APPRAISING BENINESE EFL TEACHERS’ BELIEFS ON FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN THE COMPETENCY-BASED APPROACH CONTEXT

This study explores Benin EFL beliefs on the two forms of assessment: formative and summative. Both forms of assessment are important in teaching adjustments, in determining priorities and addressing learners’ needs. The study was conducted in two EFL classes of Ouémé regions in Benin republic. Six EFL teachers and 106 EFL students of upper sixth forms (Terminales) were involved in this study. The data include interviews with Educational Facilitators (Head Teachers), School Board Educational Administrators, Educational Advisors and Schools Board Administrators at the departmental division of secondary education. Questionnaires were addressed to EFL students and class observation was also used as research instruments. The study indicates that EFL teachers need empowerment in making decision in their own classes owing to a certain number of constraints. It also shows that there is a need to revise test administration strategies in Benin secondary schools.  Article visualizations

Break Point: The Challenges of Teaching Multicultural Education Courses

Teaching multicultural education courses to preservice teachers exacts an emotional toll as they begin to acknowledge their ethnic awareness

SOCIAL INTERACTIONS AND INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES AMONG ENGLISH AS FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS: LESSONS FROM TRENDS IN BENIN REPUBLIC

This study examines Social Interactions on Instructional Practices among EFL Teachers in some secondary schools in Benin Republic. The methodology guiding the research is induced by the study typology. It considers a sampled population of seventy- seven 77 respondents made up of male and female teachers of English. The data collection tools adopted to operationalize the research are questionnaire and interview guide. Data emanating from the questionnaire harvest are disaggregated along the frequency and percentage lines. As for the interview data they are analyzed against the backdrop of the research questions. The findings of the study reveal four interactions types among EFL teachers. Those are mainly collaboration, individualism, contrived collegiality and balkanization. The study also comes up with the view that EFL teachers’ instructional practices are significantly influenced by social interactions. Therefore, it is important that educational authorities promote social interactions among teachers in order to enhance effective teaching and learning of English language

SOCIAL INTERACTIONS AND INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES AMONG ENGLISH AS FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS: LESSONS FROM TRENDS IN BENIN REPUBLIC

This study examines Social Interactions on Instructional Practices among EFL Teachers in some secondary schools in Benin Republic. The methodology guiding the research is induced by the study typology. It considers a sampled population of seventy- seven 77 respondents made up of male and female teachers of English. The data collection tools adopted to operationalize the research are questionnaire and interview guide. Data emanating from the questionnaire harvest are disaggregated along the frequency and percentage lines. As for the interview data they are analyzed against the backdrop of the research questions. The findings of the study reveal four interactions types among EFL teachers. Those are mainly collaboration, individualism, contrived collegiality and balkanization. The study also comes up with the view that EFL teachers’ instructional practices are significantly influenced by social interactions. Therefore, it is important that educational authorities promote social interactions among teachers in order to enhance effective teaching and learning of English language

The Aggregation Kinetics of a Simulated Telechelic Polymer

We investigate the aggregation kinetics of a simulated telechelic polymer gel. In the hybrid Molecular Dynamics (MD) / Monte Carlo (MC) algorithm, aggregates of associating end groups form and break according to MC rules, while the position of the polymers in space is dictated by MD. As a result, the aggregate sizes change every time step. In order to describe this aggregation process, we employ master equations. They define changes in the number of aggregates of a certain size in terms of reaction rates. These reaction rates indicate the likelihood that two aggregates combine to form a large one, or that a large aggregate splits into two smaller parts. The reaction rates are obtained from the simulations for a range of temperatures. Our results indicate that the rates are not only temperature dependent, but also a function of the sizes of the aggregates involved in the reaction. Using the measured rates, solutions to the master equations are shown to be stable and in agreement with the aggregate size distribution, as obtained directly from simulation data. Furthermore, we show how temperature induced variations in these rates give rise to the observed changes in the aggregate distribution that characterizes the sol-gel transition.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure

Mobilisation Du Foncier Au Profit Des Investissements Immobiliers Publics Dans La Commune D’Abomey-Calavi

