IJLTER.ORG Vol 19 No 2 February 2020

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International Journal of Learning, EducationalAndTeachingResearch p1694ISSN:2493 e1694ISSN:2116 IJLTER.ORG Vol.19 No.2

International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research (IJLTER) Vol. 19, No. 2 (February 2020) Print version: 1694 2493 Online version: 1694-2116 IJLTER International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research (IJLTER) Vol. 19, No. 2 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically those of translation, reprinting, re use of illustrations, broadcasting, reproduction by photocopying machines or similar means, and storage in data banks. Society for Research and Knowledge Management

International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research

The International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research is indexed in Scopus since 2018. The Journal is also indexed in Google Scholar and CNKI. All articles published in IJLTER are assigned a unique DOI number.

The main objective of this journal is to provide a platform for educators, teachers, trainers, academicians, scientists and researchers from over the world to present the results of their research activities in the following fields: innovative methodologies in learning, teaching and assessment; multimedia in digital learning; e learning; m learning; e education; knowledge management; infrastructure support for online learning; virtual learning environments; open education; ICT and education; digital classrooms; blended learning; social networks and education; etutoring: learning management systems; educational portals, classroom management issues, educational case studies, etc. Indexing and Abstracting

The International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research is a peer-reviewed open-access journal which has been established for the dissemination of state of the art knowledge in the fields of learning, teaching and educational research. Aims and Objectives

editor in chief, members of the Editorial Board and the reviewers for accepting only high quality articles in this issue. We seize this opportunity to thank them for their great collaboration. Editorial Board is composed of renowned people from across the world. Each paper is reviewed by at least two blind reviewers. will endeavour to ensure the reputation and quality of this journal this

The

We

issue. Editors of the February 2020 Issue

Foreword We are very happy to publish this issue of the International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research. The International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research is a peer reviewed open access journal committed to publishing high quality articles in the field of education. Submissions may include full-length articles, case studies and innovative solutions to problems faced by students, educators and directors of educational organisations. To learn more about this journal, please visit the website Whttp://www.ijlter.org.earegratefultothe

with

Maaly Mefleh Almzary, Muhammad Khaled Al Alawneh, Ibtisam Mustafa Alomari, Inas Ahmad Albado and Khawla Mahmoud Alawneh (P4C)

Teachers and Students Code Switching: The Inevitable Evil in EFL Classrooms 60

Students at Five Testing Points over one Complete School Year after Participating at a Student Centered Learning Program about Bionics 94

Svitlana Dovbenko, Ruslana G. Naida, Victor M. Beschastnyy, Halyna V. Bezverkhnia and Viktoriia V. Tsybulska

Teachers: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach 79

Banu Ramanan and Mua'azam Bin Mohamad School

Michaela Marth Busch and Franz X. Bogner

Hafizhah Zulkifli and Rosnani Hashim

Iryna L. Pokrovska, Tetiana M. Kolodko, Zamina K. Aliyeva, Iryna V. Tymoshchuk and Ruslan V. Vakariuk Riyad F. Hussein, Hadeel A. Saed and Ahmad S. Haider Malaysian School

in Improving Critical Thinking in a Secondary Moral Education Class 29

Validating a Model of Change Readiness among

Becoming Critical: In service Teachers’ Perspectives on Multicultural Education 112

Philosophy for Children

Roland G. Pourdavood and Meng Yan Filipino Pre William Jr D. Magday and Issra Pramoolsook

Technology Interest of Secondary

VOLUME 19 NUMBER 2 February 2020 Table of Contents Problem of Resistance to the Introduction of Distance Learning Models of Training in the Vocational Training of Educators 1

Vocational Students’ Perceptions toward the Traits of Effective Faculty Members: The Case of Albalqa Applied University 13

Integration of Cloud Technologies in Teaching Foreign Languages in Higher Education Institutions 46

Consistency Verification between Qualitative Entries and Quantitative Ratings in the Teaching Evaluation Forms of

service Teachers 136

Study in Arequipa 203 Karol

service

Sofwan

Use of Multiple Representations in Understanding Addition: The Case of Pre school Children 292 Kamariah

Suziyani Mohamed, Faridah

Same Mindset, Different Pedagogical Strategies: A Case Study Comparing Chinese and Finnish Teachers 248 Junfeng

Gamification Acceptance for Learners with Different E Skills 263 Aliki

Kirsi

Villalba Condori Factors Affecting Practical Knowledge Acquisition of

Saputra, Agus

Promoting Personalized Learning Skills: The Impact of Collaborative Learning (A Case Study on the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai) 163

Computerized Visual Perception Games and its Effects on Learning Letters and Numbers among Jordanian Kindergarten Children ....................................................................................................................................................... 231 Ebtesam Qassim Rababah,

Nusair

The Physical Space and the Development of Creativity in Peruvian Early Childhood Education: A

Hamdy Ahmed Abdelaziz and Aisha Al Ali I. Sirko, Halyna V. Bezverkhnia, Olha Ya. Zaverukha, Svitlana V. Chupakhina and Nataliia R. Kyrsta Case Andrea Puma Yagua, Teresa Ramos Quispe, Sonia Esther Castro Cuba Sayco, Alicia García Holgado, Antonio Silva Sprock and Klinge Orlando Pre Computer Science Pu Song, Nor Aniza Ahmad, Mas Nida Md. Khambari and Ng Keng Yap Mais and Ayed Hamdan AlHersh Zhang, Elina Kuusisto and Tirri Panagiotarou, Yannis C. Stamatiou, Christos J. Pierrakeas and Achilles Kameas Eka Supriyanto, Budi Astuti, Ayriza and Adiputra Abu Bakar, Yunus

and Aidah Abdul Karim “Glocal” Transnational Higher Education: A Case Study of a Finnish Vietnamese Collaboration......................... 305 Kirsi Hasanen

The Effect of Student Perception of Negative School Climate on Poor Academic Performance of Students in Indonesia 279 Wahyu Nanda

Yulia

Teachers During the Practicum: A Multiple Regression Analysis 214

Motivation to Get a Second Higher Education: Psychological and Pedagogical Aspect 188 Roksolana

Abstract. This study seeks to specify the factors preventing end users (learners) from doing the distance learning courses successfully and university management from introducing this mode of study into vocational training of educators in Ukraine. It employed a non experimental, descriptive study design performed through online and offline surveys. The preliminary data were collected through a self completion Google Forms based questionnaire (Course Satisfaction Questionnaire) for the students used at the first stage of our research followed by an interview questionnaire used with a focus group at the subsequent one. The latter developed the evaluation scale and made all necessary adjustments so that the validity of the study was ensured. The Chi Square method was used to determine whether there were any correlations between internal and external factors of resistance. This study proved that the issue of resistance to the introduction of distance learning models of training in the vocational training of educators is mostly a personal perception factor. It raised the issue of training and

Problem of Resistance to the Introduction of Distance Learning Models of Training in the Vocational Training of Educators

Svitlana Dovbenko Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University Ivano Frankivsk, Ukraine Ruslana G. Naida Rivne State University of the Humanities Rivne, Ukraine

Victor M. Beschastnyy Donetsk Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine Halyna V. Bezverkhnia Lutsk National Technical University Lutsk, Ukraine Viktoriia V. Tsybulska Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University Uman, Ukraine

1 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 1 12, February 2020 https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.2.1

Keywords: Online education; Vocational training of educators; Resistance to distance learning; Higher educational institutions

1.2. Theoretical Model

The theoretical framework used in this study is based on the data obtained from two domains (theoretical and practical) through integration and inference (see it visualized in Figure 1 below).

Up to now, the studies have examined the problem of resistance to introduction of a distance education mode at HEIs from the students’ perspective (Rashid & Rashid, 2011; Fojtik, 2018) but few studies addressed this issue from the perspective of both education seeker and education provider. Additionally, this study found a practical gap between research and educational policy making for accumulating and sharing best practices in using technology (Biesta, 2007; Conole, 2010)

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2 ©2020

The typical reasons for reluctance to on line education found in the literature were bias based perceptions, negative experiences of both learners and teachers, technical illiteracy or lack of technical skills to manage classroom and build the community, gender based specifics along with the gap between theory and practice of the e learning (Uzunboylu & Tuncay, 2010; Lee & Choi, 2011; Bacow et al., 2012; Kintu & Simon, 2019; Mahlangu, 2018; Akmeşe, Demir & Dünder, 2016; Ravhudzulo, 2016; Lederman, 2019; Rost, 2019). While the number of scientific investigations seeking to handle this problem is growing, this has still been a gap to complete that are related to optimal (value for money) online course and curriculum design, student lecturer motivation and engagement. Theoretical and Practical gaps

assisting lecturers in using distance education tools and shifting their role from being a source of knowledge to being a facilitator of learning.

1. Introduction

Resistance towards introduction of online education models of training in the vocational training is a shaming case for higher educational institutions (HEIs) in Ukraine (Zolotareva & Brezhneva Ermolenko, 2015). Though its benefits have been widely discussed and have become obvious for both learners and educators, and the shift from face to face instruction to online teaching/training has become trendy, the introduction of this mode of study in the educational process of HEIs in Ukraine has still been put off. Furthermore, it seems of even much greater concern that HEIs providing vocational training for educators ‘are leading’ this negative trend.

1.1. Literature Review

TheoreticalDomain: Concepts, empirical facts, models PracticeDomain:related Concepts, empirical facts, models

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The purpose of this study was to specify the factors preventing end users (learners) from doing the distance learning courses successfully and university management from introducing this mode of study into vocational training of educators.

This study used methods which are common for quantitative and qualitative types of research (Mehrad & Tahriri, 2019; Streefkerk, 2019). It employed a non experimental, descriptive study design performed through online and offline surveys. It dealt nothing with assessment of academic performance of the students when they did the distance course. This section provides the highlights of a research model and procedure, a self completion Google Forms based questionnaire (Course Satisfaction Questionnaire) for the students, an interview (a semi structured one) questionnaire for a sampled student group and management representatives, and an overview of sampling and statistical tools. This research is based on both students’ self assessment and management

1.4. Research Questions

Therefore, this study seeks to answer two questions: 1) what internal and external factors/reasons make students and university management representatives resist the online learning; 2) what factors seem to be crucial.

2. Method

Figure 1: The theoretical framework used in this study 1.3. Research purpose

This study theoretical & practical subdomains: Assumptions, concepts, definitions, empirical facts, models, generalisations, facts Integration Interference Derivation and Translation

Theoretical and Research Gap Research Design

2.1. Research model

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Figure 2: The timeline of the study At the pre survey stage, theory and best practices were examined to explore the issues to have been addressed and gaps to complete. Concurrently, peer reviewed and public domain sources were studied to evaluate the situation with distance courses in Ukraine and abroad. After obtaining the consent (approval) of the Boards of Academics for Borys Hrinchenko Kyiv University, M. Drahomanov National Pedagogical University, and Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University to perform this study, the questionnaires and the evaluation scale were developed, data collection tools were selected, and sampling was performed. Additionally, we, among the other things, examined the curriculums of the chosen universities to get aware of the number and topics of the distance courses, and we involve two experts Oksana Pozhydaeva (Ph.D. for the Academy of Labour, Social Relations and Tourism) and Valentyna Bobrytska (Doctor of Pedagogics for the Department of Educational Policies at M. Drahomanov National Pedagogical University) to check face validity of the questions in the questionnaires. At the subsequent stage, Course Satisfaction Questionnaire (Google Forms based) was used to reduce the population of 176 and to sample the subjects for the next stage of this study which was a semi structured interview.

•Questionnaires design •Data collection tools selection •The evaluation scale development •Sampling Pre-surveystage •qthroughSurveyingauestionnaire and an interview •Data collection Whilestagesurvey •Data processing •Results interpretation Afterstagesurvey 8 weeks 6 weeks 2 weeks

•Litrature review •Emperical

representatives’ views of challenges occurring when a distance mode of studies is introduced at the universities majoring in Pedagogics in Ukraine.

It took the members of the research team one semester (4 months) of the academic year of 2019 2020 to complete this study which was a sequence of three stages (see it visualised in Figure 2 below).

courses •Obtaining

2.2. Distance Course Satisfaction Questionnaire

This was designed and administered to respond the first half of the research question which was to define the aspects causing educators the resistance to doing the distance learning courses. Additionally, it was used as a filter when research on the situation with distance consent (approval) of the Board of Academics

sampling was performed. The questionnaire comprised 11 questions. The questions 4 to 7 used a 5 point Linkert scale (with ‘a’ meaning not at all helpful; ’b’ slightly helpful; ‘c’ somewhat helpful; ‘d’ very helpful; ‘e’ extremely helpful) to respond them.

7. To what extend were you satisfied or dissatisfied with the teaching methods? a) very dissatisfied; b) dissatisfied; c) unsure; d) satisfied; e) very satisfied.

1. Which device did you use to access the course? a) desktop computer; b) laptop; c) smart phone; d) iPhone.

4. To what extend did the course meet your expectations? It was a) not at all helpful; b) slightly helpful; c) somewhat helpful; d) very helpful; e) extremely helpful.

4. Do you link your future job as an educator with the delivery of online courses?

5. To what extend were you satisfied or dissatisfied with the content of the course? a) very dissatisfied; b) dissatisfied; c) unsure; d) satisfied; e) very satisfied.

1. What are your reasons to feel resistant to the distance learning?

1. What seem to be the reasons to postpone introduction the distance learning in your institution? And why do students dislike this mode of study?

Questions for the sampled students:

3. Who or what should be blamed for your failures or troubles above?

This was designed and conducted with the sampled group students and university management representatives to respond the second half of the research question which was to examine the reasons why both students and management representatives are resistant to introducing the distant mode of study into vocational training of educators.

2. What failures or troubles do you associate distance learning with?

4. Do you link the students’ future job as educators with the delivery of online courses?

9. What is your average grade (ECTS) in your studies? a) 90 100; b) 80 90; c) 70 80; d) 60 70.

3. Was the course obligatory or elective or optional? Please, choose one. a) obligatory; b) elective; c) optional.

11. Are you male or female?

2. Which type of internet connection did you use to get access to the course? a) Wired connection; b) wireless connection; c) Mobile (3G or 4G) internet.

2. What failures or troubles do you associate it with?

Questions for the sampled management representatives:

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2.3. Semi-structured Interview Questionnaire

6. To what extend were you satisfied or dissatisfied with the format of the course? a) very dissatisfied; b) dissatisfied; c) unsure; d) satisfied; e) very satisfied.

10. What confused or caused you the greatest trouble while doing the course?

8. How many distance courses have you done so far including this course? a) 1 3; b) 4 6; c) 7 and more.

3. Who or what should be blamed for your failures or troubles above?

The interview responses of the sampled group students and university management representatives for questions 4 to 7 from the Distance Course Satisfaction Questionnaire were to explore the perception of distance learning made by interviewees. Those were the core question intended to discover the perception or attitudes of the respondents to the distance learning.

The preliminary data were collected through a self completion Google Forms based questionnaire (Course Satisfaction Questionnaire) for the students used at the first stage of our research followed by an interview questionnaire used with a focus group at the subsequent one. The in built Google Forms statistical tools were used to roughly process the answers of the student population. The interview responses were both recorded and written down to be analysed and interpreted by the experts in educational technology and educational psychology. The evaluation scale developed by the latter was used and all necessary adjustments were made to it so that the validity of the study was ensured. The Chi Square method was used to determine whether there were any correlations between internal and external factors of resistance.

3. Results

The third year students seeking a Bachelor Degree in Education at Borys Hrinchenko Kyiv University, National Pedagogical University named after M. Drahomanov, and Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University, directors of curriculum and instruction departments and heads for the departments of Methods of Teaching for the above universities were the general population for this study. Upon completion of the Moodle based 30 hour (1 credit, ECTS) course in “Methods of Teaching/Training”, 176 students (64 males and 112 females) were suggested to complete the Course Satisfaction Questionnaire (Google Forms based) asking, among the other things, whether they were (and would be) ready to do the other distance course in any other subject. 83 students (56 females and 27 males) who answered this question negatively to questions 4 to 7 of the above Questionnaire were chosen to be the subjects to this study. 3 directors of curriculum and instruction departments and 9 heads for the departments of Methods of Teaching were also involved purposefully. The total sample size was 95 people ( ) and it was an adequate number to meet the purpose of this research.

2.4. Sample

Question 4. To what extend did the course meet your expectations? Just 3% reported that they found the distance course extremely helpful and 8 % found it very helpful while 43% of the surveyed stated the course was somewhat helpful, 38% evaluated the course as slightly helpful and 8% of the respondents found it not at all helpful.

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Question 5. To what extend were you satisfied or dissatisfied with the content of the course? 59% of people experienced significant dissatisfaction about distance course content, 35% were just dissatisfied, while 5% were unsure or satisfied and the rest (only 1%) of the participants very satisfied.

2.5. Instruments

255619 2 Note

10374346 1 3

Question 7. To what extend were you satisfied or dissatisfied with the teaching methods? The majority (73%) of the surveyed were dissatisfied, 20% of people were unsure while 7% evaluated the teaching methods positively (satisfied). After the semi structured interview had been conducted, the factors/reasons for resistance were categorised into two broad types like internal (or human factors) (personal attitude related (PA), skills related (S) and awareness related (A)) and external (objective reasons) (marketing policy related (MP), technology related challenges (TC)). Tables 1 and 2 below provide an account of the interview answers. The figures in the table suggest that personal attitude related responses of both students and university management representatives dominated all the interview through. The second significant trigger for resistance to distance learning were those related to technology challenges. The next ones were skills and awareness followed by marketing policy related ones. While there was some contradiction in the respondents’ answers concerning who was supposed to be responsible for failures and troubles (Question 4) both denied their responsibility, students as well as university management representatives reported that computer skills, bad infrastructure and anxieties were quite important triggers to make their mind up to be resistant to distance learning mode. 1: The students’ interview answers consolidated ( ) Students of% respondents 1 a) does not suit my personality (PA) b) is not effective (PA; A) c) robotic education (PA) d) challenges me technologically (TC; S) e) causes anxiety of failure (PA) f) demotivates me (PA) a) lack of computer skills (S) b) out of dated computer infrastructure (TC) c) general distancing (PA) d) robotic education (PA) e) causes me anxious (PA) a) myself (PA) b) students and lecturers (PA) c) lecturers (PA) d) institution (PA) a) no (PA) b) unsure (PA) c) yes (PA) abbreviations: PA personal attitude; S skills; A awareness; MP marketing policy; TC technology challenges.

