A comparative study of language learning strategy use in an efl context: Monolingual korean and bilingual korean-chinese university students

Since language is socially mediated and context dependent, it would be expected that learners’ use of language learning strategies may vary with the environment. Using the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (Oxford, 1990), this study examines the language learning behaviors and thought processes of two geographically and socio-educationally different groups by comparing learning strategy use as reported by 428 monolingual Korean and 420 bilingual Korean-Chinese university students. Monolinguals reported using compensation strategies most and affective strategies least. Bilinguals preferred to use metacognitive strategies most and memory strategies least. Despite a less favorable formal English education environment in the Korean-Chinese community and less experience in learning English, bilingual Korean-Chinese reported higher use of learning strategies, which is arguably indicative of the positive effects of the bilingual context in learning a new language.     

Using learning analytics in the Amazonas: understanding students’ behaviour in introductory programming

Tools for automatic grading programming assignments, also known as Online Judges, have been widely used to support computer science (CS) courses. Nevertheless, few studies have used these tools to acquire and analyse interaction data to better understand the students’ performance and behaviours, often due to data availability or inadequate granularity. To address this problem, we propose an Online Judge called CodeBench, which allows for fine-grained data collection of student interactions, at the level of, eg, keystrokes, number of submissions, and grades. We deployed CodeBench for 3 years (2016–18) and collected data from 2058 students from 16 introductory computer science (CS1) courses, on which we have carried out fine-grained learning analytics, towards early detection of effective/ineffective behaviours regarding learning CS concepts. Results extract clear behavioural classes of CS1 students, significantly differentiated both semantically and statistically, enabling us to better explain how student behaviours during programming have influenced learning outcomes. Finally, we also identify behaviours that can guide novice students to improve their learning performance, which can be used for interventions. We believe this work is a step forward towards enhancing Online Judges and helping teachers and students improve their CS1 teaching/learning practices.     

Maternal warmth and prosocial behaviors among low-SES adolescents: Considering interactions between empathy and moral conviction

ABSTRACT

The study examined the links among maternal warmth and adolescents’ empathic concern, moral conviction and prosocial behaviors. Participants were 311 adolescents from a low-income community (M age = 16.10 years; range = 14–19 years; 58.7% girls; 82.7% white; 13.6% Latinx). The results demonstrated that maternal warmth was positively associated with adolescents’ empathic concern and moral conviction. Empathic concern was positively associated with three common forms of prosocial behaviors, and moral conviction was positively associated with four types of prosocial behaviors. Empathic concern and moral conviction also interacted to predict selfishly and selflessly motivated prosocial behaviors. Discussion will focus on the role of maternal warmth in fostering sociomoral tendencies.     

What does better peer review look like? Underlying principles and recommendations for better practice

We conducted a literature review of best practice in peer review. Following this research, we identified five principles for better peer review: Content Integrity, Content Ethics, Fairness, Usefulness, and Timeliness. For each of these principles, we have developed a set of recommendations to improve peer review standards. In this article, we describe the role of peer review and how our five principles support that goal. This article is intended to continue the conversation about improving peer review standards and provide guidance to journal teams looking to improve their standards. It is accompanied by a detailed checklist, which could be used by journal teams to assess their current peer review standards.     

The use of mobile technology for work‐based assessment: the student experience

This paper outlines a research project conducted at Leeds University School of Medicine with Assessment & Learning in Practice Settings Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, collaboration between the Universities of Leeds, Huddersfield, Bradford, Leeds Metropolitan University and the University of York St John. The research conducted is a proof of concept, examining the impact of delivering competency based assessment via personal digital assistants (PDAs) amongst a group of final year undergraduate medical students. This evaluation reports the student experience of mobile technology for assessment with positive effects; concluding that overall the students found completing assessments using a PDA straight forward and that the structured format of the assessment resulted in an increased, improved level of feedback, allowing students to improve their skills during the placement. A relationship between using the PDA for learning and setting goals for achievement was clearly demonstrated.     

Passion and motivation for studying: predicting academic engagement and burnout in university students

Research on the dualistic model of passion has investigated harmonious and obsessive passion in many domains. However, few studies have investigated passion for studying and the role passion for studying plays in student engagement and well‐being. The present study investigated the relationships between harmonious and obsessive passion for studying and academic engagement (vigour, dedication and absorption) and burnout (exhaustion, cynicism and inefficacy) in 105 university students, controlling for the effects of autonomous and controlled motivation. Both harmonious and obsessive passion explained variance in academic engagement and burnout beyond autonomous and controlled motivation: harmonious passion predicted higher dedication and lower cynicism, obsessive passion predicted higher absorption, and both harmonious and obsessive passion predicted higher vigour and lower inefficacy. The findings suggest that passion for studying explains individual differences in students’ academic engagement and burnout beyond autonomous and controlled motivation and thus deserves more attention from educational psychology.     

“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”: Intergenerational Dialogics in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Viewer Mail

From the opening of each Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (MRN) program, Fred Rogers invites his viewers to converse with him. MRN viewer letters demonstrate the efficacy of this call in the familiar and conversational manner in which viewers address the program’s host. This article examines a sample of these letters from the perspective of Mikhail Bakhtin’s dialogical theorization of the conversational moment—a moment that “provokes an answer, anticipates it, and structures itself in the answer’s direction.” Along with Bakhtin, the dialogical perspectives of Roger Burggraeve, Paulo Freire, and Martin Buber are examined and applied to further elucidate the communication ethics at work in the lettered correspondence and on the television program. MRN viewer letters reveal a remarkable consistency in their thematic quality and constitute a field of study about the dialogical relationship between Rogers and his audience.     

Promoting writing amongst peers: establishing a community of writing practice for early career academics

In the current research-focused climate, academics are facing increasing pressure to produce research outputs. This pressure can prove particularly daunting for early career (EC) academics, who are simultaneously attempting to master new teaching and administrative demands while establishing their own independent research trajectories. Previous reports suggest that academic writing retreats can be an effective way of increasing research outputs. Such retreats generally involve academics from a range of career stages and require expert facilitators. Through organising a series of structured writing events, this project aims to cultivate an enduring community of practice for academic writers. Reflecting on our EC retreat and subsequent writing days with academics from different career stages, we suggest that success hinged on three key factors: (1) A formal structure comprising bounded periods of intense writing, flanked by group reviewing and goal-setting; (2) Co-located writing with participants based in a shared space, away from their usual workstation and distractions; (3) Peer discussions involving participants at a similar career stage. Specifically we found that writing amongst ‘equals’ increased productivity and confidence amongst EC academics.     

Promoting Science Among English Language Learners: Professional Development for Today’s Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Classrooms

We describe a model professional development intervention currently being implemented to support 3rd- through 5th-grade teachers’ science instruction in 9 urban elementary schools with high numbers of English language learners. The intervention consists of curriculum materials for students and teachers, as well as teacher workshops throughout the school year. The curriculum materials and workshops are designed to complement and reinforce each other in improving teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and practices in science instruction and English language development for ELL students. In addition to these primary goals, secondary goals of the intervention included supporting mathematical understanding, improving scientific reasoning, capitalizing on students’ home language and culture, and preparing students for high-stakes science testing and accountability through hands-on, inquiry-based learning experiences.