Co-developing science literacy and foreign language literacy through “Concept + Language Mapping”

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-288
Author(s):  
Peichang He ◽  
Angel M. Y. Lin

Abstract Drawing on Lemke’s (1990) “thematic patterns” theory, this research proposes a “Concept + Language Mapping” (CLM) approach and tried it out in an English Medium Instruction (EMI) biology classroom in Hong Kong. Lessons were observed and samples of student work were collected during the intervention with student/teacher interviews conducted afterwards. A quasi-experimental design was also adopted to estimate the impact of the CLM approach. The analysis indicated that CLM facilitated the development of both content and language knowledge.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3B) ◽  
pp. 729-741
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hossein Besharati ◽  
Golnar Mazdayasna ◽  
Ali Akbar Jabbari

Digital storytelling has been around in foreign language contexts for at least two decades and showed to be a promising technique for teaching different language skills. This study aimed at investigating the effect of using two types of digital storytelling, i.e. asynchronous and synchronous digital storytelling, on the EFL learners' speaking performance in terms of accuracy and fluency. To this end, a quasi-experimental design with an experimental and a comparison group was devised. Sixty-five intermediate EFL learners were conveniently selected based on their scores on Oxford Placement Test. The speaking module of Preliminary English Test (PET) was used to measure the participants' speaking accuracy and fluency before and after the intervention. The results of the study indicated that both groups made a significant improvement after the course. Nevertheless, the asynchronous digital storytelling group outperformed the synchronous one after the intervention.


Author(s):  
Mohamad M. Hileh ◽  
Abdel-Aziz Ahmad Sharabati ◽  
Tamara Yacoub Nasereddin ◽  
Suheir Mustafa Hussein

The purpose of the article is to investigate the impact of teaching and learning methods on Jordanian students' performance in primary schools. This study is of quasi-experimental design. Three tools are used in this study: an interactive board, a class PC and traditional tools. The data was collected by questionnaires, and then regressions were used to test the hypothesis. The results indicate that for creativity thinking, the highest difference between pre and post-test is related to class PC followed by traditional learning and finally interactive boards. Moreover, results indicate that the three tools affect fluency, flexibility and originality, while they have no significant effect on elaboration. The results also indicate that for the academic achievement class the PC reported the highest mean, followed by interactive boards and finally by traditional tools. Furthermore, results show that using class the PC and interactive boards affect students' creative thinking as compared to traditional teaching.


2018 ◽  
Vol 157 (4) ◽  
pp. 651-669
Author(s):  
Conxita FOLGUERA‐I‐BELLMUNT ◽  
Xavier FERNÁNDEZ‐I‐MARÍN ◽  
Joan Manuel BATISTA‐FOGUET

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 89 ◽  
Author(s):  
César Augusto Castillo Losada ◽  
Edgar Alirio Insuasty ◽  
María Fernanda Jaime Osorio

This article reports on a study carried out in a foreign language school at a Colombian public university. Its main purpose was to analyze the extent to which the use of authentic materials and tasks contributes to the enhancement of the communicative competence on an A2 level English course. A mixed study composed of a quasi-experimental and a descriptive-qualitative research design was implemented by means of a pre-test, a post-test, observations, semi-structured interviews, surveys, and diaries. The findings showed that the use of authentic materials and tasks, within the framework of a pedagogical project, had an impact on students’ communicative competence progress and on the teaching practices of the experimental group teacher.


2020 ◽  
pp. 088740342092033
Author(s):  
Jorge Quintas ◽  
Pedro Sousa

Domestic violence–specialized programs have been created by the police or the criminal justice system with the intention of improving victims’ protection. This article examines the impact of the first Portuguese coordinated program, involving a specialized prosecution team and a special police unit, the experience of victims in encountering with authorities, and the fulfillment of their expectations on victims’ satisfaction and safety. Data were collected through a telephone survey, using a two-group quasi-experimental design, at two waves (3 and 12 months after the crime report). Victims from the experimental group are more satisfied and reveal a better sense of safety. However, it is only in the second variable that the program has a direct effect on multivariate analysis. Satisfaction mainly comes from the authorities’ demeanor and the expectation fulfillment while it is the authorities’ behavior and the expectation fulfillment that grounds safety.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Mason ◽  
David Galloway

PurposeA non-governmental organisation (NGO) with schools in Sierra Leone prioritises admission of the most disadvantaged children but nevertheless achieves high educational and social standards. These schools were asked to provide continuing professional development and learning (CPDL) for other schools. This paper aims to report the design, development and delivery of CPDL which aimed to mobilise effective practices more widely. It also reports the design and results of an impact evaluation.Design/methodology/approachIt was recognised that CPDL delivered by foreigners would be (1) unaffordable in this impoverished West African country and (2) culturally inappropriate. It was therefore delivered by local teachers from the NGO's own schools. Most had obtained no formal teaching qualification. They were trained to collect data using a quasi-experimental design for an impact evaluation of children's attendance and literacy. A total of five schools participated in the CPDL, with ten control schools.FindingsA largely unqualified team succeeded in mobilising knowledge in the experimental schools. Children's attendance in experimental schools improved over that in control schools. Performance in literacy also improved significantly and was maintained at follow-up.Research limitations/implicationsFindings of the impact evaluation are seen as indicative rather than causal because a quasi-experimental study was conducted rather than a randomised controlled trial.Originality/valueThis lies in (1) teachers in schools with a severely disadvantaged intake providing a structured programme of CPDL for teachers in other schools; (2) school improvement through knowledge mobilisation in CPDL; (3) an impact evaluation with a quasi-experimental design showing improvement in children's performance.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. e90708 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian M. Somers ◽  
Akm Moniruzzaman ◽  
Stefanie N. Rezansoff ◽  
Michelle Patterson

SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824402097823
Author(s):  
Michal Plaček ◽  
Milan Křápek ◽  
Jan Čadil ◽  
Bojka Hamerníková

This article examines the impact of excellence-promoting policies on the actual performance of municipalities in the Czech Republic. In this analysis, the performance of municipalities that have received awards for the use of quality management tools is compared with a selected group of municipalities that did not receive awards. Data envelopment analysis (DEA; with constant and variable returns on the scale), free disposal hull (FDH), and Order-M methods were utilized to represent performance. For the actual performance comparison, a quasi-experimental design was used. The analysis of outputs using the difference impact method found that this specific public policy did not have a positive impact on the efficiency of municipalities. If the difference-in-differences method is used, the opposite is achieved. However, the technical efficiency gains are very small. The use of the quasi-experimental design along with the determination of inputs and outputs which are characteristic of the Czech Republic also offers a contribution when this method is being applied to the assessment of institutions in the form of local governments.


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