Table

1518272776 2 2

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(

5339113 1 4

Question 6. To what extend were you satisfied or dissatisfied with the format of the course? 52 % of the respondents were very dissatisfied, 43% of the surveyed were unsure and 5% of the sampled people expressed satisfaction about the format.

#Question

8 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Table 2: The students’ interview answers consolidated ( ) #Question Representatives respondentsof% ( 1 a) does not suit everyone (A) b) less effective than the traditional mode (PA; A) c) robotic education (PA) d) challenges lecturers technologically (TC; S) e) challenges a lecturer’s reputation (PA; MP) f) challenges the reputation of an institution (MP) g) causes lecturers the feeling of losing power over the students (PA) h) destroys the traditional academic roles lecture student (A; i)PA)financial reasons (MP) 1117181999953 2 2 a) lack of computer skills (S) b) out of dated computer infrastructure (TC; MP) c) general distancing (PA) d) robotic education (PA) e) causes anxieties (PA) 12344923 1 3 a) b)studentsstudents and lecturers (PA) c) lecturers (PA) d) institution (PA) 255799 1 4 a) no (PA) b) unsure (PA) c) yes (PA) 74242 2 Note abbreviations: PA personal attitude; S skills; A awareness; MP marketing policy; TC technology challenges. Relative importance of the types of factors has been presented below (see Table 3 below). Table 3: Relative importance of the types of factors TypeFactorof Regression analysis analysisDominance(%) PA .27 .00 .07 39.5 .98 S 0.15 .026 .02 12.5 .71 A 0.11 .017 .02 14.5 .77 MP 0.3 .606 .00 8.2 .65 TC .01 .895 .00 25.3 .94 100 Note abbreviations: PA personal attitude; S skills; A awareness; MP marketing policy; TC technology challenges; p < .01. Total = .18

Some students stated that their reluctance is based on their prior experience in doing the online courses at university in which they suffered from the language used to explain concepts it was too much complicated for them, the teaching techniques lecturers used to accommodate the learners in the course a limited number of them, and over criticizing their mistakes when lecturers provided feedback. Professors claimed that it was more common for students to cheat when studying distantly that when attending a course personally. This study contributed to investigation of the problem of resistance to the introduction of distance learning models of training in the vocational training of educators, specifically: perception of and resistance to online education (Schwartz, 2010; Ghandforoush, 2013; Mitchell, Parlamis & Claiborne, 2015; Arinto, 2016; Lucas, 2016), anxiety and resistance to distance learning

Furthermore, three times more students than representatives confessed that their reluctance to distance learning is a result of lack of confidence that this mode of study was effective. Additionally, the majority of students were not certain whether their future job as an educator would be linked with the delivery of online courses. Finally, the university management representatives implied that the issue of resistance to the introduction of distance learning models of training in the vocational training of educators is related to the image creating (marketing) policy of the tertiary educational institution.

Moreover, the processed data made us certain that the problem of resistance was not sporadic. As can be seen from the above Table 3, the Chi squared of correlations between internal and external factors of resistance showed that this study result should be considered suggestive.

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Additionally, the students were found to experience the atmosphere of boredom and disinterest while doing the distance course. The link between marketing policy and distance learning mode emerged unexpectedly. The university management representatives confessed that they could not allow public access to the distance learning courses because of low quality of their design (professors do not receive any training in online course pedagogics and design), plagiarism issue (very often the content is just ripped off) and over theoreticity (causes increased anxiety of failure, demotivates).

4. Discussion It was found that the issue of resistance to the introduction of distance learning models of training in the vocational training of educators is fuelled by human factors and objective reasons. Both students and representatives surveyed articulated lack of personal confidence and technological background to be able to design high standard online courses which might indirectly influence lecturers’ and institution’s public image.

Internal factors prevail over external factors and personal attitude factors dominated the list compared to marketing factor which seemed the least important among the interviewees.

So, are recommendations:  It should be prerequisite for the educators to take the courses like the computer skills upgrade course, the course in methodology for the development of online learning course for the students.

 An institutional department set up to provide expertise to ensure the quality of the online courses is a newly must have.

References Akmeşe, Ö. F., Demir, E., & Dünder, E. (2016). Student Perceptions for Distance Education and Efficieny Analysis of the System. Hitit Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 9(2), 981 998. doi:10.17218/hititsosbil.280826 Arinto, P. (2016). Issues and Challenges in Open and Distance e Learning: Perspectives from the Philippines. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed

5. Conclusion & Recommendations

 The lecturer’s computer literacy testing should be a part of the employment procedure.

This study implied that the current situation in the educational system demotivates both educators and students to self develop leading to resistance. Both educators’ and students’ perceptions of distance learning mode are more associated with trouble than with benefits. There are three apparent limitations to this study which are as follows: first, time limit that might be an argument to dispute the validity of its significance, second, the major of students which is Education, third, the number of institutions and management representatives involved.

7. Acknowledgments

6. Implications & Limitations

This study proved that the issue of resistance to the introduction of distance learning models of training in the vocational training of educators is mostly a personal perception factor. Due to the great proportion of personal perception, it is difficult to assess and evaluate the online course design and its quality as the course which is viewed by some as “good” can be just bookish comprising several types of activities like reading and self checking (self testing). It raised the issue of training and assisting lecturers in using distance education tools and shifting their role from being a source of knowledge to being a facilitator of learning. Institutions in Ukraine should address the issues of computer infrastructure and upgrading it. The lecturers should help the students to surmount their anxieties, inspire them to succeed, and deal individually with their personal perception problems.

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. (Uzunboylu & Tuncay, 2010; Parlakkılıç, 2014; Bousbahi & Alrazgan, 2015), and on line instruction vs. traditional teaching (Sheeja, 2011; Khorsandi et al., 2012; McNair Crews, 2015; Hurlbut, 2018).

We are cordially grateful to all contributors to this research so that we were able to smoothly run and complete it.

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12 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Mehrad, A., & Tahriri, M. (2019). Comparison between Qualitative and Quantitative Research Approaches: International Journal for Research in Educational Studies, 5(7), 1 7. Mitchell, L. D., Parlamis, J. D., & Claiborne, S. A. (2015). Overcoming Faculty Avoidance of Online Education: From Resistance to Support to Active Participation. Journal of Management Education, 39(3), 350 371. doi:10.1177/1052562914547964

Abstract. This study sought to identify what traits describe effective faculty members as perceived by students at Balqa' Applied University (BAU) Descriptive analytical research was utilized to achieve the aims of the study. The researchers developed a questionnaire that consisted of 62 items divided into four domains: Knowledge, teaching skills, social skills, and personal traits. The questionnaire was distributed to the students of the university (N=910) (600 male, 310 female) in the Second Semester 2018/2019. However, 300 usable questionnaires were answered by students with a rate of return thirty three percent. The study instrumentation was checked for validity and reliability by a number of faculty members from several universities in Jordan. The results showed that students’ perceptions toward the traits of effective faculty members were different from one domain to another. Personality traits were the most important traits of effective faculty members, followed by social and emotional skills, and the dimension of knowledge was ranked as less important. Based on the results, researchers concluded with suggestions and recommendations such as encouraging faculty members to develop their effectiveness in the four domains and to conduct continuous training to the faculty members in modern teaching and learning strategies.

Keywords: Faculty Members; Vocational Education; Students’ Perceptions, effectiveness, Traits

Muhammad Khaled Al Alawneh Yarmouk University, Faculty of Education Department of Curriculum and Instruction Ibtisam Mustafa Alomari, Inas Ahmad Albado and Khawla Mahmoud Alawneh Albalqa Applied University

Vocational Students’ Perceptions toward the Traits of Effective Faculty Members: The Case of Albalqa Applied University Maaly Mefleh Almzary Albalqa Applied University

13 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 13 28, February 2020 https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.2.2

Khodair et. al. (2012) referred to the effective instructor as the most important factor among other factors in the educational process. Therefore, the effective instructor’ s cognitive and emotional characteristics play a prominent role in the effectiveness of this process as constituting one of the important educational inputs that affect, in one way or the other, the educational outcomes at different cognitive, psychological, performance, and emotional levels. The effective faculty member is the one who can perform his role effectively and efficiently. He is dedicated to find more suitable educational opportunities for his students and constantly seeks to be more effective in his teaching at all levels.

The success of the educational process depends on many factors, such as building, high quality equipment, instructional strategies, and good administration to count a few. However, the most important factor in the whole teaching and learning process is the instructor, who leads the student to achieve the educational outcomes. Moreover, the instructor is a role model to the students in terms of respectable behavior, creative thinking, and worthy values (Moustafa, 2009). Besides, the instructor plays a prominent role in determining the quality of education and its outcomes. He can prepare the mental excitement of his students and create constructive human relations by giving students the freedom to express themselves, with a great deal of democracy. A successful teacher builds relationships with his students based on mutual respect and appreciation (Al Jarrah & Al Shraifeen, 2010)

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The task of improving education and learning is a priority for many different countries, both developed and developing because this process effectively contributes to the achievement of their goals and future hopes. Faculty is one of the most important factors that help to achieve the desired educational reforms, which lead to the social reform in all aspects. The role of the faculty member in any educational system depends on a set of interrelated factors that form the frame of reference for the concept of the educational process, and irrespective of the different concepts in the role of the faculty member, it remains a decisive factor in the success or failure of the educational process. This role is not a mechanical process that is limited to transferring knowledge to learners but rather is an effective tool in developing the mental, social and physical learners’ abilities and developing their personalities in general.

The current study is intended to identify the importance of the faculty members’ effectiveness as perceived by vocational education students at AL Balqa Applied University. This perception is probably believed to be vital because the students are the most qualified candidates who can assess the traits and characteristics of their teachers. Also, they are the most influenced ones by their teachers’ traits and characteristics as well. Teachers can enhance their student’ s motivation to learn and improve their achievement.

1. Introduction

In view of the latest development and increasing importance of university education and in light of rapid changes, society is required to provide faculty members who are highly qualified and trained. Stakeholders should pay attention to the faculty members as an important factor in the success of the

2. Literature Review

Effective teaching requires also the provision of an effective learning skill for the faculty member through which we can judge the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of learning. The skill takes different images according to the general conditions in which it occurs, and it is the treatment of these different images that highlight the importance of the skill of the faculty member during the teaching process (Yahya, 2013, 28). The creation of an environment conducive to learning depends on the talents and self efficacy of the faculty member. A faculty member who has a sense of high self efficacy helps low achieving students, develops their self confidence, and praises their achievements. It is not enough for a faculty member to have the necessary skills to perform his duties. He should have faith and confidence in his ability to conduct the behavior required under difficult circumstances. If individuals do not believe that their actions achieve the desired outcome, they will have little incentive to work (Hasounah, 2009).

Identifying the desired characteristics of an effective faculty member is not an easy task. The term "effective" can be interpreted differently from one person to another, depending on the measure used to judge effectiveness. Early studies described effective teachers as those who obtain high grades and assessments from those responsible for their evaluation. These studies examined the relationship between these high ratings and the characteristics and traits of the faculty. At a later stage, effective teachers were identified through their ability to help students achieve the maximum from their education (Khodair et al, 2012).

According to Samples and Martinazzi (2002), over the years, the role of the faculty member has changed from controller, authorizer, and the container of the knowledge to coach, trainer, mentor, and facilitator. In parallel, the traits of the professors have changed as well. All teachers, even those with limited experience, can gain characteristics and traits that make them effective in the classroom. Kourieos and Evripidou (2014) pointed out that an effective teacher is no longer considered the one who has an authoritarian role in the teaching and learning process, but the one who believes in diversity and individual differences, abilities, and interests and who designs learning environment accordingly.

Academic effectiveness can be described as a skilled faculty member who leads by goals The effectiveness of a faculty member refers to the results and student achievement, or the progress made by students towards the specific educational goals. Effectiveness can also be defined as precisely as knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are believed to be necessary for a faculty member (Moustafa, 2009).

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. educational process and as a tool for achieving the educational goals and outcomes. Given the distinguished role of the faculty member in the education system in the community, choosing, preparing, training, sustaining, and retaining are some of the aspects that need to be taken into consideration when we talk about teachers and faculty members (Ramadan and Hamza, 2011).

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Isa & Al Naqah (2009) aimed to determine the professional competencies of faculty members in the Faculty of Education at the Islamic University in Gaza, as perceived by students according to the quality standards. The study sample consisted of 426 male and female students, who answered the paragraphs of the questionnaire. The questionnaire which consisted of 61 items on quality standards. The results of the study showed that the personality and public relations came first, while the scientific and professional ability were ranked second. The results of the study did not show differences attributed to gender variables and specialization of the student.

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Köpsén (2014) conducted a research on how vocational students describe their vocational teachers’ identities. The study followed the qualitative methodoloty by interviewing 22 vocational teachers. The results suggested that the identity of vocational teachers includes orienting students to be effective in members of social practices. Moreover, all domains of the study scored a high level of performance. However, domain 5five, which is "Assessment of students’ learning” came at the middle level. There were statistically significant differences due to the variable of the college for the advantage of students from Sciences Colleges. Also, There were no statistically significant differences due to the variable "gender". There were statistically significant differences due to the variable "academic level" for the advantage of second year students, the fourth year students, and the third year students respectively. Al Sa’aydeh (2012) aimed at identifying the teaching skills that should be possessed by the faculty members Al Balqa Applied University from the perspective of the students. The skills were divided into four areas, namely, planning, implementation, evaluation, and communication. The study sample consisted of 368 male and female students who were selected by the class sample method. The results of the study showed that the teaching skills of the faculty members at the University of Balqa Applied from the point of view of the students were medium, and there were differences in the results due to the variable of gender, on behalf of males, and differences due to the variable college for the benefit of scientific colleges.

Previous research approved the role of training in improving faculty members’ performance and traits. For example, Sarhan (2017) conducted a study to identify training needs for faculty members at the University of Al Balqa Applied University in the fields of educational technology. The researchers found that all training requirements would contribute to the efforts of improving faculty members’ traits and characteristics which assist in improving the quality of teaching and learning.

Abu Humaidan and Sawaqed (2008) aimed at identifying the characteristics that must be available in the faculty member from the perspective of students at Mu’tah University. The sample of the study consisted of 700 male and female students. The researchers used the questionnaire to collect data. The sample was divided into three areas: the personal factor, educational efficiency, and the relationship with the students. The results showed that there were no differences

Ansari and Malik (2013) aimed to identify the most important features of the teacher suitable for teaching in contemporary educational environments. The sample included (82) teachers. The researchers used a questionnaire in collecting the study data. The results showed that the most prominent feature of an effective 21st century teacher is to be a transformational teacher with five basic characteristics, namely, personal knowledge, personal qualifications, instructional effectiveness, the ability to communicate and lifelong learning.

Gao and Liu (2013) aimed at identifying the characteristics of the effective teacher from the perspective of both Chinese and American teachers. The sample of the comparative study included (80) American teachers and (75) Chinese teachers. The researchers used the questionnaire to collect data. The results showed that there were (12) important features in the two groups of teachers as follows: Adaptability, Enthusiasm, Fairness, High Expectations, Sense of

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in the ranking of the three fields of study according to their importance to the students. The results also showed no differences ascribed to gender, college or level of Moghtadaiestudy.and Taji (2016) conducted a study that aimed at finding the relationship between the study’ s dimensions of talent management and improving the faculty members’ performance at university. The population of this study was all public universities in Iran. Data were collected in two methods: interviewing with experts and distributing questionnaires to the sample. The data were analyzed using correlation analysis and Analytical Network Process (ANP) by SPSS and Super Decisions software. The results showed that the "Talents development" dimension came in the first position. However, the two dimensions "attracting the talent" and "talents maintenance", were ranked in second and third positions, respectively. The study revealed that the most relevant dimension of talent management in improving the performance of faculty members was "educational services". Thus, before considering the work processes and relying on modern technology, the role of "in service training courses", "continuous learning" and "technical skills training" are crucial in improving the performance of faculty members.

Al Hattami, Muammar, and Elmahdi (2013) conducted a study in Saudi Arabia to investigate the needs and the competencies that are required by faculty members at the Saudi universities to enable them to achieve the standards stated by the National Center for Academic Accreditation and Assessment (NCAAA). For achieving the aim of the study, a questionnaire and semi structured interviews were utilized to collect the data. The sample of the study consisted of (882) participants: (students, faculty members, chairmen and college boards, colleges deans, and deanships deans) from Saudi universities in the eastern province. The results showed a great need and importance of providing training programs to enhance and elevate faculty members’ professional abilities in teaching. Many participants emphasized that in service training should be mandated to ensure quality teaching.

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2. Are there any differences in the mean scores of students’ perceptions toward the traits of effective faculty members due to their genders?

