Factors that Affect the implementation of Teaching Writing Skills: Focus on Second Cycle Primary Schools in North Shoa

The purpose of this study was to determine the variables affecting the implementation of writing skills instruction and learning in grades 7 and 8 in North Shoa Zone Second Cycle Primary schools. The study's primary purpose was to determine the difficulties encountered by English language instructors and students while teaching and learning to write in English classes. The research included the participation of 25 English language instructors and 1484 pupils from 14 Second Cycle Primary Schools. A questionnaire and an interview were used to obtain the required data. Questionnaires were completed by instructors and students, and English language teachers were interviewed. The questionnaire data was tallied and examined statistically in terms of frequency and percentage. Similarly, interview data were categorized and qualitatively characterized. The investigation revealed that the majority of instructors and students struggle with teaching and learning writing skills. Additionally, although both English instructors and students believe they are engaging in writing activities in the classroom, the students' writing performance is not as promising as shown by open-ended questions and comments from English language teachers interviewed. Several key suggestions are made in light of the results of this research in order to mitigate the issues that impede the efficient implementation of writing instruction and learning in second cycle primary schools. The primary recommendation is to offer enough training for English language instructors on how to teach writing skills, which will then be conveyed to students in order for them to enhance their writing performance.

Religious Institutions and Poverty Reduction: Evidence from Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

In spite of the numerous poverty reduction policies and programs of successive administrations in Nigeria, the generality of the populace are still in a web of deprivation and hunger. It is apparent that government is unable to stem the tide of poverty and thus the need for surrogate stakeholders to lift the poor out of poverty. Therefore, an empirical study was conducted to estimate the factors influencing the willingness of religious institutions to undertake poverty reduction programs for it members and the constraints limiting their ability to initiate programs that will ameliorate the suffering of poor members in the congregation. A total of 60 churches were sampled through the multistage sampling procedure and information were elicited using questionnaire. Data were analyzed using probit model and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance. Result revealed that the most critical factors influencing the willingness of churches to undertake programs that will lift poor members of the congregation out of poverty were age and educational level of the church leaders, size of congregation, church income and age of the church. Result of Kendall’s coefficient of concordance indicated that there was 54 percent (moderate agreement) between the ranking of constraints associated with the willingness of churches to undertake programs that will lessen the pains of poverty among its members. Findings further showed that the top five most limiting constraints were lack of finance, lack of trained personnel, inadequate knowledge about the programs, unfavorable government policies and low membership strength.

The Anamorphosis of Struggle, Confrontation, and Ideological Imagination in Tayeb Salih’s Season of Migration to the North (1966)

The transmedia narrative of the scope of Season of Migration to The North, emphasizes substantial composite creations where specific characters and idiosyncratic plot lines imply a neo-perception method and a post-conception model within the dimensionality of understanding becomes a generative system and a transformative experience. In this run, the anamorphic format of imagination and intellection inside the indigenized process of encoding, designs a new method of normative functionalism, an original attitude of discernments and a prima materia empirical perceptive consignment. Therefore, through a relational value of model and an aesthetic realism, Salih defines an innovative interactive and immersive reality within an analytic functionalism and a psycho-functionalist view in the perspective to transcend the Islamist conservative approach of formal concept analysis and then to deconstruct the Western absorption of temporal concept analysis. It is within this respect, the principle of this paper appears to be a social deconstructionism, a modality and property differentiation concerning the status quo of the Be-ing, and a transformative reform about anthropological prerequisites and requests. In this respect, the realm of functionalism, functional linguistic and aesthetic realism involve this Salih’s object argument in a transgressive object relation.

Criminal Response Formulation Policy Distribution News (Hoax) through Social Media

The spread of fake news (hoax) is increasingly prevalent nowadays. Hoax is fake news that often appears on the internet and aims to spread panic and mass fear. Many irresponsible individuals carried out an activity to achieve a goal that can cause unrest, chaos, and disrupt state security. The research objective is to understand the criminal provisions in the ITE Law into conditions that follow the development of the criminal act of spreading hoaxes—knowing the policy formulation in handling the spread of fake news (hoax) through social media in Indonesia in the future. The approach method used in this research is a normative juridical approach. The types of data used in this study are secondary data and primary data. This research is classified as a kind of qualitative research. The results of this study indicate that: The provisions that follow the development of the criminal act of spreading fake news (hoax) are seen from several aspects. First, the factory itself, the second legal factor of law enforcement officers, the third is facilities and infrastructure, fourth, the community factor. In terms of this aspect, the formulation of criminal law in dealing with fake news in the future looks better and more complete, especially in the concept of the Criminal Code, which regulates things that can be convicted regarding fake news and hate speech, the form of fake news and hate speech in cyberspace. The current criminal law policy still has shortcomings, especially in terms of policy formulation.

Small-scale Farming and Access to Market: Challenges and Opportunities in South Africa

The paper has aimed to explore the effectiveness of small-scale farmers in improving household income and food security, particularly looking at the barriers to market access in rural areas. This study was undertaken in rural areas of Kanyamazane, Clau-Clau and Nyongane, South Africa, where small-scale producers depend on low-risk and low-return markets to generate household income from production, thus ensuring food security. To achieve the aim of this study, a qualitative approach was used to provide in-depth interpretation of the perspectives, experiences, and behavioural patterns of the small-scale farmers faced with market related issues. Small-scale farmers, agricultural extension officers, and municipal officials were purposefully selected to share their views, perceptions, and experiences on the effectiveness in accessing markets. The findings revealed that there was limited access to formal markets by small-scale farmers because of limited knowledge and capacity to meet market requirements. The study confirmed that a lack of marketing skills, institutional support services, and limited access to arable land, have directly negative effects on achieving livelihood outcomes. This study recommends a sustainable crop production method which reduces the costs of farming resources, such as pesticide and fertilizer, through organic methods to ensure food safety and enhanced nutrient quality. This study further encourages inclusive rural development, where small-scale producers are treated as stakeholders in agricultural policy formulation to enable access to financial resources and increase in production through the formation of cooperatives.

