Suchergebnisse

This study attempted to investigate the ability of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom learning environment and student background characteristics to predict student persistence in EFL learning. The study also aimed to investigate whether the associations between learning environment characteristics and persistence varied by several student demographics. The sample for the study included 1,365 tertiary English preparatory program students in Turkey. Regression analyses showed that learning environment characteristics were significantly related to persistence with materials environment dimension found as the strongest predictor. When demographics were included in the analyses together with the learning environment predictors, they explained more variance in student persistence. Given the results on the variance of associations between student persistence and learning environment characteristics by student demographics, it was seen that the predictive abilities of learning environment factors varied on the basis of each subset of one particular student demographic characteristic.

Teacher cognition and teacher action are two interrelated concepts of teaching and thus ought to be studied together in-depth to understand the nature of teaching and its effect on educational achievement. Examining the relationship between language teachers' cognitions and their actions has the potential to inform and guide current and future instructional practices in language teaching settings. From this point forth, this correlational study aims to answer in what way language teachers' language learning cognitions may predict their language teaching practices. The data were collected from 606 instructors teaching English in various higher education institutions in Turkey by means of a cross-sectional inventory and then analyzed primarily through canonical correlation analysis. During the data analysis process, multivariate normality; linearity (among variables and linear composites); homoscedasticity; and multicollinearity were also evaluated. The general results indicated that the participants having competence-oriented approaches and executive learner preferences would exhibit adherence to traditional (conservative) pedagogy, but divergence from communicative practices in instructional planning and error correction. Similarly, the participants disfavoring legislative learners would tend to diverge from communicative practices in instructional planning and error correction; on the contrary they would reflect a tendency towards traditional (conservative) pedagogy.

'Teacher' is among the most influential variables in educational achievements, and 'actions' of a teacher are powerful indicators of this influence. Since the actions are assumed to be the reflections of certain cognitions, 'teacher cognition becomes a significant variable to study in educational research. In this sense, this quantitative study aims to investigate EFL instructors' language learning cognitions regarding linguistic aptitude, priorities in language learning, and good language learners as well as to identify factors influencing those cognitions. The participants consisted of 606 EFL instructors teaching in 15 different higher education institutions in Ankara, Turkey. The data were collected through a cross-sectional inventory and analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive results indicated that the participants tended to adopt an interactionist perspective emphasizing the significance of the environment around individuals learning a language; a performance-oriented approach focusing on real-life functions of language skills and areas; and a slight orientation to legislative learners who can create their own rules and decide on their own priorities. The inferential analyses revealed that the participants' cognitions on certain aspects differed in relation to age, teaching experience, and academic background. The findings obtained from this study offer implications for teachers as well as other stakeholders in the contexts of both pre-service and in-service teacher education.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the perceptions of home and school concerning ideally implemented primary democracy and human rights education. In this qualitative study, data were collected from six voluntary classroom teachers and 16 parents in a selected school through interviews. The results of the interview yielded five major themes: physical and environmental issues, instructional process, teacher characteristics, assessment practices, and communication patterns for teaching democracy and human rights ideally. Most of the participants also indicated the lack of partnership between home and school. The results showed that there are gaps between the existing and desired conditions of democracy and human rights education in schools.

This qualitative phenomenological study aims to investigate fourth and fifth graders' uses of mass media (TV, newspapers, Internet, magazines) and to assess their various features as sources for science learning. The data were collected from 47 purposefully selected students through focus groups and were analyzed through qualitative analysis using uses and gratifications theory as a conceptual framework. The results indicated that students were active in choosing and utilizing media to meet their cognitive, affective, personal integrative, and social integrative needs. Furthermore accessibility, content, and presentation were the key factors in influencing students' motivation of use of the media.

Eberhard Seidel; Claudia Dantschke; Ali Yildirim ; Parallel als Buch-Ausg. erschienen