Job-seeking behaviour and job outcomes among Lebanese university graduates in private and public universities

This study, based on a questionnaire administered to graduates of private and public universities in Lebanon (N = 652), links job procurement to job satisfaction and occupational attainment. Significant differences in job procurement methods are found between male and female graduates and between graduates from private versus public universities. Job satisfaction is only affected by the job procurement method. The level of occupational attainment is affected by gender and job procurement method.     

What movie advisory boards say about the cinematic representations of love among older adults

Love and romance in later life as a field of investigation has gained a notable place among academic circles in recent years, with attention mainly directed to the portrayal of older characters’ sexuality in movies. In this article, we examine the ways four movie advisory boards, the social entities responsible for setting age limits on movie admissions and presenting their justifications, investigated movies considered by the American Association of Retired Persons as Best Grownup Love Story films. It was found that the American and British movie advisory boards regulate age admissions more strictly for these movies in comparison to their counterparts in Australia and New Zealand. Yet all boards share the same concerns, namely, attaching warnings that these movies are heavy in profanity and sexuality.

This directs attention to the potential contribution of movie advisory boards in the construction of representations of older adults.     

Processing of phonological,orthographic and cross-modal word representations among adult dyslexic and normal readers

This study examined the extent to which adultdyslexic readers exhibit concurrent deficitsfor phonological, orthographic and cross-modalword representations, and the relationshipbetween these deficits and decoding ability.Participants were 18 phonological dyslexics and19 normal readers at college level. Compared tonormal readers, dyslexics exhibitedsignificantly slower reaction times acrosstasks, and were less accurate on the unimodalorthographic task. Word pattern processing wasmore extensively related to decoding abilityamong dyslexic as compared to normal readers,but more robustly related to baseline measuresof phonological and orthographic processingamong normal readers. The results are discussedin the context of integrating the phonologicaland orthographic aspects of words, speed ofprocessing deficits, and the importance of taskselection when assessing adult dyslexicpopulations.     

Orientalism(s), world geography textbooks,and temporal paradox: questioning representations of Southwest Asia and North Africa

In this critical discourse analysis of six high-school world geography textbooks, we explore how constructions and representations of North Africa and Southwest Asia have served to reinforce Orientalist discourse in formal curriculum. Visual and written representations in these textbooks were overwhelmingly confounded by a traditional/modern dichotomy that constructed a paradoxical “Muslim world.” Gender and religion coding perpetuated the temporal paradox with women and Islam used as symbols of the traditional in need of western modernization. This paper begins with a contextualization of the study of textbooks and addresses investigations of media portrayals of Muslims, Arabs, and Islam. We then describe our theoretical grounding in criticalist perspectives and detail methods of analysis. Lastly, we present the three themes revealed through analysis and conclude with recommendations for enhancing geographic literacy in schools.     

An empirical analysis of differences in plagiarism among world cultures

Academic integrity issues, e.g. plagiarism, continue to plague higher education across the globe. Research has noted that the identification and tolerance of cheating behaviors varies dependent upon local culture. This quantitative, comparative study investigated the potential differences among actual rates of incidence of plagiarism among predominant countries and regions in which the literature identified as having academic integrity problems. This study gathered doctoral dissertations and master's theses from institutions in the selected locations and analyzed them with Turnitin® originality assessment software. Regions and countries evaluated were based on guidance from exigent literature. A Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted to evaluate any differences in the prevalence of plagiarism among these locations. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference among groups, χ2 (6, N = 266) = 19.545, p = 0.003, η2 = 0.074. Further analysis determined a mix of findings that both support and deny conceptions in other literature.     