’s (2008) longitudinal study aimed at identifying the attitudes of teachers towards the characteristics of an effective teacher in the American society. The study sample included (300) teachers whose attitudes towards these characteristics were measured over ten years. The results showed that the most consistent features in teachers’ attitudes toward the effective teacher included: Preparedness, positive, high expectations, creativeness, fairness, personal touch, developing students’ sense of belonging, compassion, sense of humor, respectfulness, forging, and admitting mistakes. Ginsberg (2007) sought to identify the characteristics shared by the faculty members who are effective classroom communicators. The researcher employed qualitative method through conducting interviews and observing the faculty members. Two public comprehensive universities were chosen to collect the data. Faculty members with good communication skills, particularly, immediacy and clarity, were all found to carry humanistic views of their students and to be reflective about their communication and their teaching on the one hand. On the other hand, faculty members who demonstrated poor communication skills were neither reflective nor humanistic instructors. To improve faculty member effectiveness, the researcher recommended that universities must consider underlying views and thought processes rather than teaching communication skills techniques in isolation. The perceptions toward educators and those related to teaching vocational education courses vary. A number of studies showed that traits of teachers and instructors have an impact on students’ learning and achievement. However, based on the experience of the researchers as vocational instructors and faculty members, they noticed that students’ learning and achievement at Al Balqa Applied University what are those traits that would define students’ perceptions toward faculty member. Moreover, due to the nature of vocational courses in terms of the strategy of teaching (theoretical and practical), it seems that teaching those courses could have an impact on the students because of to the close interaction between the learners and the instructors. Studying characteristics of the effective faculty member requires further and in depth investigation This is due the nature pf the important role it plays in overcoming teaching difficulties. As a result, the present study came to answer the following questions:1.What are vocational education students’ perceptions of the traits of effective faculty members?

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Humor, Patience, Responsibility, Agreeableness, Caring, Friendliness, Honesty, WalkerRespectfulness.

The sample of the study consisted of all the students who enrolled in vocational courses. The number of students who were reached and responded to the survey was (N=910) or ( 300 male and 610 female) in the year 2018/2019. However, 300 usable questionnaires were answered with a rate of return thirty three percent. The researchers used the analytical descriptive method in answering the study questions and achieving its aims. Descriptive research shed light on current problems through data collection. The study instrument consisted of (62) items divided into four dimensions: knowledge items (1 15), teaching skills items (16 41), social and emotional communication skills items (42 52), and the dimension of personal characteristics items (53 62). Students were asked to answer the questionnaire items on a five point Likert scale based on the degree of importance: very high (5), high (4), medium(3), low(2), and very low(1). Internal consistency was calculated, and its value was (0.84), while the reliability was (0.82), which is acceptable for the current study.

The means and standards deviations were calculated to find out the students’ perceptions toward the traits of the faculty members in terms of the knowledge domain as shown in tble (1). 1: Means and standard deviations of participants’ responses on the knowledge domain MeansStandard deviationItem 14.530.811 24.300.832 34.160.833 44.060.824 54.001.089 63.931.0111 73.901.066

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Table

4.1 Results related to the first dimension: knowledge

4. Results and Discussion Results of question 1: What is vocational education students’ perceptions of the traits of effective faculty members? To answer this question, the means and the standard deviations of the sample responses were calculated on the four dimensions of the study. The results are presented below.

Rank

Al Balqa Applied University (BAU) is a public university which was established in 1997. The university is located in Al Balqa Province in Jordan. It offers Bachelor and Community College degrees in applied education. The number of students exceeded 45,000 students distriuted into 10, 000 ate bachelor’s degree program and 11, 000 at the community college degree. The university was shaped after merging and affiliating about 40 community colleges under one umbrella. Today, the university branches are distributed over all Jordan governorates. The main focus of the university is on applied technical studies.

3. Methodology

in

4.2

20 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. 83.900.9948 93.901.0910 113.901.065 113.860.9377 123.830.94913 133.801.0312 143.731.0115 153.601.0614 3996.23Whole dimension

Table 2: Means and standard deviations of participants’ responses on the teaching skills domain deviationsStandardMeansRankItem 0.684.46136 1.034.20235 0.664.20341 1.094.20426 0.774.13538 0.954.10627 0.954.10716 0.984.06817 0.994.03941 0.964.031137 1.034.031133 1.034.031221 0.994.031321 0.924.031434 1.174.001522 1.144.001623 1.033.961728 1.183.961824

Table (1) shows that the means of the responses related to the dimension of knowledge ranged between (3,60 4.53) with a high level of importance. The table also shows that item (1), which states that a faculty member must have "appropriate knowledge of the scientific concepts associated with vocational education", was ranked first in terms of importance according to the responses of the students participating in the study sample, with a mean of (4.5333), and a standard deviation of (0.81). The item which states that the faculty member "has sufficient knowledge about the formal aspects of vocational work", came second, with a mean of 4.3000 and a standard deviation of 83666. Item (14), was ranked last in terms of importance within the knowledge dimension, with a mean of (3.6000) and a standard deviation of (1.06). The mean for the knowledge dimension as a whole was (3.96). Results related to the second dimension: Teaching skills toward the traits of the faculty members terms of the teaching skills domain as table (2) shows.

The means and standards deviations were calculated to retrieve the students’ perceptions

21 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. 0.923.961918 0.963.962132 1.013.932131 0.943.932219 0.883.902329 0.933.862439 1.043.862531 1.073.862625 0.134.03

Whole Dimension Table (2) shows that the means of the dimension of teaching skills ranged between (3.8667 4.4667) with a high level of importance. The table also shows that item (36), which states that the faculty member should "inform students of the expected learning outcomes before starting teaching", ranked first in terms of importance according to the responses of the students participating in the study sample, with a mean of (4.4667), and a standard deviation of (0.68145). It was followed by item (35), as the second most important item, which states that the faculty member "analyzes the content of the curriculum in a comprehensive and detailed way before teaching.", with a mean of 4.2000, and a standard deviation of (1.0305, ), item (25) was ranked last in terms of importance within the teaching skills dimension, with a mean of (3.8667) and a standard deviation of (1.07425). The mean for the knowledge dimension as a whole was (4.0346).

4.3 Results related to the third dimension: Social and emotional communication skills. The means and standard deviations were calculated to retrieve the students’ perceptions toward the traits of the faculty members in terms of the communication skills domain as table (3) shows. Table 3: Means and standard deviations of participants’ responses on the communication skills domain Standard deviationMeansRankItem 0.714.33149 0.734.26251 0.784.26351 0.814.23452 0.964.20543 1.014.16642 1.044.13744 1.034.03848 0.983.93945 1.013.931147 1.103.861146 0.154.12Whole Dimension Table (3) shows that the means of the items related to the social and emotional communication skills of the faculty member ranged from (3.86 to 4.33) with a high level of importance. The table also shows that item (49), which states that a faculty member should "discuss with his students the subjects and issues of interest to them.", Ranked first in terms of importance according to the responses

22 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. of the students participating in the study sample, with a mean of (4.33), And a standard deviation of (0.71). It was followed by the second most important item (51), which states that the faculty member "uses nonverbal behaviors to attract the attention and interest of students", with a mean of (4.26), and a standard deviation of (0.73), while item (46) was ranked last in terms of importance within the dimension, with a mean of (3.86) and a standard deviation (1.10). The total mean of the dimension of social and emotional communication skills as a whole was (4,12).

Table 4: Means and standard deviations of participants’ responses on the personal characteristics domain Standard deviationsMeansRankItem 0.884.33155 0.914.30253 1.054.28359 1.114.26461 1.114.23561 1.094.20662 0.834.16754 0.864.13856 1.104.08958 1.094.031157 0.954.20Whole Dimension Table (4) shows that the means of the personal characteristics of the faculty member ranged between (4.03 4.33) with a high level of importance. The table also shows that item (55), which states that the faculty member should be "flexible and non rigid.", was ranked first in terms of importance according to the responses of students participating in the study sample, with a mean of (4.3) and a standard deviation of (0.88). It was followed by the item number (53), which states that the faculty member should be "serious in his work and enthusiastic about his profession.” with a mean of 4.30 and a standard deviation of (0.91), while item (57), was ranked last in terms of importance within the dimension, with a mean of (4.03) and a standard deviation (1.09). The total mean of the dimension of personal and effective characteristics as a whole was (4.20).

In order to have a wide view of the students’ perceptions toward faculty members’, the researchers have calculated the means and the standards deviations for each domain. Table (5) shows the results and the ranking of each domain:

The means and standard deviations were calculated to retrieve the students’ perceptions toward the traits of the faculty members in terms of the personal characteristics domain as table (4) shows.

4.4 Results related to the fourth dimension: Personal characteristics

4.5 Comparison of the results of the four dimensions

3.964

Gender 1 4.66 0.81 Male 4.40 0.82 female 2 4.46 0.83 Male 4.13 0.83 female 3 4.26 0.88 Male 4.06 0.79 female 4 4.20 0.94 Male 3.93 0.70 female 5 3.86 1.06 Male 3.95 1.09 female 6 3.73 0.96 Male 4.07 1.16 female 7 3.74 0.88 Male 4.00 1.00 female 8 3.80 0.94 Male 4.00 1.06 female 9 4.00 1.19 Male 3 99 1.00 female 10 4.06 1.03 Male 3.73 1.16 female 11 3.93 1.16 Male 3.95 0.88 female 12 3.86 1.06 Male 3.73 1.03 female 13 3.533 0.91 Male 4.13 0.91 female 14 3.33 1.04 Male 4.04 1.06 female

2

Table 5: Comparison means and standard deviations of the participants’ responses on the four domainsStandard deviationMeanRankDimension 0.23First: knowledge 0.134.03Second: teaching skills 0.154.12Third: social and emotional skills 0.954.201Fourth: personal characteristics Table (5) shows that the personal characteristics domain has ranked at the top of other domains with a mean score of (4.20) and a standard deviation (0.95), followed by social and emotional skills (4912), teaching skills (4.03). Knowledge domain was ranked as the last of other domains with a mean of (3.96), and a standard deviation of (.23089).

Results from research question 2: Are there any differences in the mean scores of students’ perceptions toward the traits of effective faculty members due to their genders (male, female)? To answer this question, the means and standard deviations of the sample responses were calculated on the four study dimensions, as table (5) shows: 6: Comparison of the means and the standard deviations of the participants’ responses on the knowledge domain due to their gender deviation

Table

3

Item Mean Standard

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Table (6) shows the differences between male and female students’ estimates of the importance of the items in the first domain related to the knowledge of the faculty member. The mean of the male students’ estimations was higher than the mean of female students’ estimations in items (1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 12 ), while the female students’ estimates were higher than those of male students in items (5, 6, 7, 8, 13 ,14, 15), whereas the estimates of male and female were equal concernening the importance of the items (9 and 11). The means for the male and female students of the dimension as a whole showed a high estimate of the importance of the dimension in females (mean = 4.00), compared to males (mean= 3.92). Moreover, the researchers have compared the mean score of the male and female participants’ responses to the teaching skills domain. Table (7) shows the results. 7: Comparison the means and the standard deviations of the participants’ on the teaching skills domain due to their gender Standard deviation 4.66 0.81 0.82

female 2 4.46 0.83 Male 4.13 0.83 female 3 4.26 0.88 Male 4.06 0.79 female 4 4.20 0.94 Male 3.93 0.70 female 5 3.86 1.06 Male 3.93 1.09 female 6 3.73 0.96 Male 4.0667 1.16 female 7 3.73 0.88 Male 4.00 1.00 female 8 3.80 0.941 Male 4.00 1.06 female 9 4.00 1.19 Male 4.00 1.00 female 10 4.06 1.03 Male 3.73 1.16 female 11 3.93 1.16 Male 3.93 0.88 female 12 3.86 1.06 Male 3.73 1.03 female 13 3.53 0.91 Male 4.13 0.91 female 14 3.33 1.04 Male 3.86 1.06 female

Item Mean

Gender 1

responses

Male 4.40

24 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. 15 3.40 1.05 Male 4.06 0.88 female Whole dimension 3.93 0.37 Male 4.00 0.16 female

Table

25 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. 15 3.40 1.05 Male 4.06 0.88 female Whole Dimension 3.90 0.37 Male 4.00 0.16 female Table (7) shows the differences between the estimates of male and female students for the importance of the items in the second domain of teaching skills of the effective faculty member. The mean of the male students was higher than the mean of the female students’ estimations in paragraphs (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26, 27, 28, 29, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 and 40), while female student estimates were higher than those of male students in (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 31, 32, 33, 41). The estimates of male and female students are equal concerning the importance of the item (30) in the dimension of teaching skills of the faculty member. The means for both male and female students for the dimension as a whole showed significant differences, on behalf of male students (mean = 4.06), compared to females (mean = 4.01). Also, the researchers have compared the mean score of the male and female participants’ responses to the social and emotional communication skills domain. Table (8) shows the results. Table 8: Comparison of the means and the standard deviations of the participants’ responses on the domain social and emotional communication skills Item deviationsStandard Means Gender 42 1.09 4.26 Male 0.96 4.06 Female 43 0.81 4.33 Male 1.00 4.06 Female 44 0.73 4.40 Male 1.24 3.86 Female 45 0.83 4.13 Male 1.09 3.73 Female 46 0.67 4.20 Male 1.35 3.53 Female 47 0.79 4.06 Male 1.20 3.80 Female 48 0.61 4.33 Male 1.27 3.73 Female 49 0.73 4.40 Male 0.70 4.26 Female 50 0.73 4.40 Male 0.83 4.13 Female 51 0.73 4.40 Male 0.74 4.13 Female 52 0.73 4.40 Male 0.88 4.06 Female Whole Dimension 0.12 4.30 Male 0.22 3.94 Female

Table (9) shows the differences of the estimates of male and female students for the importance of the items in the fourth dimension related to personal characteristics, where the mean of the male students ‘estimates was higher than the mean of the female students’ estimations in items (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59 ).

Table (9): Comparison of the means and the standard deviations of the participants’ responses on the personal traits domain Item Gender Means Standard deviations 53 Male 4.53 0.63 Female 4.06 1.00 54 Male 4.20 0.77 Female 4.13 0.91 55 Male 4.46 0.63 Female 4.20 1.08 56 Male 4.33 0.81 Female 3.93 0.88 57 Male 4.33 1.00 Female 3.73 1.00 58 Male 4.20 1.00 Female 4.06 1.20 59 Male 4.33 0.81 Female 4.26 1.20 60 Male 4.20 1.00 Female 4.33 1.20 61 Male 4.26 1.00 Female 4.26 1.20 62 Male 4.20 1.00 Female 4.20 1.20 Whole Dimension Male 4.30 0.11 Female 4.12 0.18

In addition, the researchers have compared the mean score of the male and female participants’ responses to the personal traits domain as shown in table (8).

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The female student estimates were higher than those of male students in item (60), while the estimates of male and female students were equal concerning the importance of the items (61 and 62) in the dimension of personality traits. The means for the male and female students for the dimension as a whole showed a

Table (8) shows the differences of the estimates of male and female students for the importance of the items in the third dimension of social and emotional communication skills, where the mean of the male students was higher than the mean of the female students’ estimations in items (42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51 and 52), while female student estimates were higher than those of male students in items (43 48) related to social and emotional communication skills. The mean scores for male and female students for the dimension as a whole showed an increase in the estimates of the importance of the field in males (mean = 4.30), compared with females (mean = 3.94).

References Abu Houmaidan, Y., & Sauaqid, S. (2008). The Important attributes to be possessed by the faculty member from the perspective of the students of Mu’tah University.

Damascus University Journal, 24(1), 175 200. Abu Nemer, A. (2008). Traits of the exemplary teacher in the light of Islamic education and their presence among the faculty members at the faculty of education from the perspective of their students. Unpublished Master Thesis, Islamic University, Gaza Aljarrah,Strip.A., & Shraifeen, N. (2010). Traits of the effective teacher as perceived by students at Yarmouk University in light of some variables. Arab Union Universities Journal, 8(3), 87 112.

high estimate of the importance of the dimension among male students (mean = 4.30), compared to females (mean = 4.12). The results of the study showed statistically significant differences between male and female students’ assessment of the characteristics of the active faculty members in each of the four dimensions of study, namely, knowledge, teaching skills, social and emotional communication skills, and personal characteristics.

The present study proposed to identify vocational education students’ perceptions of the traits of an effective faculty members at Al Balqa Applied University. It also examined whether there were significant differences based on the students’ gender. The study recruited participant students from Albalqa Applied University which could be a limitation of this study and prevents the result from the generalization issue. The study revealed that students’ perceptions and estimates to the faculty members’ characteristics were high all the time. However, male students’ perceptions were higher than the female on the four dimensions of the study (knowledge, teaching skills, and social and emotional communication skills). The finding suggests encouraging faculty members who teach vocational education courses to develop their effectiveness in acquiring more knowledge in the field of vocational education. This could be realized by more reading and conducting research in the field, attending conferences and using new materials in teaching vocational courses. Also, faculty members may improve their teaching skills by attending workshops, colleagues’ lectures, and self learning from the available traditional and electronic materials. Moreover, faculty members could improve their social and emotional communication skills and personal traits.

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The results of the present study are consistent with the results of several previous Arab studies (e.g., Al Hattami, Muammar, & Elmahdi, 2013), which examined the characteristics and traits of an effective faculty member from the students’ point of view (e.g., Abu Houmaidan and Suaqid, 2008; Al Ja’afra, 2015; Sarhan, 2017) as well as other communities related to the educational process in universities.

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5. Conclusion

Moreover, findings suggest conducting further studies that examine the traits of the effective faculty members in the field of vocational education and conducting training in modern teaching methods and strategies.

