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A Critical Study of the Principles and Approaches to Needs Analysis
Get PDFEnglish language materials and courses are developed to cover the skills that learners require to master. In the domain of English language teaching, Needs Analysis (NA), also known as Need Assessment, is a process that aims to investigate the present level of English language learners and identify what they need to know. The NA process is unanimously accounted for as a crucial feature of English language learning, especially for teaching materials, learning activities, testing, and developing assessment programs. Due to its vital role, a great deal of research has been conducted on this process, and several approaches have been suggested for it in the literature. This paper aims to provide an overview of the needs analysis as well as its fundamentals and concepts. This paper also presents a review of previous research methods developed for NA and their strengths and limitations
Cyberbullying as a Threat to Young (retracted article due to duplicate publication)
Get PDFThe issue of cybercrime and other anti-social activities is increasingly discussed today. The cause is an increasing number of individuals, companies or states exposed to these threats. This article deals with the issue of cyber aggression as one of the kinds of other anti-social activities. The article presents the results of researches in the Slovak Republic, but also the results of a survey at selected schools conducted by the Faculty of Safety Engineering of the University of Žilina. The main aim of the article is to point out the issue of cybercrime and other antisocial activities among adolescents and to point out the relationship between their education and vulnerability. 
The Effects of Compliance on the Results of Management of Support Foundations of Public Universities
Get PDFThis work proposes to study Support Foundations that are private non-profit organizations which support public universities by managing their teaching, research and extension projects. These foundations are inserted as the Third Sector Institutions. The research targets verify if the compliance level affects the surplus probability of support foundations. The sample includes thirty-four support foundations. The accounting statements analyzed were the balance sheet; the deficit and/or surplus demonstration; the statement of changes in shareholders’ equity; the cash flow statement and the explanatory notes for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016. The analysis was performed by a checklist, including 31 (thirty-one) items. It is important to highlight that the data estimation was developed using the logit estimator, on a robust error panel and was included time and state dummies. The results showed that 55% (fifty-five per cent) of the Support Foundations comply with the current legislation. Once foundations are according to the legislation, its surplus probabilities decrease
Scale Development of Formative Higher Order Construct: Situational Strength at Work
Get PDFThe purpose of the study is to develop a scale measuring “situational strength at work” drawing on qualitative methods. This study contributes to the literature by using focus group and interview methods. The existing scale to measure this construct is based on the previously described theoretical universe. For item generation, nine interviews and one focus group studies are conducted. In order to measure content validity, interrater reliability index is calculated, and found as satisfactory
Book Review: Advances in Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation and Testing
Get PDFBook Review: Advances in Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation and Testing. Beatty, P. C., Collins, D., Kaye, L., Padilla, J. L., Willis, G. B., & Wilmot, A. (Eds.). (2019). Advances in Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation and Testing. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 978-1-119-26362-3, December 2019, 816 Pages
Gender Representation in Iranian High School Textbook Images
Get PDFMany studies have investigated how genders were represented in ELT textbooks. A critical part of ELT textbooks are their images, and how they reflect their authors’ ideologies have been the subject many studies. In an attempt to contribute to this line of research, the present study aimed to analyze gender representation in the images of the nation-wide ELT textbooks in Iran called Prospect 1, 2, and 3. Developing a converged framework by utilizing the principles and criteria presented for image analysis in Goffman (1979) and Kress & van Leeuwen’s (2006), the roles of both sexes were analyzed in terms of the active role, gaze direction, visual techniques, distance, and space illustrated in the images of the textbooks. The pictures were analyzed through content analysis and social semiological analysis, and Chi-square analysis indicated that the results of the study were statistically significant. The study found that in the images of the analyzed textbooks, males were depicted as playing a more active role and females were mostly portrayed as the reactive and goal participants. Also, the analysis of gaze direction revealed that males were frequently imaged as looking at the viewer while females were mainly illustrated as looking away from the viewer. Likewise, although women were typically shown in long shot frames – which expands the social distance between the participants in the images and the viewers of the images, men were frequently depicted in close-up frames – which implied their prominence. In contrast, on the subject of clothing, both males and females were portrayed as fully clothed in virtually all pictures of the textbooks, and women were never represented scantily or partially clothed. Concerning the places in which both sexes were portrayed in the images of the textbooks, it was shown that the authors illustrated a rather balanced view towards both males and females. Such a representation of genders in the Prospect Series textbook were discussed to be in line with the Islamic beliefs and culture dominant in Iran, but not consistent with the significant social roles both men and women play in the Iranian society