Analysis of the Chemical Representations in Secondary Lebanese Chemistry Textbooks

This study focused on the requirements that chemical representations should meet in textbooks in order to enhance conceptual understanding. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the chemical representations that are present in 7 secondary Lebanese chemistry textbooks. To achieve the latter purpose, an instrument adapted from Gkitzia, Salta, and Tzougraki (Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 12, 5–14, 2011) was used. This instrument depends on 5 basic criteria: (a) type or level, (b) surface features, (c) relatedness to text, (d) existence and properties of a caption, and (e) degree of correspondence between representations comprising a multiple representation. The results of the study revealed that the chemical representations used in the selected textbooks are focused on the macro level with either implicit or ambiguous labels. Moreover, the selected textbooks use very few multiple, hybrid, or mixed representations. In addition, most chemical representations are accompanied by problematic or no captions. Recommendations for textbook writers and future research are discussed in light of these findings.     

Memory, maternal representations, and internalizing symptomatology among abused, neglected, and nonmaltreated children

A depth-of-processing incidental recall task for maternal-referent stimuli was utilized to assess basic memory processes and the affective valence of maternal representations among abused ( N  = 63), neglected ( N  = 33), and nonmaltreated ( N  = 128) school-aged children (ages 8–13.5 years old). Self-reported and observer-rated indices of internalizing symptoms were also assessed. Abused children demonstrated impairments in recall compared to neglected and nonmaltreated children. Although abused, neglected, and nonmaltreated children did not differ in valence of maternal representations, positive and negative maternal schemas related to internalizing symptoms differently among subgroups of maltreated children. Valence of maternal schema was critical in differentiating those with high and low internalizing symptomatology among the neglected children only. Implications for clinical intervention and prevention efforts are underscored.     

Strategies of resistance to anti-Islamic representations among Australian Muslim women: an intersectional approach

ABSTRACT

Contemporary anti-Islamic discourses in Australia construct Islam as an uncivilised belief system and its Muslim followers as homogenous unassimilable Others. Within these discourses, the diversity among Muslim women has been overshadowed, and they are constructed as a monolithic ‘veiled’ woman. Drawing on 20 conversational interviews with veiled and unveiled Australian Muslim women from various cultural backgrounds, this paper explores the diverse ways in which Muslim women resist and challenge anti-Islamic discourses on Islam, Muslims and Muslim women. Guided by intersectional theories on identity and resistance, our analysis show that the women drew on discursive and performative strategies to contest anti-Islamic representations that homogenise and vilify Muslims and construct Muslim women as veiled and oppressed. The findings also show that the ways in which women contested hegemonic anti-Islamic representations were diverse and informed by intersecting power and social locations, including race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. Implications for research on resistance and identity negotiations of minority groups are discussed.     

Career maturity of Lebanese students in higher education

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which Lebanese Baccalaureate II students' (Freshmen in american colleges) perceptions of their academic abilities match their actual achievements in both school and government examinations. A population sample of 2999 students were selected from a representative school sample (n = 122) throughout Lebanon. Students' demographic data, occupational choices and perceptions of their achievement were collected by a three-part questionnaire. Their cumulative grade averages in school and in government examinations were standardized and used to assess their career maturity. Findings indicated that most students wanted to become engineers or physicians while their actual achievement scores in school was average and in the government examination below average. Most correlational values between perceptions and actual achievement scores were either negative or insignificant. Students were found to make immature career decisions mainly because of the lack of any formal guidance programs in schools.     

The alignment between the fourth grade Lebanese science curriculum and classroom assessments

The purpose of this study was to investigate the alignment between the fourth-grade summative classroom assessments and the ‘Matter and Energy’ unit in the Lebanese science curriculum using: content and cognitive levels. Summative assessments were collected from a sample of 17 schools. The alignment between the classroom assessments and the Lebanese science curriculum were examined using three instruments: Curriculum Coding Sheet, Items Coding Sheet, and Item Analysis Sheet. The curricular learning objectives were used for matching the test items to the learning objectives in terms of content. Findings showed moderate content alignment; further analysis revealed that public schools had higher content alignment, and they covered a wider range of topics. In terms of cognitive level, there was a low alignment between the assessments collected and the curriculum; however, there were items that had higher cognitive level. Recommendations for curriculum developers and future research are discussed in light of these findings.     

