scholarly journals Untrained Foreign English Educators in Japan: A Discourse on Government Education Initiative and Perceptions from Japanese Teacher's on Efficacy in the Classroom

Author(s):  
Gregory Paul Chindemi

Social scientists, teacher leaders, and academics, both Japanese and non-Japanese, have attempted to examine the phenomenon of unlicensed foreigners in the Japanese classroom environment. In an attempt to open a discourse on the intentions and subsequent failures of the JET programme, and to identify specific perceptions of Japanese teachers in relation to JET, a historical analysis of the JET programme coupled with a Likert Scale survey was utilized. In this ordinal scale survey, the opinions of both experienced Japanese teachers and inexperienced Japanese teachers on the challenges of working in conjunction with untrained foreign instructors during their career, were used to gauge teacher's attitudes and opinions. Results would suggest that teacher's with longer time in the field of education have stronger opinions towards untrained foreign educators in the classroom, while less experienced teachers are more apt to working with untrained foreign educators without expressing dissatisfaction.

Author(s):  
Tpl. Lawal Kabir Tunau ◽  
Tpl. Moses Zira Wanda

The paper is aimed at determining the level of coordination that exists among the different agencies that are involved in solid waste management in Zaria Urban area. Structured questionnaire and literature review were used to obtain data and information on the roles and responsibilities of agencies involved in solid waste management as well as the nature of inter-agency relationship in the study area. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 13 representatives of the Solid Waste Management agencies. Methods of data analysis employed for the research were the descriptive statistics (frequency analysis, percentage distribution, mean scores, grand mean scores and content analysis) for both government agencies and formal private waste collectors. The two points ordinal scale 1 representing yes and 2 representing no was employed for obtaining information on inter-agency relationships while the multiple options likert scale format was used for obtaining information on the level of coordination that exists among the different agencies, using such indicators as collaboration, consultation and information exchange. The multiple options likert scale questions type was also used to obtain information on effects of absence of a well-coordinated solid waste management system within the study area. The results of the analysis of the indicators of coordination using the two points ordinal scale on inter-agency relationship and other indicators, that is collaboration, consultation and information exchange also signified inefficient coordination among the agencies. The paper recommended among others that, there is need to prepare a well-coordinated and common solid waste management plan for common implementation by all stakeholders, which will guide policy formulation and coordinate all urban solid waste management issues within the urban area and also information exchange should be improved by providing effective means of communication among the institutions in the areas of public awareness campaigns, regularity of accessibility of the institutions to up to date information from other institutions


