Education Commons^™

Using Goal Setting And Task Analysis To Enhance Task-Based Language Learning And Teaching, Joan Rubin

Dimensions

This paper will focus on the contributions Goal Setting and Task Analysis can make to more effective Task-Based language learning and teaching. Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching has received sustained attention from teachers and researchers for over thirty years (Ellis, 2003; Leaver & Willis, 2004; Long, 1985; Loschky & Bley-Vroman, 1993; Nunan, 2006; Willis & Willis, 2007). It is a well-established pedagogy that includes the following characteristics: major focus on authentic and real-world tasks, choice of linguistic resources by learners, and a clearly defined non-linguistic outcome (Ellis, 2003). Important as a focus on real life tasks and authentic language is, …

Culture And Sustainability: Lessons From The Oyster And Other Metaphors, Vicki Galloway

Dimensions

The world is your oyster! proclaims a promotional poster for a study-abroad program, confirming that the oyster-as-world, like all good metaphors, has done some morphing since the days of Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor. Newer bands of shell material have repainted the mollusk metaphor, transforming it from ostracism, opportunism and exploitation to openness, opportunity and exploration, and thus an apt symbol for the intercultural experience. Indeed, Robinson’s (1988) definition of culture as “a system of symbols and meanings” seems to evoke the very image of the oyster’s constant production of shell layers: “past experience influences meaning, which in turn affects …

Study Abroad As Professional Development: Voices Of In-Service Spanish Teachers, Christopher J. Jochum, Jared R. Rawlings, Ana María Tejada

Dimensions

The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to understand how four in-service Spanish teachers interpreted their participation in a summer study abroad program and how the experience contributed to their ongoing professional development and language proficiency. Using a multiple case design (Simons, 2009; Stake, 2005; Yin, 2009), the researchers conducted interviews, recorded field observations and collected participant journals. By analyzing these teachers’ voices, it was found that the experience revealed a newfound realization of their language proficiency and its impact on their professional practice. A salient finding of the study abroad experience was that these teachers expressed a commitment to …

Changes In Beliefs About Language Learning And Teaching By Foreign Language Teachers In An Applied Linguistics Course, Laurel Abreu

Dimensions

This article presents the results of a study on the language learning and teaching beliefs of graduate students enrolled in an applied linguistics course in a language teaching program. Ten participants completed a questionnaire at the start of the course and another at the end; their responses were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Following the course, changes were identified in the participants’ beliefs about the difficulty of learning a second language and their goals for their future students.

All That Glitters Is Scolt: 50 Years Of Language Teaching And Learning

Dimensions

SCOLT Dimensions Volume 50

Teaching Students To Fish: Creating A Sustainable Student Peer Research Program, Mallory R. Jallas, Meggan D. Smith

All Musselman Library Staff Works

A Peer Research Mentor (PRM) program was developed at Musselman Library, Gettysburg College to augment traditional reference services and expand library outreach. Goals included enhancing these students’ information literacy skills helping them become better researchers, as well as sharing that knowledge with peers. This poster will highlight the initial and on-going training, their involvement at the reference desk, and outreach projects to date.

“I’M Trying To Get My A”: Black Male Achievers Talk About Race, School And Achievement, Quaylan Allen

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This study seeks to challenge deficit views on Black male education by highlighting the perspectives of academically successful Black males in a secondary school setting. Employing interpretive qualitative methods, I present the narratives of academically successful Black males, emphasizing their reflections on race, school and academic achievement. In particular, this study highlights the educational dispositions and expectations of Black males, including the influences of their support systems on their academic trajectories. One support system comprised of parents, including the academic expectations held of their sons as well as their racial socializing practices. Another support system included their teachers, particularly those …

Project View Book, Office Of Development & Alumni Relations

Alumni Center

From its humble beginnings in 1903 as a teachers college through its transition to a global public research institution, Western Michigan University has called Kalamazoo its home. The University’s location did not happen by accident, it was the community’s vision for and commitment to education that brought the new school to Kalamazoo. The University’s original building—a highly visible landmark atop Prospect Hill—was erected to represent the integral ties between a proud community and its school.

