scholarly journals Investigating the pedagogical practices of EFL writing teachers in Palestinian universities: A cognitive-ecological perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Eman Ishaq Alzaanin
Keyword(s):  
Case Reports ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Teacher Cognition ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Global Community ◽  
Writing Teachers ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Barriers To Teaching ◽  
Palestinian Universities

<p>Teacher cognition studies are rare in the Palestinian context, as is also true in other contexts where English is taught as a foreign language. This study draws on theories of second language writing and teacher cognition to investigate the interplay between EFL writing teachers’ cognitions and their pedagogical practices. It employs a qualitative design involving multiple case studies to explore how the pedagogical practices of twelve EFL writing teachers working in Palestinian universities are shaped by their cognitions and contextual factors.  Data were collected across the nine-month academic year through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, stimulated-recall interviews, and review of documents. A multiple case study research design was used, and constructivist grounded theory informed data analysis. Data were transcribed, coded, and analysed through the development of 12 case reports which were reconstructed into three clusters of cases. The cross-cluster analysis generated a cognitive-ecological model to explain teachers’ choices favouring different pedagogical approaches to teaching EFL writing. Results reveal that teachers’ cognitions about the nature of EFL writing, about teaching and learning writing and about themselves as EFL writing professionals influence their pedagogical practices. The findings also accentuate the role of ecological contexts as a mediating force influencing the interaction between cognitions and practices. These ecological contexts include classroom social and physical contexts, institutional context, broader educational context, and global community discourse. Classroom social and physical contexts were identified and perceived as the most significant barriers to teaching writing, while gaining access to the global community discourse was viewed as the greatest facilitator for adopting recommended practices. Teachers’ cognitions about professional self also determine the weight assigned to the different ecological contexts, thus determining reactions to perceived ecological challenges. This may explain why teachers working in the same context under the same conditions teach differently. Some implications of these findings include the importance of encouraging EFL writing teachers to reflect on pedagogical cognitions and practices relevant to their working contexts as well as the need for introducing recommended models of teaching EFL writing in tertiary institutions. Other theoretical and professional contributions are addressed, and potential for further research is highlighted.</p>

scholarly journals Investigating the pedagogical practices of EFL writing teachers in Palestinian universities: A cognitive-ecological perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Eman Ishaq Alzaanin
Keyword(s):  
Case Reports ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Teacher Cognition ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Global Community ◽  
Writing Teachers ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Barriers To Teaching ◽  
Palestinian Universities

<p>Teacher cognition studies are rare in the Palestinian context, as is also true in other contexts where English is taught as a foreign language. This study draws on theories of second language writing and teacher cognition to investigate the interplay between EFL writing teachers’ cognitions and their pedagogical practices. It employs a qualitative design involving multiple case studies to explore how the pedagogical practices of twelve EFL writing teachers working in Palestinian universities are shaped by their cognitions and contextual factors.  Data were collected across the nine-month academic year through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, stimulated-recall interviews, and review of documents. A multiple case study research design was used, and constructivist grounded theory informed data analysis. Data were transcribed, coded, and analysed through the development of 12 case reports which were reconstructed into three clusters of cases. The cross-cluster analysis generated a cognitive-ecological model to explain teachers’ choices favouring different pedagogical approaches to teaching EFL writing. Results reveal that teachers’ cognitions about the nature of EFL writing, about teaching and learning writing and about themselves as EFL writing professionals influence their pedagogical practices. The findings also accentuate the role of ecological contexts as a mediating force influencing the interaction between cognitions and practices. These ecological contexts include classroom social and physical contexts, institutional context, broader educational context, and global community discourse. Classroom social and physical contexts were identified and perceived as the most significant barriers to teaching writing, while gaining access to the global community discourse was viewed as the greatest facilitator for adopting recommended practices. Teachers’ cognitions about professional self also determine the weight assigned to the different ecological contexts, thus determining reactions to perceived ecological challenges. This may explain why teachers working in the same context under the same conditions teach differently. Some implications of these findings include the importance of encouraging EFL writing teachers to reflect on pedagogical cognitions and practices relevant to their working contexts as well as the need for introducing recommended models of teaching EFL writing in tertiary institutions. Other theoretical and professional contributions are addressed, and potential for further research is highlighted.</p>

scholarly journals Combining Case Study Design and Constructivist Grounded Theory to Theorize Language Teacher Cognition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eman Alzaanin
Keyword(s):  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Teacher Cognition ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Constructivist Grounded Theory ◽  
Language Teacher ◽  
The One

Although second language (L2) teacher cognition has been a sustained area of research in the field of L2 teacher education for the last three decades, designing an appropriate methodology to investigate teacher cognition is still a key challenge due to the unobservable nature of cognition. Teacher cognition is defined as “what teachers know, believe, and think” (Borg, 2003, p. 81). This article seeks to enable researchers who are interested in exploring L2 teacher cognition to design qualitative multiple case study research and to use constructivist grounded theory to data analysis to build theoretical models that capture L2 teachers’ cognitions. I discuss the rationale for the proposed design and outline the processes of data collection, three stages of data analysis, and the processes of constructivist grounded theory conceptualization. I provide examples and draw on my own experience of investigating and mapping out some of the intricate connections between the cognitions and the classroom practices of twelve English as a foreign language (EFL) writing teachers, on the one hand, and consider how their cognitions and pedagogical practices interplay with the ecological contexts where they teach, on the other hand. I highlight the flexibility of the proposed design to enable researchers to build models that effectively capture language teacher cognition and explain their pedagogical practices. In doing so, this article also provides a valuable contribution to the discussion of the research methods which have been used to examine L2 teacher cognition.

