scholarly journals Teaching Competencies of Language Teachers in Research Universities in Beijing: Perspectives from SoTL and Institutional Theory

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4943
Author(s):  
Yi Zhang ◽  
Fugui Ye ◽  
Xiumei Liu

Though professional development of language teachers has received increasing attention over the past decade, there is a lack of research on development of language teachers’ teaching competencies in research universities. Informed by the institutional perspective and the framework of Scholarship of Teaching, this study investigates the development of 16 language teachers’ teaching competencies in Beijing research universities. The findings show that language teachers’ teaching competencies include English proficiency, professional ethics, pedagogical content knowledge, reflective thinking, and research-informed teaching. Factors influencing language teachers’ teaching competencies range from the department level to the university level and the academia level. Pathways are proposed from the cultural-cognitive perspective, the normative perspective, and the regulative perspective to develop teaching competencies of language teachers.

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kinga Magdolna Mandel ◽  
Anargul Belgibayeva

The aim of our research was to describe, compare, and analyze the development of business and educational co-operation between Kazakhstan and Hungary over the past 19 years. The research was prompted by the university-level co-operation between the two countries that star ted in 2018, which was made possible by the strategic partnership that is the topic of the present article. We started from the hypothesis that both business and educational co-operation has developed linearly and significantly during the last 19 years. Our research methodology was based on gathering and analyzing secondary macroeconomic, trade, and educational co-operation data in the period between 2011 and 2020. The data were obtained from publications, national offices (statistical, commerce, and education), and international bodies (like TempusPublic Foundation, Eurostat, International Monetary Fund [IMF], and the World Bank). In this paper, we intend to link the main political, social, and macroeconomic endowments with business and educational developments of partnership in the two countries, trying to map out prospects for co-operation. One conclusion is that, although in the political communications of the two countries we were able to identify significant governmental efforts on both sides to support and enforce economic and educational co-operation, the data indicate a decrease in the size of business investments. At the same time, however, the educational co-operation between the two parties continues to develop further.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 1048-1055
Author(s):  
Asma Kashif Shahzad ◽  
Akifa Imtiaz ◽  
Tahira Asgher

Purpose of the study: The present research aims to study the effectiveness of using learner autonomy in English language classrooms at the university level from teachers' perspectives. The study seeks to determine what roles can be performed by the language teachers while fostering learner autonomy at the university level. Methodology: The study is descriptive and qualitative. The data has been collected with the help of a structured interview. The researchers prepared a list of questions to collect data from the interviews with 19 ESL teachers. The respondents are from the five universities of South Punjab. The interviews are recorded and transcribed and further analysed in terms of thematic categories discussed with the teachers. Main findings: The research explores a great deal of awareness of the concept of learner autonomy among university teachers, which they use indirectly or directly in their classroom teaching. The teachers discuss many roles they can perform to develop and use autonomy in the English language classroom. They express that practising autonomous learning in an ESL context could result in learning the English language more naturally and effectively. Application of this study: The present study contributes to using and developing learner autonomy in an ESL context. It would be an inspiration to research and explore more avenues of systematic inquiry in the field it deals with. The pedagogical implication of the study is that it would help ESL teachers practice the concept in their classroom teaching effectively. Novelty/Originality of this study: Most of the studies found in the field of learner autonomy are learner-centered. our research explores the phenomenon from the viewpoint of language teachers. The study focuses on the effectiveness of learner autonomy perceived by the teachers. It further records the teachers' opinions about what role(s) they can perform to practice it in the classroom.


2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-96
Author(s):  
Dave Marshall

Until recently, the meaning and origin of the Canadian university degree was well understood by Canadians and around the world. Degrees were only offered by universities and the use of the label university was controlled by legislation in each of the ten provinces and three territories. Institutional membership in the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada signified that an institution was a university-level institution. However, the increased demand in the last two decades of the 20th century for access to university-level degrees has resulted in the provincial-level approval of degrees that are offered in non-university settings. As a result of the increased proliferation of these non-university delivered degrees, the provincial-level degree accreditation processes and the university-level degree granting standards, as represented in the membership criteria for AUCC, are no longer aligned. In this paper, the author traces the changes in degree granting in Canada over the past 15 years or so. Current provincial policies and recent decisions regarding degree granting are outlined. The author suggests a number of implications of the current degree accreditation process in Canada, including the emergence of a new kind of tiering of Canadian undergraduate degrees where different degree accreditation processes have led to different degrees with different meaning and value to the student. In order to protect both the student consumer and the currency of the Canadian undergraduate degree, the author recommends the development of national standards to define both a university-level institution and the quality of the degree it delivers.


