Ethical Competence for Teachers: A Possible Model

In Education Sciences, the notion of ‘competence’ is widely used, both as an aim to be reached with students and as performance in teachers’ education. This article advances a type of competence that is highly relevant for teachers’ work, namely the ‘ethical competence.’ Ethical competence enables teachers to responsibly deal with the daily challenges arising from their professional roles. In this study, I put forward a definition of ethical competence and I propose a conceptual structure, both meant to support the illustration, description, and development of ethical competence for teachers

Metaphoric competence and communicative language ability

Recent developments in cognitive linguistics have highlighted the importance as well as the ubiquity of metaphor in language. Despite this, the ability of second language learners to use metaphors is often still not seen as a core ability. In this paper, we take a model of communicative competence that has been widely influential in both language teaching and language testing, namely Bachman (1990), and argue, giving a range of examples of language use and learner difficulty, that metaphoric competence has in fact an important role to play in all areas of communicative competence. In other words, it can contribute centrally to grammatical competence, textual competence, illocutionary competence, sociolinguistic competence, and strategic competence. Metaphor is thus highly relevant to second language learning, teaching and testing, from the earliest to the most advanced stages of learning

Developmental change in motor competence : a latent growth curve analysis

Background: The development of childhood motor competence demonstrates a high degree of inter-individual variation. Some children's competence levels increase whilst others' competence levels remain unchanged or even decrease over time. However, few studies have examined this developmental change in motor competence across childhood and little is known on influencing factors. Aim: Using latent growth curve modeling (LGCM), the present longitudinal study aimed to investigate children's change in motor competence across a 2-year timespan and to examine the potential influence of baseline weight status and physical fitness on their trajectory of change in motor competence. Methods: 558 children (52.5% boys) aged between 6 and 9 years participated in this study. Baseline measurements included weight status, motor competence (i.e., Korperkoordinationstest fur Kinder; KTK) and physical fitness (i.e., sit and reach, standing long jump and the 20 m shuttle run test). Motor competence assessment took place three times across a 2-year timespan. LGCM was conducted to examine change in motor competence over time. Results: The analyses showed a positive linear change in motor competence across 2 years (beta = 28.48, p < 0.001) with significant variability in children's individual trajectories (p < 0.001). Girls made less progress than boys (beta = -2.12, p = 0.01). Children who were older at baseline demonstrated less change in motor competence (beta = -0.33, p < 0.001). Weight status at baseline was negatively associated with change in motor competence over time (beta = -1.418, p = 0.002). None of the physical fitness components, measured at baseline, were significantly associated with change in motor competence over time. Conclusion and Implications: This longitudinal study reveals that weight status significantly influences children's motor competence trajectories whilst physical fitness demonstrated no significant influence on motor competence trajectories. Future studies should further explore children's differential trajectories over time and potential factors influencing that change

DEUCE : a test-bed for evaluating ESL competence criteria

This paper describes work in progress to apply a Web-based facility for evaluating differing criteria for English language competence. The proposed system, Discriminated Evaluation of User's Competence with English (DEUCE), addresses the problem of determining the efficacy of individual criteria for competence in English as a Second Language (ESL). We describe the rationale, design and application of DEUCE and outline its potential as a discriminator for ESL competence criteria and as a basis for low cost mass ESL competence testing

The Psychology of Competence and Informed Consent: Understanding Decision-Making with Regard to Clinical Research

This Article examines the importance of patient autonomy and competence in medical decision making and how questions of competence affect informed consent. The author explores three hypothetical cases which outline the parameters of \u27competence\u27 by illustrating the methodologies used in making [determinations of competence], distinguishing between ethical and legal issues in the assessment of competence, and reviewing the procedures for surrogate decision making when competence is deemed impaired. The cases present questions on when to respect patient autonomy and when it may be appropriate to allow a surrogate to take over decision making

Revisiting English Competence at Hotel

This study aims at coming up with English competence at hotel. Going along with that aim, this study focuses on one hotel in Bandar Lampung which has been developing; it is Novotel hotel. This chosen hotel meets with the criteria of hotel targeted. Further, this study was conducted qualitatively because it pursued deep findings dealing with English competence of some duties in hotel, such as reception and handling guest. Besides, questioner was employed to gather data and then interview was also conducted to have more concrete data. At last, this study came up with the detail findings of the average of English proficiency based on the positions. Furthermore, this study formulated the common expressions used to host and serve customers

Gender and motor competence affects perceived likelihood and importance of physical activity outcomes among 14 year olds

Little is understood about the impact of level of motor competence on self-perceptions in adolescence, in particular how this may differentially affect girls and boys. A sample of 1,568 14-year-old participants (766 girls and 802 boys) were grouped into four motor competence levels (very low to high) based on the McCarron Assessment of Neuromuscular Development (MAND). Self-perceptions were assessed using the Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents. Boys had higher self-perceptions of global self-worth, athletic competence, and physical appearance, whereas girls had higher scores for close friendships and behavioral conduct. Main effects in the predicted direction were found for motor competence for self-perceptions of global self-worth, athletic competence, physical appearance, close friendships, social acceptance, and romantic appeal. These findings indicate that level of motor competence is important in many aspects of self-perceptions, affecting girls and boys differently. Higher motor competence has a protective effect on psychosocial health, particularly for girls

How Should Translation Competence Be Taught: a Quest for a Better Approach in Translation Class

It is widely agreed that the main aim of translation education is to develop students' translation competence, therefore most researches in translation education contexts focus on identifying the components of transla-tion competence and appropriate curriculum models that integrate these components with suitable teaching strategies. Since translation competence consists of many sub-competences, developing these sub-competences therefore should be the main consideration in translation education. This article is aimed at discussing translation competence in general and how this competence should be de-veloped in a translation class context. Understanding these sort of things is important in formulating the best approach in translation teaching and learning in order to avoid the possible overlap between ‘translation teaching' and ‘language teaching', due to the fact that in some cases what the students get in translation class is not ‘how to be a good translator' but ‘how to be a good language learner'. Further, understanding the nature of students' translation competence and how this should be developed can give an important conceptual framework in formulating a better translation curriculum which considers all aspects the students need to build their translation competence. Keywords: students, translation, competence, teaching