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1994-1995 Dissertation Abstracts: Part 2
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ORDER NO: ABA96-08002
EFFECTS OF ANDRAGOGICAL METHOD OF INSTRUCTION ON ENGINEERING STUDENT PERFORMANCE AND RETENTION IN THE FIRST YEAR Author: MCMASTERS, BOBBY LOWELL Degree: ED.D. Year: 1995 Corporate Source/Institution: UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS (0011) Director: GORDON R. HERRINGTON Source: VOLUME 56/11-A OF DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. PAGE 4294. 232 PAGES Descriptors: EDUCATION, HIGHER ; EDUCATION, CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION ; ENGINEERING, MECHANICAL Purpose of this research was to determine if the andragogical method of instruction had a significant impact on the retention rates of first-year University of Arkansas mechanical engineering students. Dr. Malcolm S. Knowles (1990) defines andragogy as a theory of adult learning that incorporates the individual learners need to know, self-concept, experience, readiness to learn, and motivation to learn. A review of literature limited to the andragogical theory and its applications in a university setting provides background on concepts, principles, and practical computer applications. The study was conducted between July 1994 and May 1995. Data for the study were obtained from responses to a questionnaire entitled the Computer Skills and Opinion Inventory (CSOI). An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) statistical design with a post-hoc Scheffe secondary test was used to determine among group differences. The study found the treatment did not have a significant effect on the dependent retention variable stayed in school. Although the stayed in school retention percentage for the experimental group was higher than the comparison or control groups, the retention percentage was not significantly higher. For the dependent retention variable same major (students who stayed in school for the 1995 spring semester and kept their original 1994 fall semester major) a significant difference among groups was found. Post-hoc Scheffe analysis found no two groups were significantly different. Although the experimental treatment had an overall significant effect in combination with the comparison and control groups, (same major retention rates were higher), the experimental treatment did not produce significantly higher same major retention rates. For the first semester after the treatment, no significant difference among groups in combination with the covariates was found for students completing the 1995 spring semester and enrolling for the 1995 fall semester. Although the stayed in school and same major retention percentages for the experimental group were again higher than the comparison or control groups, the retention percentages were not significantly higher.
ORDER NO: ABA96-07350
The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of the relationship between measures of organizational climate and measures of job satisfaction as applied to chief instructional officers in community colleges. A secondary purpose was to determine if there were significant differences in the means for job satisfaction when controlling for gender, ethnicity, the classification of community college by size, number of years served as a college administrator, or the faculty collective bargaining status of the college. Chief instructional officers at all member colleges of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) were surveyed. A total of 1,060 surveys were sent and 539 were returned, rendering a 51% response rate. The data were analyzed to determine the relationship between measures of organizational climate and job satisfaction and the differences in mean satisfaction ratings when controlling for gender, ethnicity, classification of community college by size, number of years served as a college administrator, and faculty collective bargaining status of the college. These analyses revealed that regard for personal concerns, internal communication, organizational structure, and evaluation were the organizational climate factors significantly related to job satisfaction for chief instructional officers. In comparing satisfaction while controlling for demographic variables, significant differences were found in specific categories of each of the demographic variables. When making comparisons by classification of community college by size, significant differences were found in participation in decision-making, autonomy, power, control, salary, benefits, and professional effectiveness. When making comparisons by gender, significant differences were found in relationships with peers and professional effectiveness. When making comparisons by ethnicity, years of experience as a college administrator, and collective bargaining status of faculty, significant differences were found in salary and benefits. Comparisons by years of experience as a college administrator also yielded significant differences in relationship with supervisor.