28 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

Al Hattami, A. A., Muammar, O. M., & Elmahdi, I. A. (2013). The need for professional training programs to improve faculty members teaching skills. European Journal of Research on Education, 1(2), 39 45. Ansari, P., & Malik, A. (2013). Image of an effective teacher in the 21st Century Classroom. Journal of Educational and Instructional studies in the world, 3(4), 61 68. Fox, W., & Bayat, M.S. (2007) A Guide to Managing Research Richmond: Juta Publications. Gao, M., & Liu, Q. (2013). Personality traits of effective teachers represented in the narratives of American and Chinese perspective teachers: A cross cultural comparison. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 3(2), 84 95. Ginsberg, S. (2007). Shared characteristics of college faculty who are effective communicators. Journal of Effective Teaching, 7(2), 3 20. Hasouneh, S. (2009). Self efficacy in science teaching among the elementary pre service teachers. Aqsa University Journal, 13(2), 122 149 Isa, H., & Al Naqah, S. (2009). Assessment of the professional competencies among the faculty members at the Islamic University from the perspective of their students. Paper presented at the conference "Role of Higher Education in the Comprehensive Development", Islamic University, Gaza’s Strip. Khodair, R., Khawaldeh, M., Maqableh, N., & BaniYaseen, M. (2012). Traits of effective teachers of Arabic: Comparative study. Jordanian Journal for Educational Research, 8(2), 167 181. Köpsén, S. (2014) How vocational teachers describe their vocational teacher identity. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 194 211, Kourieos,doi:10.1080/13636820.2014.894554S.,&D.Evripidou,(2013).Students

’ Perceptions of Effective EFL Teachers in University Settings in Cyprus. English Language Teaching, 6(11), 1 16. Martinazzi, R., & Samples, J. (2000). "Characteristics and traits of an effective professor," 30th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference. Building on A Century of Progress in Engineering Education. Conference Proceedings (IEEE Cat. No.00CH37135), Kansas City, MO, USA, 2000, pp. F3F/7 F3F/9 doi:10.1109/FIE.2000.896581 Moghtadaie, L., & Taji, M. (2016). Study of the performance of faculty members according to talent management approach in higher education. Educational Research and Reviews, 11(8), 781 790. Moustafa, I. (2009). Traits of effective Islamic education teachers for the second stage from the perspective of students. Damascus University Journal, 25(3+4), 251 287. Ramadan, A., & Hamza, M. (2011). A future vision of the preparation of teachers in the light of competencies teaching. Journal of Social and Humanistic Sciences, 4(4), 271 283. Sarhan, M. (2017). Identification of the Training needs of the faculty members at Al Balqa’ Applied University in terms of educational technologies. Journal of the Faculty of Education, Azhar University, 176(1), 537 581. Walker, R. (2008). Twelve characteristics of an effective teacher: A longitudinal, qualitative, quasi research study on in service and pre service teachers’ opinions. Education Horizon, 87(1), 61 68. Yahya, R. (2013). Assessment of the performance of science teachers in the Kurdistan region in Iraq in Light of the principles of effective teaching. Unpublished Master Thesis, Clements University, Dahouk.

Philosophy for Children (P4C) in Improving Critical Thinking in a Secondary Moral Education Class Hafizhah Zulkifli Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Bangi, Malaysia Rosnani Hashim International Islamic University Malaysia Gombak, Malaysia

29 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 29 45, February 2020 https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.2.3

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of Philosophy for Children (P4C) in improving critical thinking among students. The study was conducted via the quasi experimental research comprising of 27 students placed in the experimental group while the remaining 34 students in the control group. The instrument used was the Ujian Kemahiran Menaakul (Test for Reasoning Skills) Centre for Teaching Thinking (UKMCTT). Based on the statistical t test on critical thinking, the treatment group scored a higher mean in the post test mean score compared to the control group, which suggests that P4C had helped to improve students’ critical thinking. The application of P4C allows students to think or reflect on the consequences of the action or assumption they made in their discussion. Simultaneously, it provides career advancement for the teachers by providing the classroom with a new strategy and renewed energy and enthusiasm.

1. Introduction Teaching student’s critical thinking will strengthen their logical skills and ability to reason (Lipman, Sharp, & Oscanyan, 1980). Effective teaching is comprised of three strategies, i.e., dialogue strategies, stimulating critical thinking, and encouraging discussion in the classroom (Hashim, 2013). Moral and academic excellence are profoundly affected by effective teaching (Solomon, Watson, & Battistich, 2001), and teachers who have positive attitudes about their students can enhance the students’ achievement and ethical behaviour (Haberman, 1999). Teachers need to have content knowledge as well as to associate caring classrooms, achievement, and prosocial character. Pedagogical skills are also

Keywords: Philosophy for Children (P4C); Critical Thinking; Moral Education; Students; Test for Reasoning Skills

In addition, Nachiappan, Sinnasamy & Suffian (2017) contend that the problems that teachers have to overcome were the inability to relate to the moral values in real-life situation among students, lack of teaching aids, lack of mastery in lesson delivery among teachers, lack of interest from students, inability to explain about moral issues among students, problem in mastery of language among students, presence of teachers with no Moral Education field background and the inability to understand and master the moral values among students. Moreover, the influence of students’ mother tongue also has become an alarming issue among teachers. Students also tend to have an attitude towards Moral Education which shows their lack of concern which leads to them being unable to pay attention. Then, lack of optional teachers in Moral Education, lack of references and unconducive classroom surrounding can cause problems in Moral Education.

In light of such issues, we can conclude that students have not achieved a higher level of critical thinking. Thus, students need to be catered with a

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. necessary, and they are expected to be committed to providing caring climates as a teaching practice (Che Abd Rahman, 2007). In Malaysia, thinking skills are a significant agenda in national education and are eminent (Yen & Halili, 2015). Malaysia has put a significant effort in enhancing thinking skills with the implementation of structural reforms by the Ministry of Education (MOE) through the Integrated Curriculum for Secondary Schools (KBSM). The concept of critical thinking was incorporated in some major national plans including in KBSM in 1988, Vision 2020 in 1991, the Critical and Creative Thinking Skills (KBKK) in 1996, and the concept of “smart school” to produce human capital with high level thinking ability introduced in 1997 (Ministry of Education, 2012). In 2012, the Preliminary Report of the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013 2025 was introduced by MOE that emphasised on six critical attributes needed by the students to thrive in the globally competitive market such as knowledge, thinking skills, leadership skills, bilingual proficiency, ethics and spirituality, and national identity (Yen & Halili, 2015). Nevertheless, in reality, the majority of teachers have failed to engage students in effective teaching as they still employ the lecture method instead of promoting the culture of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTs) (Ivie, 1998; Ministry of Education, 2012; Zohar & Schwartzer, 2005). Moreover, the majority of teaching methods involved memorising (Hoon, 2010; Glickman, 1991), taking notes (Balakrishnan, 2002, 2009), possess lack of activities (Appoo, 2009), emphasises on exam (Barone, 2004), asked lower order thinking questions, and usually used the lecture technique (Che Abd Rahman, 2007). This pedagogy assumes teachers as a source of knowledge, with student engagement at a minimal level and indirect interactions between students.

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In providing and pursuing a P4C curriculum, the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC) began to implement the P4C programme in kindergarten to the twelfth grade classroom in Montclair. For the first draft, he published a novel for children entitled Harry Stottlemeier’s Discovery to foster children's critical thinking, discussion, and questioning (McLeod, 2010). More philosophical children’s novels were published in the following years by Lipman such as Suki, (1978), Mark (1979), Pixie, (1981), Lisa (1983), Elfie (1987);

Several critical thinking programmes are available to teach students to think critically. The 'Teaching for thinking' approach was developed by teachers across the world in different ways. They integrate the approach into everyday teaching to create 'thinking classroom' and develop whole school policies to create 'thinking school'. Lateral Thinking, which was promoted by Edward De Bono (Bono, 1995) is one of the examples that has inspired a wide range of curriculum and programme developments, while the Instrumental Enrichment Program by Reuven Feuerstein (Feuerstein, Falik & Feuerstein, 2015) is a programme for struggling learners. It also includes ‘cognitive acceleration’ approaches (such as Adey and Shayer’s Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education), which are called ‘brain based' approaches like the ‘Accelerated Learning' and ‘philosophical’ approaches, such as Lipman’s Philosophy for Children, which unlike other approaches, not only aims to develop the intellectual aspects of thinking, caring and collaboration, as well as critical and creative thinking, but also the moral, social, and emotional aspects (Fisher, 2013).

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. pedagogy that provides them with the opportunity to enhance their critical thinking. So far, not many researchers have paid attention to the usage of philosophical inquiry such as P4C as an alternative methods in Moral Education in order to enhance critical thinking. Based on these stated gaps, thus, this study aims to examine the effect of P4C on the students’ critical thinking level after the P4C is implemented in the classroom.

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Philosophy for Children (P4C) was created in the late 1960s by Matthew Lipman and his colleagues as a coherent programme in teaching thinking at the Montclair State University, United States. This programme was created due to the realisation by Lipman (1993) who was a professor teaching philosophy at Colombia University at the time that the undergraduates lacked in reasoning and judgment (Naji, 2005). According to Lipman et al. (1980), the P4C was built upon the recommendation of John Dewey (1938) and the Russian educator, Lev Vygotsky (Minick, 2005). They emphasised on the necessity of teaching for thinking and not for merely memorising (Lipman, 2017). He mentioned other philosophers and psychologists who instigate influence in P4C such as Justus Buchler, Jean Piaget, Gilbert Ryle, George Herbert Mead, and Ludwig Wittgenstein (Lipman, 2017). It is essential to highlight that the aim of P4C “is not to make children into little philosophers but to help them to think better than they now think. The more quickly they can adapt to philosophy, it will emphasis mental acts, thinking skills, reasoning and judgment” (Lipman, 2017, p. 9).

2. Philosophy for Children (P4C)

Besides, Lipman’s 'philosophic novels' (1988) by contrast, are seeded with puzzles, questions, and problems of meaning. There is an educational purpose to stimulate questioning and philosophical discussion. They present models of reasonable and thoughtful discussion between children that Lipman hoped his

Each novel, as explained by Lipman (1988) revolves around a common theme, which is the workings of the human mind, and the primary purpose of the theme is to serve as springboards for intellectual debate. However, one of the drawbacks of the novels was that they are not good stories in a literary sense, as they do not hold the interest as stories. Nevertheless, Lipman saw this as an advantage. Most children’s book and stories do not contain a rich range of philosophical questions, and they do not provide models for children as enquiring thinkers. He believed that children’s existing literary experience lacked in intellectual stimulation, causing the link between reading and thinking to be disconnected. Children usually do not think about what the words mean for the story, and they eventually believe that reading is only about following words in a book (Fisher, 2013).

32 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Kio & Gus, 1982). Every novel was different as each novel was written to suit different age groups and schooling grade, as shown in Table 1. Table 1. Philosophical Novel Age Children’s novel Teacher’s manual Philosophicalarea Educationalarea 3 6 years HospitalDoll Making sense of my word formationConcept Basic concepts what is true, good, beautiful?real, 6 7 years Elfie Getting togetherthoughtour aboutReasoningthinking experienceExploring 7 8 years Kio Gusand Wondering at the world aboutReasoningnature educationEnvironmental 8 10 years Pixie Looking Meaningfor aboutReasoninglanguage Language and arts 10 years12 Harry Stottlemeir’ s Discovery InquiryPhilosophical Basic reasoning skills Thinking and logic 12 years13 Lisa inquiryEthical inReasoningethics educationMoral 14 years15 Suki WhyHowWriting:and inReasoninglanguage Writing literatureand 16 years+ Mark inquirySocial foundationinReasoningsocial Source:studiesSocialFisher (2013)

O2: Post test X: Treatment Sample

O1: Pre test

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Group A1 O1 X O2 Group B1 O1 O2

The population of this study was form two Moral Education students. The samples of this study comprised of two classes of Moral Education students in one secondary public school in Gombak. The sample was chosen due to the diversity of non Muslim students in the school, the study's ability to attain

3. ResearchMethodologyDesign

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. readers would emulate in their discussion of questions arising from the text (Fisher, Furthermore,2013).a philosophical novel is more effective than a philosophical context because it is far more enjoyable to be conveyed through stories. Children will be more motivated to think and inquire if the stories focus on issues and events that are related to their personal experience but at the same time, are intriguing and contestable. The philosophical text is an attempt to present philosophy logically and comprehensively despite the lack of experience. Stories will be used as a springboard or trigger for their further inquiry by children who are in the process of building their communities of philosophical inquiry (Sharp, 2017).

Group A1: Experimental Group (P4C) Group B1: Control Group (conventional learning)

A quasi experimental design was chosen for the assessment of this study. The researcher used existing classroom to avoid disrupting classroom learning (Creswell, 2005) and it is usually not possible for educational researchers to randomly assign pupils to groups or to design a study in which the control group is taught the irregular programme from the prescribed curriculum (Ann, In1993).the quasi experimental design, the participants were divided into two groups with group A1 as the experimental group and group B1 as the selected group without random assignment. A pre test and post test were applied to both groups, and only the experimental group will receive the treatment (Creswell, 2009). In the treatment group of this study, students were taught through the use of P4C while in the control group, students were offered the regular formal Moral Education course. Both experimental and control groups consisted of form two students.

Thecomparison.samples

from the two classes of form two consisted of 61 students. The total number of students for the experimental group was 27, and the control group consisted of 34 students. The sample experimental group consisted of 13 males and 14 females, which consisted of 19 Indian students and 8 Chinese students. Meanwhile, the control group consisted of 13 males and 21 females with 30 Indian students and 4 Chinese students. The samples were not randomly assigned to the two groups as this study cannot artificially create groups for the experiment to avoid the disruption of classroom learning. The form two classes were in the afternoon session. The two classes of Moral Education involved were 2A and 2C, where 2A stands for Aktif, Amal, and Amanah that comprised of excellent and moderate students based on their form one year end exam achievement. Meanwhile, 2C that represent Ceria and Cerdas consisted of moderate and low achievement students based on the same assessment. 2A was assigned as the control group and 2C as the experimental Thegroup.Moral

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. cooperation from the school administrator, and the conducive environment for teaching and learning offered in the school. The form two students were selected because they were not involved in any major compulsory examination. The students were selected from schools that consist of a minimum of ten non Malay or non Muslim students as Moral Education is only offered to non Muslim students. According to Berg and Latin (1994), there should be at least ten subjects per group when researching group

Education class provides students with multicultural ethnics, different religious beliefs, different spoken languages, and dialects. In addition, the Moral Education class emphasises on Moral Reasoning, Moral Feeling and Moral Action that is suitable for this study.

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Instrument The Ujian Kemahiran Menaakul Centre for Teaching Thinking (UKMCTT) used to examine the level of critical thinking among students is an adaptation from the New Jersey Test of Reasoning Skills (NJTRS) that was developed by Dr. Virginia Shipman, a senior research psychologist in the Education Department in New Jersey (Shipman, 1983). It is a test of the ability to reason, rather than a test of scientific inquiry of judgment. It is clear with a written Flesch Reading level of 4.5, and reliability ranging from 0.84 to 0.91 and compares favourably with other thinking tests such as the Cornell Critical Thinking Test and the Whimbey Analytical Skills programme. The test is recommended for high school and colleague students. It has been widely used with groups of foreign language learners in high schools in many parts of the world that conducted the P4C programme in the past 30 years (Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children). These countries include Singapore (Lim, 1994) and Malaysia (Hashim, Hussien, & Imran, 2014).

First, history refers to any situation or event that coincides with the treatment

Initially, the researcher met with the principal to discuss the class and timetable that would be suitable for the study. Next, the researcher entered the class and built rapport among the students in the classroom for about a month. Accordingly, the researcher gave critical thinking instruments for the pre test while the teacher started implementing the intervention module for 11 sessions. After the teacher completed the 11 sessions of intervention, the researcher again gave out the critical thinking instruments to the students in the post test.

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Validity Validity in quantitative data, as mentioned by Creswell (2005) refers to when individual scores from the instrument are meaningful and make sense. The validity of an instrument also enables the researcher to draw a reasonable conclusion from the sample of the population. The quasi experimental approach introduces more threats to internal validity than the actual experiment. This happens because the researcher does not randomly assign participants to groups. A threat to validity refers to when design issues can threaten the experiment conclusions reached from data, leading to a false reading and plausible cause and effect between the treatment and the outcome (Creswell, 2005). The threats to internal validity threatened the researcher’s ability to draw the correct cause and effect of inferences that arise. This is profoundly affected by the experimental procedures or the experiences of participants. History, maturation, regression, selection, mortality, and interaction with selection are among the potential threats to internal validity (Creswell, 2005; Campbell & Stanley, 1963; Christensen, 2004).

Data Analysis Procedures

Data Collection Procedures

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The researcher used inferential statistic comprised of independent samples t test and paired sample t test on UKMCTT instruments. As stated by Pallant (2007), researchers use the independent sample t test when they want to compare the mean scores of two different groups of people or conditions. On the other hand, when the researchers want to compare the mean scores for the same group of people on two different occasions, or when there are matched pairs, a paired sample t test is used. In this research, SPSS was used to analyse the data.

A reliability test was conducted for this study and its Cronbach alpha for internal reliability was 0.73. The UKMCTT had been translated and had 33 multiple choice items. Some of the reasoning skills included are reasoning with the relationship, identifying good reasons, inductive reasoning, recognizing improper questions and analogical reasoning, and syllogistic reasoning. The duration of the test was one hour.

Table 2 shows a list of internal validity threats and suggested means of control.

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The third is the instrumentation that refers to changes that happen in the measurement procedure. The validation and reliability procedure of the instrument would help minimise this problem. Next, for the biosocial attributes, the researcher observed differences in terms of race and religion. To control this threat, the researcher must be open minded and tolerant. The researcher also looked into the students’ background and understood the diversity of their Theculture.fourth threat, attrition or mortality, refers to any experimental subjects that drop out of the study before the experiment has been completed. To avoid this issue, the students were reminded that their attendance was compulsory.

Nevertheless, some of the students did not show up during the experiment as they were involved in a chess tournament and running events, for instance.

given to the group, which could have a similar effect. In this experiment, historical threats to internal validity were (i) students who participated in the P4C programme were also eligible for and probably participated in the academic excellence programme, which also aims in improving higher order thinking skills, particularly during school holidays and at times, on Fridays; and (ii) the unequal syllabus for the control group and the treatment group. This is because the schedule for the experimental group falls typically on the same day with a public holiday, and as a result, the class would miss or skip one topic. Schedule reshuffling was thus done to overcome this problem.

