Supervisory Practices in a Virtual Internship Program: A Multi-Case Study

This study explored certain leadership methods that eSupervisors were utilizing with eInterns through the theoretical lenses of House’s (1971) path-goal theory of leadership and the effectiveness of these methods on learning outcomes. The overarching research question that guided this study was: How do eSupervisors contribute to the learning growth of eInterns? A qualitative multi-case study was conducted on a population of eSupervisors, current eInterns (students), and past eInterns (graduates) that were associated with the Virtual Student Foreign Service (VSFS) program. VSFS is a program aimed at exposing students to working opportunities in the government. The findings from this study imply that there are a number of ways in which eSupervisors can contribute to the learning growth of eInterns. These contributions will vary depending on the eInterns, the environmental characteristics, the leadership approach taken, and the motivational factors involved. The significance in applying this research today falls in line with the booming growth of distance education programs the trend of incorporating technology in the classrooms

発音指導に関する日本人英語教員対象のアンケート調査：音声知識と指導の実践

英語による授業の実施が推進され教員と生徒ともに英語運用能力の向上が求められる中、英語教員の正しい音声知識と適切な発音指導能力の習得が必要不可欠となっている。本研究者らは現役の英語教員がどのような音声指導を行いどれだけの音声知識を有しているかを解明し、改善策を提案することを目的に、2015 年に中学校英語教員に対して発音指導に関するアンケート調査を実施した。100 名の回答によると、大人数クラスで行いやすい全員での発音練習等が実践されることが多い活動であった。また以前と比べ、分節音と超分節的要素の両方の指導が行われ、フォニックス重視の指導が実施されていること等が明らかとなった。しかし詳細分析の結果、超分節的要素の中でも規則が明快で教えやすい「文タイプと音調の関係」と比べ、「文脈に基づいた語の強調」や「内容語と機能語に基づいた文強勢」の指導は、コミュニケーションの重要な要素であるにもかかわらず不十分であった。より良い教育効果のため、辞書の使い方に関する指導、カタカナの適切な活用を行うことも提案する。生徒と母語を共有する非母語話者英語教員にとって、音声知識を有することは発音指導において大きな強みとなる。It is essential that non-native English-speaking teachers in Japan acquire sufficient knowledge on pronunciation in conjunction with teaching skills, especially now that more spoken English is encouraged in the classroom and all English teaching is expected to be conducted in English. This paper presents our findings based on a questionnaire administered to 100 public junior high school teachers in Tokyo in 2015, focusing on teachers’ phonetic knowledge and teaching practice, and provides suggestions for improvement. Popular teaching techniques were those feasible in a large class, including listening and repeating in unison. Both segmentals and suprasegmentals were instructed, and emphasis on phonics instruction was observed. In addition, certain areas of suprasegmentals, such as “focus,” “sentence stress,” and “rhythm,” which are all important in communication yet require more knowledge and skills to teach, received less attention in class, compared to “relation between tones and sentence types,” which is relatively simple to teach. We suggest that students be taught how to use dictionaries, and that katakana be used as an aid in instruction. Phonetic knowledge is especially important since it adds to the strengths of non-native English teachers.内田洋子:東京海洋大学学術研究院海事システム工学部門杉本淳子:聖心女子大学文学部英語英文学

The recontextualising of pedagogic discourse: a case study drawn from an inservice mathematics education project

The dissertation is concerned with the production of a systematic account of the recontextualising of pedagogic discourse across two contexts: mathematics INSET provision and school mathematics teaching. Drawing on the work of sociologists Basil Bernstein and Paul Dowling, an attempt is made to construct a theoretical model which is applied to produce a reading of the interactions between an INSET provider and a teacher, and the teacher and school students. The dissertation opens with a description and discussion of the conceptualising of the research project, the production of data, and the use of the literature survey and theoretical resources in the production of a methodology. The second chapter presents a review of the literature on INSET in which three chief components of conceptions of good INSET practice are highlighted: teachers should define their own needs; INSET should be concerned with the professional development of teachers, where professionalism implies an exclusion or marginalising of academic concerns; and INSET should be school-focused. The chapter moves on to consider NGO-provided INSET and concludes with a discussion of INSET in terms of Bernstein's categories horizontal and vertical discourses. In the third chapter, elements of Bernstein's code theory and Dowling's language of description are appropriated to construct a model which contextualises the study, produces an account of the transmission and acquisition of pedagogic discourse which attends to the interactions between transmitters and acquirers, and generates data for analysis. The chapter concludes with a summary of the model. Chapter 4 is devoted to an analysis of written materials from an INSET course which the teacher attended as well as the interactions between the INSET provider and teacher. An analysis of the use of wall displays and the arrangement of the classroom is produced in chapter 5, followed by an analysis of the interactions between the teacher and students. The analysis focuses on the way in which the utterances of the transmitter and acquirer are redescribed to produce pedagogic texts. The dissertation is concluded in chapter 6 which opens with a discussion of the resources and strategies implicated in the recontextualising of pedagogic discourse after which a summary of the analysis is produced. The last section of the chapter discusses the limitations of the research and the model

