＂E-book flood＂ for changing EFL learners＇ reading attitudes

This paper was intended to investigate the effects of using e-books （or texts with multimedia support） in an ERP （extensive reading program） on EFL （English as a foreign language） learners＇ attitudes toward reading in English. In a junior high school in northern Taiwan, 109 students from 3 intact classes were recruited in the 10-week ERP of e-books. Each class was introduced to a list of 140 selected e-books for the reading program; each student was then encouraged to read e-books after school, with the target of reading 4 e-books every week. The degree of changes in reading attitudes was assessed by using the reading attitudes scale （Stokmans, 1999） before and after the e-book ERP. In addition, the teacher＇s class notes of the students＇ reading behaviors and reactions as well as their spontaneous oral or written feedback were analyzed to be triangulated with the quantitative data. The results showed that the e-books had positive effects on the students＇ attitudinal changes in all dimensions of reading attitudes, namely, utility, development, enjoyment and escape, as well as in all the cognitive, affective and conative components. The results also showed that the features of the e-books, especially oral reading, highlighting, animations and music/sound effects, were considered important to change their attitudes. The implementation of interaction and learner control in the e-books guaranteed positive attitudinal changes as well.     

Guilty or not guilty？ How Nigerian families impede the aspirations of Nigerian girls for higher education

The females＇ relatively low participation in higher education is discussed within the Nigerian society in a way that such issues are discursively placed in often contradictory, as well as extremely complicated contexts. Dominant discussions draw on the interplay between gender and students＇ performance across subjects, as well as on the influences of the often patriarchal school environment on students＇ overall performance, which with little or no attention given to parental and domestic agencies. This paper is an account of the stories of the experiences of schooling about some Nigerian school girls from the perspective of their families. The larger study from which this paper derives, examined the gendered perception of schooling amongst some senior secondary school students in a Nigerian suburb. A number of discussions among the 25 girls （and 25 boys） who participated in the study were analyzed to understand how gender played in their perceptions of schooling influences upon their lives. As this project was grounded in the interpretivist qualitative research paradigm, discursive interpretivist approach was employed to interrogate how parental and domestic agencies, can play upon the aspirations of young girls for higher education in both complex and subtle ways. Recommendations for changes in policy and practice are made.     

Relationship Between Teacher Factors and Student Achievement： A Correlational Study of Secondary Schools

Teachers always played a significant role in the intellectual and moral development of students by using various techniques, assessments, and methods to improve student achievement in school＇s subjects. This study therefore focuses on the effect of teacher factors, such as assessment interval, communication language, the distance of residence, and the teacher＇s personal characteristics （gender, age, academic and professional qualification, designation, experience, and in-service training） on the 9th grade students＇ achievement in three subjects （English, Chemistry, and Mathematics at secondary level）. The population of the study is comprised of all ＂public sector＂ secondary schools, male and female teachers, and boy and girl students. A total number of 16 secondary schools （eight for boys and eight for girls）, 114 secondary school teachers （66 males and 48 females）, and 2,404 students （1,400 boys and 1,004 girls） were selected through purposive sampling techniques. Multiple statistical procedures, Spearman and Pearson correlation, mean, and standard deviation were employed to obtain stronger validity to the study. The results of the study identify weak and negative weak relationship between most of the teacher factors and student achievement in three subjects but the relationship between students＇ background and learning achievement in all three subjects were found positively correlated.     

Rites of passage： A comparison of US,Malaysian and Brazilian adolescents

This study compares the life events perceived as ＂rites of passage＂ from adolescence to adulthood by respondents between the ages of 14 and 23 in 3 countries and discusses the possible influences of culture and globalization on these perceptions. Participants include： （1） 250 adolescents from the US （125 males and 125 females）; （2） 191 adolescents from southeastern Brazil （70 males and 121 females）; and （3） 163 adolescents from Malaysia （76 males and 87 females）. These adolescents ranked a variety of life events which may be perceived as indicative of adult status by completing a questionnaire about perceived rites of passage. Although there were similarities among the 3 groups, several differences also emerged. The most commonly noted indicator of adult status for Malaysian youth was physical maturity, followed by completing one＇s education. Participants from the US cited financial independence as the major indicator of adult status, while those from Brazil cited the ability to make important decisions independently from family and to take responsibility for others, such as children, aging parents or a spouse. Brazilian youth were significantly more likely to cite a love affair and voting in major elections as rites of passage than were participants from the other 2 countries. Participants from the US were significantly more likely to cite military service, and Malaysian youth were significantly more likely to consider completion of education and achieving physical maturity as rites of passage. Gender and age differences within groups were evident on some items, but these were not consistent across groups. Possible explanations for the differences between countries and implications for educators working with adolescents in rapidly changing societies are discussed.     

