Search
Search Results
-
The Vehicle for Bringing Positive Education Into the English-As-A-Foreign-Language Classroom: Task-Based Language Teaching
80-89Views:245The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the distinctive features of interventions, tasks, and exercises. It is intended to lay theoretical ground to a forthcoming dissertation which is based on action research using positive psychology-based tasks designed or adapted for the secondary English-as-aforeign-language classroom. Therefore, it is essential to first understand the theoretical underpinnings of task-based language teaching and define certain key concepts as well as find the features that distinguish interventions, tasks, and exercises from each other in the language learning classroom. Since literature sometimes refers to these concepts in an interchangeable manner (cf. Seligman et al., 2005; Seligman et al., 2009; Gregersen et al., 2014), an attempt will be made in this theoretical paper to compare them, and then to provide a framework for task descriptions to be used in the dissertation project which is intended to be convergent with current theory and practical enough for teachers.
-
Aspects of the Well-being of University Instructors Related to Online Education During and After the Pandemic – Case Study of a Hungarian University
14-25Views:165In the past decade, quite a few articles have been published about the advantages and disadvantages of working from home online, and by studying the experiences that they present, it would be possible to much more thoroughly plan the rather complex, multi-faceted process of digital transition. However, the coronavirus epidemic that broke out in early 2020 did not allow for thoughtful preparation. The new work schedule resulted in profound changes to the work of university lecturers, thus, it obviously also had a significant impact on their well-being. In this study, we examine the state of the well-being of the instructors at one of the biggest universities in Hungary, the University of Debrecen. The period in question is at the introduction of emergency remote teaching and at the end of the pandemic period. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we collected data and information at different times. Based on this, we revealed what resources the instructors relied on, how they were able to meet the challenges of education online.
-
International Trends of Remote Teaching Ordered in Light of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and its Most Popular Video Conferencing Applications that Implement Communication
84-92Views:2742The global coronavirus pandemic that emerged at the end of 2019 and will reach its peak in 2020 has affected education systems worldwide and led to widespread, complete closure of schools, universities, and colleges. UNESCO estimates that a total of nearly 1.6 billion students worldwide have been affected by the closures of educational institutions. The indicator was the highest in the period from April 1 to April 5, when exactly 1,598,099,008 students were affected by the measures. This accounted for 91.3% of the world’s total learning community, with a total of 193 countries providing full nationwide remote teaching. In response to school clo-sures, UNESCO has proposed distance learning programs as well as open educational applications and platforms that have ena-bled schools and teachers to reach their students remotely and make online education easier (UNESCO, 2020). In addition to reviewing the recent literature and monitoring lockdown measures, the study also suggests a number of specific solutions.
-
Parental Assistance with Assignments – Types of Parental Involvement in Homework
25-36.Views:542The present study analyses – using qualitative methods – parental involvement in children’s homework, the forms of parental involvement and the types of parents in the studied area, emphasizing the decisive role of parents in the educational life of their children, using the sample of several rural settlements in Szeklerland. By focusing on the rural context, this research contributes to the existing literature by offering a more nuanced understanding of parental involvement, potentially uncovering challenges and strategies that are unique to rural communities. The literature lacks a parent typology based on qualitative research. The most common types of parents are: “aversive”, “ ambitious “, “partner”, “accountable”, “networking”. The benefits of parental support for children’s learning at home have been widely emphasized by experts in recent research. Active parental involvement has a positive impact on student achievement and learning. It also gives parents a better insight into school life and enables them to develop a partnership with the teachers.
-
Self-Study: Tensions and Growth in Graduate Teaching Assistant Development
14-22Views:354Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) development is an important undertaking for many higher education institutions in the United States. During the GTA preparation process, tensions can arise when the supervisor challenges GTAs by engaging in critical reflection and pushing them to advance their pedagogical skills beyond their comfort zone. Guided by Berry’s (2008) framework of tensions, this self-study aimed to answer the research question: How do tensions that arise during GTA development contribute to the professional growth of teacher educators and GTAs in their teaching? Self-study was the research method, and the data were analyzed using the strategy of inductive analysis and creative synthesis (Patten, 2002). This self-study reports five types of tensions: telling and growth; confidence and uncertainty; safety and challenge; valuing and reconstructing experience; and planning and being responsive. The findings explain how these tensions pushed the supervisor and the GTA to reflect on teacher preparation, manage challenges, and improve teaching. While tensions place teacher educators and novice teachers in uncomfortable positions, this study shows that reflections on and articulation of tensions in collaborative dialogues can help both discover aspects of their teaching that provide opportunities for growth and lead both to transform tensions into teachable moments.