Challenges faced by Teachers in applying reading strategies when teaching English reading in the foundation phase in the Mthatha District

This study sought to investigate challenges faced by teachers in applying reading strategies when teaching reading in the Foundation Phase in the Mthatha District in South Africa. The study was conducted at Four Junior Secondary Schools. It was prompted by a deep concern about challenges faced by teachers in applying reading strategies required in the Foundation Phase. While studies have been carried out on applying reading strategies in the Foundation Phase, few studies have looked at the factors impacting on reading in South African schools, especially in the Mthatha District where isiXhosa is the mother tongue. The method used in this study involved a qualitative approach. The study addressed the following research questions: What strategies are used in the Foundation Phase? What type of challenges are faced by teachers? To what extent are educators trained to teach reading in the Foundation Phase? Does the lack of resources affect the performance of learners? To what extent does the use of a second language affect the performance of Foundation Phase learners? Do teachers receive enough support from the Department of Education to teach reading? The study is a multiple-case study and data were collected through individual interviews and focus group interviews (sixteen teachers were interviewed). Content analysis guided the data analysis through themes derived from the subsidiary questions. Data reporting took the form of thick description and verbatim quotations in line with the qualitative approach of the study. A pilot study was conducted in two Junior Secondary Schools for the purpose of validity and reliability. ii The study`s findings revealed that: Different reading strategies were used by teachers in the Foundation Phase, teachers faced many challenges in applying reading strategies such as teacher training in the teaching of reading. This suggests that intervention is needed by the Department of Education such as providing relevant resources which are essential in order to address the problem of reading. Improvisation by teachers to improve reading material, insufficient allocation of time, multilingualism, teacher competence, lack of motivation and parental involvement in relation to learner performance in reading all need attention in order to solve problems. Furthermore, lack of resources hinders the reading ability of learners. The use of home language as a medium of instruction in teaching reading is highlighted. There is insufficient support by the Department of Education for Foundation Phase teachers to teach reading. Based on the study findings, the researcher has recommended that teachers should be urged to use reading strategies in a way that benefits learners. The use of reading strategies, therefore, needs more attention. Libraries should be built in these schools to enable learners to develop a culture of reading. Education development officers, subject advisors, lead teachers and parents should work together to improve the reading ability of Foundation Phase learners

Expectations eclipsed in foreign language education: learners and educators on an ongoing journey / edited by Hülya Görür-Atabaş, Sharon Turner.

Between June 2-4, 2011 Sabancı University School of Languages welcomed colleagues from 21 different countries to a collaborative exploration of the challenging and inspiring journey of learners and educators in the field of language education.\ud \ud The conference provided an opportunity for all stakeholders to share their views on language education. Colleagues met with world-renowned experts and authors in the fields of education and psychology, faculty and administrators from various universities and institutions, teachers from secondary educational backgrounds and higher education, as well as learners whose voices are often not directly shared but usually reported.\ud \ud The conference name, Eclipsing Expectations, was inspired by two natural phenomena, a solar eclipse directly before the conference, and a lunar eclipse, immediately after. Learners and educators were hereby invited to join a journey to observe, learn and exchange ideas in orde

A descriptive and evaluative bibliography of films in secondary school literature

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston UniversitySTATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM.-- This thesis was written to compile a descriptive and evaluative bibliography of films which might supplement instruction in literature from grades seven through twelve. JUSTIFICATION.-- Such a study, to the best of the writers' knowledge, is non-existent. In order to conserve unnecessary expenditure of time and effort by teachers in search of films appropriate to their units of instruction, such a listing must be devised. Commercial catalogs often list such important data as: title, running time, producer, and cost; but they rarely give an objective description of the content of the film as related to the objectives of teaching literature as stated in the publication of The National Council of Teachers of English. PROCEDURE.-- The writers considered themselves a basic evaluation committee formed to appraise a large number of educational films related to teaching literature. In order to substantiate their appraisals, they invited large numbers of teachers to attend the twice-weekly preview showings. A check-list comprised of thirteen items to analyze the films from a pedagogical point of view was devised and circulated among the evaluators attending. Forty-seven films were obtained from Boston University School of Public Relations, The Boston Public Library, The University of New Hampshire, and leading producers of such films who offered full cooperation to the writers throughout the nine-week period of the showings [TRUNCATED]