Exploring teacher written feedback in EFL writing classrooms: Beliefs and practices in interaction

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110576
Author(s):  
Xiaolong Cheng ◽  
Lawrence Jun Zhang ◽  
Qiaozhen Yan
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Comprehensive Approach ◽  
Written Feedback ◽  
Pedagogical Practice ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Writing Teachers ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Teachers Beliefs ◽  
Feedback Strategies

As an important instructional affordance, teacher written feedback is widely used in second language (L2) writing contexts. While copious evidence has shown that such a pedagogical practice can facilitate L2 learners’ writing performance, especially their writing accuracy, little is known about how novice writing teachers conceptualize and enact written feedback in contexts of English as a foreign language (EFL). To fill this gap, we examined four novice writing teachers’ espoused written feedback beliefs and their actual practices in Chinese tertiary EFL writing classrooms. Based on data from semi-structured interviews and students’ writing samples, we found that they adopted a comprehensive approach to feedback provision, and were most concerned with errors in language, particularly grammar when providing feedback. These teachers almost reached a consensus in their beliefs about feedback scope and feedback focus, but they held varying beliefs about feedback strategies. Additionally, this study revealed the complexity of belief-practice relationships, in terms of the coexistence of consistencies and inconsistencies. Specifically, these teachers’ beliefs paralleled their practices in feedback scope, but their beliefs and practices mismatched with regard to feedback focus and feedback strategies. This article concludes with a discussion of the important pedagogical implications.

Substance Use and Self-Harm: Case Studies From Patients Admitted to an Urban Hospital Following Medically Serious Self-Harm

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (14) ◽  
pp. 2201-2210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsie Breet ◽  
Jason Bantjes
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Urban Hospital ◽  
Adaptive Function ◽  
The Past ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Self Harm ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Analyze Data

Few qualitative studies have explored the relationship between substance use and self-harm. We employed a multiple-case study research design to analyze data from 80 patients who were admitted to a hospital in South Africa following self-harm. Our analysis revealed, from the perspective of patients, a number of distinct ways in which substance use is implicated in self-harm. Some patients reported that substance intoxication resulted in poor decision making and impulsivity, which led to self-harm. Others said substance use facilitated their self-harm. Some participants detailed how in the past their chronic substance use had served an adaptive function helping them to cope with distress, but more recently, this coping mechanism had failed which precipitated their self-harm. Some participants reported that substance use by someone else triggered their self-harm. Findings suggest that there are multiple pathways and a host of variables which mediate the relationship between substance use and self-harm.

scholarly journals Upper limb principal arteries variations: A cadaveric study with terminological implication

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marek Konarik ◽  
Vladimir Musil ◽  
Vaclav Baca ◽  
David Kachlik
Keyword(s):  
Upper Limb ◽  
Axillary Artery ◽  
Case Reports ◽  
European Population ◽  
Cadaveric Study ◽  
Arterial Trunk ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Forearm Flexor Muscles ◽  
Safe Performance ◽  
Terminology System

Although the variability of the upper limb arteries is a clinically important problem, the prevalence varies across the existing studies and the classification is rather complicated, uncoined, and sometimes even unclear for its simple and direct understanding and usage. Multiple case reports appearing in the last years apply incorrect, inappropriate, and sometimes misleading terminology. Here we performed an anatomical cadaveric study of the variability of the arteries of the upper limb, namely the axilla, arm and forearm, in 423 upper limbs (Central European population) embalmed with the classical formaldehyde method. We proposed the application of the Equality system based on common trunks for denomination of the axillary artery branches principal variations: truncus subscapulocircumflexus (22.9%), truncus profundocircumflexus (13.75%), and truncus bicircumflexus (13.95%). Further, we proposed the terminology system developed by Rodríguez-Niedenführ et al. for the free upper limb principal arterial trunk variations based on the origin, location (in the arm only or in the arm and forearm), and course (related to the forearm flexor muscles) of the involved artery: arteria brachialis superficialis (9.5%), arteria brachioradialis superficialis (6.4%), arteria brachioulnaris superficialis (1.9%), arteria brachiomediana superficialis (0.5%), and arteria comitans nervi mediani manus (3.3%). Extensive development of the catheterisation methods via the arteria radialis et ulnaris as well as surgical procedures using flaps based on perforating branches of these arteries (including arteria brachioradialis superficialis et brachioulnaris superficialis) necessitate thorough data on the prevalence of the variant vessels for safe performance of these procedures and to prevent any unexpected situations or to react adequately when they occur.

Let the buyer beware: how network structure can enable (and prevent) supply chain fraud

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott DuHadway ◽  
Carlos Mena ◽  
Lisa Marie Ellram
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Structural Holes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Bridge Collapse ◽  
Multiple Case

PurposeSupply chain fraud is a significant global concern for firms, consumers and governments. Evidence of major fraud events suggests the role of supply chain structures in enabling and facilitating fraud, as they often involve several parties in complicated networks designed to obfuscate the fraud. This paper identifies how the structural characteristics of supply chains can play an important role in enabling, facilitating and preventing fraud.Design/methodology/approachThe research follows a theory elaboration approach. The authors build on structural holes theory in conjunction with a multiple case study research design to identify new concepts and develop propositions regarding the role of network structure on supply chain fraud.FindingsThis research shows how structural holes in a supply chain can create advantages for unscrupulous firms, a role we call tertius fraudans, or the cheating third. This situation is exacerbated by structural ignorance, which refers to the lack of knowledge about structural connections in the network. Both structural holes and structural ignorance can create information gaps that facilitate fraud, and the authors propose solutions to detect and prevent this kind of fraud.Originality/valueThis paper extends structural holes theory into the domain of fraud. Novel concepts including tertius fraudans, structural ignorance and bridge collapse are offered, alongside a series of propositions that can help understand and manage structural supply chain fraud.

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