EXPLORING THE EFFECTS OF GENDER AND PROFICIENCY LEVELS ON TURKISH EFL LEARNERS’ BELIEFS ABOUT LANGUAGE LEARNING: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Language learners’ beliefs about second language learning interact with their awareness, consciousness, attitude towards learning, strategy choices and motivations (Buyukyazi, 2010). Delving into learners’ beliefs provides an insightful view of learners’ perceptions and actions about their education, which also helps teachers to shape the language learning process with changing or adapting the methods and materials thereby reshaping the negative preconceptions of the learners about English language. To see the effect of the learners’ gender and language proficiency levels, 43 university level students contributed to the study. The data were collected with a 34-item Likert Scale called as The Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) developed by Horwitz. The data analysis revealed that while learners’ gender has no significant effect on the learners’ belief, their proficiency levels affect their beliefs about the nature of the language, foreign language aptitude, motivations and expectations from their second language learning procedures.Keywords: language learner’s belief; attitude; aptitude; preconceptio

Beliefs in Decision-Making Cascades

This work explores a social learning problem with agents having nonidentical noise variances and mismatched beliefs. We consider an $N$-agent binary hypothesis test in which each agent sequentially makes a decision based not only on a private observation, but also on preceding agents' decisions. In addition, the agents have their own beliefs instead of the true prior, and have nonidentical noise variances in the private signal. We focus on the Bayes risk of the last agent, where preceding agents are selfish. We first derive the optimal decision rule by recursive belief update and conclude, counterintuitively, that beliefs deviating from the true prior could be optimal in this setting. The effect of nonidentical noise levels in the two-agent case is also considered and analytical properties of the optimal belief curves are given. Next, we consider a predecessor selection problem wherein the subsequent agent of a certain belief chooses a predecessor from a set of candidates with varying beliefs. We characterize the decision region for choosing such a predecessor and argue that a subsequent agent with beliefs varying from the true prior often ends up selecting a suboptimal predecessor, indicating the need for a social planner. Lastly, we discuss an augmented intelligence design problem that uses a model of human behavior from cumulative prospect theory and investigate its near-optimality and suboptimality.Comment: final version, to appear in IEEE Transactions on Signal Processin

An exploration of teachers' epistemological belief: A case from in-service and pre-service physics teachers in Bengkulu

Epistemological belief is a belief, knowledge, and coaching value that is useful for creating a student learning environment to increase the belief and value system towards knowledge, learning, and teaching. However, there is a few explorations in the context of in-service and pre-service physics teacher. The aim of this study is to explore the epistemological beliefs of in-service and pre-service physics teachers based on their time period in teaching experience. This study used a mixed-method with a model explanatory sequential design. The quantitative data were collected through science epistemological belief questionnaires (n = 23) and the qualitative data were collected through interviews with teachers (n = 6) about their epistemological beliefs. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistic and a content analysis. The result from the quantitative data is that epistemological beliefs of in-service and preserving physics teachers are in a good category and the qualitative data showed that most of the in-service and pre-service teachers have epistemological beliefs on the transitional and instructive levels. The findings of this study can be considered in developing the teacher’s professionalism to have better physics classroom teaching and learning practice. Keywords: Epistemological Belief Physics Education In-service Teacher Pre-service Teache

Connecting Best Practices for Teaching Linguistically and Culturally Diverse International Students with International Student Satisfaction and Student Perceptions of Student Learning

This paper explores promising teaching practices for teaching linguistically and culturally-diverse international students by identifying the teaching practices that have high levels of international student satisfaction and student perceptions of learning. This study is based on the belief that the most effective teaching practices are where promising teaching practices, student satisfaction, and student perceptions of learning meet. Researchers used a mixed-methods research design that included an online-survey questionnaire, focus-group discussions, and individual interviews. All of the promising teaching practices identified as having high levels of student satisfaction have medium/high perceptions of student learning. Some of the promising teaching practices with high levels of student perceptions of learning have moderate levels of student satisfaction. Recommendations for professional practice are presented along with potential areas for further research