Analysis of the Image of Scientists Portrayed in the Lebanese National Science Textbooks

This article presents an analysis of how scientists are portrayed in the Lebanese national science textbooks. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, to develop a comprehensive analytical framework that can serve as a tool to analyze the image of scientists portrayed in educational resources. Second, to analyze the image of scientists portrayed in the Lebanese national science textbooks that are used in Basic Education. An analytical framework, based on an extensive review of the relevant literature, was constructed that served as a tool for analyzing the textbooks. Based on evidence-based stereotypes, the framework focused on the individual and work-related characteristics of scientists. Fifteen science textbooks were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative measures. Our analysis of the textbooks showed the presence of a number of stereotypical images. The scientists are predominantly white males of European descent. Non-Western scientists, including Lebanese and/or Arab scientists are mostly absent in the textbooks. In addition, the scientists are portrayed as rational individuals who work alone, who conduct experiments in their labs by following the scientific method, and by operating within Eurocentric paradigms. External factors do not influence their work. They are engaged in an enterprise which is objective, which aims for discovering the truth out there, and which involves dealing with direct evidence. Implications for science education are discussed.     

A tracer study of Lebanese upper secondary school students

This paper presents data arising from a tracer study of 90 terminating Beirut upper secondary school students. Nearly all the students intended to transit to university, about half of them to science and technology programmes, and subsequently did so. Median anticipated earnings upon graduation were realistic, but a lack of information or guidance about higher education and career options was noted by a considerable proportion. The results of the study are discussed with reference to the as yet poorly elucidated dynamics of schooling with regard to attrition and transition to higher education and employment in Lebanon.     

Age of acquisition and the completeness of phonological representations

The age of acquisition effect(faster recognition and production of earlierlearnt than later learnt words) is a robustfinding in both picture naming and written wordrecognition and naming. One possibleexplanation of this effect is the PhonologicalCompleteness Hypothesis of Brown and Watson[(1987) Memory & Cognition 15: 208–216], which proposes that early acquired wordsare recognised and produced faster than lateacquired words because they have lessfragmented phonological representations. Thoughoften cited, this hypothesis has never beentested experimentally. The present study setout to test this hypothesis using aphonological segmentation task. If earlyacquired words are stored in a more completeform, then adult participants should be slowerto segment early words than late acquiredwords. In addition, if the AoA effect is aconsequence of the quality of an individual'sphonological representations then there shouldbe a clear relationship between phonologicalskill (as measured by the phonologicalsegmentation task) and the magnitude of the AoAeffect size. In order to assess therelationships between phonological skill andthe AoA effect in adults, participants werealso given a word and nonword naming task. Theword naming task manipulated AoA andspelling-sound consistency. The results of thesegmentation task failed to provide any supportfor Brown and Watson's (1987) phonologicalcompleteness hypothesis. Phonological skill wasfound to predict the size of the AoA effect inthe word naming task, but not the size of theAoA effect in the segmentation task.     

Opinion and the world of possibilities

Editor's Note: This is the concluding essay in a three-part series in which Professor Morson examines the intellectual maladies of the intelligentsia. The first essay, which appeared in the Spring 1993 issue, drew upon Russian intellectual history to clarify the concept of “the intelligentsia” and suggested its utility for an understanding of the politicized segment of the American professoriate. In the second essay, which appeared in the Winter 1993–94 issue, he contrasted the deterministic theories so attractive to both these groups with choice as experienced in the day-to-day realm of contingent events. Continuing this analysis, Professor Morson now examines “chronocentrism,” the view that the present moment is intellectually privileged in comparison with the past, showing it to be another of the basic elements of utopian thought. Exploring the relationship of multiple possibilities to intellectual freedom and pluralism, Professor Morson argues that there is a close connection between the appreciation of “open time” on the one hand, and the belief in free-wheeling dialogue, the tolerance necessary for democracy, intellectual modesty in the face of the world's complexity, and a rich sense of opinion, on the other. This essay is an adaptation of the final chapter of his new book,Narrative and Freedom: The Shadows of Time, and appears by the generous permission of Yale University Press.     

The academy and the world

In addition to being editor ofAcademic Questions and chairman of the National Association of Scholars