Author(s):  
Raquel Poy Castro

En las últimas décadas, las bajas tasas de mujeres que cursan estudios universitarios, así como el hecho de que esas tasas se han ido incrementando, han sido analizadas por investigadores en España así como en Europa y otros países. En nuestro análisis, hemos observado que las tasas femeninas de estudiantes están creciendo año tras año pero con significativas diferencias entre disciplinas académicas. Por esta razón, nuestro propósito ha sido recoger datos de las universidades españolas, de cara a observar tendencias y sus orígenes. Nuestro estudio incluye porcentajes de mujeres enroladas en las diversas áreas académicas de estudios en las universidades españolas, comparadas con los porcentajes en el conjunto de la Academia. También incluye algunos datos sobre los porcentajes de mujeres entre los estudiantes de doctorado, así como entre el personal docente de los<br />departamentos en las facultades, y los comparamos según el estatus académico. Finalmente, presentamos algunas conclusiones sobre las barreras en la carrera académica para las profesoras en las universidades españolas entre 1978 y 2008. Estos datos revelan los crecientes porcentajes de mujeres que durante los pasados años han<br />seguido estudios superiores. También muestran algunas diferencias entre áreas académicas, y asimismo que existe una significativa tendencia de género en el acceso de<br />las estudiantes graduadas a las categorías superiores del personal docente.<br /><br />In the last decades, the low rates of women that follow studies at the university level, as well as the fact that those rates are increasing, have been analyzed by researchers in<br />Spain, as well as in Europe and in some other countries. In our analysis, we have seen that female students’ rates are increasing year after year but with significant differences<br />between academic disciplines. For this reason, our purpose was to compile data from Spanish universities, in order to see the tendencies and their origins. Our study includes<br />percentages of women enrolled in the diverse academic areas of studies at the Spanish universities, compared to the percentages in the whole Academia. It also includes some data on the percentages of women among PhD students, as well as among the teaching staff of the departments in the faculties, and we compare them by academic status. Finally, we present some conclusions on the barriers in the academic career for female professors in the Spanish universities between 1978-2008. These data reveal the increasing percentages of women that for the past last years have followed higher studies. They also show some differences among academic areas, and also that there is a significant gender bias in the access of graduated female students to the upper categories of teaching staff.<br /><br />


1982 ◽  
Vol 21 (04) ◽  
pp. 169-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Möhr ◽  
F. J. Leven ◽  
M. Rothemund

A specialized curriculum for education in medical informatics at university level was initiated jointly by the University of Heidelberg and the Polytechnical School of Heilbronn in 1972. The experience gained during the past decade is reviewed as an example of a curriculum of applied informatics in general and of medical informatics in particular. For this purpose, the underlying basic concept is described and its realization in the current third version of the curriculum specified in some detail. In particular, its practice-oriented didactic concepts are emphasized. The concept and its realization are discussed on the basis of a review of the experience of 51 graduates.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (18) ◽  
pp. 65-72
Author(s):  
Beáta Biliková ◽  
Katarína Seresová

Over the past few decades, the notion of World Englishes has achieved much attention among linguists, language teachers, and other professionals. The present study explores the impact these trends have had on university education in the field of English philology and culture, focusing on the study programmes run by the Applied Languages Faculty, the University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia. Our research was designed to gain insights into the students’ perception of varieties of English and identify those areas which require more attention in order to provide students with the most relevant content. The research sample contained 130 students of one BA and one MA programme. Our research was based on a questionnaire which provided us with the data on students’ awareness of the studied issues. The data were subsequently processed using combined quantitative and qualitative methods. One part of the data was statistically analysed with regard to the frequency of certain aspects. The second part was analysed focusing on students’ attitudes and evaluative statements. Results of the analysis indicated both the key tendencies in their thought and the orientation of the occasional excentric views. The research outcomes enabled us to establish several important facts, e.g. a relatively insufficient understanding of the relevant terminology and concepts, high awareness of the existence of varieties of English, and, simultaneously, low awareness of the features distinguishing those varieties, etc. The conclusions point out those areas which should be represented more extensively in our curricula to reflect the actual current situation in the English language.  