Today, Prospect Hill is undergoing a renewal that when complete will reaffirm the special and unique relationship between the citizens of Kalamazoo and WMU. The …

The Irish Experience: Identity And Authenticity In Irish Traditional Music, Elizabeth Graber

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Over the last century, Irish traditional music, or “trad,” has become a global phenomenon that has flourished in communities from the United States of America to Japan. A musician need not be Irish in heritage to play and do justice to Irish traditional music or to feel a strong emotional connection to it; yet ethnic ties, real and imagined, constitute a powerful reason to play. The music is inextricably linked with the poetically-titled Emerald Isle even if its musicians are not. In this project, I explore and analyze the many facets of perception of and participation in Irish traditional music, …

Twins In School, Katelyn Theresa Smith

Psychology and Child Development

No abstract provided.

The Spinnaker March 2015, University Of North Florida

Spinnaker

Student newspaper for the UNF community. Date: March 2015

Role Of Civil Society Institutions In Promoting Diversity And Pluralism In Chitral District Of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, Mir Afzal Tajik

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Pakistan is a country with a fast growing population of nearly 190 million people divided into a large number of ethnic, cultural, linguistic, political and religious groups. The basic ideology behind the creation of Pakistan was Islam and it was considered to be the unique force which could bind together the religiously, ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse society.

An overwhelming majority of Pakistan’s population is Muslim with Sunni and Shia as the two major schools of thoughts but there are many other smaller sects within Muslim and non-Muslim population. Ethnically, Pakistani society is divided into major groups such as Punjabis, …

Students Brave Rain, Interfaith Challenges On Alternative Spring Break, Julia Savich, '16, Anna Kerr-Carpenter, '17

News and Events (Discontinued Series)

No abstract provided.

A Gift For A Lifetime, Robert Overstreet

Lake Union Herald

No abstract provided.

Private In Name Only: A Statutory And Constitutional Analysis Of Milwaukee’S Private School Voucher Program, Julie F. Mead

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Breathing Life Into Information Literacy Skills: Results Of A Faculty-Librarian Collaboration, Divonna M. Stebick, Janelle L. Wertzberger, Margaret E. Flora, Joseph W. Miller

Education Faculty Publications

When an education professor and a reference librarian sought to improve the quality of undergraduate student research, their partnership led to a new focus on assessing the research process in addition to the product. In this study, we reflect on our collaborative experience introducing information literacy as the foundation for undergraduate teacher education research. We examine the outcomes of this collaboration, focusing on the assessment of the process. Using a mixed methods approach, we found that direct instruction supporting effective research strategies positively impacted student projects. Our data also suggest that undergraduate students benefit from not only sound research strategies, …

Using The Interactive Whiteboard To Teach Social Studies, Shelley Oakley

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

2015-March-01-Tbr Chancellor’S Award For Philanthropy Presented To Simonds, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

No abstract provided.

Military Resilience And Transformation: A Narrative Inquiry Highlighting The Challenges Faced By Military Veterans Of The Wars In Iraq And Afghanistan During Their Transition From Combat To Civil Society, Russell S. Lowe

Dissertations

This research examines major transitions in military life experienced by veterans of the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. These transitions include reintegration challenges that deployed military members encounter as they blend back into family, community, church and a peacetime setting, from the war-zone to a civilian career and lifestyle. While most military personnel are resilient and have the ability to recover from the difficult circumstances associated with combat, such as experiences and exposure to traumatic situations, many experience problems handling stress over the months or years of transitioning from a war-zone to civil society. The research focused on: the …

Hands-On Russian Culture Lessons, Ksenia S. Zhbanova, Audrey C. Rule, Michelle L. Tichy

Curriculum & Instruction Faculty Publications

The global diverse society necessitates that teachers develop cultural competency and use authentic resources for teaching. This article presents classroom-tested materials for teaching elementary students about aspects of Russian culture, developed by a native Russian and two education professors. Multiage, multi-racial American Midwestern students from a homeschooling cooperative learned vocabulary and concepts with statistically significant increases from pretest to posttest and a large effect size. The lessons began with recognition of human commonalities between Russian people and Americans, in accordance with omniculturalism theory. Lessons then highlighted and celebrated cultural differences through an exploration of Russian literature and culture. Culminating creative …

Losing Oneself And Manufacturing Bureaucracy In Contemporary Elite American Higher Education [A Review Of Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation Of The American Elite & The Way To A Meaningful Life, By William Deresiewicz], Jesse Swan

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Commentary about higher education can seem confused and wrongheaded. There are many reasons for this, but a common problem is that the general topic is usually poorly specified. One of the great virtues of William Deresiewicz’s description of the defilement of American higher education and of his proposals for its purification is that Deresiewicz’s description and proposals are concentrated on his cogently specified topic: the effect of elite education, specifically traced to the admissions process of the most exclusive American universities, on the people subjected to it. Much flows from Deresiewicz’s humane consideration of the topic, including a discussion of …

Exploring Ideas Onstage: A Creative Connection, Richard Glockner, Eric Lange

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

The Theatre/Cornerstone collaboration began in the spring of 2011. Upon learning that one of Cornerstone’s initiatives was the implementation of an annual common read, Theatre suggested the creation and delivery of a dramatic adaptation of the selection to be followed by a discussion for all students and faculty involved.

