Teacher loyalty of elementary schools in Taiwan: the contribution of gratitude and relationship quality

Gratitude was an important missing factor in the extant relationship quality and relationship loyalty model. We introduced gratitude into the model of relationship quality and relationship loyalty. Two hundred and eighteen teachers from elementary schools in Taiwan were used to conduct an empirical research. The results show that teachers' gratitude has positive direct effects on teachers' trust, satisfaction and commitment. Teachers' trust has no significant effect on behavioural loyalty but has a significant effect on attitudinal loyalty. However, teachers' satisfaction has no significant effect on attitudinal loyalty but has a significant effect on behavioural loyalty. Teachers' commitment has a significant effect on behavioural and attitudinal loyalty. The mediating role of commitment implies that it (1) partially mediates the relationship between teachers' trust and attitudinal loyalty, and fully mediates the relationship between teachers' trust and behavioural loyalty; (2) partially mediates the relationship between teachers' satisfaction and behavioural loyalty, and fully mediates the relationship between teachers' trust and attitudinal loyalty.     

Investigating Students’ Conceptions of Technology-Assisted Science Learning: a Drawing Analysis

This study investigated high school students’ conceptions of technology-assisted science learning via drawing analysis, and explored how students with different degrees of computer experience and science learning self-efficacy may show different conceptions via their drawings. The participants included 335 senior high school students in Taiwan (179 male and 156 female). All of them were asked by guiding questions to make two drawings to represent their conceptions of technology-assisted science learning in actual and ideal contexts, respectively. Their background information including computer experience and science learning self-efficacy were obtained using self-reported questionnaires. Through drawing analysis, seven categories of conceptions of technology-assisted science learning were identified, including types of technology, location of learning, types of learning activities, content of learning, participants of learning activities, affordance of learning technology, and effects of learning technology. The results further revealed that the students’ conceptions of actual and ideal technology-assisted science learning significantly differed in some sub-categories of all categories except the category of participants of learning activities. Moreover, students’ computer experience and science learning self-efficacy may link to different conceptions of technology-assisted science learning. Future research and directions are also discussed.

     

The use of a dual-task paradigm to identify superior sensory organisation ability in rhythmic gymnasts

Previous study has showed superior sensory organisation ability in rhythmic gymnasts, but mostly in longitudinal data. With a cross-sectional design, this study used a dual-task paradigm to examine the above phenomenon. Fifteen female rhythmic gymnasts (15.0 ± 1.8 yr.) and matched peers (15.1 ± 2.1 yr.) were recruited. The Sensory Organization Test (SOT) was administered with a concurrent lower-demand (serial subtraction of three, serving as the baseline) or higher-demand (serial subtraction of seven, serving as the dual-task) arithmetic task. The results showed no main effect of group, but a group by level of arithmetic task (P = 0.001) interaction effect on SOT equilibrium score. The higher-demand task facilitated balance performance in the gymnasts, but it impeded performance in the controls, with the differences more pronounced in challenging SOT conditions. With the higher-demand task, the gymnasts adopted a sensory strategy with a higher visual ratio but a smaller somatosensory ratio compared to the controls. Better visual utilisation of sensory organisation ability was apparent in gymnasts, but only when the SOT test was performed with a higher-demand secondary task. We have demonstrated the efficacy of using the dual-task paradigm to identify the superior sensory organisation ability of adolescent rhythmic gymnasts.     

Miniaturization of dielectric liquid microlens in package

This study presents packaged microscale liquid lenses actuated with liquid droplets of 300-700 μm in diameter using the dielectric force manipulation. The liquid microlens demonstrated function focal length tunability in a plastic package. The focal length of the liquid lens with a lens droplet of 500 μm in diameter is shortened from 4.4 to 2.2 mm when voltages applied change from 0 to 79 V(rms). Dynamic responses that are analyzed using 2000 frames∕s high speed motion cameras show that the advancing and receding times are measured to be 90 and 60 ms, respectively. The size effect of dielectric liquid microlens is characterized for a lens droplet of 300-700 μm in diameter in an aspect of focal length.     

EFL teachers’ challenges and dilemmas in transferring theories and practices cross-culturally

This paper explores the performance and shared learning experiences of a group of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers studying in a U.S.-based graduate program. In order to assimilate the knowledge, a voluntary group was naturally formed outside a graduate course. The group meetings lasted from 4 to 5 hours on a weekly basis during a 13-week semester. The focus of this paper is to report and discuss the challenges and dilemmas facing EFL teachers when transferring new theories and knowledge to participants’ home contexts.     

An evaluation of two approaches for teaching phonemic awareness to children in Head Start

Several research studies linking early phonemic awareness to the prevention of later reading difficulties strongly suggest that phoneme segmentation and blending, rather than rhyming and alliteration abilities, are the key aspects of phonemic awareness that are related to the prevention of difficulties. Yet there is a persistent belief among many educators that instruction in rhyming and alliteration are adequate to develop phonemic awareness and developmentally more appropriate than segmentation and blending activities. Using quasi-experimental methods, I evaluated two approaches for teaching phonemic awareness to 4- and 5-year-old children in four Head Start classrooms. The first approach focused on rhymes, alliteration, and story activities. The second approach focused on phoneme segmentation and blending in the context of sounding out actual words. Results showed that children taught using the second approach produced significantly greater gains in phonemic awareness and letter–sound knowledge, compared to children using the first approach. Both approaches were more effective when teachers had previously taught attention skills to their children.     

Effects of rhyming,vocabulary and phonemic awareness instruction on phoneme awareness

Sixteen Head Start classrooms, involving 128 children, were randomly assigned to three approaches for augmenting early literacy instruction: (a) instruction in phoneme segmentation, blending, and letter–sound relationships, (b) rhyming instruction and (c) vocabulary instruction. The phoneme segmentation approach was more effective in promoting phoneme segmentation skill. Existing research suggests that phoneme segmentation skill is a better predictor of early progress in learning to read than rhyming skill or vocabulary knowledge. Thus, the results suggest that instruction emphasising phoneme segmentation is not only more likely to promote phoneme segmentation skill, but also more likely to promote future reading ability than rhyming or vocabulary activities, even for highly disadvantaged children as young as 4 years old.