Determinants of Malaysian adult learners＇ distance learning

This study attempts to identify the factors perceived to be important in choosing an Institution of Higher Learning （IHL） for distance learning. One thousand five hundred questionnaires were distributed to the first year students in the social sciences distance learning programs and 980 valid responses were received of Malaysian public university. The results show that the top three factors influencing their preferred institution are qualification recognition IHL, future career advancement, and personal satisfaction. The results of this study provide insights to the IHL, employers and academics on the nature and relative importance of the factors perceived important for adult learners in the selection of their preferred IHL.     

The effects of science,technology, society and environment （STSE） education on students＇ career planning

The leakages in secondary level education brought forward the necessity to restructure the educational system so as to address the social and individual needs and meet the requirements of Turkey; therefore, a ＂reformation＂ study became an obligation. The formal education in Turkey starts at the age of 6, when the individual is shaped within the system. Determination of the characteristics of an ideal future citizen of a country should be apprehended at all levels of education and individuals should attain these appreciated characteristics. The reformed science education programs in Turkey aim to guide the individuals to be scientifically and technologically literate. Through enabling an individual, who is in a technological media, to attain the required knowledge, skills and attitudes, the individual should have the ＂science and technology literacy and creative thinking＂ skills. Individuals should recognize the technological environment they live in as well as the dimensions and facilities of technology, and should be aware of the fact that they could make use of these opportunities. In the light of this aim, this study involves the teaching of ＂separating mixtures＂ to 9th grade students in relation with science, technology, society and environment and the examination of its possible effects on students＇ achievement as well as their career choices. The Chemistry Achievement Test and the Career Choice Questionnaire were administered as pre- and post-test to serve as data collection tools. The study concluded that chemistry education in relation with science, technology, society and environment would lead students to choosing different fields for their future careers by changing their perspectives towards science. A significant increase in students＇ chemistry achievement levels was also observed.     

University teachers＇ approaches to teaching and their pedagogical use of ICTs： A comparative case study of Finland,Japan and India

The purpose of this study was to explore what salient characteristics can be found in some university teachers＇ approaches to teaching in Finland, Japan and India, and in what ways university teachers in Finland, India and Japan use ICTs （information and communication technologies） in their own teaching. Furthermore, this study aimed to investigate what ICT applications these same teachers use in their teaching. The data were collected via an electronic survey and interviews. The participants （N=21） were university teachers from Finland （N=8）, Japan （N=I0） and India （N=3）. Their approaches to teaching were explored by applying the ATI （approaches to teaching inventory） and its modified version focusing on the use of ICTs in teaching. The study reported in this paper was a pilot study, thus the results are based on the limited number of respondents. The ATI and ATI ICT subscales and ICT inventory applied in this study have been confirmed to be valid. The university teachers in Japan and Finland differed in their approaches to teaching： The Finnish teachers scored higher on the CCSF （conceptual change orientated, student-focused） approach to teaching than the Japanese teachers, while the Japanese teachers scored higher on the ITTF （information transmitting, teacher-focused） approach to teaching. Two Indian teachers were classified as having a teacher-focused approach to teaching, while the third was classified as having a student-focused approach to teaching. The teachers＇ differences in their use of ICTs related more to their disciplinary status than to their cultural background.     

The effective teaching of comparing Orff music method with traditional music approach for music reading and melodic patterns singing for 3rd grade elementary students in Taiwan

The Orff music method has been internationally practiced and recognized as one of the leading music methods in the past fifty years. The success of this approach is that this method encourages all students participating in the designed music activities in the music class to interact with the teacher and other classmates using the Orff approach rather than the traditional one-way music learning approach in the traditional music classroom in Asia. While the children are situated within an environment where music activities and bodily movements are stimulated, the children＇s aesthetic music knowledge can be influenced significantly （Carlson, 1990）. In this study, there were a total number of 180 3rd graders from three elementary schools in Taiwan who participated in this research. The control group which consisted of three classes with a total number of 90 students was the class using the traditional music method taught by a regular classroom teacher, while the experimental group, which consisted of another three classes with a total number of 90 students, was the class taught using the Orff music method by the researcher. The study was controlled in the sense that the six music classes were ascertained to be of equal ability in their understanding of music before the experimental factor was applied. As well, there were no significant differences in age or mental capacity, while the difference in genders was only minimal. The results of this research revealed that not only did the students who had the Orff music method training perform better than the traditional music method on both melodic patterns dictation and music reading tests, but the Orff training also helped the experimental students to have a solid understanding of rhythmic structures and basic music knowledge.     

