Toward an Integrated Framework for Language Testing and Intervention

An integrated framework for language testing and intervention with a paradigm T??LI?T? was proposed and illustrated. The proposed framework combines approaches from Error Analysis, Need Analysis and Systems Instruction. The operation of the framework was illustrated based on the data derived from a corpus consisting of the transcripts of hundred (100) students from a college in Yola metropolis. The transcripts were analyzed using the COMPFORM-MARKCHART method of error correction. The test served as a pre-intervention language test and the first component of the framework (T?). The result of the analysis was then used to design the ERROR PROFILE of the students. Based on this profile, a Language Intervention technique (LI) comprising of two sub-components was designed; that is Language Teaching for Common and Specific Errors [LTCSE] and Language Task for Specific Students [LTSS]. The last component of the framework is a post language intervention test [T?] which was designed to test the efficacy of the language method/approach adopted. The paper concludes with a discussion on the prospects of the framework within the context of Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL).Keywords: Pretest, language Intervention, Post-test, EDP, LTCSE, LTSS.

Toward an integrated Framework for Language Testing and Intervention

An integrated framework for language testing and intervention with a paradigm was proposed and illustrated. The proposed framework combines approaches from Error Analysis, Need Analysis and Systems Instruction. The operation of the framework was illustrated based on data derived from a corpus consisting of the transcripts of hundred (100) students from a college in Yola metropolis. The transcripts were analyzed using the COMPFORM-MARKCHART method of error correction. The test served as a pre-intervention language test and the first component of the framework (T?). The result of the analysis was then used to design the ERROR PROFILE of the students based on which a Language Intervention technique (LI) comprising of two sub-components: Language Teaching for Common and Specific Errors [LTCSE], and Language Task for Specific Students [LTSS] was designed. The last component of the framework is a post language intervention test [T?] which was designed to test the efficacy of the language method/approach adopted. The paper concludes with a discussion on the prospects of the framework within the context of Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL)

Structuring Team Teaching to Enhance Teaching and Learning of Literature-in English and English Language in Secondary Schools

The prospects of team teaching in enhancing language teaching and learning in the secondary school was examined. An integrated framework with a structural paradigm [T??LI?T?] proposed by Kamai & Badaki (2011) was adopted as a framework for the study. The data was derived from a pre-intervention test [T?] where seven (7) English language teachers of Concordia College, Yola, Nigeria were constructively assessed while teaching English language and Literature in English in their various classes and the performance of students in pre and post Language Intervention [LI] tests. A post-test[T?] indicated that team teaching was responsible for the enhanced performance of students. Equally, the results of the teacher evaluation show that team teaching  provides opportunity for teachers to identify their strengths  and weaknesses. The study concludes that team teaching is a relevant technique for enhancing the teaching and learning of English and literature in the secondary schools. Keywords: Integrated Language Framework , Language Intervention ,Team Teaching, Secondary School

A multi-theoretical analysis of the dynamics and effects of terminology in Nigerian and South African high school textbooks on life sciences

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThe performance of students in science subjects continues to be a source of concern in many African countries. In Nigeria and South Africa, one explanation frequently given has to do with students‘ proficiency levels in the medium of instruction and textbook publishing. Although several studies have been conducted from these standpoints, the issue of terminology variation within and across textbooks, and between textbooks and assessment tasks in English-language science textbooks, seems to be understudied. As a consequence, we do not know how terminological variation manifests, its effects on learners‘ achievement and the strategies learners can use to respond to it. Against this background, this study uses a multi-theoretical framework to examine the dynamics of terminology in Life Sciences textbooks in the context of learner‘s engagement with written science

Effects of Feedback Intervention on Team-teaching in English Language Classrooms in Nigeria