The Learning Styles Neuromyth Is Still Thriving in Medical Education

Learning Styles theory promises improved academic performance based on the identification of a personal, sensory preference for informational processing. This promise is not supported by evidence, and is in contrast to our current understanding of the neuroscience of learning. Despite this lack of evidence, prior research shows that that belief in the Learning Styles “neuromyth” remains high amongst educators of all levels, around the world. This perspective article is a follow up on prior research aimed at understanding why belief in the neuromyth of Learning Styles remains so high. We evaluated current research papers from the field of health professions education, to characterize the perspective that an educator would be given, should they search for evidence on Learning Styles. As in earlier research on Higher Education, we found that the use of Learning Style frameworks persist in education research for the health professions; 91% of 112 recent research papers published on Learning Styles are based upon the premise that Learning Styles are a useful approach to education. This is in sharp contrast to the fundamental principle of evidence-based practice within these professions. Thus any educator who sought out the research evidence on Learning Styles would be given a consistent but inaccurate endorsement of the value of a teaching technique that is not evidence based, possibly then propagating the belief in Learning Styles. Here we offer perspectives from both research and student about this apparent mismatch between educational practice and clinical practice, along with recommendations and considerations for the future

Self-learning of Information Literacy Competencies in Higher Education: The Perspective of Social Sciences Students

Preference for autonomous versus directed learning for the acquisition of information competencies (ICs) was analyzed among undergraduate social science students according to gender, degree program, belief in importance, and self-efficacy. Data were gathered using the IL-HUMASS (Information Literacy Humanities Social Sciences) online survey from students at five public Spanish universities enrolled in audiovisual communication, education, information science, pedagogy, journalism, psychology, social work, and tourism undergraduate programs during the 2013–2014 academic year. Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, and chi-square tests, as well as discriminant analysis, were performed. The results revealed a higher preference for the directed learning style in the four IL competency categories: searching, evaluation, processing, and communication-dissemination. Audiovisual communication, education, and journalism students showed a predilection for autonomous learning, whereas information science and psychology students preferred directed learning. Higher scores in belief in importance correlated with a greater preference for autonomous learning. In contrast, higher levels of self-efficacy were associated with a greater preference for directed learning.This research is part of the national R&D Project “Innovación y formación en competencias informacionales de profesores y estudiantes universitarios de ciencias sociales” (CSO2016-80147-R), financed by MINECO

Academic Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Young Adults with Learning Disabilities

Positive academic self-efficacy beliefs are associated with increased motivation, higher levels of persistence, and overall academic success. There is a gap in the literature regarding how young adult learners with identified learning disabilities who are also enrolled in postsecondary education characterize their development of academic self-efficacy beliefs and corresponding adaptive coping skills. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to develop a meaningful understanding of the lived experiences of young adult students with learning disabilities in the development of their self-efficacy beliefs and adaptive coping skills. Social learning theory, particularly the self-efficacy belief components, was the guiding conceptual framework for the study. Ten postsecondary students with identified learning disabilities were recruited through a purposeful sampling strategy and engaged in individual, semi-structured interviews. Moustakas\u27 steps to phenomenological analysis were employed to analyze the data. Analysis resulted in the emergence of 6 major themes in self-efficacy belief development: (a) the role of experience, (b) support systems, (c) role models, (d) adaptive coping mechanisms, (e) accommodations, and (f) effective educators. Insights from the analysis of the data may contribute to the further development of effective and supportive interventions, strategies, and accommodations for postsecondary students with learning disabilities

Experiential learning and the acquisition of managerial tacit knowledge

Tacit knowledge is believed to be one factor that distinguishes successful managers from others. We sought to determine whether levels of accumulated managerial tacit knowledge (LAMTK) were associated with managers' dominant learning styles. Instruments used in the study, involving 356 Malaysian public sector employees, included Sternberg et al.'s (2000) Tacit Knowledge Inventory for Managers and a normative version of Kolb's (1999a) Learning Styles Inventory (LSI-Ill). Findings suggest that LAMTK is independent of the length of subjects' general work experience, but positively related to the amount of time spent working in a management context. Learning styles also had a significant relationship. Subjects who spent most of their time performing management functions and whose dominant learning styles were accommodating had significantly higher LAMTK than those with different learning styles. We also found support for the belief that learners with a strong preference for all four different abilities defined in Kolb's learning theory may be critical for effective experiential learning