2008 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Manuel López Torrijo

The educational inclusion of disabled people constitutes one of the most relevant educational and pedagogical innovations in the past decades. This article analyses such inclusion at the university level choosing students with deafness as a representative and extrapolative sample. After specifying the main limitations and needs for this group of students, the study revises the solutions put forward by the current legislation and it details in depth, by way of a comparative study, the services provided now by the newly created University Services for the Integration of students with special educational needs. The study points out conclusively some proposals for the future?principles, strategies, services, resources?which may enable to attain an equalitarian society through an educational integration in this higher stage of education.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-48
Author(s):  
Amani El-tayeb Hassab El-Rasoul Mohammed

Using Information and Communication Technology in EFL classrooms at the university level is very important for universities lecturers in Sudan. This study aims to investigate the role of ICT in teaching English in Sudanese universities represented by Gezira and Butana University. The study casts light on the importance of ICT today particularly in the field of English language teaching. Moreover, investigates the problems which face Sudanese EFL teachers in using ICT in classrooms at the university level. The study has followed the descriptive-analytical method. The data for the study[ has been collected by means of a questionnaire and an interview with some ICT experts and technicians. The study has used the (SPSS) statistical package for the social science programme for analyzing the data. The study has reached many important results: There are many problems facing Sudanese English language teachers at the university level in teaching the English language while using the technology of information and communication because they are not specialized in the field. In the light of these results, the study recommends that: Introducing ICT into educational curricula so as to be understood and used easily by learners and teachers. Also the necessity of training EFL teachers on using these technologies. Finally, the study recommends all teachers at the university level have full knowledge of using ICT in education because it is very important nowadays.


1979 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 96-101
Author(s):  
J.A. Graham

During the past several years, a systematic search for novae in the Magellanic Clouds has been carried out at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. The Curtis Schmidt telescope, on loan to CTIO from the University of Michigan is used to obtain plates every two weeks during the observing season. An objective prism is used on the telescope. This provides additional low-dispersion spectroscopic information when a nova is discovered. The plates cover an area of 5°x5°. One plate is sufficient to cover the Small Magellanic Cloud and four are taken of the Large Magellanic Cloud with an overlap so that the central bar is included on each plate. The methods used in the search have been described by Graham and Araya (1971). In the CTIO survey, 8 novae have been discovered in the Large Cloud but none in the Small Cloud. The survey was not carried out in 1974 or 1976. During 1974, one nova was discovered in the Small Cloud by MacConnell and Sanduleak (1974).


Author(s):  
Kenneth C. Moore

The University of Iowa Central Electron Microscopy Research Facility(CEMRF) was established in 1981 to support all faculty, staff and students needing this technology. Initially the CEMRF was operated with one TEM, one SEM, three staff members and supported about 30 projects a year. During the past twelve years, the facility has replaced all instrumentation pre-dating 1981, and now includes 2 TEM's, 2 SEM's, 2 EDS systems, cryo-transfer specimen holders for both TEM and SEM, 2 parafin microtomes, 4 ultamicrotomes including cryoultramicrotomy, a Laser Scanning Confocal microscope, a research grade light microscope, an Ion Mill, film and print processing equipment, a rapid cryo-freezer, freeze substitution apparatus, a freeze-fracture/etching system, vacuum evaporators, sputter coaters, a plasma asher, and is currently evaluating scanning probe microscopes for acquisition. The facility presently consists of 10 staff members and supports over 150 projects annually from 44 departments in 5 Colleges and 10 industrial laboratories. One of the unique strengths of the CEMRF is that both Biomedical and Physical scientists use the facility.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document