Rethinking back-translation for the cross-cultual adaptation of health-related questionnaires: expert translators make back-translation unnecessary

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Estudos da Tradução, Florianópolis, 2013.2014-08-06T17:53:17

The development of an enabling self-administered questionnaire for enhancing reading teachers' professional pedagogical insights

Word processed copy.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 235-252).There have been many national and provincial studies on children's literacy levels in recent years in South Africa. However, none has determined the teachers' own understandings of the core indicators of an effective reading teacher. During a preliminary feasibility study, the researcher was surprised to discover how many under-qualified teachers there were who had a limited professional understanding of current primary school reading instructions, approaches and practices. To assess more accurately these experienced teachers' perceived professional competencies in teaching reading, the current study reports the development, refinement, validation and implementation of a conveniently self-administered profile of professional competencies designated the "Core Indicators of an Effective Reading Teacher Questionnaire" (CIERTQ)

ICT in primary education: A perspective study into the use and selection procedures of software designed to support the development of basic literacy skills for able and less able pupils (KS1)

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The British government is heavily committed to successfully applying technology in primary education through a series of expensive initiatives stressing the importance of technology in teaching across the curriculum and the belief that technology can contribute to pupils' academic achievement. One would assume that educators use it regularly in their classrooms in the subject of basic literacy. One of the factors that may impede the use of technology in teaching is the good quality software. There are numerous software available but of poor quality. Unfortunately, no criteria are available for teachers to select computer packages. Pupils' contribution to designing software is highly recommended but their views have been ignored in relation to what elements should be included in computer packages. This study was set: a) To explore the use and selection procedure of initial literacy software in primary / nursery schools, and b) To explore young pupils (KS1) thoughts on using basic literacy software and on the technical features and instructional characteristics in such programs. This inquiry investigated the above aims involving the views of the three stakeholders - teachers, developers, and children. Namely, 112 primary school teachers, mostly mature in age and experience, of five LEAs in Southwest area of London, 98 KSI (62 Yrl and 36 Yr2), and 10 software companies. The constructivist paradigm by Cuba & Lincoln was employed to reach joint constructions by comparing and contrasting differences, but mostly to give weight to the perspectives of the less power - children - to "give voice". The study has found that young pupils do not have frequent access to such programs, and to computers in general, though schools are equipped with computers and literacy software. The ratio of computers to pupils is large, 1: 13. Schools opt for the ICT suite in order to secure equal access. Just over half of the teachers feel sufficiently trained in using ICT. The older in age and in teaching experience teachers feel less confident in using technology. Developers share the view that teachers' ICT skills are poor. Half of the available software does not undergo any testing before reaching classrooms since only half of developers evaluate their products, and equally half of teachers preview it, but both without pupils involved. Young in the profession teachers and teachers who feel sufficiently trained tend to preview software more than the rest of their colleagues. No criteria are used in order to select computer packages and teachers feel that they need more skills for that reason. The older in the teaching profession educators find more influential software that has been tried out with children. The criteria found in this study are the same as the ones provided by the literature and the ones used by few teachers. Pupils like to work on computers. They believe that computers contribute to their learning, and equally literacy games contribute to the development of pre-reading skills. They like to work in pairs and explain why. The views of pupils on the difficulties they encounter match the views of teachers and developers. Regarding the software elements the study has shown differences between the two age groups (Yrl and Yr2). Similarly, differences are found between the three stakeholders in relation to technical features in software. The study provides a list of recommendations for classroom teachers.This study is partly funded by Brunel University

Understanding Video-Reflective Practices of Veteran Teachers: A Collective Case Study

The purpose of this collective case study was to understand cameras in the classroom and reflective practices of veteran teachers in Julianna School District (pseudonym). Utilizing the General Self Efficacy Scale (GSE), demographics data questionnaire, three self-reflective protocol questionnaires and interviews with nine teachers, three administrators, and three instructional coaches, this study investigated how teachers’ perceived video-reflective practices influence teaching practices, professional learning, and instructional preparation. Three elementary schools were chosen to participate in this study and from each, I selected five participants. Three learning theories guided this study. Bandura’s (1977) social cognitive theory provided understanding of personal thought processes perceived through learning. Malcolm Knowles’ (1975, 1984) adult learning theory regarding self-directed learning and principles of andragogy described how teachers perceive learning through reflection. Siemen’s (2004) connectivism theory provided a foundation component for learning though personal experience or communities by focusing on the decision-making process supporting professional growth. Data analysis occurred by conducting a thorough description of each case and their themes. Additionally, each case was analyzed based on two cross-case themes. The first theme represented how participants viewed video-reflective practices as a tool that influenced instructional delivery. The second theme illustrated how participants believed video-reflective impacted student learning. Noticing students within the instructional environment gave the participants an unexpected opportunity to notice student engagement and behavior that facilitated student achievement

