scholarly journals Hitting the Mark: Learner's Perceptions of Course Design in a Foundation ESOL Program

1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm N. Macdonald ◽  
Richard Badger ◽  
Goodith White
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Motivational Factors ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
First Year ◽  
Undergraduate Program ◽  
First Variation ◽  
First Semester

This article investigates a first-year undergraduate program in TESOL consisting of three strands: a language-based course, a theme-based content course, and a sheltered-content course. Learners rated different aspects of their development in language, skills, and strategies-as well as motivational factors-over two semesters. Overall, learners rated the language-based course more highly in the first semester and the two content courses more highly in the second. Three conclusions were drawn: first, variation in methodology and design of the content course is such that it is difficult to generalize about generic types of content course; second, our EAP course/program might benefit from progressing asymmetrically, by starting with a more extensive language component and ending with a more extensive content component; and, third, no course was perceived by learners to provide optimum language acquisition and skills development in every domain.

Time Perspective and Grade Expectations as Predictors of Student Achievement and Retention in the First Year of Community College

2020 ◽  
pp. 152102512096067
Author(s):  
Taylor W. Acee ◽  
Meagan A. Hoff ◽  
Darolyn A. Flaggs ◽  
Breana Sylvester
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Economically Disadvantaged ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Time Perspective ◽  
Motivational Factors ◽  
First Year ◽  
Student Background ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Orientation Course ◽  
Hispanic Serving

The authors examined three motivational factors (first-year grade expectations, present-focused time perspective, and future-focused time perspective) as predictors of achievement and retention outcomes for students ( N = 844) in their first semester at a predominately Hispanic-serving community college, accounting for student background characteristics. In this correlation research study, instructors administered surveys to students in a required first-year orientation course. Survey data was then merged with institutional data. The results of the multiple regression analysis suggested that first-year grade expectations, present-focused time perspective, age, ethnicity, first-generation status, and academically underprepared status were statistically significant predictors of first-semester GPA and explained 9.0% of the variation, whereas future-focused time perspective, sex, and economically disadvantaged status were not. First-year grade expectations and economically disadvantaged status significantly predicted second-semester retention; the other study predictors did not. This study expands research on malleable motivational factors educators could target to support students in their first year of community college.

A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Academic and Social Integration and Commitment on Retention

NASPA Journal ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Beil ◽  
Carol A. Reisen ◽  
Maria Cecilia Zea ◽  
Robert C. Caplan
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Social Integration ◽  
Academic Integration ◽  
Research University ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Academic And Social Integration ◽  
Private Research

This longitudinal study predicted retention from academic integration, social integration, and commitment to remain in college in a sample of first-year students at a residential, private research university. When assessed separately, first-semester reports of commitment mediated the effects of both academic and social integration on retention six semesters later.

First-Year Engineering Students’ Conceptualization of Entrepreneurial Mindset

2021 ◽  
pp. 251512742110292
Author(s):  
Darby R. Riley ◽  
Hayley M. Shuster ◽  
Courtney A. LeMasney ◽  
Carla E. Silvestri ◽  
Kaitlin E. Mallouk
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
College Student ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Educational Experiences ◽  
Multidisciplinary Design ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Semester ◽  
First Year College ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Reflection Prompts

This study was conducted to examine how first-year engineering students conceptualize the Entrepreneurial Mindset (EM) and how that conceptualization changes over the course of their first semester of college, using the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN)’s 3Cs as a starting point. Students enrolled in an introductory, multidisciplinary design course responded to biweekly reflection prompts on their educational experiences (either in high school or as a first-year college student) and related this experience to one of the 3Cs of EM: Curiosity, Connections, or Creating Value. Results indicate that students’ conceptualization of the 3Cs often align with definitions of EM from KEEN, as well as foundational works in the entrepreneurship field, and that their interpretation of each of the 3Cs does change during their first semester in college. For instance, students were less likely to write about curiosity and more likely to write about creating value at the end of the semester compared to the beginning.

scholarly journals First-year students’ math anxiety predicts STEM avoidance and underperformance throughout university, independently of math ability

