Free Productive Ability and Lexical Text Analysis to Improve Student Writing

The classroom is often an arena of Controlled Productive Ability. Within this system, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. Further, this ‘banking’ concept of education, extends the scope of action afforded to students only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits. Education is thus seen as a process of depositing knowledge into passive students. Freire (1970) exhorts that ‘…the more completely they (the students) accept the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited on them’. This research paper will look at how a class of low-intermediate Japanese learners of English, can become more attuned to Free Productive Ability, the active use of productive vocabulary, in their written English endeavors. Writing itself is a production skill, in that it requires learners to produce language, as with speaking activities. Written English can be used to produce a message that you want others to understand. However, at most stages of the writing process from selecting themes and topics, brainstorming ideas, organizing ideas, drafting a text, reviewing and editing before submission, and finally grading and reflecting, the student is part of a passive process managed by the authority of the teacher. This inhibits student critical thinking and the ownership of their own productive abilities. An alternative is to develop and practice a free productive system, limiting the traditional teacher-centric learning system. At all times, students should be encouraged to think, and tackle problems presented to them on their own. This research builds on previous research of student self-affirmation (Deadman, 2015a, 2015b, 2016a and 2016b)

Ethnic Discrimination in Education: The Swiss Case

This paper investigates the role that discrimination plays in the educational marginalization of foreign youth commonly observed in European countries with a long guestworker tradition. Economic theory offers two basic explanations for discrimination of this form: taste-based discrimination arising from personal prejudices and statistical discrimination stemming from ability uncertainty. Which theory applies in reality has important policy implications. If taste-based discrimination is the source of ethnic segregation, then measures to eliminate prejudice are required to promote integration; whereas if statistical discrimination is the cause, then better measures of ability are needed. Using Switzerland as a case study, we provide evidence that statistical discrimination is the source of ethnic segregation in schooling. Further we find that teachers generally do not grade foreign youth differently than native students. This result runs counter to previous research which suggests that disadvantaged pupils are graded more leniently.education, discrimination, migration, PISA

A Glimpse into Arkansas Teachers’ Grading Practices 2022-23

This case study assesses the current, self-reported grading practices among Arkansas teachers. We distributed a Teachers’ Grading Perceptions survey in November, 2022, and we conducted semi-structured interviews with teachers and principals in January-February, 2023. We gathered both quantitative and qualitative data from the teacher survey, and we used interviews to collect themes for current grading practices in Arkansas’s schools. We generated a grading equity scale from the survey questions, verified by a reliable alpha coefficient = 0.83, and we use this in a multivariate regression to explore teacher characteristics and their likelihood of favoring grading equity practices. We collected themes from qualitative remarks in the survey and stated in the interviews. We discuss our findings in the context of current grading practices in Arkansas and conclude with policy suggestions for district leaders to implement and help provide more opportunities for students to succeed

A Glimpse into Arkansas Teachers’ Grading Practices

This case study assesses the current, self-reported grading practices among Arkansas teachers. We distributed a Teachers’ Grading Perceptions survey in November, 2022, and we conducted semi-structured interviews with teachers and principals in January-February, 2023. We gathered both quantitative and qualitative data from the teacher survey, and we used interviews to collect themes for current grading practices in Arkansas’s schools. We generated a grading equity scale from the survey questions, verified by a reliable alpha coefficient = 0.83, and we use this in a multivariate regression to explore teacher characteristics and their likelihood of favoring grading equity practices. We collected themes from qualitative remarks in the survey and stated in the interviews. We discuss our findings in the context of current grading practices in Arkansas and conclude with policy suggestions for district leaders to implement and help provide more opportunities for students to succeed

A Glimpse into Arkansas Teachers’ Grading Practices 2022-23

This case study assesses the current, self-reported grading practices among Arkansas teachers. We distributed a Teachers’ Grading Perceptions survey in November, 2022, and we conducted semi-structured interviews with teachers and principals in January-February, 2023. We gathered both quantitative and qualitative data from the teacher survey, and we used interviews to collect themes for current grading practices in Arkansas’s schools. We generated a grading equity scale from the survey questions, verified by a reliable alpha coefficient = 0.83, and we use this in a multivariate regression to explore teacher characteristics and their likelihood of favoring grading equity practices. We collected themes from qualitative remarks in the survey and stated in the interviews. We discuss our findings in the context of current grading practices in Arkansas and conclude with policy suggestions for district leaders to implement and help provide more opportunities for students to succeed

A Glimpse into Arkansas Teachers’ Grading Practices

This case study assesses the current, self-reported grading practices among Arkansas teachers. We distributed a Teachers’ Grading Perceptions survey in November, 2022, and we conducted semi-structured interviews with teachers and principals in January-February, 2023. We gathered both quantitative and qualitative data from the teacher survey, and we used interviews to collect themes for current grading practices in Arkansas’s schools. We generated a grading equity scale from the survey questions, verified by a reliable alpha coefficient = 0.83, and we use this in a multivariate regression to explore teacher characteristics and their likelihood of favoring grading equity practices. We collected themes from qualitative remarks in the survey and stated in the interviews. We discuss our findings in the context of current grading practices in Arkansas and conclude with policy suggestions for district leaders to implement and help provide more opportunities for students to succeed

Admissions of International Graduate Students: Art or Science? A Business School Experience

International students are often well represented in graduate programmes in North America and Europe. Information on foreign countries' education systems and grading schemes is available but cross-country comparisons are often challenging and highly subjective. Therefore, universities have a clear need for calibrating admissions of international students to ensure a fair and cost effective selection process. By comparing the performance of international students in their host institution with their entry qualifications we devise a simple approach to detecting systematic biases in the perceived quality of the applicants and propose corrective actions. We find that by using public information on cross-country comparisons of academic qualifications, country selection biases can occur and produce a substantial impact on international students' performance and failure rates. Our model is based on admission data that are routinely collected by universities which should ensure its broad applicability.admissions, country bias, entry qualifications, failure probability

Ethnic Discrimination in Education: The Swiss Case

This paper investigates the role that discrimination plays in the educational marginalization of foreign youth commonly observed in European countries with a long guestworker tradition. Economic theory offers two basic explanations for discrimination of this form: taste-based discrimination arising from personal prejudices and statistical discrimination stemming from ability uncertainty. Which theory applies in reality has important policy implications. If taste-based discrimination is the source of ethnic segregation, then measures to eliminate prejudice are required to promote integration; whereas if statistical discrimination is the cause, then better measures of ability are needed. Using Switzerland as a case study, we provide evidence that statistical discrimination is the source of ethnic segregation in schooling. Further we find that teachers generally do not grade foreign youth differently than native students. This result runs counter to previous research which suggests that disadvantaged pupils are graded more leniently