Generative Judge for Evaluating Alignment

The rapid development of Large Language Models (LLMs) has substantially expanded the range of tasks they can address. In the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP), researchers have shifted their focus from conventional NLP tasks (e.g., sequence tagging and parsing) towards tasks that revolve around aligning with human needs (e.g., brainstorming and email writing). This shift in task distribution imposes new requirements on evaluating these aligned models regarding generality (i.e., assessing performance across diverse scenarios), flexibility (i.e., examining under different protocols), and interpretability (i.e., scrutinizing models with explanations). In this paper, we propose a generative judge with 13B parameters, Auto-J, designed to address these challenges. Our model is trained on user queries and LLM-generated responses under massive real-world scenarios and accommodates diverse evaluation protocols (e.g., pairwise response comparison and single-response evaluation) with well-structured natural language critiques. To demonstrate the efficacy of our approach, we construct a new testbed covering 58 different scenarios. Experimentally, Auto-J outperforms a series of strong competitors, including both open-source and closed-source models, by a large margin. We also provide detailed analysis and case studies to further reveal the potential of our method and make a variety of resources public at https://github.com/GAIR-NLP/auto-j.Comment: Fix typos in Table

EXPLORING ENGLISH INSTRUCTORS\u27 PERCEPTIONS AND ACTUAL PRACTICES REGARDING THE STRATEGIES USED IN TEACHING AND ASSESSING WRITING IN THREE TERTIARY EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN THE SULTANATE OF OMAN

The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions and practices of ESL/EFL instructors in teaching and assessing writing in three tertiary educational institutions in the Sultanate of Oman (Al Buraimi University College, University of Buraimi, and Sohar University). The researcher used the quantitative and qualitative methods in the study. The data was gathered through a questionnaire (n=147), 15 interviews (n=15), and 18 classroom observations (n=10). The findings of this study revealed that the majority of ESL/EFL instructors believe in and practice aspects of the process- and product-oriented approaches for teaching academic writing in Oman. Many ESL/EFL instructors believe in teaching vocabulary that students may use in their assigned writing and equally they believe in teaching students different genres and/or texts. Other common strategies that ESL/EFL instructors agreed on were generating ideas about the assigned topic before the start of the task and asking students to make a pre-writing plan. ESL/EFL instructors do believe in portfolios and written essays as tools to assess students writing, which are also practiced in their classroom. However, their belief contradicted their practice in areas like: making students write individually or in group, or both; using analytic or holistic rubrics, or both; and assessing content or grammar first, or both. One of the main recommendations that the researcher addressed to the ESL/EFL instructors is that their choices of writing strategies should be based on students\u27 needs. There should be a balance between the students need to meet the learning outcomes and helping students to communicate creatively in English. This is by vii replacing the traditional exams with more creative and authentic process of writing. Also, the researcher addressed the Omani institutions of Higher Education to keep the writing classes manageable for ESL/EFL writing instructors. Furthermore, the researcher recommended that the learning outcomes must not only be idealistic, but also realistic. The standards for evaluation must be accessible for the ESL/EFL students in Omani Colleges and Universities. They must be challenging without being off-putting. The last recommendation was addressed to Omani researchers who are led by the Sultan Qaboos University, to set up a national, updated and comprehensive databas

A Descriptive Assessment Model for Writing Programs: A Plan for Louisiana College.

Aware of the proliferation of discussion, activity, and even legislation regarding assessment of educational programs; informed by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) regarding institutional effectiveness; and realizing that assessment efforts are a valid means of revealing programmatic strengths and weaknesses and, therefore, of suggesting where change is needed, the Louisiana College English faculty began in 1991 to study how best to assess the effectiveness of its core requirement in English, a three-semester writing program. The project that forms the basis for this dissertation had its inception in that endeavor. This descriptive study, designed to assess the effects and effectiveness of the Louisiana College writing program, incorporates both quantitative and qualitative research. Driven by the philosophy that ethical assessment must be tailored to the institution and program it investigates, the LC plan may serve as an adaptable model for others. It has entailed designing, piloting, and revising data-collection instruments; collecting information via instruments, interviews, printed sources, and observation as a teacher/administrator in the program; analyzing data; and reporting findings to all appropriate audiences. Data gathering instruments and participant selection reflect the understanding that both depth and breadth of investigation must be sufficient to encompass the whole of a writing program. Therefore, this assessment included study of responses by students, English teachers, other faculty, and alumni as well as the effects of the social, cultural, and institutional contexts in which the program is situated. Presentation of data not only details immediate findings but also suggests information yet to be gleaned for future understanding of the writing program effects. Documents reporting findings are tailored to appropriate audiences and included in their entirety as disseminated. Finally, the paper presents revisions of the plan and instruments for continual and incremental assessment at Louisiana College as well as recommendations for other institutions wishing to use information, instruments, and the process as models for designing their own writing program assessment

