It’s Good to Talk: Oral History,Sports History and Heritage

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on what appears to be the relatively under-used methodologies associated with oral history – principally the interview as a primary source of data – in the writing of sports history. The observation is acknowledged as one made from a UK perspective, not least on account of the authors’ status as monolingual researchers, albeit from the different but culturally diverse nations of England and Scotland. The points of reference within this article are, therefore, necessarily drawn from works published in English, and the substantive oral history case studies are mostly sampled from those researched in the UK to date, chosen because they are either groundbreaking or illustrative of the opportunities, methodological challenges and politics that have come to be associated not only with the method itself, but the discipline of sports history. This paper will, therefore, firstly outline the development of oral history. Secondly, it will discuss the ways in which it has been applied within British sports history and, finally propose opportunities it presents for the future development of the discipline and those historians researching sport.     

The impact of the scoring system of a large-scale standardized EFL writing assessment on its score variability and reliability: Implications for assessment policy makers

Using generalizability (G-) theory and rater interviews as research methods, this study examined the impact of the current scoring system of the CET-4 (College English Test Band 4, a high-stakes national standardized EFL assessment in China) writing on its score variability and reliability. One hundred and twenty CET-4 essays written by 60 non-English major undergraduate students at one Chinese university were scored holistically by 35 experienced CET-4 raters using the authentic CET-4 scoring rubric. Ten purposively selected raters were further interviewed for their views on how the current scoring system could impact its score variability and reliability. The G-theory results indicated that the current single-task and single-rater holistic scoring system would not be able to yield acceptable generalizability and dependability coefficients. The rater interview results supported the quantitative findings. Important implications for the CET-4 writing assessment policy in China are discussed.     

地下水科学与工程专业就业现状调查及分析——基于中国地质大学地下水科学与工程专业近五年就业数据研究

通过中国地质大学(武汉)地下水科学与工程专业近五年的就业数据统计,并结合对2018、2019届毕业生的就业调查以及对招聘单位调研访谈,研究地下水科学与工程专业的就业现状和存在问题,并针对存在问题提出通过教育教学改革、就业能力养成和就业服务保障等措施提升地下水科学与工程专业就业质量。     

Making (Branded) News: The Corporate Co-optation of Online Journalism Production

ABSTRACT

As traditional news outlets decline and corporations cultivate publisher ambitions, brand journalism (i.e., native advertising and content marketing) has grown robustly. This paper examines and critiques the various ways in which those corporations have adopted and mirror news production practices, given the “techno-logics” of convergence culture and the political economy pressures of our media era. The research draws upon 28 in-depth interviews with brand journalism professionals who operate in the United States along with years of trade press coverage of the phenomenon. Findings illustrate how brand journalism is informed by traditional reporting fundamentals and techniques, the affordances and demands of online environments, and industrial shifts in media labor allocation.     

Counsellors perceptions of the phenomenon of concentration difficulties

Pupils’ lack of concentration is a concern in everyday classrooms in Norway as in many other countries. Whereas research has defined different behaviour issues in classroom contexts, there has been less focus on how the counsellors, working at the Educational and Psychological Counselling Service (EPCS), describe different behaviour issues. This article is based on a study that aims to develop a deeper understanding of how the counsellors perceive the term ‘concentration difficulties’. Even though the term is widely used in templates and in national strategic documents to describe pupils’ disruptive behaviour, few other studies emphasise this perspective. The study has a phenomenological-hermeneutic inspired approach and is based on individual in-depth interviews with counsellors working at the EPCS. The key findings suggest that the counsellors understanding of the term are influenced by their personal perceptions of the term, their education and the way they facilitate adapted learning.     

Precariously Employed Watchdogs?

A growing share of the media content we encounter as consumers and investigate as scholars is produced by journalists in non-standard employment situations. Researching the labour conditions of freelancers and interns can help us to understand important aspects of contemporary journalism—as well as the role it may or may not be able to perform in postmodern democracies. This article presents results from a research project that explores this growing yet understudied segment of atypical labour in journalism. The analysis is based on a review of recent literature on news production and working conditions in the media as well as 18 in-depth interviews conducted with interns and freelancers in Germany.     

论结构化面试在高校干部选拔中的应用

结构化面试与传统面试相比,有较高的信度、效度和社会公认度,是目前较为广泛使用的一种面试测评技术,在高校干部选拔中得到了越来越多的关注和重视。要提高结构化面试在高校干部选拔工作中的实施效果,应重点把握好工作方案制定、测评要素设计、试题编制、考官选调及培训、程序实施、面试质量评估等环节的工作。     

How school leaders search for and use evidence

Background: Often, a principal’s responsibilities include making decisions about the appropriateness of educational programmes to adopt in their school. Recommendations about programmes can be conflicting; so, a principal may need to search for evidence to inform their decision.

Purpose: The purpose of this small-scale study was to clarify how school leaders search for, and use, evidence to inform programme adoption. We sought to answer three research questions: (1) how do principals search for evidence, (2) how do they use common sources and (3) what sources do they consider most useful?

Sample: Twelve elementary school principals or vice-principals in Ontario, Canada participated in the study.

Design and methods: In telephone interviews, the participants described how they would respond to a fictional decision-making scenario and rated different sources of evidence. Responses were analysed in depth, using a mixed-method approach, which involved coding principals’ interview responses for themes and conducting a dual scaling analysis of their ratings of the usefulness of possible sources.

Results: Principals report valuing formal sources of evidence such as reports and articles. However, in practise, findings indicated that they would turn to people first.

Conclusions: School leaders prefer curated evidence from local educators to inform their decisions about the appropriateness of educational programmes for potential adoption.     

Swiss Elementary School Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Forest Education

This article investigates benefits and challenges of forest education in view of 257 Swiss elementary school teachers (1st–3rd grade), by means of a written questionnaire and 15 in-depth interviews. Two thirds of the teachers carried out forest education during normal lesson hours (mean visits = eight per year). Forests were clearly considered as an educational setting, and especially suitable for the enhancement of personal and social skills. Setting rules was seen as indispensable for successful forest education and a must to communicate to “novice” teachers. Moreover, the didactic of forest education should be implemented in teacher education curricula.