Academy of Education and Social Sciences Review
Not a member yet
183 research outputs found
Sort by
Using Technology to Create Simulations that Aid Content Comprehension of Pre-Service Teachers in Karachi
Full text linkThis paper presents a qualitative study on the use of technology to create simulations and other meaningful digital experiences that enhance the content comprehension of pre-service teachers enrolled in a B.Ed. (Hons) program in Karachi, Pakistan. The study focuses on how a mathematics pedagogy course used digital tools for the teaching of mathematical concepts, like GeoGebra, to create interactive simulations to illustrate trigonometric ratios and their relationship to angle measures. It also examines how a social studies pedagogy course used Google Earth and Google Arts & Culture websites to create immersive virtual experiences of historical and geographical concepts. The paper presents the subjective experiences of student-teachers from the aforementioned courses as recipients of this technology-based pedagogy. Student-teachers reported that the simulations, virtual field trips, and other interactive and immersive digital experiences used in their mathematics and social studies pedagogy courses helped them visualise complex ideas and relationships, which strengthened their content comprehension and increased their motivation to learn
Paid Academic Writing Services: A Growing Challenge to Academic Integrity of Higher Education, Pakistan
Full text linkThis study aimed to explore the phenomenon of Paid Academic Writing Services (PAWS), a growing challenge to academic integrity in Professional Education in Pakistan. As the exploratory case study method was used to investigate, the researchers adopted a predesigned interview guide to collect data from faculty members currently serving at the Business Schools in Pakistan. The findings of the study confirm two patterns of the Academic Writing Services (AWS), commonly used in the Pakistani context, including paid and unpaid services. The first pattern includes the process where students outsource the completion of their academic tasks, including assignments, quizzes, research papers and theses to a third party that is otherwise to be accomplished by themselves. The second pattern includes the process where students have their friends or family members complete an assignment and submit it as their work. The findings of the study also highlight the challenges faced by the faculty members in preventing the PAWS. The study recommends that higher educational institutes in Pakistan develop, under the supervision of HEC, an effective policy and mechanism to ensure the fundamental values of academic integrity
Listening Anxiety Among Female ESL Students: A Case from Pakistani Girls College
Full text linkEnglish language users are increasing rapidly in Pakistan due to several benefits attached to the English language in education, economy, and media. Even though learners are taught the compulsory subject of English language till the degree level, they face difficulties in four rudimentary language skills: listening, reading, writing, and speaking. The present study emphasizes the listening anxiety of English language learners in the Pakistani ESL context with a specific focus on the impact of listening practice on listening anxiety in Pakistani ESL female undergraduate students. Following the pre and post-test design, the listening anxiety levels of the participants were measured before and after the listening practice. The study sample comprised one hundred and fifty undergraduate students of a public sector girls\u27 college in Karachi, Pakistan. The data were collected through a developed scale ‘Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale’ (FLLAS) and analysed using the statistical procedure. Two-tailed paired sample t-test and Pearson correlation were run to check the relationship between pre- and post-listening data. The findings reveal a significant decrease in listening anxiety and a negative correlation between listening practice and listening anxiety. The study concludes that second language listening practice has a significant positive effect on language listening anxiety
Fear of Lockdown and COVID19: Semantics of Frames
Full text linkThe study identifies the frames associated with COVID-19 ‘during lockdown’ and ‘after lockdown’ and examines the embodiment (sensory experiences) associated with them. To explore participants’ perceptions of the pandemic in the two different contexts, the study uses the theory of Frame Semantics, which proposes that the frames/concepts acquired through experiences help in the meaning-making process. Following cognitive discourse analysis, description tasks and focus group interviews were conducted with 30 university students to obtain discourse. Selected participants were studying in the universities in Islamabad and were asked to narrate in detail their experiences of the virus during and after the lockdown. The method of analysis follows Fillmore’s FrameNet project to identify frames and the lexical markers that trigger them. Data analysis results in the identification of relevant frames in the discourses (written and spoken linguistic data taken from participants), some of which are available in the FrameNet database, while some have been created. The identification of 48 new frames in the discourses points towards the creation of a new embodiment (sensory experiences) ‘during lockdown’ and ‘after lockdown. ’ The findings suggest that the percentage of negative frames is higher in ‘during lockdown’ discourses (76.4%) as compared to the ‘after lockdown’ discourses (32%). Furthermore, modifications in the FrameNet database are suggested
Impact of Gender Identity Conflict on Mental Wellbeing with Mediating Role of Body Satisfaction in Emerging Adults
Full text linkThis research aimed to investigate the impact of conflicted gender identity on mental well-being with the mediating role of body satisfaction in emerging adults. A cross-sectional research design was used to collect data from the emerging adults with at least an intermediate level of education. Results indicated that gender identity conflict had a negative relationship, while body satisfaction had a significant positive relationship with mental well-being. When gender identity conflict decreases, mental well-being increases because a high score on the gender identity conflict questionnaire represents low gender dysphoria and a high score on the mental well-being questionnaire indicates good mental well-being. When body satisfaction increases, mental well-being also increases. Gender identity conflict and body satisfaction emerged as significant predictors of mental well-being. The result also showed that body satisfaction significantly mediated the relationship between gender identity conflict and mental well-being. This research helps in evaluating the recent rising trends of conflicted gender identity and body image in emerging adults, moreover, its adverse effects on mental wellbeing could be minimized
A Qualitative Study on Teachers’ Reflective Practices in Private Schools of Karachi, Pakistan