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The second threat, maturation, refers to any changes that happen through the natural process in everyday lives to both the experimental and control groups. For this experiment, having the experimental and control groups would help to minimise this problem because if such changes happen to members of the treatment group, it might affect the members of the control group as well.

Christensen (2004, p. 2002) asserts that “In order to determine the effect of a programme, a control group that did not receive the treatment would also have to be included to control the potential rival influence of maturation”.

Table 2. Threats to Internal Validity Elements Threats Suggestion History Students involvement in an academic excellent Unequalprogrammesyllabus

The participation in the excellent programme to be Scheduleminimizedto be reshuffled

The fifth is an imitation of treatment. Members of the treatment group could communicate with each other and may pass on the experimental stimulus of one group to the other. This might influence the behaviour of the subjects. Again, administrative control and close supervision were essential to avoid any obstruction.

There was also an instance in which only Chinese students attended the class since there was an Indian festival that was not declared as a public holiday.

A paired sample t test was used to compare the critical thinking score among each member of the treatment group before and after the programme. The null hypothesis is: Ho1 There is no statistically significant difference in the means of the pre test and post test for each of the treatment groups in the test of critical thinking.

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In addition, the threats to external validity are problems that threaten the ability to draw correct inferences from the sample data to other persons, settings, and past and future situations such as the interaction of selection treatment, the interaction of setting and treatment and interaction of history and treatment (Creswell, 2005). In terms of external validity, the findings from this research are limited in "generalisability"; thus, it cannot be inferred to other Moral Education students in Malaysia. While this study and previous findings indicate a pragmatic superiority of the moral reasoning learning module, it does not suggest that competition and individualisation should be overlooked or ignored.

Test of Effect of Treatment on Critical Thinking

The use of the experimental and control group

4. Findings

Instrumentation Any changes that happen in the measurement procedure Validation and reliability procedure of the instrument Mortality Drop out of the study Attendance of participants to be made compulsory

Imitation of treatment Members of the treatment group could communicate with each other Administrative and close supervision

In this critical thinking instrument, the researcher used test and retest reliability. For the UKMCTT, the pre test was given in June and the post test in September. The pilot test involved 27 students, and the results showed that the Pearson correlation was .47, p<.05. It shows that the UKMCTT instrument is reliable and suitable to measure critical thinking among students.

Maturation Any changes that happen through the natural process in everyday lives to both the experimental and control groups

Pilot Test of Critical Thinking Instrument (UKMCTT)

The students were tested for critical thinking using the IIUM Centre for Teaching Thinking Test of Reasoning Skills (Ujian Kemahiran Menaakul Centre for Teaching Thinking, or UKMCTT) during the pre test and post test. The students were required to answer within an hour. The students’ scores were calculated and converted to percentages.

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An independent sample t test was performed to test for equivalence between experimental and control groups. The hypothesis for the independent sample is: Ho2 There is no statistically significant difference in the level of critical thinking between the treatment group and the control group based on the pre test score. The results (see Table 4) show that there was no significant difference in mean scores for the treatment group (M = 21, SD = 3.58) and the control group (M = 19.1, SD = 4.06); t (59) = 1.83, p = 0.072 (two tailed). The magnitude of difference in the means was very small (eta squared = .009). The null hypothesis, therefore, fails to reject, and there is no significant difference in the pre test scores between subjects in the control and the experimental groups. Therefore, the results show that the subjects in both the control and the experimental group were equivalent before treatment.

Table 4. Independent sample t test of Pre test Mean Score on Critical Thinking between Treatment Group and Control Group Group N Mean SD MeanSE t df Sig tailed)(2 Treatment 27 21.0 3.58 .68 1.83 59 .072 Control 34 19.1 4.06 .69

An independent sample t test for the post test mean scores of the treatment and control groups was conducted to test whether the intervention of the Pedagogy was significant.

N=27 Mean MD SD MeanSE t df Sig Pair 1 Pre test 21.0 3.2 3.58 .68 4.54 26 .000 testPost 24.2 1.99 .38

Independent Sample T-Test of Post-Test Score on Critical Thinking between Treatment Group and Control Group

Table 3. Paired Sample T-Test between Pre-Test and Post-Test Mean Scores in Critical Thinking for Treatment Group

Independent Sample T-Test of Pre-Test Score on Critical Thinking between Treatment Group and Control Group

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Table 3 shows the results of the paired sample t test of the pre test and post test mean scores on critical thinking for the treatment group. There was a statistically significant difference in the mean score, t (26) = 4.54, p<.05. The null hypothesis failed to accept Ho. This implies that the P4C had helped to improve students’ critical thinking in the treatment group.

The result of critical thinking t tests showed that there was a statistically significant difference in both pre test and post test of the critical thinking mean scores of each member of the treatment group. This implies that P4C has improved the students’ critical thinking. The preparation of a lesson plan before teaching will also help to improve students’ critical thinking. The teacher needs to imagine what the students will try to ask and expect during the preparation of the lesson plan that includes several critical thinking stimuli, questions, discussions, and exercises. These results are supported by Sasseville (1994), who researched logical skills using NJTRS Instrument and Piers Harris (1969) for self esteem instruments on five experimental groups and four control groups. The results indicated that there was a significant difference with increments of 6.28%, 8.66%, and 7.22% for three out of five experimental groups on logical skills while increments of 7.42% and 6.6% on two treatment groups for self esteem instrument.

Ho3 There was no statistically significant difference in the level of critical thinking post test mean scores between the experimental group and the control group.

Table 5 Independent sample t-test of Post-test Score on Critical Thinking between Treatment Group and Control Group Group N Mean SD MeanSE t df Sig tailed)(2

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The results in Table 5 illustrated that there is no significant differences in scores for the experimental group (M = 24.2, SD = 1.99) and control group (M = 22.05, SD = 2.92); t (59) = 3.34, p = .001 (two tailed). P value was smaller than .005. The magnitude of difference in the means (mean difference = 2.20, 95% CI; 0.65 to 0.88) were small (eta squared = 0.01). The p value was below 0.05. Therefore, the hypothesis can be rejected. It can be concluded that there is a significant difference in the post test mean scores for the level of critical thinking between the treatment and control group on the UKMCTT test. It implies that the P4C approach is effective in helping students to improve critical thinking.

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Treatment 27 24.25 1.99 .38 3.34 59 .001 Control 34 22.05 2.92 .50

5. Discussion

Similarly, Othman (2005) and Othman and Hashim (2006) claimed that there was a statistically significant difference of mean for the reasoning skills in the P4C group using NJTRS (t=.993, df=21, p<.025) using a paired sample t test, suggesting that P4C has affected the change in students’ critical thinking. The findings also coincide with the findings by Hashim (2002), who applied a quasi experimental design study among year five students in a private Islamic primary school and discovered that in the pre test and post test using NJTRS,

6. Conclusion P4C is relevant in fostering active and critical thinking as well as enhancing critical thinking (Green & Condy, 2016; Siddiqui, Gorard, & See, 2019). Therefore, P4C is feasible and practical to be implemented in the Moral

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. there was a small statistical increase in the mean difference (t=−2.89, df=29, p<.009). P4C also showed a significant difference in five of nine subjects for the upper secondary school. There were significant differences in the pre test and post test for History, Oral English for the best class and weak class, oral Malay, and English comprehension. The scores for Science increased but not significantly (Hashim, 2017; Hashim et al., 2017). Moreover, there was a noticeable improvement for the primary school in all three subjects, which were English composition, Malay composition, Malay comprehension, and Islamic Studies. However, there were no significant differences in all subjects for the lower secondary students in both pre test and post test scores, except for Science in 2G, which was a weaker class in comparison to the other two classes, which were the two best classes in their level. Based on the test scores, it can be inferred that P4C has a great potential in increasing not only the soft skills but also academic achievement in the long term (Hashim, 2017; Hashim et al., 2017). Lam (2012) also supports that P4C can stimulate a student’s ability in critical thinking from a large variety and quantity of cognitive behaviours characteristic. Other than that, it could also be concluded that P4C plays a huge role in order to develop a student’s critical thinking.

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In addition, experimental research by Marashi (2008) conducted with 30 students in the experimental group and 30 students in the control group claimed that students in the experimental group showed a significant improvement in their reasoning skills using the New Jersey Test of Reasoning Skills (NJTRS) Researchinstrument.by Ann (1993) revealed that P4C could enhance critical thinking among students. Ann examined the impact of a PC4 novel, Harry Stottlemeier’s Discovery (1976), on the critical thinking of fourth and fifth grade gifted students in over 12 weeks. She used the NJTRS instrument as a standard test to measure the improvement of critical thinking.

The research by Allen (1988) found a significant improvement in logical reasoning in the treatment group consisting of 23 students. This study coincided with a study by Burnes (1981) who reported that P4C showed a significant result in reasoning skills among grade 5 and 8 students in Minnesota for two years, then in the third year, the results showed an increase in reasoning and also reading comprehension. Based on a few past research, most of them conclude that there are improvements in critical thinking from the use of inquiry in P4C (Haas, 1975; Haynes, 2002; Jones, 2008; Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children [IAPC], 2002; Lipman, 1998; Russel, 2002).

Second, further research can be done and use a case study design to explore the teacher’s views and the experiences in applying P4C. A case study is an in depth investigation of a single person, group, event or community. By applying the case study, the researcher can provide rich qualitative information of P4C and explore the situational challenges and seek for the settlement of the issues. This is more meaningful by revealing the participants’ real life situations. Acknowledgments

Secondly, this study is constrained in terms of time. Time allocation of an hour per session for P4C in the Moral Education classroom was implemented. As a result, there was not enough time to complete the intervention of P4C in Moral Education during sessions one to three of the research. Therefore, the researcher had to cut short activities or exercises and moved to another slot due to the time constraint. The researcher also used the same stimulus for introduction and discussion for the next session. Instead of a text, images, videos and dilemmas were used as stimulus. Based on the limitations of the research, the following recommendations are suggested. First, this research used a quasi experimental design. Therefore, further study is recommended to apply action research. Action research is a process in which participants examine their own educational practise systematically and carefully, using the techniques of research. The use of action research is so that the teacher understands their students’ existing problems and intent to solve either classroom problems or teaching problems.

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Education classroom because philosophy can provide a program that promotes thinking. However, there are several limitations to the study. Firstly, this study is limited in the sample population. The students were from two classes in the afternoon session and of Indian and Chinese ethnic groups, and the schools involved were chosen randomly by the researcher from schools in Gombak. Therefore, the findings from this study cannot be generalised to other different environments, subject, and duration.

7.

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The authors express their appreciation to the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE), State Education Department, District Education Officers, the school principal, teachers and students for their involvement in this research. This research was supported by the Faculty of Education, National University of Malaysia code GG 2019 056. References Allen, T. (1988). Doing philosophy with children. Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children, 7(3), 23 28. doi: 10.5840/thinking19887322 Ann, C. M. (1993). Philosophy for children program and the development of critical thinking of gifted elementary students (Doctoral dissertation, University of Kentucky, USA).

Retrieved from https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=5751571 Appoo, P. (2009). The development and evaluation of moral reasoning module for the teaching and learning of moral education (Doctoral dissertation). Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang.

Balakrishnan, V. (2002). Penggunaan dilemma real life dalam Pengajaran Pendidikan Moral [Using real life dilemma in teaching moral education] (Master’s thesis, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur). Retrieved Balakrishnan,pdfhttp://pendidikanmoral.um.edu.my/uploads/rujukan/real%20life%20dilema.fromV.(2009). Teaching moral education in secondary school students using real life dilemmas (Doctoral dissertation, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand). Retrieved pdf?sequence=2http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10063/1012/thesis.from Barone, T. N. (2004). Moral dimension of teacher student interactions in Malaysian secondary schools. Journal of Moral Education, 33(2), 179 196.

Green, L., & Condy, J. (2016). Philosophical enquiry as a pedagogical tool to implement the CAPS curriculum: Final year pre service teacher perceptions. South African Journal of Education, 36(1). Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.15700/saje.v36n1a1140 Haas, H. J. (1975). Evaluation study: Philosophy for children. In M. Lipman, A. M. Sharp & F. Oscanyan (Eds.), Philosophy in the classroom (pp. 217 224). Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Haberman, M. (1999). Increasing the number of high quality African American teachers in urban schools. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 26(4), 208 212. Hashim, R. (2002). P4C in Sri al Huda Primary School (Research report). Gombak: International Islamic University Malaysia.

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doi:10.1080/0305724042000215221 Berg, K., & Latin, R. (1994). Essentials of modern research methods. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Inc Bono, E. D. (1995). De Bono Thinking Course. Great Britain: Clays Ltd, Stlves Plc. Burnes, B. (1981). Philosophy for children. A report on achievement. IAPC, Montclair State University. Retrieved from Campbell,http://cehs.montclair.edu/academic/iapc/research.shtml#cogD.T.,&Stanley,J.C.(1963).Experimentalandquasiexperimental design for research on teaching. In Gage, N. (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching, 171 246. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company. Che Abd Rahman, A. S. (2007). Pengetahuan kandungan dan pedagogi guru pendidikan moral tingkatan empat di sebuah sekolah [Pedagogical content knowledge of moral education teacher among form four students in a school] (Doctoral dissertation, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). Retrieved from Creswell,0Che%20Abd.%20Rahman.pdfhttp://repository.um.edu.my/642/1/Tesis%20Dr.%20Abd.%20Shatar%20bin%2J.W.(2005). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (2nd ed.). USA: Pearson. Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design, qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Carlifonia: Sage. Christensen, L. B. (2004). Experimental methodology (9th ed.). Boston: Pearson. Dewey, J. (1938). Experienced and education. New York: Collier. Feuerstein, R., Falik, L. H., & Feuerstein, R. (2015). Changing minds and brain The legacy of Reuven Feuerstein: Higher thinking and cognition through mediated learning. New York: Teacher College Press. Fisher, R. (2013). Teaching thinking: Philosophical enquiry in the classroom (4th ed.). London: Glickman,Bloomsbury.C.(1991).Pretending not to know what we know. Educational leadership, 48(8), 4 10. Retrieved http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_199105_glickman.pdffrom

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Hashim, R. (2013). Pedagogi hikmah dan pengajaran kemahiran berfikir di sekolah [Wisdom pedagogy and critical thinking in school]. Gombak: Centre for Philosophical Inquiry in Education, International Islamic University Malaysia. Hashim, R. (2017). P4C in the context of Muslim Education. In Naji, S., & Hashim, R. (Eds.), History, theory and practice of philosophy for children: International perspectives (pp. 170 179). London: Routledge. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315208732

20 Hashim, R., Hussien, S., & Imran, A. M. (2014). Ḥikmah (wisdom) pedagogy and students’ thinking and reasoning abilities. Intellectual Discourse, 22(2), 119 138. Retrieved Hashim,http://journals.iium.edu.my/intdiscourse/index.php/islam/article/view/608fromR.,Hussien,S.,Khalid,M.,&WanYusof,W.M.(2017).

Laporan kajian rintis program pedagogi hikmah di sekolah terpilih daerah Gombak: Bagi kemahiran berfikir kritis, kreatif, kolaboratif, komunikasi dan kepedulian [A pilot study of wisdom pedagogical program in selected schools in Gombak district: For critical thinking, creative, collaborative, communication and caring skills]. (Research report), Gombak: Centre for Teaching Thinking, International Islamic University of Malaysia. Haynes, J. (2002). Children as philosophers: Learning through enquiry and dialogue in the primary classroom. London: Routledge. Hoon, C. L. (2010). An appraisal on the implementation of Moral Education for schools in Malaysia. Proceedings of the 4th International conference on teacher education (pp. 3 12). Bandung, Indonesia. Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children. (2002). IAPC research: Experimentation and qualitative information. Retrieved from www.montclair.edu/pages/iapc/experimentalinfo.html

Harry Stottlemeier’s Discovery. United States of America: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, University Press of America Inc. Lipman, M. (1978). Suki. United States of America: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, University Press of America Inc. Lipman, M. (1979). Mark. United States of America: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, University Press of America Inc. Lipman, M. (1981). Pixie. United States of America: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, University Press of America Inc. Lipman, M. (1982). Kio and Gaus. United States of America: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, University Press of America Inc. Lipman, M. (1983). Lisa. United States of America: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, University Press of America Inc.

