Transforming the Civic Engagement Leader Program to Create Sustainable Leadership

The Clearinghouse for Volunteers, part of the Feinstein Civic Engagement Program, runs a Feinstein Experience every fall to provide service opportunities to all URI 101 freshmen and other student volunteers. Before fall 2012, URI 101 students were required to participate in service projects chosen by their professors together with their URI 101 class. In fall 2012, the Feinstein Experience changed to fit student preferences and passions. Now, URI 101 students and other student volunteers can sign up for any project that matches their interests and/or schedule. Civic Engagement Leaders (CELs) lead the community service experiences for the Feinstein Experience. My honors project worked on transforming the Civic Engagement Leader program to better suit the new Feinstein Experience model and developing successful future servant leaders through a sustainable leadership training model. CELs were required to attend a leadership class as part of their experience. As the teaching assistant, I helped implement many new changes to the class structure. One of the biggest changes was fall training. We changed it from a one-day training to a two-day training to ensure leaders understood concepts the first day and saw the concepts executed the following day. Smaller class changes included more in-depth reflection activities through a forum discussion, critical thinking activities that showed the importance of resources, a quiz to assess their knowledge of the program, and more skills acquisition through various trainings such as first aid and Safe Zone. The main objective was creating more confident and competent servant leaders by developing a leadership toolbox. Many CELs are natural leaders while others need time to embrace their inner servant leader. We wanted to improve on four main areas in the “toolbox” including knowledge, skills, values, and motivation so that all CELs walk away with greater depth in each category. We want them to have knowledge about civic engagement, skills to execute civic engagement projects, deeper understanding of their values as it pertains to civic engagement, and motivation to continue being leaders in their communities

A STUDY ON PROBLEMS IN SPEAKING OF ENGLISH-MAJORED FRESHMEN AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

In this globalization era, there have been drastic changes taking place all over the world. People’s desires are fulfilled when they clearly express their ideas and opinions to others. Thus, they need to learn speaking skills in order to fulfill their ambitions, desires, and goals. However, it is so difficult for students to master this skill because they encounter some common problems when speaking. Therefore, the research entitled "A study on problems in speaking of English-majored freshmen at Tay Do University and some suggested solutions" was carried out in order to identify common problems in English speaking of English majored freshmen at Tay Do University and provide some suggested solutions. In this study, questionnaires and interview papers were used as the main instruments to collect the data. The participants were 80 English-majored freshmen in the two classes of English course 16 including 16A and 16B at Tay Do University. The study's findings revealed that freshmen majoring in English had several common problems with vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, the influence of mother tongue, and psychology in speaking. It is expected that this study will assist English-majored freshmen at Tay Do University in recognizing and overcoming obstacles in the process of speaking.  Article visualizations

FACTORS AFFECTING MOTIVATION OF ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS TOWARDS LEARNING ENGLISH AT A UNIVERSITY IN THE MEKONG DELTA, VIETNAM

It could be broadly accepted that motivation plays its fundamental role as one of the most important elements in foreign language learning. The present research investigated factors affecting motivation in learning English of freshmen at Tay Do University. The participants were 84 freshmen studying in Faculty of Linguistics and Literature. In the study process, these participants were given questionnaires which consisted of several statements related to the mentioned factors and the interview to get information. The collected data from the two instruments mentioned above were all analyzed afterward. The current study showed that there were elements that motivate freshmen towards English learning. Parental, environmental, teacher’s and intrinsic (personal) factors were examined. It is hoped that this research can be helpful for not only students but also teachers in learning and teaching English. Article visualizations

AN INVESTIGATION INTO DIFFICULTIES IN ENGLISH LISTENING OF FRESHMEN MAJORING IN ENGLISH AT A UNIVERSITY IN THE MEKONG DELTA, VIETNAM

