups and one control group. The students in all three groups were tasked with writing a textbook evaluation report for the pretest and posttest. The pre-writing process in the first experimental group consisted of a group-to-whole student-led oral discussion, while the second experimental group engaged in small-group collaborative drafting.
Findings
The results indicate that both pre-tasks were effective in improving the participants’ writing skill, while collaborative drafting was even more efficient. Furthermore, it was observed that more writing components improved through collaborative drafting. It is concluded, therefore, that the social atmosphere created through oral discussion and the scaffolding resulting from collaborative drafting can help in writing improvement.
Research limitations/implications
The findings herein can have implications for first language (L1) composition instruction and second language (L2) writing teaching and, thus, underscoring the utility of the social constructivist approach to writing instruction.
Originality/value
As there has been no study conducted to explore the effects of group-to-whole student-led oral discussion on EFL learners’ writing skill and to compare its impacts to those of small-group collaborative drafting, the results of this study fill this gap in the literature.
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Although research indicates the importance of oral information, our understanding of it remains limited. This paper accordingly aims to suggest that some utterances are oral…
Abstract
Purpose
Although research indicates the importance of oral information, our understanding of it remains limited. This paper accordingly aims to suggest that some utterances are oral documents and explore how to identify them.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyzes certain oral artifacts through: exploring how research in social constructionism, information behavior, document studies and allied literatures facilitate the articulation of the concept of an oral document; and reporting on an investigation that operationalizes the properties of documents to facilitate empirically observing an oral document.
Findings
The results reveal an oral document observed in situ, which further validates the concept. Additionally, the results indicate that the method used, however systematic, prevents a full understanding of data gathered and that subsequent study of that data would generate further understanding of the oral document concept (presented in Part II).
Research limitations/implications
The method utilized limits the research results to identifying a single oral document identified within a small sample of face‐to‐face oral data.
Practical implications
The reification of oral documents broadens the scope of information science and implies a need to understand them better, in order for practitioners to carry out their professional responsibilities to collect, describe, organize and preserve them.
Originality/value
This paper conceptualizes a major new object of study for the field – an oral document. This paper also presents recommendations for research that expands on the method used herein, and suggestions for continued analysis. Some of these techniques will likely also prove valuable in analyzing some informal online communication, which shares some characteristics with oral documents.
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Jeffrey W. Alstete and Nicholas J. Beutell
The purpose of this paper is to contend that collegiate programs should carefully plan their capstone courses in light of the educational mission, pedagogical content knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contend that collegiate programs should carefully plan their capstone courses in light of the educational mission, pedagogical content knowledge, instructional techniques and delivery formats.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a concept paper with elements of theory building from the case of business strategy courses. After an overview of relevant research along with past and current practices, capstone course content projects and assignments are discussed in relation to delivery formats such as on-campus, hybrid partial online and full distance education.
Findings
Faculty and academic departments choosing project assignments should seek to create an integrative learning experience for students using carefully balanced delivery methods and content. Each of the instructional methods and delivery systems have certain advantages, and the use of these techniques is not mutually exclusive, in that some faculty members may choose to teach course sections using multiple learning systems.
Originality/value
As colleges and universities increase the range of instructional techniques and delivery formats, it is especially important to harmonize these methods with learning objectives for capstone learning experiences. Concepts for balanced integration and synthesis of topics are proposed for different instructional methods and delivery formats that can be applied in other disciplines. Using pedagogical content knowledge as a basis for improving teaching and learning is necessary to achieve balanced integration.
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Submitting negative feedback is a stressful experience which both superiors and subordinates try to avoid. Do principals adapt to the mum effect and hide their (negative) thoughts…
Abstract
Purpose
Submitting negative feedback is a stressful experience which both superiors and subordinates try to avoid. Do principals adapt to the mum effect and hide their (negative) thoughts and feelings, or do they confirm Weening et al. hypothesis about the existence of facilitating conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
About 40 elementary school principals described in semi‐structured interviews cases of poor performing teachers whom they had to inform about their shortcomings.