Pour faire face à l’évolution démographique et à l’augmentation de la demande de logement dans la ville d’Abomey-Calavi, l’Etat Béninois a initié de nombreux projets de construction de logements économiques au profit des ménages. La présente recherche vise à analyser les stratégies de mobilisation du foncier au profit de ces investissements. La méthodologie de recherche s’est basée sur les recherches documentaires, la collecte de données auprès de 113 personnes par entretien et questionnaire, le traitement de ces données et l’analyse des résultats par le biais du modèle SWOT ou FFOM (Forces, Faiblesses, Opportunités et Menaces).Les résultats obtenus montrent que deux principales stratégies sont utilisées par les autorités pour mobiliser le foncier pour la  construction de logements sociaux.  Il s’agit de la constitution de réserves administratives à l’issue des opérations de lotissement  et de l’expropriation foncière pour cause d’utilité publique.  Au total, 539 réserves administratives ont été constituées dans la Commune d’Abomey-Calavi et environ 3 457 ha de domaines ont été expropriés au profit des programmes immobiliers. Trente-deux (32) logements de type F2, soixante-quinze (75) logements de type F3 et quarante-cinq (45) logements de type F4 ont été construits sur le site de la Zopah à Abomey-Calavi en 2008. De même, il est prévu la construction de 200 logements de type F2, 500 logements de type F3 et 300 logements de type F4 sur un premier site  dans l’Arrondissement de Ouèdo.  Sur un second site du même arrondissement, 8900 logements sont en cours de construction dont 3035 sont pratiquement achevés.  Malgré ces efforts en termes d’investissements,  les ménages font évoquent  des insuffisances qui ne facilitent pas un accès équitable et juste  auxdits logements. . Pour 75% des personnes interrogées, ces logements seraient trop chers ; 20% trouvent que ces logements sont exigus, et 5% trouvent que leurs plans architecturaux ne conviennent pas aux besoins des ménages. Il paraît donc  important que les autorités publiques travaillent davantage à l’ancrage socio-économique de ces logements pour faciliter leur acquisition et leur occupation par les ménages

Pulsations in hot supergiants

Massive stars are the cosmic engines that shape and drive our Universe. Many issues such as their formation, their stability and the mass loss effects, are far from being completely understood. Recent ground-based and space observations have shown pulsations in massive MS and post-MS stars, such as acoustic and gravity modes excited by the κ-mechanism and even solar-like oscillations. Theoretical studies emphasized the presence of strange modes in massive models, and recent theoretical analyses have shown that hot supergiants can pulsate in oscillatory convective modes. We review the instability domains of massive stars as well as their excitation mechanisms and present the latest results

The Calcineurin Antagonist, RCAN1-4 is Induced by Exhaustive Exercise in Rat Skeletal Muscle

International audienceThe aim of this work was to study the regulation of the calcineurin antagonist regulator of calcineurin 1 (RCAN1) in rat skeletal muscles after exhaustive physical exercise, which is a physiological modulator of oxidative stress. Three skeletal muscles, namely extensor digitorum longus (EDL), gastrocnemius, and soleus, were investigated. Exhaustive exercise increased RCAN1-4 protein levels in EDL and gastrocnemius, but not in soleus. Protein oxidation as an index of oxidative stress was increased in EDL and gastrocnemius, but remained unchanged in soleus. However, lipid peroxidation was increased in all three muscles. CuZnSOD and catalase protein levels were increased at 3 h postexercise in soleus, whereas they remained unchanged in EDL and gastrocnemius. Calcineurin enzymatic activity declined in EDL and gastrocnemius but not in soleus, and its protein expression was decreased in all three muscles. The level of PGC1-α protein remained unchanged, whereas the protein expression of the transcription factor NFATc4 was decreased in all three muscles. Adiponectin expression was increased in all three muscles. RCAN1-4 expression in EDL and gastrocnemius muscles was augmented by the oxidative stress generated from exhaustive exercise. We propose that increased RCAN1-4 expression and the signal transduction pathways it regulates represent important components of the physiological adaptation to exercise-induced oxidative stress