Lipman, M. (1987). Elfie. United States of America: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, University Press of America Inc. Lipman, M. (1988). Philosophy goes to school. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Lipman, M. (1993). Thinking children and education. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. Lipman, M. (1996). Philosophical Discussion plan and exercises. Analytic teaching, 16(2), 64 77. Retrieved from Lipman,http://journal.viterbo.edu/index.php/at/article/view/635/422M.(1998).Teachingstudentstothinkreasonably;somefindings

History, theory and practice of philosophy for children: international perspectives (pp. 3 11). London: Routledge. Lipman, M., Sharp, A. M., & Oscanyan, F. S. (1980). Philosophy in the classroom (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Marashi, S. M. (2008). Teaching philosophy to children: A new experience in Iran. Analytic Teaching, 27(1), 12 15. Retrieved from McLeod,&type=pdfhttp://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.528.3963&rep=rep1T.L.(2010

). Philosophy for Children as a pedagogy for developing Oral English Language Skills with English a second language students (Doctoral dissertation, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico). Retrieved pqhttps://search.proquest.com/openview/a2339fbe4d9241e326f0f01e0128a8ca/1?fromorigsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y Minick, N. (2005). The development of Vygotskys' Thought: an introduction to thinking and speech. In Daniels, H (Eds.), An introduction to Vygotsky. (pp. 33 58). New York: Routledge. Ministry of Education. (2012). Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013 2025: Preliminary report. Putrajaya: Ministry of Education. Retrieved from https://www.moe.gov.my/dasar/1207 malaysia education blueprint 2013 Nachiappan,2025/fileS.,Sinnasamy, B., & Suffian, S. (2017). Masalah dalam pengajaran dan pembelajaran pendidikan moral di sekolah menengah dan penyelesaian masalah melalui kaedah hermeneutic [Problems in teaching and learning moral education in high school and problem solving through hermeneutic methods] Journal of Research, Policy & Practice of Teachers & Teacher Education (JRPPTTE), 7(2), 58 68. Retrieved from Othman,http://ojs.upsi.edu.my/index.php/JRPPTTE/article/view/240M.(2005). Critical Thinking and reading skills: A comparative study of the reader response and philosophy for children program approaches (Doctoral dissertation). Kuala Lumpur: International Islamic University Malaysia. Othman, M., & Hashim, R. (2006). Critical thinking & reading skills: A comparative study of the reader response & philosophy for children approaches. Thinking: Journal of Philosophy for Children, 8(2), 26 34. Retrieved 34https://www.pdcnet.org/thinking/content/thinking_2006_0018_0002_0026_00from Pallant, J. (2007). SPSS Survival Manual: A step by step guide to data analysis using SPSS for Windows, Version 15 (3rd ed.). Australia: Allen & Unwin. Piers, E. V. (1969). Manual for the Piers Harris Children's Self concept Scale. Nashville, TN: Counselor Recordings & Tescs. Retrieved from

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Solomon, D., Watson, M. S., & Battistich, V. A. (2001). Teaching and schooling effects on moral/prosocial development. In V. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook for research on teaching (pp. 566 603). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association. Yen, T. S., & Halili, S. H. (2015). Effective teaching of higher order thinking (HOT) in education. The Online Journal of Distance Education and e Learning, 3(2), 41 47. Retrieved from https://tojdel.net/journals/tojdel/articles/v03i02/v03i02 04.pdf Zohar, A., & Schwartzer, N. (2005). Assessing teachers’ pedagogical knowledge in the context of teaching higher order thinking. International Journal of Science Education, 27(13), 1595 1620. doi:10.1080/09500690500186592

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Harris_2_Piers Harris_Childrens_Self Concept_Scale_SECOND_EDITION Russell, J. (2002). Moral consciousness in a community of inquiry. Journal of Moral Education, 31(2), 141 153. doi:10.1080/03057240220143250

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Integration of Cloud Technologies in Teaching Foreign Languages in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract. This study was aimed at summarizing theoretical knowledge of students studying Economics, enhancing the educational process and training skills of independent long term professional upgrade of students (sustainability training) through the use of an English taught training program implemented through the use of MS Office 365 cloud services. The variational traits studied were identified: educational motivation, self confidence, cognitive and creative skills. The study used methods that are recommended for quantitative research, namely: Rasch’s models for measuring academic motivation, methods for determining the level of academic confidence; methods of diagnosis of cognitive reflection and decision making, and a questionnaire to

Ruslan V. Vakariuk

Department of Turkology, Institute of Philology, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Kyiv, Ukraine Iryna V. Tymoshchuk

Iryna L. Pokrovska Department of Turcology, Institute of Philology, Taras Shevcenko National University of Kyiv Kyiv, Ukraine Tetiana M. Kolodko

Department of Teaching Methodology of Ukrainian and Foreign Languages and Literatures, Institute of Philology, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Kyiv, Ukraine Zamina K. Aliyeva

Department of foreign languages and intercultural communications, Training Institute of the State Employment Service of Ukraine (Kyiv) Kyiv, Ukraine

Department of Foreign Languages for Natural Sciences, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University Chernivtsi, Ukraine

46 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 46 59, February https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.2.42020

Keywords: cloud technologies; foreign language teaching; higher education institutions; MS Office 365 services

The integration of cloud technologies into the educational process as a whole, and in the foreign language teaching in particular, in higher education institutions allows not only modernizing the content of academic subjects, but also improving teaching methods, expanding the range of teaching techniques and enhancing learning activity of students (Genç İlter, 2015; Ahmadi, 2018). The topicality of studying the problem of integration of cloud technologies in the educational process is determined by a number of advantages, including but not limited to: cost effectiveness optimize the cost of software procurement and its systematic updating; flexibility and efficiency customization of services for the needs of educational institutions, the possibility of unlimited data storage and automatic scaling of resources, minimum time consumption and financial costs for processing and analysis of data; environmental friendliness electricity consumption is much lower than traditional computing; mobility ongoing access to the information environment of higher education institutions (Lakshminarayanan, Kumar & Raju, 2013; Goyal, 2017; Siddiqui et al., 2019).

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1.1. Literature review

This study found that the key issues (seen as causes of failure) in teaching foreign languages had been insufficient learner engagement leading to lack of desire to study languages and discouraging students’ experiences in their attempts to raise language fluency (Akbari et al., 2016; Jang, Kim & Reeve, 2016), drilling activities based or reading translation format (Bolitho & West, 2017) of the classes that do not develop the students’ cognitive and creative spheres. It implies that students’ motivation and self confidence in academic settings are related to language teaching methods. Furthermore, language teaching methods are mainly about employing pedagogic tools to create a relaxed learning environment to influence brain neuroplasticity that results in better cognitive

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. determine the level of creativity of thinking. The results of the diagnostic tests on academic motivation were processed using the Rasch Unidimensional Measurement Model (RUMM 2010) software, and the results of other tests were processed using SPSS 10.0.5., Statistica v. 5.5 A., MathCAD 2000 Pro.

1. Introduction

It has been found that the problem of integrating cloud technologies into the teaching foreign languages has been of interest of scholars, as the former are gradually becoming a full fledged educational tool, allowing all institutions to create their own online spaces. In terms of language teaching methods, the used in this study teaching approach proved to create the learning environment helping to deal with the students’ communication and interaction barriers, reluctance to being engaged resulted in the enhanced students’ learning activity, their motivation for learning. This approach addressed the students’ needs in developed logical (critical) thinking and creative tactic to problem solving, student memory (cognitive component). The integration of cloud (education) services in general proved to increase the efficiency of the learning process.

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2. Materials and methods

The use of technology is reported to have significantly changed foreign language teaching methods as technologies offer alternatives that make learning comprehensive, engaging and more productive in terms of student progress (Patel, 2013; Gilakjani, 2017) through a structured, person to person, man machine and machine machine interaction (İşman, 2012). The organization of educational activities of students when learning foreign languages based on cloud services allows bringing the educational process closer to the realities of the student’s life and experience, gives access to both the student and the lecturer to authentic materials and authentic environment for communication and practice of all speech skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing that motivates the student to learn a foreign language (Kissling, 2012). The above goes in line with findings of Wu, Marek and Yen (2012) and Alotebi (2016) reporting that if ‘properly channelled’ through Computer Mediated Communication (CMC), learners show improved motivation, confidence, satisfaction, and greater actual academic performance. In addition, studies confirm that using the Internet also contributes to students’ learning motivation.

of this study was to identify how an English taught training program delivered through MS Office 365 cloud services (as a case of integration of cloud technology into the teaching foreign languages in higher education institutions) influences academic achievement motivation, academic self confidence, cognitive and creative students’ skills.

This study was conducted in 2018 and aimed to summarize the theoretical knowledge of students studying Economics, to enhance the learning process and to train the skills of independent long term professional upgrade of students (sustainability training) through the use of English taught training program implemented through the MS Office 365 cloud services. The dependent variables to be investigated within this study framework were educational motivation, self confidence, cognitive and creative skills. The study was conducted in three stages empirical, experimental and ascertaining, and used the methods recommended for quantitative studies (Hancock, Stapleton & Mueller, 2018; Bhatia, 2018). Diagnosis of educational motivation, self confidence, cognitive and creative skills at the pre experimental and post experimental stage was performed using: Rasch’s measurement model (Boone, 2016), Byrne, Flood and Griffin (2014) and Matotti (2011) academic confidence measurement techniques in modification of Sachitra and Bandara (2017); methods of diagnostics of

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. and critical thinking activity obtained through increased learner motivation and self confidence as long as their inner tensions are eliminated, the learning process gets contextualized and linked to the person’s experience (Li, Legault & Litcofsky, 2014; Gözüyeşil & Dikici, 2014).

1.2. Use of technology in language teaching

The literature review identified a gap to address that is related to the influence of cloud based approaches to teaching foreign languages on the motivation of academic achievements, academic self confidence, cognitive and creative skills in tertiary Therefore,students.thepurpose

studentevaluation,Projectdataprocessing,feedbacksurveys

The training program was English taught and was based on the use of MS Office 365 cloud services OneDrive, OneNote for organizing and managing the project work of students studying Economics in their learning of professional English. Prime Decisions was additionally used to make informed decisions and MS Project to plan the sequence of project implementation. The essence of the project was to develop a product of the future (based on our checklist) and packaging for it that would meet the concepts of triple sustainable development criteria (3P People Planet Profit). With regard to the product, students had to take the following parameters into account: target audience, product benefit in solving a specific audience problem, environmental friendliness, profitability, and packaging, shape, size, colour, logo, relevant photo and text and competitive appearance, etc. To implement the project, students were divided into five cross functional task forces, which were guided by a lecturer and consisted of students studying Marketing, Economics, Design, Consumption, Ecology, Psychology, etc. Typical forms of interaction between project team members were: online meetings for: brainstorming, analysis, presentation of information, negotiations, voting; correspondence, joint copywriting work, surveys of target audience through social networks (other Internet resources); creation of a promo video and advertising campaign through the constituents of the “sales funnel” (website, YouTube channel, Instagram, etc.).

Figure 1: Course of the study 2.2. Population Sampling This study relies on a random sampling technique. The general population for this study was 213 undergraduates in their 2nd 3rd year of the first (bachelor) level who were seeking a degree in Marketing and Advertising, International Economics, Finance, Green Economics and Ecology and Information Technology of the Vadym Hetman Kyiv National Economic University (KNEU) (133 persons) and the Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics (KNTEU)

The first half of 2018 The second half of 2018

Study of scientific sources, determination of urgent scientific need, development and obtaining permission for conducting training, formation of sample Organization of five project projects,implementationteams,ofcollectionofstatistics

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. cognitive reflection and decision making by Frederick (2005) and a questionnaire to determine the level of thinking creativity of Kumar, Kemmler and Holman (1997).

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The evaluation of the projects in the voting format involved experts from among lecturers and business representatives, taking into account the number of likes to the promo videos and social media pages. Let us visualize the course of the study (see Figure 1).

2.1. Description of a training program

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Table 1: Prior the treatment T test results showing the homogeneity of the EG and CG Axis Groups Mean SE t test df p EM EG, 2.31 0.32 21 0.47 47 0.008 CG, 2.56 0.28 SC EG, 2.63 0.36 22 0.51 47 0.027 CG, 2.67 0.41 CgS EG, 3.17 0.28 19 0.65 47 0.006 CG, 3.13 0.29 CrS EG, 2.19 0.27 21 0.53 47 0.007 CG, 2.23 0.31 DMS EG, 3.39 0.41 26 0. 67 47 0.063 CG, 3.41 0.43 Note EM educational motivation; SC self confidence, CgS cognitive skills, CrS creative skills, DMS decision making skills; <.05; number of students; arithmetic mean; standard deviations; standard error. The above results suggested that both groups were approximately the same in composition and could participate in the experiment.

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. (101 persons) with the same level of success. After calculating the size of the required (representative) sample using the Qualtrics (n./d.) (with 90% confidence probability, 9% error) and applying exclusion criteria, such as: student’s consent to participate, level of proficiency in English, a student’s self assessment in computer skills, the total population was reduced by 96 people, 60 people left. This figure was the starting point for the formation of the experimental group (EG) (n = 30) and the control group (CG) (n = 30). For the implementation of the projects, five cross functional groups of six each were created in the EG. At the pre experimental stage, we found that the results of the diagnostic tests for educational motivation, self confidence, cognitive and creative skills in both groups were approximately the same, suggesting that the groups could be involved in the study. The test results and comments are presented in Appendix section (see Tables A1 A5). Based on the above results, a t test was conducted with the above variables to examine whether there had been a significant difference between the means of two groups and whether the EG and CG sampled groups could be involved in the experiment (see Table 1 below).

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2.3. Tools for collecting and processing statistics

The following tools were used to collect data in this study: Rasch academic motivation measurement models (Hancock, Stapleton & Mueller, 2018), Byrne and Matotti academic confidence measurement techniques in modification of Sachitra and Bandara (2017); methods of diagnostics of cognitive reflection and decision making by Frederick (2005) and a questionnaire to determine the level of thinking creativity of Kumar, Kemmler and Holman (1997). The Rasch Unidimensional Measurement Model (RUMM 2010) software (Andrich, Sheridan & Luo, 2000) was used to process the results of the diagnostic tests on educational motivation, and SPSS 10.0.5., Statistica v. 5.5 A., MathCAD 2000 Pro were used for the other tests.

3. Results

51 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

Five student designed projects were the primary tangible and measurable result of this study. These included the ones entitled “Knowledge Pills for Lazy Students”, “Laughing Gas for Rabbits”, “Self cleaning Plates”, “Phone lickspittle” and “Potable Lie Detector”. The repeated measurements of the investigated variable which were educational motivation and self confidence, along with cognitive, creative and decision making skills showed the changes to have taken place in every variable in both groups. The results of the post experimental diagnostics applying the above tools for collecting and processing statistics to the CG and EG students are provided in the Appendix section (see Tables A6 A10). The t test was conducted again to identify whether there was any shift in the mean figures of EG and CG sampled groups (see Table 2). Table 2: Post-the-treatment T-test results to identify the shift in the mean figures of the variables for the EG and CG sampled groups Axis Groups Mean SE t test df p EM EG, 2.92 0.41 19 0.43 47 0.088 CG, 2.63 0.31 SC EG, 3.12 0.39 21 0.56 47 0.032 CG, 2.93 0.37 CgS EG, 3.86 0.29 16 0.72 47 0.016 CG, 3.25 0.28 CrS EG, 3.02 0.31 17 0.58 47 0.071 CG, 2.69 0.27 DMS EG, 3.94 0.39 22 0. 73 47 0.074 CG, 3.55 0.42 Note EM educational motivation; SC self confidence, CgS cognitive skills, CrS creative skills, DMS decision making skills; <.05; number of students; arithmetic mean; standard deviations; standard error.

As we can see from the tables and charts, both groups (CG and EG) showed positive changes (towards reduction) in overcoming students’ attitude and behavioural difficulties, levels of academic self confidence, cognitive reflection, decision making, and creativity of thinking, however, these changes are more significant in the EG group, making up about 18%. The results are illustrative of the effectiveness of the English taught training program implemented through the use of MS Office 365 cloud services.

52 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

Figure 2: Consolidated results of diagnostic tests on educational motivation, self confidence, cognitive and creative skills at the pre experimental stage, in %

40.0030.0020.0010.000.00Motivation of academic Academic CognitiveconfidenceselfreflectionDecisionCreativitymaking CG EG

It can be seen that there was a greater shift in the mean figures for all the variables for the EG than the ones for the CG that might be considered the result of the participation of the EG students in the project.

The consolidated results of diagnostic tests on educational motivation, self confidence, cognitive and creative skills at the pre experimental and post experimental stages can be seen in Figures 2, 3 below.

40.0030.0020.0010.000.00Motivation of academic Academic CognitiveconfidenceselfreflectionDecisionCreativitymaking CG EG

Figure 3: Consolidated results of diagnostic tests on educational motivation, selfconfidence, cognitive and creative skills at the post experimental stage, in %

53 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

3.1. Limitations of the study

4. Discussion

The type of cloud services (MS Office 365), the student specialization, the age of the general population, the tools for collecting statistics can be considered as limitations of this study.

The findings presented here are consistent with the ones from other national and international studies (Al Zoube, El Seoud & Wyne, 2010; Altun, 2015; Barhate & Narale, 2015; Khampusaen, 2014; Negoescu & Boştină Bratu, 2016; Patel, 2013; Siddiqui et al., 2019). The latter revealed the use of cloud based teaching from the perspective of benefits like customising, cost effectiveness, reaching the students, availability. Furthermore, some studies did not sufficiently present the content and the experimental process. This research followed it up and examined the benefits of the use of MS Office 365 cloud services from the perspective of a student. This study found that the use of these services extended the pedagogical opportunities and increased the potential for influence on academic self confidence, cognitive reflection, speed of decision making, creativity of thinking and helps to overcome students’ attitude and behavioural difficulties by creating informal, creative and liberal environment. The students of EG had enhanced the desire for excellence and personal incentives, the desire to learn. They had gained more self confidence in learning activities, had become more informed and prompter to make decisions. In the creative component of the personality of EG students there had been noticeable shifts in their behavioural self regulation, the use of other people’s help (team skills), the use of senses.

This study has complemented and deepened the study of the problem of cloud technology integration in higher education institutions in such areas as: integrating cloud technology into teaching and learning (Barhate & Narale, 2015; Al Zoube, El Seoud & Wyne, 2010); implementation of technologies in the process of teaching foreign languages (Altun, 2015; Negoescu & Boştină Bratu, 2016; Ahmadi, 2018) and the application of cloud technologies in teaching foreign languages (Khampusaen, 2014; Kravtsov & Gnedkova, 2016). The theoretical and practical experience of the author of the publication outlined a niche for further research on the problem of integration of cloud technologies into the teaching process in higher education institutions.

5. Conclusion

It has been found that the problem of integrating cloud technologies into the teaching process in higher education institutions and into the teaching foreign languages, in particular, is a point of interest of academic scholars, as they gradually become a full fledged educational tool, allowing all institutions to

The results of this study suggest that integration of cloud technologies into the process of teaching foreign languages at higher education institutions could be possible and effective, as evidenced by implemented English taught training program based on the use of MS Office 365 cloud services.