1998 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh Davis Graham

Scholarship on the political development of the United States since the 1960s is dominated, not surprisingly, by social scientists. Such recent events fall within the penumbra of “contemporary history,” the standard research domain of social scientists but treacherous terrain for historians. Social scientists studying American government and society generally enjoy prompt access to evidence of the policy-making process–documents from the elected and judicial branches of government, interviews with policy elites, voting returns, survey research. Historians of the recent past, on the other hand, generally lack two crucial ingredients–temporal perspective and archival evidence–that distinguish historical analysis from social science research. For these reasons, social scientists (and journalists) customarily define the initial terms of policy debate and shape the conventional wisdom. Historians weigh in later, when memories fade, archives open, and the clock adds a relentless and inherently revisionist accumulation of hindsight.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerlinde Lenaerts ◽  
Geertruida E Bekkering ◽  
Martine Goossens ◽  
Leen De Coninck ◽  
Nicolas Delvaux ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND User-friendly information at the point of care for health care professionals should be well structured, rapidly accessible, comprehensive, and trustworthy. The reliability of information and the associated methodological process must be clear. There is no standard tool to evaluate the trustworthiness of such point-of-care (POC) information. OBJECTIVE We aim to develop and validate a new tool for assessment of trustworthiness of evidence-based POC resources to enhance the quality of POC resources and facilitate evidence-based practice. METHODS We designed the Critical Appraisal of Point-of-Care Information (CAPOCI) tool based on the criteria important for assessment of trustworthiness of POC information, reported in a previously published review. A group of health care professionals and methodologists (the authors of this paper) defined criteria for the CAPOCI tool in an iterative process of discussion and pilot testing until consensus was reached. In the next step, all criteria were subject to content validation with a Delphi study. We invited an international panel of 10 experts to rate their agreement with the relevance and wording of the criteria and to give feedback. Consensus was reached when 70% of the experts agreed. When no consensus was reached, we reformulated the criteria based on the experts’ comments for a next round of the Delphi study. This process was repeated until consensus was reached for each criterion. In a last step, the interrater reliability of the CAPOCI tool was calculated with a 2-tailed Kendall tau correlation coefficient to quantify the agreement between 2 users who piloted the CAPOCI tool on 5 POC resources. Two scoring systems were tested: a 3-point ordinal scale and a 7-point Likert scale. RESULTS After validation, the CAPOCI tool was designed with 11 criteria that focused on methodological quality and author-related information. The criteria assess authorship, literature search, use of preappraised evidence, critical appraisal of evidence, expert opinions, peer review, timeliness and updating, conflict of interest, and commercial support. Interrater agreement showed substantial agreement between 2 users for scoring with the 3-point ordinal scale (τ=.621, <i>P</i>&lt;.01) and scoring with the 7-point Likert scale (τ=.677, <i>P</i>&lt;.01). CONCLUSIONS The CAPOCI tool may support validation teams in the assessment of trustworthiness of POC resources. It may also provide guidance for producers of POC resources.


1974 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joyce Leeson

In spite of unfortunate legacies from colonial days, social scientists in the health field in the Third World could make an important contribution by examining why “rational solutions” are not applied to the multitude of problems that exist. This would require an historical analysis of the status and roles of health personnel, and a recognition of the contradictions between the interests of the metropolitan countries and the urban elites of the Third World, on the one hand, and the rural masses on the other. The principles guiding the health services of the People's Republic of China have led to very different and apparently more appropriate services, but it seems unlikely that these will be applied elsewhere under present circumstances.


1996 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Allyn

Alfred Kinsey has long been recognized for his crucial role in the history of American sexual science. Kinsey's massive studies of American sexual behavior changed the way social scientists studied sexuality by breaking from the accepted social hygienic, psychoanalytic, psychiatric and physiological approaches. Scholars have noted that Kinsey's efforts paved the way for the work of Masters and Johnson and contributed to a postwar climate of “openness” about sexual behavior. In effect, Kinsey's studies signaled the final triumph of scientific candor over the nineteenth century “conspiracy of silence.” Furthermore, Kinsey's quantitative approach advanced what Paul Robinson has called the “modernization of sex,” and Kinsey's discussion of homosexuality inspired both the homophile movement of the 1950's and the anti-homosexual moral panic of the same decade. Yet for all of Kinsey's significance, his part in shaping the social policies of the 1950's and the “sexual revolution” of the 1960's has received surprisingly little historical analysis.


Author(s):  
Kimberly G. Dove

Classrooms are filled with students from multiple backgrounds. Teachers see students of different races, genders, and socioeconomic statuses. Providing the best education for these students is a necessity to produce productive members of society. To do so, teachers must work toward classroom equity. The research collected in this chapter can help teachers move toward an equitable classroom environment. There are many factors that need to be considered in creating equity. Once these factors are contemplated, the ability to change can be easily instituted. Teacher leaders have the potential to initiate change, but there are circumstances within the school that can hinder or support this change. Once schools meet the necessary criteria to create change, the role of teacher leaders is imperative in making equitable classrooms a reality.