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Daker ◽  
Sylvia U. Gattas ◽  
H. Moriah Sokolowski ◽  
Adam E. Green ◽  
Ian M. Lyons
Keyword(s):  
Math Anxiety ◽  
First Year ◽  
Math Skills ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Math Ability ◽  
Current Thinking ◽  
Attitudes Toward Math ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Stem Outcomes

AbstractMath anxiety is widely considered a potential barrier to success in STEM. Current thinking holds that math anxiety is directly linked to avoidance of and underperformance in STEM domains. However, past evidence supporting these claims is limited in important ways. Perhaps most crucially, it is possible that math anxiety predicts STEM outcomes merely as a proxy for poor math skills. Here, we tested the link between math anxiety and subsequent STEM outcomes by measuring math anxiety, math ability, and several covariates in 183 first-semester university students. We then tracked students’ STEM avoidance and achievement through four years at university via official academic transcripts. Results showed that math anxiety predicted both a reduction in how many STEM courses students took and, separately (i.e., controlling for one another), lower STEM grades. Crucially, these associations held after controlling for math ability (and other covariates). That math anxiety predicts math-related academic achievement independently of Math Ability suggests that, contrary to current thinking, math anxiety’s effects on academic performance likely operate via mechanisms other than negatively affecting math ability. Beyond this, we show evidence that math anxiety can account for associations between math ability and STEM outcomes, suggesting that past links between math ability and real-world outcomes may, in fact, be at least partially explainable by attitudes toward math. These findings provide clear impetus for developing and testing interventions that target math anxiety specifically and suggest that focusing on math ability without additional attention to math anxiety may fail to optimally boost STEM outcomes.

scholarly journals The relationship between empathy and altruistic motivations in nursing studies: a multi-method study

BMC Nursing ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Messineo ◽  
Luciano Seta ◽  
Mario Allegra
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Education ◽  
Nursing Students ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Motivational Factors ◽  
Care Process ◽  
First Year ◽  
Young Males ◽  
Young Females

Abstract Background The efficient management of relational competences in healthcare professionals is crucial to ensuring that a patient’s treatment and care process is conducted positively. Empathy is a major component of the relational skills expected of health professionals. Knowledge of undergraduate healthcare students’ empathic abilities is important for educators in designing specific and efficient educational programmes aimed at supporting or enhancing such competences. In this study, we measured first-year undergraduate nursing students’ attitudes towards professional empathy in clinical encounters. The students’ motivations for entering nursing education were also evaluated. This study takes a multi-method approach based on the use of qualitative and quantitative tools to examine the association between students’ positive attitudes towards the value of empathy in health professionals and their prosocial and altruistic motivations in choosing to engage in nursing studies. Methods A multi-method study was performed with 77 first-year nursing students. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) – Health Professions Student Version was administered. Students’ motivations for choosing nursing studies were detected through an open question and thematically analysed. Using explorative factor analysis and principal component analysis, a dimensional reduction was conducted to identify subjects with prosocial and altruistic motivations. Finally, linear models were tested to examine specific associations between motivation and empathy. Results Seven distinct themes distinguishing internal and external motivational factors were identified through a thematic analysis of students’ answers regarding their decision to enter a nursing degree course. Female students gained higher scores on the empathy scale than male ones. When students’ age was considered, this difference was only observed for younger students, with young females’ total scores being higher than young males'. High empathy scores were positively associated with altruistic motivational factors. A negative correlation was found between external motivational factors and the scores of the Compassionate Care subscale of the JSE. Conclusions Knowing the level of nursing students’ empathy and their motivational factors for entering nursing studies is important for educators to implement training paths that enhance students’ relational attitudes and skills and promote the positive motivational aspects that are central to this profession.

scholarly journals Learning Poetry: Attitudes and Challenges Faced by ESL Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-69
Author(s):  
Hafilah Zainal Abidin ◽  
Taufik Lock Kim Wai
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Positive Attitude ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
Selection Of

