scholarly journals Washback or backwash? Revisiting the status quo of washback and test impact in EFL contexts

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 869-884
Author(s):  
Mohammad Ali Salmani Nodoushan
Keyword(s):  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Test Method ◽  
Main Function ◽  
Test Quality ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
The Status ◽  
Testing And Measurement ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Structural Hypothesis

It has been argued in the literature on (language) testing that any act of testing/assessment can impact (a) educators’ curriculum design, (b) teachers’ teaching practices, and (c) students’ learning behaviors. This quality of any given testing situation or act of assessment has been called washback, or backwash if you will. Washback falls into the two categories of positive or negative—that is, beneficial or harmful. After an overview of the existing scholarly knowledge on washback, this paper argues that washback is not necessarily a test quality. Drawing on the notion of test method facets, the paper lends support to claims that see washback as a main function of teaching, learning, and policy-making situations or conditions rather than a quality of any given test. The paper also argues that the concepts of facet design and analysis including formal research designs, structural hypothesis testing, and measurement are inevitable and inescapable in any comprehensive model of washback. A possible borderline between backwash and washback is also proposed. 

scholarly journals Teaching Speaking Skills through Role Play at Elementary Level: An Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
Muhammad Safdar Bhatti
Keyword(s):  
Learning Process ◽  
Role Play ◽  
Elementary Level ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The Status ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Speaking Skills

English has won the status of International language. The quality of our expression depends on our use of speaking skills. The importance and value of speaking English have been accepted worldwide. In Pakistan, Teaching English was mainly focused upon reading and writing skills. But in today’s world, listening and speaking skills have become much more important than in the past. Recently, the value of role-play in the classroom situation has become mandatory to make the teaching-learning process easy, attractive, and interesting. The implementation of role-play was expected to be an effective way to improve the learners’ speaking skills. So in the present study, the focus is on this matter whether the use of role play can be beneficial in bringing a positive change in the teaching-learning process of speaking skills for elementary level learners. The collective problems of the teachers and students during speaking English were the main focus of the study. 360 students and twenty teachers of Bahawalpur region participated in this study. Pre-test, post-test, and questionnaire were used as a tool to collect the data from the respondents. The findings of the study showed that there was a significant difference between pre-test and post-test results. It was suggested that speech practice with the help of role play should be encouraged at the elementary level.

Revitalizing a Traditional Campus

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 12-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Samancioglu ◽  
Silvia Nuere ◽  
Adela Laura Acitores Suz
Keyword(s):  
Learning Experience ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Post Occupancy Evaluation ◽  
Smart Campus ◽  
The Status ◽  
New Vision ◽  
Development Approach ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
The Internet Of Things

Technology has become an indispensable part of contemporary society. The new vision of upcoming generations is the internet of things (IoT), which has created new interaction among individuals and the environment. IoT has permeated into higher education institutions, advancing the quality of the teaching-learning experience and the ability to customize environmental parameters. In this research, the status of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, ETSIDI campus was explored based on the post-occupancy evaluation (POE) in order to assess the status of facilities and reveal the corresponding solutions for possible enhancements. The smart campus development approach is pursuant to the occupant-based framework as a way to represent and analyze occupant state, mobility, and movement in the campus through the IoT.

scholarly journals Analysis of the Elements of Self-Care Training Curriculum for Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) Relief Workers Based on the Akker Model

2021 ◽  
pp. 214-222
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Self Care ◽  
The Self ◽  
Training Curriculum ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
Statistical Population ◽  
Care Training ◽  
Teaching Learning