ORDER NO: ABA96-06327
This study investigates the students' perceptions of effective instructional behaviors displayed by community college part-time faculty members and part-time faculty participation in professional development activities and faculty demographic variables of age, gender, educational degree, years of teaching experience, and disciplines taught. The findings contribute to the understanding of the perceived effective instructional behaviors of the part-time faculty thereby addressing the concern of quality instruction by part-time faculty members in community colleges. The independent relationships between the criterion variable and each of the predictor variables were assessed for effective instructional behaviors by part-time faculty members teaching in a public community college in Northwest Florida. The data was generated from students rating of 311 different part-time faculty members teaching in Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, Adult Basic Education, Preparatory Programs, and Vocational Programs. The ratings of part-time faculty members on seventeen statements used on the district rating of instruction form were grouped into broad categories of effective instructional behaviors and were analyzed using the Multiple Linear Regression technique. Analyses of the ratings indicated there were significant relationships in three of the six effective teaching categories. Background variables (level of educational degree and years of teaching experience) were predictive of student perceptions of the effective instructional behaviors which included statements about: (1) agreement of tests and subject matter; (2) returning work assignments; (3) providing adequate information toward student progress; (4) use of class assignments and teaching methods which helped the student understand the subject matter; and (5) using fair grading procedures. The part-time faculty members in this study with Bachelors and Masters degrees were more consistently rated higher in all of these areas. Additionally, part-time faculty members with seven to nine years of experience gave class assignments and used teaching methods which helped the student understand the subject matter and those with 13 to 15 years experience were perceived by students to show less partiality toward students. This study produced similar results consistent with the findings of Feldman (1983) indicating years of teaching experience seem to have a negative relationship with a tendency to increase for the first ten or so, then to decline. Additionally, Marsh (1979) clearly determined that students can distinguish between very good and very poor teachers and can make finer distinctions about effective teaching behaviors.
ORDER NO: ABA96-06116
This is a study of my practice as a teacher researcher in an undergraduate teacher education program. The study extends from this experience to theorize about teaching. First, I tell the story of teaching two cycles of an elementary and middle school mathematics methods class for junior education majors, which was a class I felt unprepared to teach. Initial narratives of my prior schooling and teaching express my teaching commitments, thus setting the scene for this study. Second, I reflect and theorize about curriculum, dialogue, and methods classes. Finally, I apply the metaphor of a journey with "new views" and "stopping places," as an organizing image for the theoretical insights from my teaching. Theoretical concepts explaining teaching what I felt unprepared to teach include, "mapping the terrain" before teaching, "experiencing the terrain" while teaching, and "focused curiosity and questions" after teaching. "Focused curiosity and questions" led me to mathematics education literature to explain puzzles arising in class, and guided me to the remaining "stopping places" on this teaching journey. Journal extracts tell of "the having of wonderful ideas" (Duckworth, 1987) that led to the curricular change, between the first and second year, of integrating a geography of the Mississippi River into the math methods class. Pressure contributing to this change included the need for math reform teaching (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 1989, 1991). I theorize how classroom dialogue can be produced, theorized, and written about in a way that is descriptively adequate, and generative for future professional exchanges. I reinterpret dialogue as a form of curricular text that I name "con-text." Student response to the course suggests students reconstruct their sense of selfthrough rewriting their mathematical autobiographies. This rewriting happens during a teaching process where students, (1) experience mathematical thinking arising from real-world tasks, (2) engage in rich whole class dialogue, and (3) engage in student lead discussions that reflect on this process. My work contributes to education by (1) sharing narratives of a teacher educator, (2) suggesting new theoretical concepts, and (3) recording and generating significant personal development to feed back into my teaching.
ORDER NO: ABANN-99630
It was hypothesized that attempts to instruct university-level students in critical thinking processes would be contigent upon their intellectual developmental levels. This study examined persuasive or argumentative writing as reflective of a student's critical thinking abilities. Instruction involved a computer-assisted tutorial called Hermes designed to improve students' rhetorical and dialectical writing. Intellectual development was assessed by Baxter-Magolda and Porterfield's (1988) Measure of Epistemological Reflection (M.E.R.), a measure of Perry scheme level. Working in a university computer writing laboratory volunteer students were randomly assigned to an experimental or control condition, wherein the experimental condition used the Hermes program and some traditional instruction and the control condition received only the traditional online writing instruction (Linda Flower's nine steps for composing). Both the student/computer interactions and the resultant essays were analysed. Essays were scored by a type of holistic scoring termed Primary Trait Scoring that was developed specifically for this project. Inter-rater reliability of the scoring procedure was.88 in a first attempt. The experimental group wrote significantly more dialectical and. rhetorically effective essays than the control group. Performance, as determined by both the writing of the essays and the ability to benefit from the instruction provided by Hermes, was related to intellectual developmental level as assessed by the M.E.R. The degree of relationship was greater between developmental level and performance than it was for either of educational level and performance or age and performance. These results are examined in the light of the stage question in adult developmental theory and assessment. Results indicate the effectiveness of such computer-assisted instruction, the dependence of such instruction upon developmental level, and the M.E.R.'s validity as a measure of intellectual development.