家庭食谱利于大脑健康(英文)

Quality time with the family was linked to good mental health in young people. Youngsters who used mental health services had less than five family meals a week on average,while healthy peers dined or lunched with the relatives six times,a Spanish study found. The research centered on 259 youngsters living with their parents,82 of whom were seeking treatment.Anxiety and depression were the main problems.     

Study on Learning Motivation of Higher Vocational Colleges Students in Tianjin

Learning motivation occupies an important position in non-intelligence factors,as it plays a pivotal role in university students’ successful completion of their studies and strengthening of professional knowledge base.However,the present university students generally lack motivation in higher education.This research used questionnaire method,which is a questionnaire random sample in 500 students of learning motivation from four comprehensive higher vocational colleges of Tianjin,and explores the status quo of learning motivation in higher vocational students of Tianjin.The result shows:The learning motivation level of higher vocational colleges students is above middle level;Male on the learning motivation total level is significantly higher than female;Rural students in the learning motivation on the aggregate level is significantly higher than that of urban students;Look from the different grades,sophomore students have lowest level of learning motivation;Freshmen learning motivation is at highest level.     

Cultivation of Positive Psychological Quality for Primary School Students： Connotation and Approaches

Positive psychology focuses on positive energy and good training of students＇ positive psychological quality helps to better dig this paper, the positive psychological quality training should be the work. Pupils should develop their positive personality quality cooperative organization system should be built as a positive through qualiiies of human. In primary schools, the and exert students＇ psychological potential. In focus in the school mental health education positive emotional experiences. Parent-school psychological quality training platform. Parent-school cooperation, classroom teaching and students＇ club activities are three ways proposed in the paper for the cultivation of positive mental quality.     

Creativity and Language Usage in Interactive and Integrated Projects

This paper aims at outlining the dual-focused approach used to train architecture students to work independently on re-development and re-usage concepts in an Erasmus IP （intensive programme） workshop, where English was used as the working language. The creative tasks were combined with communication skills （social and technical English, negotiation skills）, which were to enable the students to present their outcome publicly in the final presentation. The underlying concept is that students work in small international groups and develop their own method to address the given problem in the form of a real project. Through the project-based approach, students search for information that accompanies their project ideas, which helps them find a viable solution. The creative work process is completed by a thorough evaluation and intensive reflection phase in order to strengthen the students＇ learning experience. Additionally, the interdisciplinary approach, as well as the multinational aspect that originate from different cultural and educational backgrounds of the students, shall contribute to the interactive work process. This process of interaction is based on the idea of experiential learning that sees knowledge as the transformation of experience.     

Dimensions of learning process over global environmental problems： An evaluation of roger conceptual learning method regarding Turkish undergraduate students

The main objectives of the study have been testing Roger conceptual learning method with regard to Turkish students and to investigate the applicability of the method on graduate students. The experimental group was formed by l0 volunteer students. The study lasted 16 weeks according to group discussion method. In this period, global environmental problems were handled under 8 headings. The research data was gathered from students＇ diaries or through semi-structured group interviews. The data was evaluated using the content analysis method. In the results of analysis, it was achieved that first three dimensions of Roger model were formed in most students and the last two dimensions were significant in some students. Therefore, it might be stated that Roger conceptual learning method handled in the study, not only with its conceptual but also emotional and pedagogic dimensions, functions similarly on Turkish graduate students as well.     

What Does Teaching in Samoan Bilingual Classrooms Look Like？ Observations as Evidence-Based From a New Zealand Professional Learning and Development Perspective

This paper reports on the instructional practice of teachers who have similar language and culture as their students in a bilingual cluster （Cluster A） involving three schools and seven teachers in delivering the curriculum to year 0 （5-year-old） to year 8 （12/13-year-old） students. The 30-40 minutes baseline observations conducted on teachers＇ instruction during a reading session were part of a Ministry of Education＇s （MOE） professional learning and development project （in progress） to increase student achievement in English literacy in these classrooms through evidence-based in-class facilitation. We hypothesized that teachers in these bilingual classes were perhaps not making optimal use of children＇s prior knowledge, particularly their linguistic and cultural strengths, to increase robust and in-depth oral discussions for understanding the texts during the reading lessons. The baseline observations were coded under exchanges known to enhance reading comprehension and specifically related to vocabulary, checking, incorporation, extended talk, awareness, and feedback, and were analyzed for the purposes of： （a） feeding back to teachers what their instruction looked like; （b） creating discussions around teachers＇ strengths and weaknesses that had arisen out of the instructional and student achievement data; and （c） identifying professional development needs for teachers and their students. It was found that teachers and students＇ discussions around a concept or word were limited and that students＇ oral strengths were not fully optimized for understanding. We report here the first phase involving Samoan teachers teaching Samoan students in Samoan bilingual classrooms. The second phase is in progress with the last phase starting midyear. The findings from these two phases will enable some discussions to be made around shifts in instructional practice, if any, their impact on student achievement and how these might be sustained.     