The typical Nigerian English language classroom has a large class size and lacks qualified language teachers. These factors reflect in the quality and quantity of teaching in the English as a Second Language classroom. Team teaching or co-teaching is an intervention strategy which language teachers can use to address these issues.  Not only does the final school leaving Certificate reveal a growing concern ,but the assessment result in schools, as well as students attitude towards the learning of English Language reveals this trend in our schools. The purpose of this research was to study the effectiveness of Feedback Intervention Strategy (FIS) or Co-generative Dialogue (CgD) in maximizing Team Teaching in a Nigerian Senior Secondary School.  In this study, an attempt is made to investigate the effectiveness of feedback on team-teaching as against the traditional one-teacher method of teaching the English Language with its broad and comprehensive aspects.  While some have argued that the one teacher method was effective in the past, research shows that the method seems to have lost its effectiveness in recent time; it suggests – from the research conducted – that a lack of holistic content capacity affects teaching methodology; hence, the need arises to adopt the Team-teaching Methodology in teaching English Language in our Secondary schools. The participants for this study were chosen from senior secondary school students in North Eastern Nigeria. Two certified English language teachers and two classes participated in this study. One each of the teachers' two classes was selected to be the experimental group (30 learners), and the remaining two classes (30 learners) were the control group. A mixed method research design was adopted for the study. The data sources for the study included student’s Achievement scores and a survey on the perception of co-teachers and learners on team teaching. Research findings were then triangulated across data sources and discussed. The research findings showed that the average final exam scores of students receiving team teaching were higher than those of students receiving traditional teaching. The two teaching methods showed significant difference in respect of students' achievement. More than half of the experimental students preferred team teaching to traditional teaching. The discrepancy between team teachers' expectations of team teaching and its implementation was apparent. The differences in the teaching strategy also exposed team teachers to challenge and being compared with each other by students in class. Besides, the team teachers had been unprepared for this comparison, especially in regard to class management. The implementation of team teaching, however, did not win the support of the school administration, which impeded teachers in holding team meetings and caused students doubts regarding team teaching. Research findings were triangulated across data sources. Feedback gives team-teaching impetus for improvement. The in-built mechanisms of monitoring, thorough supervision of notes, test, and assignments; the students’ clinic and teachers’ consultation forum make the feedback process easy, consistent, and reliable. Unlike the traditional one-teacher style where there is little or no supervision or an in-built mechanism for sourcing reliable feedback, team-teaching provides the enabling environment for teachers and students to assess their progress or lapse. Feedback in itself strengthens team-teaching both for the students, the teachers, and the school. Keywords: Education, Team- teaching, Co-teaching, Feedback, English language, Nigeri

Writing biology, assessing biology: The nature and effects of variation in terminology

There has been substantial research into terminology as an issue in learning science, especially against the backdrop of concerns over school literacy in science and as sometimes reflected in the poor performance of high school students in assessment tasks. Relevant research has emphasized issues such as lexical load, complexity and metaphor. Variation in the use of terminology has, however, been relatively under researched, although there is evidence that terminology use does vary within and across high school textbooks of science. Drawing on an eclectic theoretical framework comprising transitivity analysis (Halliday 1994), legitimation code theory semantics (Maton 2013a), and the context-specific term model (Gerzymisch-Arbogast 2008), this article identifies and classifies variations in the terminology employed in three high school textbooks of biology in Nigeria. It then determines what impact assessment tasks which use terms that differ from those employed in students’ study materials have on students. Examples are found of variant terminology impeding science literacy and task performance, even though there is reason to suspect such variation might in fact have been leveraged to enhance cognition

First measurements of high frequency cross-spectra from a pair of large Michelson interferometers

Measurements are reported of the cross-correlation of spectra of differential position signals from the Fermilab Holometer, a pair of co-located 39 m long, high power Michelson interferometers with flat, broadband frequency response in the MHz range. The instrument obtains sensitivity to high frequency correlated signals far exceeding any previous measurement in a broad frequency band extending beyond the 3.8 MHz inverse light crossing time of the apparatus. The dominant but uncorrelated shot noise is averaged down over $2\times 10^8$ independent spectral measurements with 381 Hz frequency resolution to obtain $2.1\times 10^{-20} \ \mathrm{m}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ sensitivity to stationary signals. For signal bandwidths $\Delta f > 11$ kHz, the sensitivity to strain $h$ or shear power spectral density of classical or exotic origin surpasses a milestone $PSD_{\delta h} < t_p$ where $t_p= 5.39\times 10^{-44}/\mathrm{Hz}$ is the Planck time.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Interferometric Constraints on Quantum Geometrical Shear Noise Correlations

Final measurements and analysis are reported from the first-generation Holometer, the first instrument capable of measuring correlated variations in space-time position at strain noise power spectral densities smaller than a Planck time. The apparatus consists of two co-located, but independent and isolated, 40 m power-recycled Michelson interferometers, whose outputs are cross-correlated to 25 MHz. The data are sensitive to correlations of differential position across the apparatus over a broad band of frequencies up to and exceeding the inverse light crossing time, 7.6 MHz. By measuring with Planck precision the correlation of position variations at spacelike separations, the Holometer searches for faint, irreducible correlated position noise backgrounds predicted by some models of quantum space-time geometry. The first-generation optical layout is sensitive to quantum geometrical noise correlations with shear symmetry---those that can be interpreted as a fundamental noncommutativity of space-time position in orthogonal directions. General experimental constraints are placed on parameters of a set of models of spatial shear noise correlations, with a sensitivity that exceeds the Planck-scale holographic information bound on position states by a large factor. This result significantly extends the upper limits placed on models of directional noncommutativity by currently operating gravitational wave observatories.Comment: Matches the journal accepted versio