ORDER NO: ABA96-05490
Instructional science laboratories are important in the training of non-science and science students, because in these laboratories students learn how to explore the natural world. The quality of chemistry laboratory instruction has been declining due to rising costs, safety concerns, and an emphasis on manipulative skills. Traditionally, there have been few instructional strategies which promote conceptual understanding by laboratory students. The problem addressed by this study is that first-year college chemistry students learn very little of the conceptual material associated with chemistry experiments they perform. The construction of concept maps, based on the constructivist learning theory, is a technique previously developed to help students learn the conceptual material associated with laboratory work. The thesis of this research is that the construction of a prelab concept map, and the restructuring of this map during and after the laboratory period, help students understand the concepts involved in the experiments they perform. The study was conducted using 32, all female, non-science majors enrolled in a first-year chemistry course covering general and organic chemistry. Only the laboratory portion of the course was used in this study. The experimental group constructed prelab and postlab concept maps, while the control group wrote essays explaining the conceptual chemistry of the four experiments used in this study. Both groups took 25-item achievement tests one week after each experiment. The experimental group turned in prelab and postlab concept maps, which were scored and evaluated for significant differences. Five students in the experimental group were interviewed at the end of the semester to investigate their perceptions regarding the usefulness of concept maps in chemistry laboratories. No significant differences were found between treatment groups with respect to students' conceptual understanding as determined by the multiple-choice achievement tests. With the exception of the first experiment, students constructed significantly more complex concept maps after they had listened to the introductory laboratory instruction and completed the experiment, than before coming to lab having only read the experiment handout. The construction of a prelab concept map, with subsequent restructuring inlab and postlab helps students understand the concepts of the experiments they perform.
ORDER NO: ABA96-04857
The purpose of this study was to develop a Computer-Assisted Instructional (CAI) module designed to improve the science process skills of community college students. Additionally, the study sought to determine the effect of the CAI module on the students' integrated science process skills. The study employed an experimental design. The sample was 92 community college General Biology students. The students were administered the Test of Integrated Process Skills (TIPS) as a pretest. After the pretest, the treatment group received instruction on the integrated science process skills from the CAI module. The CAI module consisted of four computer programs written by the researcher. The control group received no instruction on science process skills. Instead, the control group received instruction on cell chemistry from four commercially prepared programs. After they had completed the computer programs, each group was administered the TIPS II as a posttest. The independent variables in the study were group, gender, and academic aptitude. Academic aptitude was measured in terms of students' composite American College Testing Assessment (ACT) scores. Students with ACT scores equal to, or greater than, the mean for the entire sample (mean = 18.9) were classified as having high academic ability. Students with composite ACT scores less than the sample mean were classified as having low academic ability. The dependent variable was the students' score on the TIPS II posttest. The data were analyzed using analysis of covariance. The TIPS pretest scores were used as the covariant. There was no significant difference ($\alpha$ = O.05, p = 0.07) between the mean gain in integrated science process skills of those students who participated in the computer module and those students who did not participate in the module as measured by the students' total TIPS score. The gain scores of students in the treatment group were significantly higher ($\alpha$ = 0.05, p = 0.03) on TIPS subtest 5, Graphing and Interpreting Data, than those of students in the control group. No significant difference ($\alpha$ = 0.05, p = 0.16) was found between the TIPS mean gain scores of low and high academic aptitude students. There was no significant difference ($\alpha$ = 0.05, p = 0.89) between the TIPS mean gain scores of male and female students.