A case study in the evaluation of English training courses using a version of the CIPP model as an evaluative tool

This thesis presents an evaluative case study of the 20 English training courses offered in the Applied English Department (AED) of an Institute, given the pseudonym W.G, in southern Taiwan. No evaluation had been done since the AED had been set up and using Stufflebeam’s CIPP (Context, Input, Process and Product) evaluation model this research was carried out. The purpose of the research was to attempt, through the gathering of qualitative data from a variety of sources and using a variety of research instruments, an evaluation of the 20 English training courses which were designed for and taken by students who hoped, mainly, to become children's English language teachers. The courses were examined through four key components, namely, "course aims and objectives", "course contents and materials", "course conduct and teaching-learning process" and "assessment and student performance". Data were gathered through questionnaires, interviews and the review of existing documents and was obtained from current students, directors of the AED, instructors, alumni and employers of alumni. The resultant data served to present a comprehensive overview of the AED and the 20 English training courses and furnished evidence sufficient to allow for a number of recommendations for improvement and change to emerge. Fundamentally it is not clear that there is sufficient congruence of students needs and the courses offered. It emerged that the AED would probably benefit from a refocusing of student needs, a review of AED structures and governance, uniform syllabus design and presentation, a review of student feedback on instructor performance and a number of fundamental adjustments to the courses, in particular, their content, teaching methodology and assessment. Overall the AED had many positive aspects all of which could be built on and added to as the results of the data suggested. It emerged that the CIPP evaluation model has, in the educational context, a lot to commend it and this has been illustrated in this research. If followed carefully it covers all aspects and features of a program and provides a methodical, all-embracing design which can produce useful material for exploration and adoption if appropriate. It is in most cases a positive program enhancing exercise designed to develop rather than close existing programs

SFL in L2 Writing Teacher Education: A Case Study of an EFL Pre-service Teacher in Conceptualizing Grammar

Abstract SFL in L2 Writing Teacher Education: A Case STUDY of an EFL PRE-SERVICE Teacher IN CONCEPTUALIZING GRAMMAR English education globally has been challenged by an increasing need for academic English practices to support access to content area knowledge and scholarly exchanges. However, EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers often lack the linguistic and pedagogical knowledge of how academic texts work to construct meanings in specific disciplines and how to design effective academic literacy instruction accessible to all students. This study, therefore, is aimed at responding to the intensifying demand for academic literacy instruction in international contexts by investigating an EFL teacher’s participation in MATESOL program in North America informed in part by Halliday’s SFL (Systemic Functional Linguistics) and Martin’s genre theory. The study focuses on exploring how this teacher’s conceptions of grammar shifted, if at all, over the courses in the teacher education program and how the teacher’s classroom practice during the first year in her career reflect, if at all, the perspective of language learning. This study is informed by two main conceptions as the theoretical frameworks. First, Halliday and Martin’s social conception of language and language learning serves as the theoretical basis informing the pedagogical knowledge that the teacher develops. Second, a sociocultural approach to teachers’ knowledge development serves as a framework to understand how the teacher conceptualizes a more functional conception of language and language learning for academic literacy instruction in a sustained process of teacher learning with respect to the teacher’s whole lived experiences. This study uses an ethnographic method of data collection and analysis. The data were collected from multiple sources including field notes, instructional materials, audio tapes, email exchanges, interviews, textbooks, and course assignments. Data collection focused on documenting this teacher in conceptualizing of grammar over her participation in the teacher education program and over one year of teaching experience upon completion of her MATESOL program. In analyzing these data, this study involved coding and categorizing processes to generate patterns of themes with reference to the research questions. This study is expected to contribute to an effort of preparing teachers with the expertise of teaching academic literacy and development in international contexts by considering how local contexts shape their pedagogical knowledge development

A case study of how a large multilevel EFL writing class experiences and perceives multiple interaction activities

purpose of this study was to examine students ’ experiences and perceptions of multiple interaction activities (self-directed, peer, and teacher feedback) implemented in a large multilevel EFL writing class in one private technological university in the souther