Factors affecting Turkish students＇ achievement in mathematics

Following past researches, student background, learning strategies, self-related cognitions in mathematics and school climate variables were important for achievement. The purpose of this study was to identify a number of factors that represent the relationship among sets of interrelated variables using principal component factor analysis and examine the contribution of each factor to the explanation of the variance in the students＇ mathematics score using multiple regression analysis. The sample was prepared from students who participated in Programme for International Student Assessment （PISA） in Turkey. These data consisted of 3765 15 year-old Turkish students in 158 schools. The results showed that four factors under study totally accounted for approximately 34 percent of the variance in mathematics achievement. All of the factors had statistically significant effects on the achievement. The findings are very important for Turkish education system because the fact that changing school climate and improving the learning strategies are much easier to achieve than changing background factors affecting students＇ performance.     

Educational management in transitionalized world of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning in Thammasat University

Education reforms in transitionalized world arose first against neo-classical education or ＂humanistic education＂ which resembled classical education in many respects, with the most concern being in both majority and minority of students. Besides, they resembled in that their effects force the instructors teach for the tests, to make the curriculums change to standard, to push the students to become the academic entrepreneurs, etc. Necessarily, the academic of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning in Thammasat University has been adjusted. Then, this quantitative in research approach focuses on educational management guidelines. The open-ended questionnaire and structural interview are main instruments. Percentage, mean, mode, standard deviation, F-test and Pearson-correlation were used for analyzing the data. The research finding reveals that the mainstream and the alternative aspects in the educational management guidelines concern with external factors such as the entrepreneurs＇ satisfaction, the standardization and the students＇ voices. The entrepreneurs＇ satisfaction relates to the general qualifications, identifications and abilities of the graduates under the trend of selecting between government universities and private universities in rate of 3：1. The standardization means new curriculum structure： 25% of general basic courses, 10%-I 5% of elective courses and 60%-65% of architectural program courses. The students＇ voice indicates the reduction on central control and standardized testing.     

Attitude, Perception and Use of E-Learning at Open University Malaysia

To ensure the success of the e-learning initiatives, OUM has developed its own e-learning management system, known as myLMS. Since its introduction, many modifications and improvements have been introduced to increase its effectiveness. It is now timely that OUM take stock of its students＇ attitudes towards e-learning. Thus, a survey was conducted on about 1,000 students at one of OUM＇s own learning centres, that is, the Kelantan Regional Centrel. The study indicated that generally the teacher cohort had a somewhat neutral attitude towards e-learning. The use of e-learning was more specifically aimed at achieving short term goals of obtaining good coursework and examination grades by capitalizing on the use of the Discassion Board and Courseware. A closer examination reveals that the females prefer the Discussion Board while the males prefer the Courseware. Learners in the Engineering and English programmes had more positive attitudes towards e-learning compared to learners in the Mathematics and Science programmes. Learners with CGPA 〉 3.0 who are categorized as high achievers are more positive towards e-learning as compared to the low achievers （ CGPA 〈 3.0）. Age difference, learners＇ income per month, learners＇ Internet and e-learning habits were also found to be predictors of attitude towards e-learning.     

An Investigation of Factors That Contribute to Student Satisfaction From Online Courses＂ An Example of an Online Accounting Course

Although most courses are offered in the traditional synchronous way where teaching and learning mainly take place in the classroom, the Internet has proven to be an effective tool in learning. The demand of online courses is constantly growing, however, there is a paucity of research of online delivery success factors, especially of accounting courses. The aim of this paper was to investigate＇the factors that contribute to student satisfaction from online teaching and learning of an accounting course. This study was conducted at a university in the United States （U.S.） amongst 80 students enrolled in an online accounting course over a period of two semesters. The quantitative data are based on the students＇ course evaluation forms of the instructor＇s teaching and overall satisfaction with the course. The findings suggest that the students found the asynchronous online teaching and learning interesting and challenging. The factors that mainly contribute to student satisfaction include the instructor＇s preparation for the course and her availability to students, the clear grading criteria, the assignment which they found useful, and the other resources that were available online. They value the least the development of writing skills. Additionally, this study proposes that there is a positive significant correlation between the instructor＇s overall performance and the overall student satisfaction from the course. The instructor＇s performance, availability, and easy to use technology enhance the learning and teaching from online pedagogies.