ORDER NO: ABA96-04376
The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effectiveness of two instructional methods with borderline college level achievers. One method was conventional, the other was computer assisted instruction (CAI). The experimental group was instructed using CAI and the control group was instructed by conventional methods. The study sought to determine to what extent, either methodology influenced, if at all, the achievement level of the students. The statistical technique used was the T-test for comparison of the means scores of both groups on five unit examinations with a 5% level of significance. Data were also collected using the "Information Blank" (demographic survey). The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the achievement levels of the experimental and control groups. The information blank supported group equivalency and provided additional insight on the similarity and/or differences of both groups. A follow-up interview was also done on the CAI experimental group. These students provided feedback on their individual experiences using CAI. Most said they would take the CAI course again.
ORDER NO: ABAAA-I9604292
The study examined classroom instructional practices and teacher's professed conceptions about teaching and learning college calculus in relationship to the implementation of scientific-programmable-graphics (SPG) calculators. The study occurred at a university not affiliated with any reform project. The participants were not the catalysts seeking to implement calculus reform, but expressed a willingness to teach the first quarter calculus course with the SPG calculator. The research design was based on qualitative methods using comparative case studies of five teachers. Primary data were collected through pre-school interviews and weekly classroom observations with subsequent interviews. Teachers' profiles were established describing general conceptions of teaching calculus, instructional practices, congruence between conceptions and practice, conceptions about teaching using SPG calculators, instructional practice with SPG calculators, and the relationship of conceptions and practice with SPG calculators. Initially, all the teachers without prior experience using SPG calculators indicated concern and skepticism about the usefulness of the technology in teaching calculus and were uncertain how to utilize the calculator in teaching the calculus concepts. During the study the teachers became less skeptical about the calculator's usefulness and found it effective for illustrating graphs. Some of the teachers' exams included more conceptual and graphically-oriented questions, but were not significantly different from traditional exams. Findings indicated the college teachers' conceptions of teaching calculus were generally consistent with their instructional practice when not constrained by time. The teachers did not perceive a dramatic change in their instructional practices. Rather, the new graphing approach curriculum and technology were assimilated into the teachers' normal teaching practices. No major shifts in the role of the teachers were detected. Two teachers demonstrated slight differences in their roles when the SPG calculators were used in class. One was a consultant to the students as they used the SPG calculators; the other became a fellow learner as the students presented different features on the calculator. Use of the calculator was influenced by several factors: inexperience with the calculator, time constraints, setting up the classroom display calculator, preferred teaching styles and emphasis, and a willingness to risk experimenting with established teaching practices and habits.
ORDER NO: ABA96-03309
In this study I develop epistemological profiles of college writers. These profiles are derived from close readings of the students' formal and informal writing. These close readings are informed by Lakoff's (1987) theory of category structures and their impact on organizing a world, and Lakoff and Johnson's (1980) work in the area of metaphor and its relationship to how we represent a world to ourselves. I review literature of the philosophy of language, writing pedagogy, portfolio and other assessment methods, and the psychology of learning, in the interest of formulating grounded theory pertaining to the development of a college writing curriculum geared toward facilitating the progress of learners as "agents of meaning." Looking at the emerging category structures and shifting metaphors student writers use as they progress throughout a semester allows a writing teacher to view and make decisions about movement in agency of meaning pertaining to those students. The type of writing instruction that grows from this theory encourages students to examine and understand the complex foundation that informs their way of seeing the world. The three cases in this study indicate that those students who engaged in a great deal of informal writing of a metacognitive nature were able to progress as agents of meaning. While this correlation does not indicate causation, it does warrant further study. Encouraging students to write in this manner teaches them to question their own ideas, and encourages them to view their writing in more complex ways. The method I develop for reading student texts involves eliciting initial understandings and representations about writing and learning, and then analyzing the metaphors that the students use for these representations. I also apply my methods to my own learning in this study, and trace my development as a writer and a learner through the process of doing this dissertation work.