1991 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
HY Van Luong ◽  
Diệp Đinh Hoa

In the past two decades, social scientists have paid considerably greater attention to the possible role of native sociocultural frameworks in structuring the organization of economic enterprises. The primary research focusing on the Japanese and Chinese cases relates to the emergence of many highly competitive industries in capitalist East Asia in which relations of production do not necessarily resemble American or Western industrial relations. The following historical analysis of production relations in the pottery industry of Tân Vạn, a major centre of Southern Vietnamese ceramic production, seeks to contribute empirical data for comparative purposes within the East Asian sociocultural sphere.


Rural History ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Hindle

‘Community’ is ubiquitous in the historiography of early modern England. Although the term is almost universally employed and appealed to, however, its meaning remains controversial, and its use by historians much criticised. Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that the very concept of ‘community’ is not the creation of modern social scientists: its origins lie in traditional notions of communitas, that quality of oneness claimed by mediaeval associations of various kinds. Consequently, modern historians and sociologists tend to agree only on two issues: first, that ‘community’ implies geographical propinquity, common ties, and focused interaction between and amongst its members; and second, that these characteristics have generally undergone a historical process of decline or disintegration. Rather vaguely-defined as this common ground is, it is sufficiently clear to render modern users of the term vulnerable in turn to two criticisms in particular. It is argued, first, that the mythic status of community begs both historical and sociological questions, relying merely on untested assumptions; and, second, that the strongly emotive overtones and inherent value judgements of such a nostalgic term introduce confusing elements of normative prescription to social-historical analysis. From this perspective, community is not only an elusive concept but also a flawed ideal, and calls for its abandonment have increased.


Author(s):  
Gustavo Gonzalez-Cuevas ◽  
Maria Victoria Tabera ◽  
Margarita Rubio ◽  
Maria Asuncion Hernando ◽  
Maria Jose Alvarez

Tackling difficulties related to student participation in the college classroom is central on the learning process. In this action-research study, we designed and implemented an action plan to boost participation on the grounds of (1) explaining the objectives and procedures for each activity to students; (2) requesting student participation by name; (3) giving them time to reflect before participating; and (4) requesting that students who are not paying attention participate. A survey was used in order to assess students' perceptions of the action plan. The survey included 10 items (1-4 Likert scale). A total of 103 students completed the survey. The scores’ mean was 3.19, demonstrating a positive student perception of the action plan. The statements with the highest average scores were: “Teacher allows time for reflection after posing a question” and “Teacher addresses specific students by name.” The instructors recorded their perceptions into writing, providing opinions on the development of the action plan. These teachers' comments were summarized into categories. In conclusion, we considered that the action plan helped to improve student participation, and we believe that in order to obtain sufficient participation we have to attain a classroom environment that favors motivation, confidence and respect for students.


2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110463
Author(s):  
Nada Jaber Alasmari ◽  
Abeer Sultan Ahmed Althaqafi

Teachers’ proactive and reactive classroom management strategies are a significant component of teaching effectiveness. Teachers need to develop such strategies to structure a positive classroom environment. In addition, teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs concerning their classroom management strategies are equally significant. This research aimed to identify the teachers’ effective proactive and reactive classroom management strategies. It also sought to investigate the obstacles that inhibit proactive classroom management use and identify the association between teachers’ self-efficacy and classroom management practices. The research adopted a mixed-methods paradigm, consisting of two tools: a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The sampling included 80 Saudi teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) participated in the survey and eight teachers participated in the interviews. The results showed that EFL teachers find proactive classroom management strategies more effective than reactive strategies. In addition, there was a difference between novice and experienced teachers’ effective classroom management strategies, in which experienced teachers found proactive strategies more effective. The findings also indicated that there are four types of obstacles that hinder proactive classroom management strategies. System-related obstacles (subject-centered curriculum and institutional rules), system/teacher related obstacles (institutional rules and teachers’ predispositions concerning e-tools), teacher-related obstacles (lack of understanding of the discipline plan), and student-related obstacles (unmotivated students). The final finding cited the positive association between teachers’ high self-efficacy and proactive classroom management application.


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