INTRODUCTION: The present study aimed to investigate the elements of the self-care training curriculum for Iranian Red Crescent relief workers based on the Akker model. Exposure to accidents and disasters causes feelings of stress, anxiety, fatigue, weakness, and hopelessness. Due to the intense activities and the problems they encounter during traumatic episodes, they are endlessly anxious and stressed. However, they can control the pressures inflicted by the environment with the required training and effective scientific methods. METHODS: The present qualitative research study prevails based on the database theory. The statistical population comprises 25 curriculum experts and Red Crescent relief workers selected through purposeful and criterion-based sampling. After clarifying the theoretical founding and expert perspectives regarding designing self-care training curriculum and quality of life (QoL) theory, the basic concepts, and components or the logic of curriculum design were specified. FINDINGS: The results showed that the characteristics of the elements of the self-care training curriculum considering the focus and the characteristics of the quality of life (QoL) theory based on the logic of the curriculum in the form of a model are as follows.Objectives (general and specific), content characteristics (principles of organizing and content selection), teaching-learning methods (priorities of selection and types of teaching methods), teaching-learning activities of relief workers, assessment (consecutive assessment and self-assessment), study materials and resources (physical and non-physical resources), space (virtual and online, real: emergency, accident), time and place (flexible), grouping characteristics (developing relief workers’ sense of duty and belonging to the group in accidents and emergencies) and consequences: improving health literacy, correcting lifestyle, reducing the number of paramedics with contagious non-contagious diseases, diminishing the risky behaviors of paramedics, obtaining a set of skills and achieving individual, group and collective self-care competence. The model was validated and approved by experts and specialists through the Delphi method. CONCLUSION: Presenting and implementing a self-care training curriculum in the in-service programs of the Iranian Red Crescent Society can boost their quality of life (QoL) and contentment, while fully preparing them to withstand and deal with emergencies.

Customer’s satisfaction on service quality at Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank – An Giang Branch

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. First
Author(s):  
Tran Minh Hieu ◽  
Nguyen Duong Ngoc Mai Chi
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Test Method ◽  
Quality Of Services ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Alpha Reliability ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Development Orientation

This study applied SERVQUAL scale of Parasuraman et al to measure factors affecting customer satisfaction on service quality at Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank - An Giang Branch (Techcombank An Giang). The study was conducted to survey 207 customers who have been using the service at Techcombank An Giang. The survey results were analyzed by the Cronbach's Alpha reliability test method, then used Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to verify and evaluate the scale of service quality. The results of the regression analysis show that customer's satisfaction about service quality at Techcombank An Giang includes four factors: The factor with the highest level is the Empathy with Beta = 0.253, the second of factor is the Responsibility with Beta = 0.248, ranked third in the influence level is the Tangible with Beta = 0.235, and the lowest impact level is the Reliability with Beta = 0.144. The research also uses statistical methods to describe and test the differences of demographic factors with customer's satisfactionon service quality.The analysis results show that there is no difference between customer's satisfaction on service quality and factors such as gender, age, income, number of transaction banks, regular transaction banks, and time to use the service at Techcombank An Giang. Through the research results, the author would like to propose some ideas to improve the quality of services, thereby attracting new customers and importantly, keeping traditional customers because the development orientation of Techcombank is to take care of old customers to cross sell other products of the bank. The Stud results offer a basis for the branch to identify the factors influencing customer satisfaction on their service quality, thereby having an appropriate strategy to improve customer satisfaction.

Strategic Role of Zakat in Multidimensional Quality of Life in Sijunjung, Indonesia

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-72
Author(s):  
Herlin Hamimi ◽  
Abdul Ghafar Ismail ◽  
Muhammad Hasbi Zaenal
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Status ◽  
Being There ◽  
The Impact