54 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. create their own online spaces. In terms of language teaching methods, the used in this study teaching approach proved to create the learning environment helping to deal with the students’ communication and interaction barriers, reluctance to being engaged resulted in the enhanced students’ learning activity, their motivation for learning. This approach addressed the students’ needs in developed logical (critical) thinking and creative tactic to problem solving, student memory (cognitive component). Cloud services allowed visualizing complex content in a simple and convenient format (live scribing, interactive images (based on Thinglink and LearningApps.org) infographics, video presentations, etc.), which in turn engaged different channels of information perception: hearing and vision, as well as the imagination of a person, and contributes to its better understanding and memorization. The integration of cloud (education) services in general proved to increase the efficiency of the learning process. The further research is needed in developing a model of professional training or advanced training of philologists in the use of cloud technologies in pedagogical activity. References Ahmadi, M. R. (2018). The Use of Technology in English Language Learning: A Literature Review. International Journal of Research in English Education, 3(2), 115 125. doi:10.29252/ijree.3.2.115

Akbari, E., Naderi, A., Simons, P. R. J., & Pilot, A. (2016). Student engagement and foreign language learning through online social networks. Asian Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 1, 4. doi:10.1186/s40862 016 0006 7 Alotebi, H. (2016). Enhancing the Motivation of Foreign Language Learners Through Blended Learning. International Journal of Advanced Research in Education & Technology, 3(2), 51 55. Altun, M. (2015). The integration of technology into foreign language teaching. International Journal on New Trends in Education and Their Implications, 6(1), 22 27. Al Zoube, M., El Seoud, S. A., & Wyne, M. F. (2010). Cloud Computing Based E Learning System. International Journal of Distance Education Technologies, 8(2), 58 71. doi:10.4018/jdet.2010040105 Andrich, D., Sheridan, B., & Luo, G. (1997 2012). RUMM2030: Rasch Unidimensional Models for Measurement. Perth, Australia: RUMM Laboratory. Barhate, S. M., & Narale, S. (2015). Cloud Based Teaching and Learning Environment for Smart Education. International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication, 3(2), 38 41. Bhatia, M. (2018). A Complete Guide to Quantitative Research Methods Humans of Data. Retrieved from https://humansofdata.atlan.com/2018/06/quantitative research methods/ Bolitho, R , & West, R. (2017). The internationalisation of Ukrainian universities: the English language dimension. Kyiv: Stal. Boone, W. J. (2016). Rasch Analysis for Instrument Development: Why, When, and How? CBE life sciences education, 15(4). doi:10.1187/cbe.16 04 0148 Byrne, M., Flood, B., & Griffin, J. (2014). Measuring the Academic Self Efficacy of First year Accounting Students. Accounting Education, 23(5), 407 423. Frederick, S. (2005). Cognitive Reflection and Decision Making. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(4), 25 42. doi:10.1257/089533005775196732

Lakshminarayanan, R., Kumar, B., & Raju, M. (2013). Cloud Computing Benefits for Educational Institutions. Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1305/1305.2616.pdf

Khampusaen, D. (2014). Teaching English Language with Cloud Based Tools. International Journal of the Computer, the Internet and Management, 22(1), 87 91. Kissling, E. M. (2012). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, Third Edition (Book Review). Retrieved Kravtsov,b.pdfhttps://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b9fb/e8d83b069c57deec5aa1a8967f085fb7664fromH.,&Gnedkova,O.(2016).

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Li, P., Legault, J., & Litcofsky, K. A. (2014). Neuroplasticity as a function of second language learning: anatomical changes in the human brain. Cortex, 58, 301 24 doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2014.05.001. Matoti, S. N. (2011). Measuring the Academic Self Efficacy of Students at a South African Higher Education Institution. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 21(1), 151 154. Negoescu, A., & Boştină Bratu, S. (2016). Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages with ICT. Scientific Bulletin, 21(1), 21 27. doi:10.1515/bsaft 2016 0032. Patel, C. (2013). Use of multimedia technology in teaching and learning communication skill: An analysis. International Journal of Advancements in Research & Technology, 2(7), 116 123. Qualtrics. (n./d.). Sample Size Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/calculating sample size/ Sachitra, V., & Bandara, U. (2017). Measuring the Academic Self Efficacy of Undergraduates: The Role of Gender and Academic Year Experience. International Journal of Educational and Pedagogical Sciences, 11(11), 2443 2448. Siddiqui, S. T., Alam, S., Khan, Z. A., & Gupta, A. (2019). Cloud Based E Learning: Using Cloud Computing Pl`atform for an Effective E Learning. In: S. Tiwari, M. C. Trivedi, K. K. Mishra, A. K. Misra, & K. K. Kumar (Eds.), Smart Innovations in

55 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Genç İlter, B. (2015). How does technology affect language learning process at an early age? Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 199(2015), 311 316. Gilakjani,doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.552A.P.(2017).Areviewoftheliterature on the integration of technology into the learning and teaching of English language skills. International Journal of English Linguistics, 7(5), 95 106. doi:10.5539/ijel.v7n5p95 Goyal, A. (2017). 8 Benefits of Adopting Cloud Based Applications in Education e Learning Industry. Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/cloud based applications in education 8 benefits Gözüyeşil, E., & Dikici, A. (2014). The Effect of Brain Based Learning on Academic Achievement: A Meta analytical Study Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 14(2), 642 648 doi:10.12738/estp.2014.2.2103 Hancock, G. R., Stapleton, L. M., & Mueller, R O. (Eds.) (2018). The Reviewer’s Guide to Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences. New York: Routledge. İşman, A. (2012). Technology and technique: An educational perspective. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 11(2), 207 213. Jang, H., Kim, E. J., & Reeve, J. (2016). Why students become more engaged or more disengaged during the semester: A self determination theory dual process model. Learning and Instruction, 43, 27 38. doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2016.01.002

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56 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Communication and Computational Sciences. Proceedings of ICSICCS 2018 (pp. 335 346) Singapore: Springer. Wu, W. C., Marek, M., & Yen, L. L. (2012). Promotion of EFL Student Motivation, Confidence, and Satisfaction Via a Learning Spiral, Peer Scaffolding, and CMC. International Journal of Computer Assisted Language Learning and Teaching, 2(3), 54 75. doi:10.4018/ijcallt.2012070104. Appendix A Table A1: Pre experimental mean values form diagnostic tests on educational motivation (by Rasch Academic Motivation Measurement Model (Njiru, 2003) Aspects Groupsmotivationof SP DL PI Sq.Chi Probability SE ResidualА B А B А B CG, 0.67 0.49 0.41 0.62 0.89 0.41 8.76 0.69 0.05 1.21 EG, 0.71 0.52 0.43 0.63 0.88 0.39 1.16 Note: SP Striving for Perfection (standards, goals, objectives, efforts, values and capabilities); DL Desire to Learn (interest, learning from others and being responsible for their own learning); PI Personal Incentives (external, internal and social benefits); А attitude difficulties, B behavioral difficulties. The residual figures being 1.21 for the CG and 1.16 for the EG, which are supposed to vary between suggest that they were acceptable. Even though the figures seemed to fit the Rasch’s model, attitudinal aspects of personal incentives were inclined to be the lowest while behavioural features of desire to learn reached its high of 0.62 in the CG and 0.63 in the EG.

It seemed clear the figures for the level of academic self confidence mwasured with a five point Likert scale were almost similar in both groups (CG 3.24 and EG 3.21).

Table A2: Pre experimental mean values from diagnostic tests to determine the level of academic self-confidence (by Byrne, Flood and Griffin (2014) and Matoti (2011) method in modification of Sachitra and Bandara (2017)) Groups The mean value of pointresponses(astudentfiveLikertscale) SD Cronbach’s alpha p value Average level of confidenceacademic,%YesNo CG, 3.24 .946 0 791 (> 0 7) <0.05 64 36 EG, 3.21 .944 62 38

57 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Table A3: Pre experimental mean figures for the diagnosis of cognitive reflection (by the method of Frederick (2005)) Groups The average indicator for the results of the diagnosis of cognitive reflection Low level High level 0 1 2 3 CG, 1.51 25% 25% 25% 25% EG, 1.53 24% 24% 26% 26% Judging by the mean values for cognitive reflection, the mean values suggested that both groups performed approximately equally (CG 1.51 and EG 1.53). Table A4: Mean figures from decision making diagnostics (by the method of Frederick (2005)) Decision type Low level of cognitive reflection High level of cognitive reflection significanceStatistical CG EG CG EG Impulsive +1.01 +1.02 0.21 0.23 p < 0.001 Delayed +1.05 +1.07 +1.06 +1.08 n.s. Determined by the foreseeable consequences +2.49 +2.47 +1.64 +1.59 p < 0.01 Determined by hesitation 1.16 1.15 +0.11 +0.13 p < 0.01 The mean figures distributed by the decision type, the one entitled “Determined by the foreseeable consequences” appeared dominant. Table A5: Pre-experimental mean values from the diagnosis of the level of thinking creativity on eight scales (5 point rating scale) (by the methodology and questionnaire of Kumar, Kemmler and Holman (1997)) GroupsScales 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cronbach’ s alpha (average) CG, 3.4 3.7 2.9 3.1 2.6 2.1 3.1 2.3 .76 EG, 3.1 3.5 2.6 3.6 2.4 2.3 3.5 2.5 Conventions: Questionnaire scales: 1 Kumar and Holman's global measure of creativity; 2 Belief in Unconscious Processes; 3 Use of techniques; 4 Use of other people; 5 Final Product Orientation; 6 Environmental control/ Behavioral self regulation; 7 Superstition; 8 Use of Senses It looks undoubtful that the figures for creativity parameters are more or less the same and more or less equally distributed on the scale.

58 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Table A6: Post-experimental mean results of diagnostic tests on educational motivation (by Rasch Academic Motivation Measurement Model (Njiru, 2003)) Aspects of motivation Groupsachievementsacademicof SP DL PI Sq.Chi Probability SE Residual А B А B А B CG, 0.65 0.47 0.39 0.60 0.86 0.39 7.76 0.65 0.05 1.19 EG, 0.65 0.46 0.39 0.57 0.83 0.34 1.13 Conventions: SP Striving for Perfection (standards, goals, objectives, efforts, values and capabilities); DL Desire to Learn (interest, learning from others and being responsible for their own learning); PI Personal Incentives (external, internal and social benefits); А attitude difficulties, B behavioral difficulties. Table A7: Post experimental mean results of diagnostic tests to determine the level of academic self-confidence (by Byrne, Flood and Griffin (2014) and Matoti (2011) method in modification of Sachitra and Bandara (2017)) Groups The average value of pointresponses(astudentfiveLikertscale) SD Cronbach’s alpha p value Average level of confidenceacademic,%YesNo CG, 3.28 .945 0,793 (> 0,7) <0.05 68 32 EG, 3.88 .945 72 28 Table A8: Post experimental mean results of the diagnosis of cognitive reflection (by the method of Frederick (2005)) Groups The average indicator for the results of the diagnosis of cognitive reflection Low level High level 0 1 2 3 CG, 1.52 25% 25% 24% 26% EG, 1.58 20% 24% 28% 28%

59 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Table A9: Post experimental mean results of decision making diagnostics (by the method of Frederick (2005)) Decision type Low level of cognitive reflection High level of cognitive reflection significanceStatistical CG EG CG EG Impilsive +1.00 +0.79 0.20 0.20 p < 0.001 Delayed +1.03 +0.98 +1.02 +1.26 n.s. Determined by the foreseeable consequences +2.51 +2.68 +1.65 +1.73 p < 0.01 Determined by hesitation 1.02 0.94 +0.12 +0.18 p < 0.01 Table A10: Pre experimental mean results of the diagnosis of the level of thinking creativity on eight scales (5 point rating scale), post experimental stage (by the methodology and questionnaire of Kumar, Kemmler and Holman (1997)) GroupsScales 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cronbach’ s alpha (average) CG, 3.5 3.9 3 1 3.2 2.8 2.2 3.3 2.5 .79 EG, 3.8 4.1 2.9 3.9 2.8 2.7 3.9 2.9 Conventions: Questionnaire scales: 1 Kumar and Holman's global measure of creativity; 2 Belief in Unconscious Processes; 3 Use of techniques; 4 Use of other people; 5 Final Product Orientation; 6 Environmental control/ Behavioral self regulation; 7 Superstition; 8 Use of Senses.

60 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 60 78, February 2020 https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.2.5

Teachers and Students Code-Switching: The Inevitable Evil in EFL Classrooms

Riyad F Hussein University of Petra Amman, Jordan Hadeel A Saed Applied Science Private University Amman, Jordan Ahmad S Haider Applied Science Private University Amman, Jordan

Keywords: Code switching; English as a Foreign Language (EFL); Arabic English; Roles and Functions; High school

Abstract. Code switching has been primarily investigated in a variety of sociocultural contexts, especially in foreign and second language settings. The majority of code switching instances, whether in teacher initiated activities or teacher student interaction, seem to suggest that these interactions reflect a sophisticated language use and serve a variety of pedagogical purposes. This study aims to find out the main functions and roles of code switching among EFL high school teachers and students in Jordan. For this purpose, classroom observation and a questionnaire were used as instruments. Two EFL teachers were regularly observed, and notes of their code switching behaviour over four weeks were taken, examined, classified, and finally analysed. A questionnaire was used for 330 students from two secondary schools in Jordan. The students were asked to fill in a Likert type questionnaire. From the classroom observation, the results showed that teachers code switch for several reasons including affective function, giving instructions and directions, and linguistic incompetence. The questionnaire administered to students showed that students code switch for non linguistuc purposes such as maintaining rapport and interpersonal relationships as well as keeping the line of communication without interruption to avoid any sort of conflict or misunderstanding. This study concludes by recommending that teachers should improve students’ English language skills in non linguistic domains such as the affective and interpersonal ones.

1. Introduction Code switching occurs not only at the interlingual level when bilingual speakers alternate between two or more languages. It may also occur at the intralingual level when monolingual speakers in a diglossic situation use the low (L) variety and the high (H) variety (Ferguson, 1959). The low variety is the language of home, the family, the streets and market places, friendship, and solidarity while the high variety is usually taught in school and used for public speaking, formal lectures and television broadcasts, and writing. In using the high variety, educated people sometimes code switch to the colloquial or low variety (Ferguson, 1959). People can also code switch between formal and informal styles depending on several variables such as education, social class, age, gender, setting, and participants. As Aronoff and Rees Miller (2001) indicate: “Many linguists have stressed the point that switching between languages is a communicative option available to a bilingual member of a speech community, just as switching between styles or dialects is an option for the monolingual speaker” (p.523).

Bilingual speakers code switch mostly from their native language (L1) to the target language (L2) in multiple social contexts such as restaurants, coffee shops, the office, on the bus, at the market place, and with strangers and opposite sex. In the classroom setting, however, code switching occurs mostly in a different direction that is from L2 to L1, where students code switch for many reasons; namely, social, pragmatic, communicative, personal, and affective (Gulzar, 2010; Peregoy, Boyle, & Martinez, 2011; Söderberg Arnfast & Jørgensen, 2003) 1.1. Background of the Study Code switching is a highly purposeful activity that is no longer viewed as a random phenomenon (Chen, 2004; Enama, 2015; Levine, 2003; Paradowski, 2008). It has become an area of particular interest that receives great attention among linguists, psychologists, and researchers. Code switching, therefore, has been primarily investigated in multiple socio cultural contexts, especially in the ESL/EFL contexts. The majority of code switching instances in settings such as in teacher initiated activities or teacher student interaction reflects a sophisticated language use and serves a variety of pedagogical functions (Enama, 2015) Since the 1980s, there has been a serious conflict between two schools of thought concerning the use of the native language; one advocating the sole use of L2 in an EFL environment, and a more flexible one supporting the use of both L1 and L2 in the classroom. Those who advocate the former position, namely the intralingual teaching strategy, believe that in teaching English, teachers should ban the use of the mother tongue. This is because it interferes with acquiring L2 properly and inevitably hinders or impedes the development of positive second language skills (see Chaudron, 1988; Ellis, 1984; Lightbown, 2001; Wong Fillmore, 1985) Macaro (2005) who can be taken as an advocate of the elimination of code switching use among FL learners is not in favour of the use of code switching on the following grounds. First, code switching should be

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banned because the second/foreign language teaching usually aims at maximizing both the teacher’s input and the learner’s output which is viewed as crucial for target language acquisition. Second, avoiding code switching entails the elimination of negative transfer and guarantees the maxims of comprehensible input in addition to meaning negotiation. Third, the avoidance of code switching entails a rejection of the out dated methods such as the grammar translation method. In this approach, the mother tongue is prioritized and the target language is marginalized which result in the learners’ lack of proficiency and inability to communicate in their target language. Fourth, code switching is not politically endorsed as it may allow native speakers of English to dominate the English language teaching scene at the expense of non native English teachers. However, this claim is, of course, unfounded due to a myriad of economic and social reasons. For example, English native speakers are more highly paid than non native speakers, and their native accent reflects positively on foreign language learners. Finally, overlooking code switching is viewed as an index of ‘good teaching’ because it enforces the use of L2 without reference to OtL1.her less rigid scholars (see Chen, 2004; Levine, 2003) are in support of code switching and thus argue in favour of the use of the mother tongue. In line with this, Enama (2015) favours the use of L1 because it functions as a catalyst in the second language learning. Paradowski (2008) also views the use of L1 positively arguing that it activates the previous knowledge of the foreign language. Moreover, Peregoy et al. (2011) propose that the mother tongue speeds the teaching learning process since it boosts emotive variables such as self Advocatesesteem.of code switching argue that this may be a catalyst in learning the foreign/second language skills and language components such as structure and lexicon. Skiba (1980) suggests that when learners code switch due to a lack of adequate proficiency, it can certainly help in sustaining effortless speech and effective communication among speakers. In this manner, code switching is perceived as enhancing communication and student interactivity. Therefore, the use of code switching serves as a link between what learners know and do not know and can be consequently viewed as a practical aspect in language teaching, primarily when it is appropriately implemented.