Evaluating the Assessment Process in the EFL Teaching Programs and the General Secondary Education Certificate English Exams for 1989-1993

The focal point in this paper is the evaluation of the current assessment process in our EFL teaching program in the general secondary school certificate education and the general secondary school certificate English exams (G.S.E.C.E.E.) being the only tool used in this respect. The purpose of such evaluation is to decides its effectiveness as an integrated part in the EFL teaching process since effective assessment makes effective teaching. The hypotheses tested in this study have been: a. The assessment process in our EFL program is not effective enough and it has harmful effects on the the EFL teaching process., b. The G.S.E.C.E.E. are note adequate enough as assessment tools. Yet, it is important to note that the present study is not intended to exclude the G.S.E.C.E.E. from the assessment process but to shed light on the other additional tools that can be used in this respect. In chapter one, the rationale of the study is presented. It includes the statement of the problem and its significance. It also covers the objectives of the present study and its hypotheses along with the definition of terms. The development of the assessment process in ESL/EFL programs all over the world and the current issues in language assessment have been topped in this chapter. In chapter two, the literature related to the assessment process in language teaching has been reviewed and classified. It has been classified into the following three categories: 1. Literature related to the ESL/EFL assessment in general; 2. Literature related to the current trends in this respect; and 3. Literature related to the portfolio assessment approach that is claimed to be the right alternative. In chapter 3 the methodology of the study has been presented and the development of the present study has been stated. The current study has developed according to the following stages: a. setting the criteria that can be used for the evaluation purposes of the present study; b. The criteria found effective for the purpose of the present study were subcategorized into: a. Criteria for language assessment in general; and b. Criteria for language test in particular. It is important to refer to the point that the criteria set have been based on the framework presented by L.J. Harp (1991) and others in language assessment. For more effective criteria, two questionnaires based on these two categories of criteria, were subjected to some ESL/EFL and evaluation professors in the States. In chapter 4, the current assessment process has been analyzed and evaluated according to the criteria set in chapter 3. The current assessment process and the G.S.E.C.E.E. have proved ineffective since they do not meet the criteria of effective assessment process or language tests. In chapter 5, the conclusions have been made along with the findings of the study. The portfolio, the alternative assessment approach has been presented in this chapter. The guidelines for planning a portfolio, its requirements have been shown in chapter 5. Also, recommendations, along with the suggsted proposals are included in chapter 5. The study appendices and bibliography have been included at the end of the present study. The findings of the current study can be stated in brief as follows: a. The present assessment process has not been effective enough to do its functions in the EFL teaching programs and it has harmful effects on the EFL teaching process. b. The G.S.E.C.E. Exams lack the criteria of the effective language exams and tests. They may be reliable but their validity and efficiency are inadequate. The assessment process needs a reform that can be the key to the educational reform we are looking forward to

Characteristics of TQM: Evidence from the RIT/USA Today Quality Cup Competition

This paper reports the results of a field study examining the use of TQM at 15 firms. The sample is drawn from winners and finalists of the RIT/USA Today Quality Cup. The authors interviewed 75 employees (5 per firm) including 14 executives, 44 middle managers, and 17 front line workers. The interviews elicited information on the motives for adopting TQM, the role of leadership, the use of monitoring, the use of rhetoric, the extent and type of training, the basis for employee evaluation, compensation, and promotion, the use of teams, reallocation of authority, and the results of the TQM program. We use the data to provide a description of how TQM works in practice, including factors that determine patterns of use across firms. A major result is that team-based problem solving is used about twice as frequently as devolution of authority in our sample. We attribute this result to the higher costs of monitoring and corporate change associated with devolution relative to problem solving.

An investigation into the alignment between the government's dictated English language curriculum and the textbook mediated classroom practice at the secondary level in Pakistan

In Pakistan, textbooks are the core manifestation of the curriculum as well as the most dominant teaching material used in the classrooms. The curriculum identifies the English Language as a source from which to enhance language skills, professional competency and values for promoting social cohesion. The government has complete control over the education sector, and this substantial political input in educational matters influences all the decisions taken, from budget allocation to textbook approval. Financial constraints and a lack of resources have compelled teachers to rely on single teaching material like textbooks. In these circumstances, alignment between the curriculum and the textbooks should be ensured in order to achieve the curriculum’s aims and avoid costly mistakes. This research sets out examine the alignment between the English Language curriculum and the textbooks at the secondary level in Pakistan. The theoretical framework of curricular alignment has been employed for this inquiry. The research used a mixed-method approach for the collection of data as three different questionnaires were distributed to secondary school English language teachers, higher secondary school English language teachers and curriculum experts. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with curriculum experts and other educationists from Pakistan to gain a deep understanding of the alignment between textbooks and the curriculum. Content analysis of the English language textbooks published by the Punjab Textbook Boards was also carried out