Findings
Four consecutive stages, which escalated in directedness and criticism were found. Each stage depended on the outcomes of the previous one. Initially, half of the principals preferred first to ignore, but later 88 percent held a soft negative feedback and problem‐solving oriented discussions. When these discussions did not bring the expected results, about 80 percent criticized the worker orally. Only 30 percent criticized in writing. That process was accompanied with mixed feelings, mainly those of anger and compassion.
Research limitations/implications
The results emphasize the need for individual guidance as how to overcome their hesitattions and give effective feedback to their poor‐performing teachers. As an exploraty study, its major weakness was the reliance on one side of the equation – the principals.
Originality/value
Most earlier studies on mum effect were conducted in experimental setting. This study provides a uniquely realistic evidence of the interpersonal processes within the workplace. The worker appraisal and the transmission of (negative) feedback are explored through emotional lens.
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Wu-Yuin Hwang, Rio Nurtantyana and Uun Hariyanti
This study aimed to investigate learning behaviors deeply in flipped classrooms. In addition, it is worth considering how to help learners through recognition technology with…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to investigate learning behaviors deeply in flipped classrooms. In addition, it is worth considering how to help learners through recognition technology with natural language processing (NLP) when learners have question and answer (Q&A). In addition, the Internet of Things (IoT) can be utilized to make the physical learning environment more comfortable and smarter.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed smart learning environment (SLE) with smart mechanisms supported by recognition technology, NLP and IoT to help learners and employed scaffolding to facilitate their group discussions. This study is an explanatory research to investigate graduate learners' learning behavior when they are collaborating with group members and interacting with the environment in flipped classroom using the proposed SLE.
Findings
The results revealed that learners who collaborated more while coediting had significant learning achievement, and NLP sufficiently addressed their questions. Physical conditions of the SLE were comfortable for learners. They perceived that SLE could facilitate group discussions with scaffolding.
Practical implications
This study suggests to utilize flipped classrooms with technologies, e.g. Google Slides integration, to help learners to do more collaboration and use smart mechanisms, e.g. Q&A with NLP, to make learners more interacting during the discussion process.
Originality/value
The proposed SLE can record and analyze smartly their collaboration meaningfully with group members and interact with the environment. Accordingly, researchers found that collaboration in flipped classrooms can help their learning achievement, and it is worth being widely promoted.
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Two forces of change in the field of assessment centres are described — change in company attitudes towards centres and a growing body of research which questions the current…
Abstract
Two forces of change in the field of assessment centres are described — change in company attitudes towards centres and a growing body of research which questions the current thinking on the subject. How one organisation — London Regional Transport — responded by making what appears to be very beneficial changes in the way it runs some of its centres is examined. Its problems with feedback and the general inappropriateness of the traditional design for development applications are examined.
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Multilingual meetings continue to be a problem in business communication due to the necessity to translate between different natural language pairs. The paper has developed a new…
Abstract
Purpose
Multilingual meetings continue to be a problem in business communication due to the necessity to translate between different natural language pairs. The paper has developed a new electronic meeting technology that automatically translates comments written in any of 41 languages (e.g. French, Chinese, etc.). The purpose of this paper is to quickly and accurately show on each user's terminal in his or her own native language all comments contributed by the group written in several different tongues.
Design/methodology/approach
A prototype system, Polyglot II, utilizes instant messaging on Microsoft Windows PCs to exchange comments between client personal computers and a server which in turn, calls the Google Translate API for each translation. In an attempt to measure the accuracy, reverse translations are conducted, e.g. English to French to English, because of the lack of human experts fluent in all of the languages. The final English translations are analyzed for comprehension by 240 college business students.
Findings
This paper uses reverse translations on 32 of the languages (all that are available at the time of the analysis) with historical transcripts of English text, including grammatical errors. Results show an overall comprehension accuracy of 86 percent for all languages. Italian is the most accurate, and Hindi is the least.
Originality/value
While other multilingual meeting technologies have been developed, this system provides automatic support for the most languages and is perhaps the most accurate.