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam which has a function of faith, social and economic functions. Muslims who can pay zakat are required to give at least 2.5 per cent of their wealth. The problem of poverty prevalent in disadvantaged regions because of the difficulty of access to information and communication led to a gap that is so high in wealth and resources. The instrument of zakat provides a paradigm in the achievement of equitable wealth distribution and healthy circulation. Zakat potentially offers a better life and improves the quality of human being. There is a human quality improvement not only in economic terms but also in spiritual terms such as improving religiousity. This study aims to examine the role of zakat to alleviate humanitarian issues in disadvantaged regions such as Sijunjung, one of zakat beneficiaries and impoverished areas in Indonesia. The researcher attempted a Cibest method to capture the impact of zakat beneficiaries before and after becoming a member of Zakat Community Development (ZCD) Program in material and spiritual value. The overall analysis shows that zakat has a positive impact on disadvantaged regions development and enhance the quality of life of the community. There is an improvement in the average of mustahik household incomes after becoming a member of ZCD Program. Cibest model demonstrates that material, spiritual, and absolute poverty index decreased by 10, 5, and 6 per cent. Meanwhile, the welfare index is increased by 21 per cent. These findings have significant implications for developing the quality of life in disadvantaged regions in Sijunjung. Therefore, zakat is one of the instruments to change the status of disadvantaged areas to be equivalent to other areas.

Arrangement of Archives of Cloud Computing Based and Utilization of Microsoft Access

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 198
Author(s):  
Lusy Tunik Muharlisiani ◽  
Henny Sukrisno ◽  
Emmy Wahyuningtyas ◽  
Shofiya Syidada ◽  
Dina Chamidah
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Electronic System ◽  
Main Function ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
Data Manipulation ◽  
Administrative Management ◽  
Microsoft Access

Service at the “Kelurahan” is a very important part in determining the success of development, especially in public service. The problem faced is the lack of skill level of the “Kelurahan” apparatus with the more dynamic demands of the community and the archive management system is still conventional and manual that is writing the identity of the archive into the book agenda, expedition, control card, and borrowed archive card, so it takes a more practical electronic system, effective and efficient so required to develop themselves in order to improve public services. Conventional administration and archive management must be transformed into cloud-based computing (digital), for which archiving managers should always be responsive and follow these developments and wherever possible in order to utilize for archival activities, with greater access expected archives are evidence at once able to talk about historical facts and events and be able to give meaning and benefit to human life, so archives that were only visible and readable at archival centers can now be accessed online, and even their services have led to automated service systems. Using Microsoft Access which its main function is to handle the process of data manipulation and manufacture of a system, this system is built so that the bias runs on Cloud which means Cloud itself is a paradigm in which information is permanently stored on servers on the internet and stored. The purpose of this program is the implementation of administrative management that has been based cloud computing (digital) and is expected to be a solution in managing the archive so that if it has been designed and programmed, it can be stored in the computer and benefi- cial to the “Kelurahan” apparatus and add in the field of management archives in the form of improving the quality of service to the community, can facilitate and scientific publications.

Scoundrels or Stars? Theory and Evidence on the Quality of Workers in Online Labor Markets

2016 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne M. Farrell ◽  
Jonathan H. Grenier ◽  
Justin Leiby
Keyword(s):  
Labor Markets ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Research Participants ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
Online Labor Markets ◽  
Online Labor ◽  
Low Pay

ABSTRACT Online labor markets allow rapid recruitment of large numbers of workers for very low pay. Although online workers are often used as research participants, there is little evidence that they are motivated to make costly choices to forgo wealth or leisure that are often central to addressing accounting research questions. Thus, we investigate the validity of using online workers as a proxy for non-experts when accounting research designs use more demanding tasks than these workers typically complete. Three experiments examine the costly choices of online workers relative to student research participants. We find that online workers are at least as willing as students to make costly choices, even at significantly lower wages. We also find that online workers are sensitive to performance-based wages, which are just as effective in inducing high effort as high fixed wages. We discuss implications of our results for conducting accounting research with online workers. Data Availability: Contact the authors.

scholarly journals Medical educators’ beliefs about teaching, learning, and knowledge: development of a new framework

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marleen W. Ottenhoff- de Jonge ◽  
Iris van der Hoeven ◽  
Neil Gesundheit ◽  
Roeland M. van der Rijst ◽  
Anneke W. M. Kramer
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Faculty Development ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
Structural Basis ◽  
Educational Beliefs ◽  
Beliefs About Teaching ◽  
Medical Educators ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
New Framework