Full text linkThis qualitative study explores teachers’ perspectives on reflective practices in education and how these practices inform their teaching strategies. The sample size is 8 teachers from two private schools in Karachi, Pakistan (4 from each school). Through a semi-structured interview guide with 8 elementary school teachers, the research explores their experiences with reflection, both formal and informal, and the challenges they face during reflective processes. A semi-structured interview guide comprising open-ended questions was employed to get teachers’ perspectives, along with an observation guide. The analysis identified several themes, including teachers’ perception of reflection as a significant tool for enhancing their teaching practices, fostering collaboration amongst peers, differentiated instruction, and enhanced students\u27 learning outcomes, promoting personal and professional ongoing professional development. Teachers, when involved in reflection, become competent reflective practitioners. However, challenges such as time constraints, lack of structured reflection opportunities, and insufficient leadership support were noted as challenges that hinder regular reflective practices. The findings indicate that while teachers value reflection, more supportive environments are required to encourage reflective practices. This study emphasises the importance of reflection in teacher development and provides insights into how schools can create environments that support reflective practices to foster professional growth and improve teaching quality
Impact of Teacher Expectations on Students’ Behaviour and their Academic Performance
Full text linkThis research aimed to explain the impact of teacher expectations on students’ behaviour and their academic performance, which has been studied for many years. The study focuses on the role of teachers, who play a significant part in student learning and psychological development. The study aimed to explore teachers\u27 roles and expectations about a child\u27s psychological development and how it affects their behaviour and academic performance. This was a qualitative explanatory research study, and it was used as the methodology. The research study used a purposive sampling method through open-ended semi-structured interviews, exploring ten questions (five questions were used for parents and five for teachers), focusing on 10 participants (five parents of primary level students and teachers teaching grade 1.) for their opinion on the expectations of teachers and its impact on the child\u27s behaviour and academic performance. Feedback from the interviews showed different opinions and ideas from both groups. Since each child has unique abilities and a different learning style, the study recommends that teachers mentor each student, especially the struggling ones, to outgrow their current potential. Crucial to this intervention is to raise teacher expectations that have a direct and immediate effect on the psyche and motivation of a student and, hence, his performance in academics
Exploring the Impact of Self-Regulation on Secondary School Students’ Motivation
Full text linkSelf-regulation boosts student motivation by creating a sense of autonomy, competence, and control over their learning process. Students developing self-regulation abilities are more likely to accept responsibility for their learning process, resulting in greater intrinsic motivation. Therefore, the current study intended to investigate the influence of self-regulation on secondary students’ motivation. The survey comprised secondary students from Karachi\u27s private-sector schools. The researcher used a random sampling design to select a sample of 100 secondary school students. The questionnaire was designed to assemble and analyse the data. The significant findings demonstrated that self-regulation strongly and positively impacts students\u27 motivation to improve learning and educational performance. The study emphasised students\u27 increasing motivation with self-regulation in their learning process, providing helpful information for educators and policymakers to prioritize approaches and educational activities that accelerate self-regulation skills to sustain and increase students\u27 motivation and thereby boost their overall growth and success in secondary school
Impact of Stress on Employee Performance at Banking Sector AJK
Full text linkThis study aimed to investigate the relationship between perceived stress and employee performance, along with the moderating role of gender among bank employees (from private and public sector banks) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Standardised scales were used to assess perceived stress, its subcomponents (perceived helplessness and lack of self-efficacy), and employee performance. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, independent-samples t-tests, and moderation analysis were conducted to analyse the data. The results revealed a significant negative correlation between perceived stress and employee performance, confirming that higher stress levels are associated with decreased work performance. Significant gender differences were found, with female employees reporting higher perceived stress than male employees. Moreover, gender moderated the relationship between perceived stress and employee performance, indicating that the negative impact of stress was more substantial for females. These findings emphasise the importance of implementing gender-sensitive stress management strategies in the banking sector. The study contributes to the literature by exploring gender as a moderating factor. It suggests that future research examine other potential moderating variables, such as work-life balance or organisational support. Overall, the research highlights the need for targeted interventions to enhance employee well-being and optimise performance under stressful work conditions
Effectiveness of Literacy and Numeracy Drive Application: An Analytical Study Based on Teachers’ Perceptions and Students’ Learning Achievements in Punjab
Full text linkThe study’s objective was to discover head teachers’ and teachers’ perceptions about the role and students’ achievement trends in Literacy and Numeracy Drive (LND) data in mathematics and English except Urdu. LND as an application was a step taken by the Government of Punjab, Pakistan, which started in 2015 and continues in the government primary section schools for grade three students of the province. The population comprised all primary section heads and teachers in 53 boy’s public schools, consisting of 390 head teachers and teachers using a stratified sampling technique. The study’s nature was quantitative and involved a survey method for data collection. The achievements of students’ trends were analysed. The data collected were analysed using Mean as statistics with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The data revealed that head teachers and teachers have positive perceptions of English and mathematics, with high perceptions of mathematics. The students’ trends were also more positive in mathematics. It was recommended that mathematics in LND is more favourable than English. A study may be conducted for boys and girls separately by considering all three subjects of LND in Punjab province