A Critical Analysis of Brentano’s Intentionality in Relation to Meinong’s Object Theory

Our thoughts are certainly about things(objects), however, what kind of things(object) are our thoughts directed at? What is the relationship between mental objects and external world object? What is the nature and character of mental and extra mental objects? An attempt at answering these meta-epistemological questions, brought to light the ideas of Franz Brentano on ‘Intentionality’ and Alexius Meinong’s Theory of object. Through proper method of philosophical analysis, it was discovered that both philosophers agreed that intentionality is a unique character exhibited by the human mind. However, Meinong went further to develop a more comprehensive object theory which attempts at clarifying some of the ontological difficulties associated with Brentano’s notion on intentionality. The research concluded that, though, both philosophers had areas of divergence and convergence in their respective epistemological thoughts, but insisted that the influence of Brentano’s ideas on Meinong cannot be overemphasized, which is to say, Meinong’s object theory, could be said to be a reaction towards the problem of referential opacity present in Brentano’s account of Intentionality.

The Impacts of Public Administrative Quality on Profitable Enterprises in Vietnam

This study aims to understand the relationship between the quality of public administration and the rate of profitable enterprises by locality in Vietnam in the period 2015 - 2019. With a combined data set from two sources including The first is the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) dataset jointly implemented by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Vietnam, the second is the "White Book of Vietnamese Enterprises" compiled and published annually by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam. Combined with panel data estimation method to assess the impact of public administration quality indicators on the rate of profitable enterprises by locality. Research results show that there exists a relationship between the quality of public administration and the rate of profitable enterprises. Especially the indicators of Entry Costs, Policy Bias, and Labor and Training have both positive and negative effects with very strong statistical significance.

A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis of the Tropes of (Sexually) Objectified or/and Oppressed Men in Selected Contemporary African Prose Works

This paper examines the tropes of (sexually) objectified or/and oppressed men in selected contemporary African prose works. Drawing on Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (henceforth, FCDA) for theoretical underpinnings, Systemic Functional Linguistics (henceforth, SFL) for grammatical tools and the qualitative research method, this study seeks to analyze how contemporary feminist writers like Amma Darko, Daniel Mengara, and Lola Shoneyin employ language in their fictional texts The Housemaid (1998), Mema (2003) and The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives (2015) respectively to represent the phenomenon of (sexually) objectified or/and oppressed male characters. This article cogently argues that the tropes of (sexually) objectified or/and oppressed men, as enacted in the aforementioned prose works, encode a form of gendered experience which irrefutably has a given recondite function or meaning which only a critical linguistic analysis of the writers’ language can uncover. The findings reveal that the three authors intentionally use language to depict their male personae as (sexually) objectified or/and oppressed individuals with a view to challenging the established social order in social life and establishing a certain balance in the representation of gender or/and power relations in African literature.

The Training Program Effectiveness to Improve English Pronunciation for Students with Hearing Impairments in the Elementary Level

This study aimed to determine the effect of a training program to improve English pronunciation for hard-of-hearing students. To achieve the aim of the study, the researchers used the quasi-experimental approach, and the study sample consisted of (30) students with hearing impairments from primary schools in the city of Irbid. The experimental group studied based on the training program and consisted of (15) students, and (15) students of the control group studied in the traditional way. A set of instruments has been prepared, which consists of an image-naming test and preparing a training program based on the curriculum for students to see their effectiveness in raising the level of pronunciation for students with hearing impairments in the English language. The results showed that there were statistically significant differences between the control and experimental groups in favour of the experimental group. The study recommended holding training courses (sound training) targeting parents of hearing-impaired students in order to develop the receptive and expressive language of their children.

Households’ Decision to Participate in Cooperative Organizations: Evidence from Farmers in Akwa Ibom State, Southern Nigeria

Farmer organizations are effective mechanisms for increasing agricultural production, darners income and reducing poverty. Regrettably, farmers have not taken advantage of the lofty benefits accruable to those who voluntarily join these organizations. The study estimated the factors influencing households decision to participate in cooperative organizations and also tested the level of agreement among identified constraints linked with participation. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 120 farmers for the study. Primary data were obtained using questionnaires. Data were analyzed using Probit model and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance. Results of analyses revealed that the mean age, years of educational attainment household size and years of farming experience were 32, 15, 5 and 7 respectively. Result of probit analysis further indicate that age of the farmer, farm income, household size, participation in meeting, major decision maker, distance of farm to the nearest road and farmers social status were the most critical factors influencing households decision to participate in cooperative organizations. Result of Kendall’s coefficient of concordance revealed that there was 0.42 (moderate agreement) between the ranking of constraints associated with farmers' participation in cooperative organizations. Furthermore, findings showed that the top five factors limiting households’ decision to participate in cooperative organizations were inadequate capital accumulation, high embezzlement of funds, poor leadership, recurring internal crises and lack of initiative. Policies to provide good and accessible roads, increase farmers incomes and encourage youths are rational options that will enhance effective participation in cooperative organizations.