Schools In The U.S. 2015: Politics, Performance, Policy, And Research Evidence, Alex Molnar Ed., Luis Huerta, Sheryl Rankin Shafer, Michael K. Barbour, Gary Miron, Charisse Gulosino

Education Faculty Publications

This report is the third of a series of annual reports by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) on virtual education in the U.S. The NEPC reports contribute to the existing evidence and discourse on virtual education by providing an objective analysis of the evolution and performance of full-time, publicly funded K-12 virtual schools. Specifically, the NEPC reports: analyze the universe of proposed state bills related to virtual education; assess the research evidence that bears on K-12 virtual teaching and learning; describe the policy issues raised by available evidence; analyze the growth and performance of full-time virtual schools; and, offer …

Ink (2015 Spring/Summer, Culture Cover)

Ink, 2008-

The student-run features magazine covering the fashion, art, music and culture worlds at VCU and in Richmond. Published annually in print and updated regularly online. This issue had two covers.

Ink (2015 Spring/Summer, Fashion Cover)

Ink, 2008-

The student-run features magazine covering the fashion, art, music and culture worlds at VCU and in Richmond. Published annually in print and updated regularly online. This issue had two covers.

Mba Academic Teams Training And Measuring Team Skills Development And Team Satisfaction In The First Semester Of A Full-Time Mba Program, Crystal Clayton

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study explored the benefits of providing MBA academic teams with formal training. The purpose of this mixed methods, single case study design, was to investigate whether MBA teams training contributes to team skills development and student team satisfaction. Participants in this study were first year, full-time MBA students at a large Midwestern Research I institution. The Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness (CATME) was utilized to regularly administer peer and self-assessment of teamwork skills and track student team satisfaction. The research was broken into three main components. The first component included a quantitative element utilizing regular assessment readings of …

Those Were Some Of The Hottest Days Of My Life: The Genesis Of Scolt, Pete Swanson

Dimensions

The following article recounts the creation and development of the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT) through the words of one of its founders, Dr. Herman Bostick. The article is not intended to tell the entire history of the founding of the organization, nor the full story of Dr. Bostick’s contributions to the civil rights movement in the SCOLT region. Instead, readers will be privy to specific moments and thoughts surrounding a man and a movement that touch Southern language teachers and students to this day. Pieced together from interviews with Dr. Bostick, it shows the world house that he …

Ncssfl-Actfl Can-Do Statements: An Effective Tool For Improving Language Learning Within And Outside The Classroom, Aleidine J. Moeller, Fei Yu

Dimensions

This article explores the theoretical foundation of the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements, developed by the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL) and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), describes why and how to use these progress indicators in language education and reveals the value and impact on student learning when effectively integrated in the language classroom. These Can-Do statements serve as learning targets to document what learners “can do” with languages and can provide teachers and language programs with learning objectives for curriculum and unit design that are userfriendly, learner-centered and promote reflection and self-regulation …

Exploring Homework Completion And Noncompletion In Post-Secondary Language Study, Carolyn Gascoigne

Dimensions

While homework is something that language professionals often assign, based on the paucity of research on the topic, it is clearly not something to which much attention is given in terms of professional discourse or research. In the following pages, the author reviews the limited available research and describes a case study that seeks to examine what students are doing, as well as not doing, in terms of written and online homework in beginning post-secondary foreign language courses. Results are examined through the lens of self-efficacy theory. Implications include allowing for student choice in homework options, particularly for those students …

Panorama March 2015, Southern Adventist University

Panorama Parent Newsletter

This issue of the Panorama parent newsletter provides information on campus housing options, contains a Q&A with Dean Hall and Dean Willis, includes a profile on Darlene Turner, and highlights the Brotherhood and Sisterhood Bible study groups.