English is a very popular language in the world. However, learning a foreign language is not an easy process for learners, especially the English listening process. In fact, most learners believe that it is hard for them to master this skill. Therefore, the research “An Investigation into Difficulties in English Listening of Freshmen Majoring in English at a University in the Mekong Delta” was conducted with the purpose of helping these students to recognize clearly their own problems in English listening. Statistical data were collected from eighty-five English-majored freshmen. The main instrument of the study was a questionnaire. The findings of the research would point out the students’ difficulties in linguistics, including vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, intonation and accent; background knowledge; and difficulties from their own minds. One more notable purpose of this research is that thanks to the results, students can now solve their own problems, so that they can study better. Article visualizations

Dispersion and nonlinearity properties of small solid-core photonic fibers with As2Se3 substrate

Characteristics of As2Se3 photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with a solid-core and small-core diameter are numerically investigated in the long-wavelength range (from 2 to 10 μm). A full modal analysis and optical properties of designed photonic crystal fibers with lattice constant Λ and filling factor d/Λ are presented in terms of chromatic dispersion, effective refractive index, nonlinear coefficients, and confinement loss. The simulation results show that a high nonlinear coefficient of 4410.303 W–1·km–1 and a low confinement loss of 10−20 dB·km–1 can simultaneously be achieved in the proposed PCFs at a 4.5 μm wavelength. Chromatic dispersions are flat. The values of dispersion increase with increasing filling factor d/Λ and decrease with the increase in lattice constant Λ. In particular, some chromatic dispersion curves also cut the zero-dispersion line at two points. The flat dispersion feature, high nonlinearity, and small confinement loss of the proposed photonic crystal fiber structure make it suitable for supercontinuum

PROBLEMS IN VIETNAMESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF RELATIVE CLAUSES FOR ENGLISH-MAJORED JUNIORS AT TAY DO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

Realistically, Vietnamese-English translation is not easy for Vietnamese students to master, and relative clauses are not typical in Vietnamese. Therefore, learners cannot avoid mistakes in their translation practice. Concerned researchers carried out a study to identify common Vietnamese-English translation errors in terms of English relative clauses. The participants were 60 juniors from the Bachelor of English course at Tay Do University. Test papers and interviews were employed as the instruments. The collected data from the two instruments mentioned above were all analyzed carefully afterward. The results of the study showed that the students suffered from a variety of grammar and vocabulary problems hindering them from translating Vietnamese into English correctly. Article visualizations

INFLUENCE OF STRUCTURAL PARAMETERS ON OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PHOTONIC CRYSTAL FIBERS WITH CIRCULAR LATTICE

We demonstrate in this study that near-zero, ultra-flattened chromatic dispersion can be achieved over a wide range of wavelengths in photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) by means of slight variations in the geometrical parameters of the cladding. To do that, a new solid-core circular PCF design with various air hole diameters and lattice constants is presented, and the design features are numerically analyzed in detail. After 40 simulations, we determined three structures that possess optimal dispersion with the following lattice constants (Ʌ) and filling factors for the first ring (d1/Ʌ): Ʌ = 0.8 µm, d1/Ʌ = 0.45 for #F1, Ʌ = 0.9 µm, d1/Ʌ = 0.45 for #F2, and Ʌ = 1.0 µm, d1/Ʌ = 0.45 for #F3. High nonlinearity and low attenuation are outstanding features of our model. With these advantages, the proposed fibers are targeted for smooth flat broadband supercontinuum generation for near-infrared applications

NONLINEAR CHARACTERISTICS OF SQUARE SOLID-CORE PHOTONIC CRYSTAL FIBERS WITH VARIOUS LATTICE PARAMETERS IN THE CLADDING

Nonlinear characteristics of fused silica, solid-core photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with a square array of air holes are studied numerically. We present a novel design that emphasizes the difference in air hole diameters in the photonic cladding. These PCFs have the advantages of flat dispersion, high nonlinearity, and low attenuation. Based on simulation results, three optimal structures, denoted #F1, #F2, and #F3, having anomalous and all-normal dispersions in the near-infrared range are selected to investigate characteristic properties at the pump wavelength. Such PCFs open up many possibilities for nonlinear optical applications, especially supercontinuum generation