ORDER NO: ABA96-03237
The problem. Most adult education literature supports the collaborative teaching-learning mode as the most effective method when teaching adults. While this andragogical model is accepted by most adult educators, little research has been conducted that investigates the instructional practices of teachers of adults and the instructional preferences of adult learners, and that measures the extent to which the instructional practices of teachers of adults differ from the instructional preferences of adult learners. Procedures. The design of the study used a self-reported survey method to elicit responses from 40 adjunct instructors teaching at four extended campus locations of a private postsecondary institution and 341 adult learners enrolled in baccalaureate degree programs at the same institution. The Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) developed by Conti (1978) was used to determine the collaborative or noncollaborative instructional practices of teachers of adults. An adapted form of the PALS instrument, the Student Preferences of the Principles of Adult Learning Scale (SPPALS) was used to measure if the instructional preferences of adult learners were either collaborative or noncollaborative. Findings. The instructional practices of teachers of adults and the instructional preferences of adult learners were found to be similar and both exhibited a noncollaborative orientation. No significant difference was found between the scores of the teachers of adults and the scores of the adult learners. Of the five instructor variables investigated (gender, age, career background, amount of teaching experience, type of course facilitated), none were significant and of the four student variables (gender, length of attendance, academic major, types of course enrolled), three were found to be significant. Female students preferred instructional practices that were collaborative to a greater extent than male students, students majoring in education and social science preferred instructional practices that were collaborative to a greater extent than business majors, and students enrolled in qualitative courses preferred instructional practices that were collaborative to a greater extent than students in quantitative courses. Conclusions. The study suggests that in a postsecondary setting, the instructional orientations of teachers and adult learners have a noncollaborative orientation. Furthermore, adult students seemingly prefer different teaching methods depending on their field of study and the type of course in which they are enrolled. Gender differences also influence student instructional preferences. The study questions whether the collaborative teaching-learning mode can be generalized to the extent that in all settings and in all situations it is the most effective method when teaching adults. Continued research examining situational aspects of adult learner instructional preferences would seem warranted as would research expanding the sample to include full-time faculty and traditional students.
ORDER NO: ABA95-44596
Despite the increase of historical projects in the field of rhetoric and composition, we still know very little about how marginalized students have gained rhetorical expertise in times when the traditional academy has been hostile or indifferent to them. In this study, I survey marginalized student communities of women at Smith College, African-Americans at Wilberforce University, and labor workers at Brookwood Labor College. In these settings, progressive educators politicized the classroom in terms of the lived oppression of their students and urged them, through writing and speaking, to come to terms with the racism, sexism, and economic exploitation in their lives. This dissertation contributes to historical scholarship that has helped us to understand the history of rhetoric in U.S. colleges and universities and demonstrates the ways that history can help us to re-envision theories of critical pedagogy so that revised theories might serve better in practice. Because there are so few published narratives of critical pedagogy in action, we know little about how critical pedagogy functions outside of theoretical discourse. Those accounts that do exist (Freire; Fiore and Elasser) present tales of liberatory education as oversimplified "success" narratives. They contain no acknowledgement of other issues of difference that can potentially challenge or threaten the successful enactment of critical pedagogy despite the shared oppression of any group of students.
ORDER NO: ABA95-43680
Historically, students from academically disadvantaged and minority populations have experienced disproportionately high dropout and failure rates in college mathematics. These students often place into courses considered remedial at the college level. The current national reform movement includes initiatives designed to address the failure of mathematics education to meet the needs of underrepresented populations. This research examined an effort to make a college algebra course more effective for "at-risk" students, admitted to a research university through an academic support program. In particular, the study analyzed the extent of reform in this course and the impact of the course on student outcomes, and identified barriers and enhancers to implementing reform in this context. The reform efforts included employing active learning and student collaboration strategies and attempting to create a "Treisman-style" workshop environment. These strategies challenge instructors to check their impulse to show and tell, and instead, to facilitate and coach; correspondingly, instructors design challenging activities that differ from the standard manipulation exercises often found in textbooks. This study followed an instructor through her first semester of attempting to implement these strategies. A combination of retrospective and prospective data was utilized. Admissions and transcript records enabled the calculation of background characteristics (demographic and academic) and persistence rates (university retention and course and career paths). Prospective data included classroom observations, instructor and researcher journals, a diagnostic pre- and posttest, and student interviews. The results indicated that (a) the academic support program provided a supportive, inclusive environment for both students and instructor; (b) the course employed active learning and student collaboration, but the content presented remained at lower cognitive levels; (c) the instructor experienced frustration in trying to balance content coverage with student involvement, in learning to release control to the students, and in discarding traditional notions of remediation; and (d) the treatment did not adversely affect student skills or attitude, and in some cases the course enabled students to pursue their chosen fields. Recommendations include upgrading the cognitive level of the course content, providing instructor development opportunities, and--most importantly--strengthening partnerships between the units involved (program, department, and instructor) in the conduct of the course.