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Imdadullah Hidayat-ur-Rehman and Yasser Ibrahim
A number of recent artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled technologies, including summarisers, paraphrasers and the cutting-edge chatbots not only have outstanding potentials in…
Abstract
Purpose
A number of recent artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled technologies, including summarisers, paraphrasers and the cutting-edge chatbots not only have outstanding potentials in modern educational systems but also could lead to a dramatic paradigm shift in the whole education process. This study aims to explore the factors that shape the academic community’s desire and intention to use AI conversational chatbot technology, with a particular focus on the leading ChatGPT.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a mixed method approach to explore the educators’ adoption of chatbots through an empirically validated model. The model, known as the “Educators’ Adoption of ChatGPT”, was developed by integrating the theoretical foundations of both the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology and Status Quo Bias (SQB) frameworks, as well as insights gathered from interviews. The relationships within this model were then tested using a quantitative approach. The partial least squares-structural equation modelling method was used to analyse 243 valid survey responses.
Findings
The outcomes of the analysis indicated that perceived educators’ effort expectancy, educators’ autonomous motivation, perceived learners’ AI competency, perceived educators’ competency, innovative behaviour towards technological agility and perceived students’ engagement are significant determinants of educators’ intention to use chatbots. In contrast, perceived unfair evaluation of students, perceived students’ overreliance and perceived bias/inaccuracies were shown to have significant impacts on the resistance to use the technology, which typically implies a negatively significant influence on the educators’ use intention. Interestingly, perceived fraudulent use of ChatGPT was proven insignificant on the resistance to use chatbots.
Originality/value
This study makes a significant contribution to the field of educational technology by filling the gap in research on the use and acceptance of AI-enabled assistants in education. It proposes an original, empirically validated model of educator adoption, which identifies the factors that influence educators’ willingness to use chatbots in higher education and offers valuable insights for practical implementation.
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Erin Pullen, Brea L. Perry and Gerardo Maupome
Latinos in the United States have poor outcomes for periodontal and dental health. However, a detailed description of the mechanisms driving these patterns has only recently…
Abstract
Latinos in the United States have poor outcomes for periodontal and dental health. However, a detailed description of the mechanisms driving these patterns has only recently started to be addressed in the literature. In the current study, we explore relationships between individual-level characteristics of Mexican immigrants, properties of their networks, and experiences of dental problems. Specifically, using data from an urban community of Mexican immigrants to the American Midwest (n = 332), this study examines how characteristics of oral health matters (OHM) discussion networks and individual-level sociodemographic characteristics are associated with four adverse oral health outcomes. The results provide strong support for relationships between immigrants’ network characteristics and dental problems. We find that people with more dental problems talk about these issues more frequently with network ties. Conversely, stronger relationships with OHM discussion networks, as measured by mean closeness, are predictive of fewer dental problems. In addition, we identify a link between perceptions of alters’ knowledge about teeth, mouth, and gums and egos reporting better oral health outcomes. The observed patterns are suggestive of mechanisms of social influence that are well replicated in the social, medical, and public health literatures, but that have seldom been empirically tested in the domain of oral health. Though preliminary, our findings suggest a potential explanatory role for social networks in some of the most important questions and problems in oral health disparities research. In all, our findings suggest that social network members are active participants in the management and response to oral health problems in this immigrant group and should be considered an important factor in the development and course of diseases.
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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of oral traditions and the role of libraries in ensuring they are preserved in societies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of oral traditions and the role of libraries in ensuring they are preserved in societies.
Design/methodology/approach
Offers a review of the literature and a wider discussion on oral traditions and the role of libraries in preserving them, with specific relation to Sierra Leone.
Findings
Measures should be taken to resuscitate this knowledge of oral cultures. As libraries are repositories of knowledge there is every reason for librarians to play a leading role in this direction.
Practical implications
Of interest to librarians dealing with oral cultures or interested in the topic.
Originality/value
The paper discusses a unique topic with specific reference to a developing country.
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