5 research outputs found
Undergraduates’ music students in performance levels and ways to overcome anxiety / Clive Edison Poreng
No full textFor the music students, performance anxiety is not a new thing for them. The purpose of this study was to study the level of the performance anxiety faced by the performer and the ways to overcome this. This study used the quantitative method to determine the level and overcome the performance anxiety. Data was collected using a questionnaire given personally by the researcher to the subjects which was answered by 80 music students in the Faculty of Music UiTM Shah Alam. The findings divided into 2 sections which were: the level of performance anxiety and ways to overcome the performance anxiety
Summative Assessment Practices of Solomon Islands Year Nine Science Teachers
No full textThe aim of this exploratory study was to investigate the perceptions, experiences, and practices of six Solomon Islands secondary science teachers, based on the types of assessment they use in their science classrooms to serve a summative purpose. The study was divided into two parts. The first part involved a baseline study which explored the teachers’ existing summative assessment practices with the intent to understand how their views and knowledge of the summative assessments influenced their practices, and to identify their professional learning needs in creating assessment tools. The second part of the study involved a small-scale professional development intervention, which aimed to enhance the science teachers’ skills and confidence in summative assessment as well as to identify the factors that influenced teachers’ development and transfer of new assessment skills to their classroom practices in the Solomon Islands context.
The study adopted a qualitative-interpretive research approach and used methods of teacher interviews, participant observation and documentary analysis to generate data related to the teachers’ existing summative assessment practices, and the new or revised processes that they adopted as a result of the professional development intervention. Various analytical procedures including thematic analysis procedures and frameworks that researchers have used previously to study teachers’ classroom practices were employed to analyse the collected data.
The findings of the baseline study indicated that the science teachers employed summative assessments to compare students’ ability through grading and reported their students’ achievements to parents and students. The unit test is the dominant form of assessment used by teachers to assess year nine students’ learning, performance and achievements in science. Examinations are administered to students at the end of each school term. An analysis of the test and examination questions indicated that teachers focused on assessing mainly low cognitive skills. Teachers’ views indicated that neither they nor the school leaders have used student achievement results in the past or present time as a basis to review and evaluate their teaching practices or plan ways they might improve student achievement and school performance.
The science teachers generally expressed varying levels of satisfaction in their conduct of assessment activities but also perceived the need for professional support in certain areas of assessment such as construction of a test using a test blueprint, grading, analysis and interpretation of student assessment results. The study also identified a range of factors that influenced the six science teachers’ classroom-based summative assessment practices. Factors that tend to have impacted positively on their summative assessment practices include; their initial teacher education experiences, knowledge and beliefs about teaching, learning and assessment, and colleagues in the school. However, the teachers also reported certain contextual factors that impacted negatively on their assessment practices. These included institutional and extracurricular responsibilities, heavy teaching loads, large class size, lack of clear assessment policy guidelines, lack of exemplary assessment resources, and national examination pressures.
Findings of the impact of professional development intervention indicated that the teachers made small to moderate changes in their summative assessment practice. Their involvement in the group activities during the professional development workshop made them become more reflective on their assessment practices and also indicated that the professional development activities enhanced their knowledge about alternative assessment strategies, and increased their confidence in carrying out summative assessments in class. However, the existing contextual factors that were identified during the baseline study continued to impede their transfer of new assessment ideas and procedures into their classroom practices
The Harrod-Balassa-Samuelson Effect: A Survey of Empirical Evidence
No full textThe paper surveys empirical evidence on the Harrod-Balassa-Samuelson effect. The survey encompasses the published empirical work on the phenomenon since its (re)discovery in 1964. In total, 58 empirical papers are examined within a specialized analytical framework. The body of empirical evidence is synthesized through four major elements. The analysis starts with the ongoing controversy related to the name of the theory. This is followed by a presentation of the evolution of the theoretical and econometric model. It ends with an analysis of the results of the surveyed empirical studies. Results of the survey indicate that growing body of evidence definitely points towards professional rethinking about the significance of the Harrod-Balassa-Samuelson effect.Harrod Balassa Samuelson effect, real exchange rate, purchasing power parity, productivity
Time, Space and Fantasy' in the novels of H. G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke and J. K. Rowling: A Critical Study
No full textNot availabl
The Consequences of Euronext integration on the French, Belgian and Dutch stock markets.
No full textOn 22 September 2000, the French, Belgian and Dutch
stock exchanges merged and
formed the Euronext N.V., the first pan-European ex
change. The creation of Euronext
was a response to changes in the political and econ
omic environment in Europe. The
benefits to market participants are easier access t
o a wider range of financial products,
increase in liquidity and lower transaction costs.
Indeed, since its incorporation,
Euronext has the second largest capitalization in E
urope.
The aim of this thesis is to investigate the conseq
uences of Euronext integration on
the French, Belgian and Dutch stock markets. It rai
ses two questions: 1. has the
merger improved the information efficiency of the m
arkets; and 2. has the level of
integration between the markets increased following
the incorporation of Euronext?
The study uses daily prices for the markets’ main i
ndices for the period 01/01/1990 to
10/12/2010. The original sample is divided into thr
ee periods: pre-integration,
integration and post-integration period. Two types
of returns are computed: log-
returns and excess returns. A dummy variable and a
control variable, the German
main index DAX, are included in the analysis to acc
ount for the effect of the
introduction of the Euro.
Unit root and stationarity tests show that prices s
eries are integrated of the first order
and that the returns series are stationary. Moreove
r, the volatility of returns exhibits
long-memory patterns. The data generating process o
f all the returns series is captured
with ARMA-GARCH models. The returns exhibit volatil
ity clusters in all sub-
periods. Hence, the information efficiency of the m
arket has not increased following
Euronext integration. However, GARCH models do not
include an asymmetric
component for the post-integration period, indicati
ng that the returns do not display
leverage effects after the creation of Euronext. Fi
nally, a Euro dummy variable was
significant only for the Belgian returns.
Cointegration tests show that the three indices exp
erience long-run equilibrium during
the integration and the post-integration periods. M
oreover, the conditional correlation
between the markets increases and stabilises after
2000. Overall, the evidence
supports wider financial integration between these
markets. However, it is difficult to
4
determine to what degree this change can be attribu
ted to the creation of Euronext as
opposed to the introduction of the Euro or to a com
bination of both. A Granger
causality test shows that EMU has Granger caused ma
rket financial integration. On
the other hand, a system comprised of the three ind
ices and the control variable,
DAX30, does not display long-run equilibrium for th
e post-integration period,
highlighting the role of Euronext. These results ar
e important for market participants