ORDER NO: ABA95-43501
This study investigates the effects of content-based ESOL instruction on the overall English proficiency of foreign-born college students. Based on various psychological and social factors which affect second language acquisition, it is suggested that the techniques of content-based instruction, while focusing on subject matter, allow the learners to overcome the language barrier by neutralizing their subconscious defense mechanism, thus attaining greater proficiency. Two groups of Miami-Dade Community College ESOL students were chosen as subjects for this study: a control group composed of students from the North and Wolfson campuses, where the ESOL program is based predominantly on structural or structural-functional approach, and an experimental group of Medical Center campus students, where content-based instruction is incorporated into curriculum. Ethnicity, gender, age, and other differences in the population are discussed in the study. The students' English Placement Test (EPT) scores were used as covariate, and the scores on Multiple Assessment Programs and Services (MAPS) test as dependent variables. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was applied to test significant difference between the means. The results of the analysis of data indicate that there is a consistent difference in the mean performance of the Medical Center campus ESOL students demonstrated by their scores on MAPS. Although neither ethnicity, nor gender of the subjects has affected the outcome, age had a contributing effect. The implications of these findings suggest that content-based instruction facilitates greater overall English proficiency in foreign-born college students.
ORDER NO: ABA95-43356
Interactive multimedia is a powerful tool. It is changing the way we look at knowledge and is giving us a new sense of reality. The changes in our acquisition of knowledge brought about by interactive multimedia will not take one hundred years as it did with Galileo's telescope. The changes are already happening. They started with the wide acceptance of microcomputers and continue as we move toward videocomputers, interactive television, and electronic books. Three industries--computers, television, and publishing--while quite separate during the sixties, started to overlap in the seventies and eighties. By the late nineties, the three industries will be even more intertwined. The products of these industries provide the content and media for education. Consequently, the new reality will change education.
ORDER NO: ABA95-40476
This investigation examined the influences of two specific instructional strategies on students at the concrete and formal cognitive levels in college algebra. One class was taught using the Earth Algebra textbook and the other was taught using a standard textbook. Eight case studies were conducted--two concrete and two formal operational students in each of the classes. Qualitative methods of research were chosen for the study to obtain more information about how students think about algebra. Interviews, test questions, journal entries and questionnaires were used to obtain data on students' problem-solving processes. For each problem given to the students, a label of success was given in terms of the subject's description of the problem, formulation of questions about the problem, formulation of a mathematical model, organization of other models or methods, use of appropriate tools, interpretation of the solution, and an application of the problem. Also, the type of approach each student demonstrated in their answers was recorded. These approaches included procedural, conceptual, both procedural and conceptual, or neither procedural nor conceptual. Instruction had a significant effect on one of the formal students in the Traditional Algebra class because she demonstrated more use of procedural than conceptual knowledge. The other formal student in the Traditional Algebra class exhibited more conceptual than procedural knowledge in solving the problems. Therefore, he was not significantly affected by the instruction. The formal operational students in the Earth Algebra class were affected significantly by instruction in that they used both conceptual as well as procedural knowledge in solving the given problems. The concrete operational students in both classes were not affected significantly by instruction. Toward the end of the quarter, however, the concrete operational students in the Earth Algebra class exhibited more conceptual knowledge and more confidence in their solutions of the problems. Some implications for practice include an integration of more applications in the college algebra course. Further suggestions for research involve a closer examination of the differences in students' approaches to solving algebra problems and more examinations of the effects of instructional strategies on students' problem-solving processes.