-
The Effectiveness of the Let’s Teach for Hungary Mentoring Program
150-160Views:256The situation of disadvantaged students has been a problem in the field of education for decades, -so much so that several disadvantage-compensation programs have been set up in an effort to reduce its effect. This includes the mentoring process, the primary purpose of providing support and assistance to younger individuals. The subjects of the research are the 7th grade students participating in the Let’s teach for Hungary mentoring program. The questionnaire survey was conducted in the autumn of 2019 (n=585), during which I focused on the children’s expectations of the mentoring program, their learning difficulties, learning motivations, and their plans for further learning. Classifying students in clusters based on their motivations, highlights the fact that the range of participants is not homogeneous this aspect. The Coronavirus epidemic has posed a significant challenge to traditional education, and the opportunities offered by personal mentoring have been pushed into the background over the past year and a half. Educators and students alike have struggled through the transition to digital education (Kristóf, 2020). Attendance mentoring was forced to continue in the form of distance mentoring. In my current research, I examine the existence of distance mentoring, the exploration of experiences, and the preparedness of the participants in the Teach for Hungary program. Data collection began in December 2021, and the query process is still ongoing. I carry out the survey using a mixed-method. I collect quantitative data among students with the help of questionnaires, which focus on the experiences, opinions and readiness of the children. In addition, I use a qualitative, interview-based research method that provides an understanding of more comprehensive experiences. I conduct interviews with educators, mentors, and mentored students. The subjects of the research are primary school students (8th grade students), mentors and teachers of a small settlement in Hajdú-Bihar county and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county (n=60 people). The research results can serve as feedback to the participants on the success of work done during distance mentoring. The results obtained can also serve as feedback for the Let’s teach for Hungary program because the program can be developed in the future from interviews.
-
Designing An instrument to measure explicit and implicit learning processes
92-102Views:641In this research paper, the researcher’s intention was to design an instrument that is able to measure learning under two different conditions: explicit and implicit learning. Exploring explicit and implicit learning is gaining more and more attention nowadays in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). The Quantitative method was used in this study to investigate which learning mechanism proves to be more efficient in the selected sample. The present study involved Hungarian technical school, secondary school, and university students from Budapest (N = 40) who participated in completing an Artificial Grammar Learning (AGL) task. The most important finding of the present research endeavour is that implicit learning has proven to be more effective than explicit learning in the case of the selected participants and this was a statistically significant finding. The pedagogical implication of this study is that the effectiveness of implicit learning should be reconsidered by EFL teachers in Hungary.
-
Health Education in Primary Schools: A Difficult Task
1-10Views:381This study was conducted in a medium-sized French city, in a neighbourhood falling into poverty, with children aged from 9 to 10 years old. Its aim is to build an adapted strategy to improve children’s healthy habits. Our study was based on a mixed methods interdisciplinary approach using interviews, questionnaires, sleep diaries and accelerometers. The unemployment rate of the target population is above 40%, and the families have four children on average. The children of the sample (N=29) practice less physical activity than recommended by the institutions in charge of health matters. The parents correctly manage the sleep cycles of their children, and stand firm when they have to go to school the next day. When the next day is a non-school day, children play more video games in the evening, both on their own and with their families. Healthy habits can be improved through cooperation with the various members of the educational community (parents, teachers and structures in charge of the children). Since it is difficult to manage health education solely during PE classes, this process must be continued both inside and outside school by the community, even more so the family.
-
Playing Purposefully with Students in Courses – a Concept, an Implementation, and an Evaluation of a University Module
76-86Views:151Playing as a method of learning is predominantly applied in preschool and primary education. However, in the context of higher education, the method of playing is only sporadically used. The novelty of this topic lies in its application at the tertiary level, particularly in teacher education, where the aim is for students to plan and support learning processes for pupils from deep structures. This study investigates how playful learning methodologies can be effectively integrated into higher education and examines the impact on student attitudes and teaching practices. The module 'Playful Learning in Primary Education' was evaluated during the autumn semester of 2023 at the Institute for Primary Education of the PH FHNW in Switzerland. Initially, the topic of play is defined from multiple theoretical perspectives. The module description outlines the research questions addressed in the study. A central component of the evaluation is the students' certificates of achievement, which were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results highlight the attitudes toward playful methodology that students had at the beginning of the module and the attitudes and experiences they acquired by the end of the module. The evaluation results are presented in summative fashion in tables and interpreted in the discussion. The article aims to motivate university teachers to offer playful learning methods in higher education and to experience the positive impacts of this methodology with the students. The results clearly show that this methodology can lead to changes in teaching practice.