The Effect of Activity Theory-based Computer-assisted Language Learning on EFL Learners’ Writing Achievement
Get PDFSecond language writing instruction has been reconceptualized in accordance with the recent shift of paradigm in second language acquisition from a cognitive to a social perspective. Remarkably, this paradigm shift is in line with the introduction of computer technology and sociocultural theory to second language teaching. To explore the combined effect of computer technology and sociocultural theory on second language writing achievement, the researchers utilized an e-learning platform and activity theory to design an activity theory-based computer-assisted language learning framework appropriate for a second language writing course. For this purpose, 67 sophomores majoring in English translation were selected as the participants of this study. A mixed methods embedded research design was employed using various sources of data collection, including a writing pretest and posttest, two questionnaires, and a semi-structured focus group interview. The results indicated that computer-assisted language learning within the activity theory framework had a significant effect on the writing achievement of the students. Besides, the findings revealed that the students had a positive evaluation of the efficacy of the intervention in their writing achievement. This study has some implications for second language educators, researchers, curriculum developers, and courseware designers
Modeling AMO Factors Affecting English Teachers’ Performance Using System Dynamics
Get PDFIn the knowledge age, performance evaluation is one of the vital components of each organization, and educational organizations are no exception. Teachers are believed as the single most important factor influencing students’ academic success or failure. Considering the pivotal role of teachers, educational systems need to not only be assured that teachers perform at their best to enhance student learning, they also urgently require attempting to identify strengths and weaknesses in teachers’ practice for further professional development. The AMO theory of human resource management represents that the three independent system components which characterize an individual are: ability, motivation, and opportunity. Since there are many interactions between and among the components of a system, the system dynamics approach was selected to observe the changes in the behavior of an individual (system) overt time. For the purpose of this study, three types of surveys encompassing both Likert-scaled items and open-ended surveys were developed and then English language experts and teachers were asked to take participate in the process of data gathering. The results indicated that factors of teachers’ ability and motivation will affect teachers’ performance more than opportunity factors during the next 72 months in an S-shaped manner of behavior. 
Crude Oil Price, Urbanization and Environmental Pollution: Fresh Evidence from Selected African OPEC Member Countries
Get PDFThe paper investigates the effect of crude oil price and urbanization on the environmental pollution in the case of six selected OPEC African member countries for the 1986-2018 period and applied panel ARDL model. Finding from PMG model indicates that crude oil price, urbanization and foreign direct investment have a significant negative influence on environmental pollution in the long-run while in the short-run, urbanization has a significant negative impact on environmental pollution but all the remaining variables have a significant positive impact on environmental pollution. There was slow speed of adjustment from short-run disequilibrium to equilibrium position at 26 percent yearly. The Pairwise Dumitrescu Hurlin panel causality test revealed the existence of bilateral causality flowing from urbanization to environmental pollution, economic growth to environmental pollution, economic growth to crude oil price and economic growth to urbanization. While unidirectional causality exists flowing from crude oil price to environmental pollution and foreign direct investment to economic growth. As a recommendation for these countries to achieve and maintain quality environment, the nations must restrict the speed of urbanization process to its optimum level and this process will decrease the environmental effects associated with it. The existence of exertions regarding development and urbanization, now it is the right time for the governments of these countries to produce and stretch plan that will continue to concentrate on exploration of crude oil, since the increasing crude oil price from the global energy market exerts positive effect on the entire revenue generated by these economies
Teachers’ Language Practices in the Teaching of MATHEMATICS in a Grade Four MULTILINGUAL CLASSROOM, in Zambia
Get PDFZambia has seventy-three (73) recorded languages with seven considered as major languages. The diversity of ethnic groups with their related languages has led to the existence of several traditions and cultural practices which have implications on the education of children. The Ministry of Education introduced the use of a familiar language as a language of learning in primary schools from grade one to four. The current study explored the teachers’ language practices when teaching mathematics in a multilingual class. We sought to establish the language practices of teachers and learners in the process of mathematical knowledge acquisition in the classrooms. The research was carried out in two selected primary schools in Lusaka district, Zambia. The target population was teachers and pupils in the 4th grade whose mother- tongue was not the language of instruction. The research was qualitative in nature and it took the form of grounded interpretative classroom research. The lesson observations and recordings served as empirical basis of the results. The results showed that teachers used code-switching, translation, body language and visuals. The study recommended among other aspects continued use of code-switching as a bridging mechanism between the conversational register and the mathematics academic register