ORDER NO: ABA95-38152
The importance of revision in the improvement of students' writing quality has been recognized by many writing researchers and teachers. However, students are often slow to take advantage of revision. The present study was a quasi-experimental design to test what difference the revision strategy instruction would make on ESL college students' ability to improve their writing quality in English as a second language. The ESL college students from three sections of an ESL composition course were regrouped into two comparable groups. The students in the experimental group, apart from taking the composition course, attended a workshop to receive instruction in global, local and generic revising strategies; whereas the students in the control group, while taking the composition course, attended a different workshop in which they were engaged in the same revising tasks for the same amount of time as their counterparts in the experimental group, but received no explicit instruction in revising strategies. MANCOVA was used with the data collected from pretests and post-tests, both of which included a revision of one's own essay and a revision of someone else's essay. The overall treatment effect was found to be statistically significant (Wilks' Lambda = 0.71, F(2,19) = 3.87, p $<$.05). Two subsequent univariate ANCOVA's were also carried out, and both results were found to be statistically significant at.05 confidence level: F(1,20) = 4.88 for the revision of one's own essay; F(1,20) = 6.34 for the revision of someone else's essay. The findings confirm the importance of revising strategies in improving students' writing quality and indicate that to boost ESL college students' writing ability, simply giving them opportunities to revise and providing them feedback by giving comments in their essays are insufficient; instead, explicit instruction in revising strategies should be given.
ORDER NO: ABA95-36505
This study investigated the relationship between International Teaching Assistants' teaching performance and communication competence as perceived by American (USA) undergraduate students. Teaching performance was specified as the constructs of clarity, immediacy, and communication style. On the other hand, communication competence was specified as the constructs of knowledge, motivation and communication skills. Four research questions were formulated to explore the relationship between ITAs' performance and competence. The first research question was designed to examine the general relationship between the teaching performance set and the communication set of variables. Research question two sought to determine which elements of the teaching performance set could predict the knowledge variable in the ITAs' communication competence set. Research question three asked which elements of the teaching performance set could predict motivation variable in the ITAs' communication competence set. Finally, research question four asked which elements of the teaching performance set could predict the communication skills variable in the ITAs' communication competence set. A survey research design was used to collect data from the students of the ITAs. Data were collected from 635 undergraduate students enrolled in thirty-nine classes that were taught by the ITAs. The selected sample of students at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois, rated their ITAs based on perceived performance and competence. Canonical correlation, multiple regression, and ANOVA procedures were used to analyze the data. Results of this study indicated that the teaching performance set of variables was significantly related to the communication competence set of variables. This study further revealed that all independent variables of the teaching performance set statistically predicted the dependent variables in the communication competence set. However, some significant independent variables appeared to occur more frequently than others as predictors of the ITAs communication competence.
ORDER NO: ABANN-97760
La these elabore les principes directeurs, les contenus et la pedagogie d'un plan de formation universitaire preparant des futurs mai tres du primaire a dispenser l'enseignement moral et religieux catholique dans les ecoles publiques du Quebec. Dans le cadre des orientations qui caracterisent l'enseignement religieux catholique au primaire alliant l'education a la quete de sens et l'initiation a la foi chretienne, la formation a prevoir doit prendre en compte les acquis religieux et les attitudes des candidats au depart de leur formation. A cette fin, une enquete a ete realisee aupres de trois cents cinquante etudiants dans quatre universites quebecoises en 1989 et en 1991. Une synthese des attentes des diverses instances sociales en cause dans cette education a aussi ete dressee. Une section approfondit en particulier les rapports entre education religieuse et initiation a la foi chretienne. Ces trois types de considerations ont servi a determiner un profil de competence a partir duquel sont degages les principes, les contenus et la pedagogie du plan de formation.
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