-
Encouraging Musical Creativity in Montenegrin Primary Education – A Case Study
27-35Views:388The need to change the paradigm of music education, which primarily relies on performing and listening to music, implies a more systematic introduction of activities that would enable the direct involvement of children in the exploration of sounds and the creation of their own music. By analysing the curricula and textbooks for music education in Montenegrin primary schools, as well as examining the attitudes of teachers about the realisation of musical creativity in teaching practice, it was found that these activities are not given enough attention. In order to introduce innovations in practice, an action research study was conducted, during 2017/2018 school year with 30 fifth grade pupils in one primary school, belonging to the Southern region of Montenegro. The obtained results, based on the qualitative findings, showed the connection between the categories that make up musical creativity in the classroom: acquiring musical knowledge, developing musical skills, encouraging problem solving, developing critical thinking, supporting collaborative creativity, motivation and integrative teaching. Hopefully, the conducted research will contribute to a wide range of understanding of musical creativity in the classroom context, as one of the leading topics of contemporary music pedagogy.
-
College Begins in Kindergarten: A Path to Higher Education Through Family-School Partnerships in a K-5 School
1-12.Views:303As income inequality rises in the United States, students from low-income backgrounds and other excluded identities are likelier to remain in the lower income percentile, especially if they do not have college degrees (Kochhar & Cilluffo, 2018). Therefore, a critical approach is to focus on what happens before middle and high school, realizing that early childhood is prime for students to learn about college and their future. This study explored the practices influencing college-going aspirations for marginalized students in a K-5 school that engages teachers and families. The exploration extends the literature on how schools prepare elementary-aged students to develop college-going aspirations. The case study design collected data from observations, an administrative interview, and a document review. Findings revealed social and environmental practices influencing students and families regarding college-going attitudes and aspirations. The results have implications for curriculum and school culture to redefine the postsecondary conversation.
-
Participation in Shadow Education in Church- and State-Maintained Schools: The Role of Cultural and Social Capital
60-75Views:169Research on shadow education is often justified based on Bourdieu’s theory of capital as it is assumed to contribute to social inequalities. This paper focuses on the role of cultural and social capital and on the differences between state- and church-maintained schools in the North-Eastern parts of Hungary. Using a convenience sample and our own constructed measurement tool, a quantitative survey of secondary school language learners (N=711) was conducted to explore the relationship between the effectiveness of supplementary private language tutoring as well as the cultural and social capital of language learners in cross-sectoral comparisons. Our results highlight the positive correlation between the highest educational attainment of the mother, the participation rate in shadow education and language learners’ achievement. In our study, language learners whose mothers had a higher education level demonstrated greater efficiency, in terms of academic achievements. Despite being less successful in passing language examinations as a result of a lower social composition in denominational grammar schools, language learners could count on a higher level of support both from their language teachers - who were better able to support their students to progress at their own pace - and from their classmates and families, demonstrating that social capital had a compensating effect on their learning trajectories.
-
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation to Learn as Factors of Resilience in Students' Pedagogical Disciplines - Pilot Study
17-23Views:561Motivation determines the dynamics of behaviour and helps in overcoming obstacles. A related concept is resilience, which also relates to overcoming stressful situations and speaks to an individual’s ability to adapt to challenging circumstances in life. The aim of this paper was to investigate the relationship between resilience and motivation to learn in students studying in the field of education. One hundred and thirty students participated in the research (100 bachelor students and 30 master students). The research instrument used to measure resilience was The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC 10) and to detemine motivation The Academic Motivation Scale (AMS-C 28) tool was used. The Mann-Whitney test found no significant difference between the two groups of students in each of the variables measured. The results show a significant association between resilience and types of intrinsic motivation in particular, but the strongest relationship was found between resilience and the lack of motivation. Students with low resilience scored higher on amotivation. For students at university, motivation to learn based on intrinsic drives is assumed to be self-evident. However, the ability to overcome obstacles is also necessary for the attainment of learning goals. Its degree can also be developed through educational intervention, which provides an opportunity for university teachers to expand their area of operation.
-
Family-School Partnerships in Improving Academic Performance of Grade 10 Learners in a Rural Public School
42-51Views:176Family-school partnerships address academic difficulties and ensure the performance of learners, thus, they are crucial for the improvement of learners. However, these collaborative partnerships can occasionally be hampered by problems including inadequate communication, and limited parental involvement. Research acknowledges the significance of these partnerships, but their successful implementation is hampered by a variety of institutional and socioeconomic barriers, which lessens their impact on learner academic performance. This study examined how essential forming family-school partnerships are for enhancing the academic performance of Grade 10 learners in a rural public school in Limpopo, South Africa. The study aimed to better learner performance and provide support strategies to foster improvement. An interpretivism paradigm was adopted, employing semi-structured individual interviews and document analysis. Purposefully selected participants included four academically underperforming learners, their parents, and two teachers. The study was grounded in Epstein’s model of school, family, and community partnership, advocating for parental collaboration with school personnel through six key guidelines, promoting mutual responsibility among stakeholders. Findings revealed that parents understood the value of family-school partnerships and their roles within these. However, challenges such as other obligations, transportation issues, and time constraints were identified as hindrances preventing them from fully supporting their children’s academic integrity.