Abstract Background The educational beliefs of medical educators influence their teaching practices. Insight into these beliefs is important for medical schools to improve the quality of education they provide students and to guide faculty development. Several studies in the field of higher education have explored the educational beliefs of educators, resulting in classifications that provide a structural basis for diverse beliefs. However, few classification studies have been conducted in the field of medical education. We propose a framework that describes faculty beliefs about teaching, learning, and knowledge which is specifically adapted to the medical education context. The proposed framework describes a matrix in which educational beliefs are organised two dimensionally into belief orientations and belief dimensions. The belief orientations range from teaching-centred to learning-centred; the belief dimensions represent qualitatively distinct aspects of beliefs, such as ‘desired learning outcomes’ and ‘students’ motivation’. Methods We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 26 faculty members, all of whom were deeply involved in teaching, from two prominent medical schools. We used the original framework of Samuelowicz and Bain as a starting point for context-specific adaptation. The qualitative analysis consisted of relating relevant interview fragments to the Samuelowicz and Bain framework, while remaining open to potentially new beliefs identified during the interviews. A range of strategies were employed to ensure the quality of the results. Results We identified a new belief dimension and adapted or refined other dimensions to apply in the context of medical education. The belief orientations that have counterparts in the original Samuelowicz and Bain framework are described more precisely in the new framework. The new framework sharpens the boundary between teaching-centred and learning-centred belief orientations. Conclusions Our findings confirm the relevance of the structure of the original Samuelowicz and Bain beliefs framework. However, multiple adaptations and refinements were necessary to align the framework to the context of medical education. The refined belief dimensions and belief orientations enable a comprehensive description of the educational beliefs of medical educators. With these adaptations, the new framework provides a contemporary instrument to improve medical education and potentially assist in faculty development of medical educators.

The study of Iranian children and adolescents’ physical activity: a systematic review and meta-analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adel Alizadeh ◽  
Reza Negarandeh ◽  
Fahimehe Bagheri Amiri ◽  
Zahra Yazdani
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
World Health ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
The Status ◽  
Newcastle Ottawa Scale ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Iranian Children

Abstract Objectives This systematic and meta-analysis review was conducted to determine the status of Iranian children and adolescents’ physical activity. Content All the related articles which were published in the major databases, including Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, Magiran, SID from the beginning of 2010 to the end of 2019, were reviewed by researchers. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale was also used to evaluate the quality of articles. Moreover, I 2 index and chi-square were used to assess the heterogeneity between the results. Summary 490 articles were found as a result of the search in the selected international and local databases, where finally, 10 articles were included into the meta-analysis after the elimination of the duplicated articles and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results indicated that 29.5% of the girls were considered active according to WHO criteria (16.1–42.8: 95% CI) and also 20.5% of the boys (7.3–33.7: 95% CI). Outlook Overall, this study’s findings showed that a large percentage of Iranian children and adolescents do not achieve the level of physical activity recommended by the World Health Organization. This can lead to undesirable consequences for this group of population that is considered as the human capital of any country; consequently, it seems necessary to take basic measures at the micro and macro levels in order to reduce such problems in the society.

Research and Design of University Logistics Management System Based on J2EE

2013 ◽  
Vol 380-384 ◽  
pp. 4667-4670
Author(s):  
Meng Jie Wang
Keyword(s):  
Information System ◽  
Management Information System ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Logistics Management ◽  
Main Function ◽  
Management Information ◽  
The Status ◽  
Market Management ◽  
Logistics Management System

This paper analyzes the status quo of Chinese Universities logistics management information system; using the Struts framework based on J2EE university logistics management information system, and the basic structure of the system, the main features integral part of, the main function analysis; combination of university logistics management the actual analysis of the information system client Web layer, business layer, data layer is designed to build stability, flexibility and scalability, easy maintenance of university logistics management information system, and enhance the logistical support capabilities, strengthening the logistics market management, improve work efficiency.

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