Learning literature, as part of the English Language Syllabus, has been practiced in many countries. In Malaysia, literature is incorporated as a component and an authentic means of learning the language with the hope that students acquire the desired language skills. However, poetry, one of the genres in the component, is the least favourable among students. This paper investigates students’ attitude towards learning poetry and the challenges they encountered learning poetry. Data from 120 respondents were collected through questionnaire and interviews. The findings revealed that the selection of texts for poetry in the literature component and teacher’s methodology play a role in cultivating students' interest in learning not only the language but also the context, culture, and values as well as inculcating a positive attitude towards learning poetry in second language acquisition.

scholarly journals The Students’ Speaking Skill Analaysis on Local Wisdom- Based Topics (A Study at the First Year Grade of Mathematics Department of Unswagati)

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 143
Author(s):  
Devi Siti Afiah
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Method ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Speaking Skill ◽  
Math Students ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Local Materials ◽  
Mathematics Department

The goals of this research are (1) to know what students’ responses toward WH question tehnique; (2) to know whether the WH Question can improve students’ math in English. This research used the descriptive qualitative method. The writer described and analyzed the students’ mistakes in speaking skill using local materials. The research was carried out at the first year students of math department in 2016/2017 academic year. It was strated from September 2016 to January 2017. The population was the first semester students of math department in academic year of 2016/2017. The number of population were 21 students. The results of this research were (1) the tudents gave good responses toward the WH Questions learning, and (2) the WH questions improved the Math students’ ability in learning English. Keywords: Speaking, Local-wisdom, WH-questions

scholarly journals Doubling down on serendipity

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Snow
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Doctoral Student ◽  
To Come ◽  
Minority View ◽  
The Relationship

The lessons I have learned over the last many years seem always to come in pairs – a lesson about the findings that brings with it a lesson about life as a researcher...Lesson 1. Even as a doctoral student, I believed that the sorts of social interactions young children had with adults supported language acquisition. In 1971, when I completed my dissertation, that was a minority view, and one ridiculed by many. I was, unfortunately, deflected from a full-on commitment to research on the relationship between social environment and language development for many years by the general atmosphere of disdain for such claims. In the intervening years, of course, evidence to support the claim has accumulated, and now it is generally acknowledged that a large part of the variance among children in language skills can be explained by their language environments. This consensus might have been achieved earlier had I and others been braver about pursuing it.[Download the PDF and read more...]

scholarly journals The Humanitarian Project-Based Material for Productive Written Language Skills Subject for English Education Study Program

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-355
Author(s):  
Anggraini Thesisia Saragih ◽  
Amrin Saragih ◽  
Christine Helena ◽  
Yuni Khairina ◽  
Ade Namira
Keyword(s):  
English Education ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Expert Judgement ◽  
Study Program ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Need Analysis ◽  
Education Study ◽  
Course Material ◽  
Gathering Data

This study was aimed to develop humanitarian project-based material for productive written language skills subject for English Education Study Program at UNIMED. Research and Development (R&D) was the design of this study with the subjects of the study were 25 students of first semester students of English Education Study Program at UNIMED. The research procedures were adapted from Borg and Gall’s research theory (1983) namely 1)gathering data and information, 2)need analysis, 3)designing course material, 4)validating and evaluating new course material by the Experts, 5)revising the course material and 6)final product. The instruments of collecting the data were questionnaire, interview and expert judgement questionnaire. The data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively.. Based on the result of the expert judgement, the whole aspects of developed materials were in the range of 81-100% and were categorized as “very good”.

scholarly journals Towards sustainable language learning in higher education – engagement through multimodal approaches

2019 ◽  
pp. 241-246
Author(s):  
Kirsi Korkealehto ◽  
Vera Leier
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Task Design ◽  
Business Administration ◽  
First Year ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Content Analysis Method

This project was conducted in a five credit course in English as a Foreign Language, which was a compulsory module in first year business administration studies. The data includes students’ learning diaries and a post-course online questionnaire (N=21). The data were analysed using a content analysis method. The results indicate that the students perceived the multimodal task design as enjoyable and students’ engagement was fostered by course design, teacher’s activity, student’s activity, and collaboration.

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