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In the sociocultural context of bilingualism and out of the bounds of EFL, code switching has been viewed as a sign of laziness or sloppiness. It has been given different pejorative epithets such as Chicano Spanish, Tex Mex, Spanglish, Urdlish and others (Hussein, 1999; Iqbal, 2011). Some scholars attribute it to language deficiency. Others view it as a sign of carelessness and the behaviour that some bilingual speakers manifest is characterized as belonging to neither the first nor the second language. Different studies have investigated the phenomenon of code switching thoroughly. However, they paid little attention to its functions and roles among students and mainly focused on the reasons that motivated teachers to switch. Therefore, one of the research gaps that this study fills is addressing code switching functions by both teachers and learners. Moreover, the number of

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The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

1.2. Statement of Problem

1. What are the main functions of code switching among EFL high school teachers in Jordan?

2. What are the main functions of code switching among EFL high school students in Jordan?

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2. Functions and reasons of Code-switching in the EFL Classroom

studies on code switching in the Jordanian context is limited. Thus, it was imperative to conduct this research on Jordanian teachers and students. This piece of research may also help other researchers better understand the roles of English Arabic code switching.

The phenomenon of code switching in the EFL contexts is not restricted to learners as teachers often manifest code switching behavioural patterns for a variety of Accordingreasons.toFerguson (2009), code switching can fulfil several functions, namely, clarifying unfamiliar concepts, summarizing a certain idea, greeting and interacting with students. Except for “repetition”, all the code switching functions postulated by Ferguson were confirmed by Adriosh and Razı (2019) Although Gulzar (2010) is partly in agreement with Ferguson (2009); she listed more functions associated with code switching, which are clarification, affective instruction, translation, socialization, repetition, and topic shift. Therefore, in reporting on the functions of code switching, she supplemented those put forward by Ferguson.

A survey conducted by Tariq, Bilal, Abbas, and Mahmood (2013) established some uses of code mixing and code switching that include four areas. First, starting a new topic; second, clarification, translation, assessing understanding; third, repetition, grammar explanation, class management, and emphasis; and fourth lack of vocabulary. Jingxia (2010), who investigated code switching in Chinese classrooms maintained that it was mostly used to (1) translate unfamiliar words, (2) explain grammar, (3) manage a class, (4) display sympathy and friendship to students, (5) shift topics, (6) get students’ concentration, and (7) assess their understanding.

2.1. Teachers

Under this heading, roles and functions of code-switching by both teachers and students will be reviewed and explained.

The study of code switching in EFL settings is frequent among teachers and less frequent among students. In line with this, this research investigates the roles and functions of code switching among both groups to identify similarities and differences as well as drawing relevant implications and conclusions.

The current study addresses the following two questions:

Guthrie (1984) conducted a comparative study on bilingual and monolingual English teachers in the U.S.A. He identified five common functions of code switching as (a) translation, (b) identity marking, (c) giving procedures and direction, (d) explanation, especially with the presentation of new lexical items, and finally (e) as a check for understanding.

Roxas (2019) conducted a descriptive quantitative study to explore the factors and functions of senior high school students’ code switching behaviours in an academic setting. The results showed that code switching could be used to facilitate mastery of subject content. The researcher recommended that teachers should know when to use the first and second language effectively to enhance academic achievement. Maluleke (2019) investigated the empowering aspect of code switching as a means to aid students to enhance their achievement in mathematics. This study was conducted in South African schools on learners whose proficiency in English is limited. The results showed that code switching could be beneficial in learning and teaching mathematics.

Üstünel and Seedhouse (2005) suggested three types of FL teachers’ code switching at the university level. The first is performed to provide learners with tools and ways for language learning. The second is performed for classroom procedures and processes such as motivating, praising, and disciplining learners. Finally, it is carried out for affective purposes, such as maintaining rapport and interpersonal relationships.

Researchers have investigated the roles and uses of code switching not only by teachers but also by learners in the EFL contexts. Eldridge (1996) carried out a study on code switching in a Turkish secondary school. According to him, both teachers and their students do not seem to be aware of the reasons why they code switch and the functions associated with it.

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2.2. Students

Al Adnani and Elyas (2016) examined the code switching functions of teachers and how students felt towards this switching in the foreign language environment. The sample comprised 20 teachers who were observed using an observation technique and a checklist, and 200 students who were required to fill out a questionnaire. In their analysis of teachers’ code switching functions, they found out that teachers code switched 135 times for evaluating understanding, 126 for translation, 66 times for managing class, and 66 times for grammar explanation. They also code switched 41 times for shifting topics, 40 times for indicating sympathy and friendship to students, 13 times for getting students’ attention, and finally putting stress on important notions received the lowest number of occurrences. Iqbal (2011) examined the linguistic aspects of Urdu English code switching at various levels. The sample comprised both male and female university lecturers at Lahore Universities. The finding showed that intra sentential code switching (37.15%) was the most frequent, followed by code switching at the word level and then clause level and finally at the phrase level.

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Despite their unconscious knowledge, code switching serves some functions in the foreign language classroom including equivalence, floor holding, reiteration, conflict control, and meta language. Learners code switch to L1 when the equivalent of L2 item is unknown. This process can be attributed to incomplete knowledge of the target language lexicon. Second, floor holding which is the intention to continue interacting with no interruption; this process occurs when the learner uses his native language in an attempt to keep communicating without any hesitation so that communication is maintained and sustained without collapse. Third, reiteration, which is simply repetition for emphasizing. Eldridge (1996) confirmed that “messages are reinforced, emphasized, or clarified where the message has already been transmitted in one code, but not understood” (p. 306). In this context, the learner repeats the message in L1 to make sure that its meaning is conveyed in L2 smoothly and Codeclearly.switching here may be due to two factors, incorrect translation of the meaning in the target language and students’ supposition that the teacher may not have grasped the intended purpose. The third factor namely, conflict control is used for avoiding any sort of conflict. It occurs when culturally equivalent vocabulary items in the first and second languages are lacking, and this, in turn, may lead to misunderstanding of the intended message. The last two functions of code switching are group membership where students use code switchig to socialize and establish group membership, and meta language where the language is used to describe a task. In code switching analysis, Eldridge (1996) admits that those functions may trigger some problems; most importantly, “that many switches may be either multi functional or open to different functional interpretations” (p.305).

Fareed, Humayun, and Akhtar (2016) used a questionnaire to collect data on perceptions of English language teachers’ code switching in the classroom. Data analysis showed that the majority of the participants do not agree that they get confused due to teacher switching to the target language during the lecture. Besides, some stated that code switching helps them understand unfamiliar words and concepts. Kumar and Narendra (2012) reported that most of the code switching instances were evident in the teaching of grammar. This ties in well with what Cook (2001) stated: “Explicit grammar teaching could be conveyed more thoroughly in the students’ L1; even students with a high L2 proficiency level absorbed information about grammar better if it was in their L1” (p.414).

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Yao (2011) investigated the attitudes of teachers and students towards code switching in Chinese EFL classes. For this purpose, both groups were requested to fill out a 20 item questionnaire. Frequencies and percentages were calculated to find out teachers’ and students’ attitudes. The results showed that both teachers and students have similar reactions to code switching despite some slight differences between the two groups regarding some items. Song and Lee (2019) studied the effects of teachers’ use of L1 and L2 in comparison to only L2 instruction on the vocabulary acquisition of the EFL pre schoolers. The

After reviewing and examining other researchers' schemes and questionnaires in the field of code switching patterns and functions among EFL students (Al Adnani & Elyas, 2016; Aqad, 2018; Azlan, Ismail, & Narasuman, 2013), the researchers developed the questionnaire of the current study. Subsequently, the questionnaire was given to a jury of five TEFL and language instructors to obtain their notes and comments on the questionnaire items. Their feedback and responses were considered in developing the final version before administering it.

3.1. Research Instruments

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. findings showed that pre schoolers preferred the use of L1 in learning English, and reacted negatively towards the use of English only.

Concerning the observation technique, two EFL teachers were regularly observed in the classroom.

The researchers developed a questionnaire in Arabic to be filled out by students to elicit their responses on code switching patterns and functions. The questionnaire consisted of two sections; the first section included four questions and aimed to collect data on age, class, gender, and school. The second section consisted of fifteen items and aimed to collect data on students’ perceptions of their code switching functions, and code switching as related to classroom procedures and processes. In this section, students were asked to fill out a Likert type questionnaire and put an x to each item with one of the five typical categories, ranging from ‘strongly agree’, ‘to ‘strongly disagree’ (see Appendix 1). The data from the questionnaire were calculated to obtain frequencies and percentages. In the classroom observation, observers were asked to take notes of teachers’ code switching over four weeks. The total number of classes observed was 12 which ran for 40 minutes each. Thus, towards the end of the observation session, about 8 hours of English instruction was available to the researchers which yielded a sufficient amount of data. Teacher’s code switching instances were later categorised and analysed by the researchers according to their functions.

This research is descriptive and made use of students’ and teachers’ samples.

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To establish the questionnaire reliability, the researchers administered a test retest on 30 students who did not take part in this research. When Cronbach

3. Methodology

Students were asked to fill in a questionnaire, while a classroom observation technique was used to identify teachers’ code switching behaviours. The student sample consisted of 330 high school students enrolled in the ninth and tenth grade in two secondary schools in Amman, Jordan. 176 male students (55% of the sample) and 144 females (45% of the sample) took part in this study.

3.1.1. Questionnaire validity

3.1.2. Questionnaire reliability

The results reported here are in line with Al Adnani and Elyas (2016), who indicated that teachers code switched for translating words and concepts, class management, topic shift, and showing sympathy and friendship for students. However, the difference was that code switching for capturing students’ attention and putting stress on essential points were not reported in this study. Tariq et al. (2013) findings have three functions similar to the results reported here, namely code switching for translation, repetition, and topic shift. The functions of assessing understanding and grammatical explanations were again missing in this study. Ferguson (2009) enumerated three code switching functions by teachers, namely clarifying unfamiliar concepts, summarizing an idea and exchanging greetings, and all of them have not been confirmed in this study. Jingxia's (2010) findings tie in well with the results reported here. She stated that teachers code switch for translation, class management, and topic

67 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Alpha was computed, the result shown was 0.83. This is a reasonably high coefficient and therefore is suitable for this study.

The results are presented under the following subheadings, functions of teachers’ code switching, functions of students’ code switching, and code switching functions concerning classroom procedures and processes.

Table 1: Functions of teachers’ code switching in EFL classes Nu. Function Frequency Percentage 1 Affective 61 25.4 2 Giving instructions 58 24.2 3 Linguistic insecurity 37 14.2 4 Repetition 29 12 5 Translation 26 10.8 6 Topic shift 19 7.9 7 Class management 10 5.4 Total 240 100

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Functions of teachers’ code-switching As stated above, two EFL teachers were regularly observed by two researchers. They were assigned to check the teachers' performance by using classroom observation and take notes related to code switching during student teacher interaction. After the end of the fourth week, instances of code switching were taken, classified, and finally analysed. Seven functions of code switching were identified, namely affective function, giving instructions and directions, linguistic incompetence, repetition, translation, topic shift, and class management. It was found that teachers code switched 61 times for affective purposes, 58 for giving instructions and directions, 37 for language deficiency, 29 times for repeating teaching content, 26 for translation, 19 times for topic shift, and 10 times for class management as shown in Table 1.

T: La? La? Ma tuktubu on the book No no don’t write on the book T:?uktub il su?al first Write the question first T:?a’Tini iyyaha fil past tense put it into the past tense T: mumkin tibda? bil main clause Possibly, you can begin with the main clause T:?a’Tini example thani Give me another example T: ?isma’u lal recordings Listen carefully to the recording

T: ?itfadal, why do we use it? (Polite request), why do we use it?

T: Any questions so far? ?allah ya’tiku el’afieh shabab Any questions so far? God bless you young people Giving procedures and direction. The teacher here guides students by asking them to do or not to do something in the classroom using imperatives or other words to this effect.

Following is a sample of teachers’ code switching categories along with their functions. Affective Function. This function is defined as the establishment of an intimate relationship between teachers and students, where the teacher establishes solidarity and rapport with them. In this function, the teacher is performing a dual function, encouraging students and guiding them by inserting Arabic words and phrases.

T: Continue ya banat Go on (vocative) girls T: Number six ya Hasan Number six (vocative) Hasan T: This is a good question shukran This is a good question Thanks T: Begin now yalla yalla ya Tala Begin now (requesting and encouraging) Tala to start

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shift. The same is confirmed here with a reverse ordering of class management and topic shift. Besides, the functions of getting students’ attention and assessing their understanding were not found in the present study. It should be mentioned that, contrary to this research, Jingxia’s research was not conducted in high school but three Chinese universities and this may explain the difference as to the types and categories of teachers’ code switching functions. Three of the functions in this research, namely, translation, repetition, and topic shift, were reported by Gulzar (2010). This, in addition to socialization which can be viewed as equivalent or similar to the affective function in this research where the teacher sympathizes with students and establishes solidarity and rapport with them. The results of this study are in partial agreement with the results reported by Guthrie (1984). Both studies affirmed that code switching is used for translation and giving procedures and directions. In the study by Üstünel and Seedhouse (2005), teacher’s code switching is linked to affective functions, instructions and procedures, and class management, all of which have been confirmed by the results of this study.

T: law samahit tiQra?li hai il second paragraph Please read (me) this 2nd paragraph T: The verb tense is simple past, SafQfulu The verb tense is simple past, (big applause for him)

T: Are you sure she failed the exam, no way ?inha rasabat Are you sure she failed the exam, no way she failed T: Hey ?esma’u ?esma’u , the exam is next week mish bukra Hey listen listen, the exam is next week not tomorrow

T: Have played and have gone ya’ni li’bu wa thahabu Have played and have gone mean they have played and have gone

Translation. In translation, the teacher translates a word, a sentence, an utterance or even a task into Arabic T : bsur’a quickly give me another word quickly quickly give me another word

T: Use bigger in a sentence ya S:MohammadThisbuilding is bigger T: good ?ahsant ya Mohammad T: Use bigger in a sentence (vocative) S:MohammadThisbuilding is bigger T: good (vocative) Mohammad Repetition. In this function, the teacher repeats a word, a sentence or instructions in Arabic for emphasis or drawing students’ attention.

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T: hassa oktob el sentence now Now write the sentence now T: ?istanu ?istanu any question wait wait, any questions

T: Go back to the dialog ?irja’i lal hiwar assabiq Go back to the dialog (go back to the previous dialogue)

T: khalena nhel el exercises ba’ed hek Let’s do the exercises next T: biddi tuktubu hassa paragraph ’an ilmadrasah I want you to write a paragraph about school Class management. It implies an organized and orderly presentation of class tasks and activities without disruption, which is conducive to effective teaching and learning.

T: The structure ?ili huwa tarkiib al lugha which is the language structure The structure (this is the language structure) which is the language structure

T: ?ilyom bidna nihki ‘an ?il comparative adjectives Today we will discuss comparative adjectives

S: ma ma’na kalimat latte? T: it is ?ishi zay el laban S: what is the meaning of latte? T: it is something like yoghurt S: if I have some money, I can buy a T:mobile la? la? use simple future not a modal S: if I have some money, I can buy a T:mobile no no, use simple future not a modal

Linguistic insecurity. Here, the teacher either gives an incorrect answer or hesitates to answer a question or comment on students’ questions or answers, perhaps due to a lack of language proficiency.

Topic shift. Here, the teacher presents a new lesson or moves from one subject to another, reading to writing, for example, or from one goal to another using the mother tongue.

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S: what is Halloween? T: dawir ‘aleiha fid dictionary S: what is Halloween? T: Look it up in the dictionary S: what is the meaning of gummy T:worms? hatha naw’ min aldidan S: what is the meaning of gummy T:worms? it is a kind of worms

In Table 2, Item 8 indicates that 77.6% either ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ with the statement that students code switch ‘to maintain rapport and interpersonal relationships.’ Only 15.4% ‘disagreed’ or ‘strongly disagreed’, while 6.9% were uncertain. Results obtained from observing teachers showed that they also use code switching for establishing rapport and good relations, as shown in the section on teachers’ code switching functions. Muhammad Malek (2015) also confirmed that many teachers’ code switching examples were directly connected to their feelings of comfort or satisfaction. Therefore, through code switching, teachers can give vent to their emotions and warm feelings and thus build a friendly class atmosphere conducive to learning and positive interaction. In a bilingual context, teachers’ code switching can also be utilized for expressing solidarity with learners as reported by Martin Jones (1995). Likewise, Gulzar (2010) emphasized the favourable role that the socialization function of code switching plays in the EFL classroom.

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Table 2: Students’ code switching functions in the classroom Item StronglyAgree Agree Uncertain Disagree DisagreeStrongly 1 Code switching enables me to say what I want to say more easily 21.8 26 33.9 14.2 3.9 2 I switch to repeat what may not have been understood by the teacher or students 29 25.8 23.6 14.8 6.7 3 I code switch to avoid any sort of conflict or misunderstanding 36.4 32.7 9.4 7.9 13.6 4 I switch to keep the line of withoutcommunicationinterruption 44.2 28.2 14.2 7.8 5.8 5 Code switching makes it easier for learners to acquire knowledge and master language 13 38.2 30.9 12.7 5.2 6 Code switching helps me to understand new vocabulary grammaticalandrules 28.8 16.7 30 8.5 16 7 I code switch because of my low proficiency in English 26 34.8 24.8 4.5 9.7

In this section, students’ responses to items 1 through 8 of the questionnaire intended to elicit students’ code switching functions, and items 9 through 15 sought to relate code switching to classroom procedures and processes.

T: Ya Murad la tihki ma’ah (vocative) Murad don’t talk to him T: mamnu’ ?alkhuruj mini el class You are not allowed to leave the class T: mafish mobail fil ilsaff Don’t use the mobile in the class 4.2. Perception of students’ code-switching functions

Item 3, which reads, ‘I code switch to avoid any sort of conflict or misunderstanding’, reveals that 69.1% either ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ and a meagre 21.5% ‘disagreed’ or strongly ‘disagreed’. In contrast, only 9.4% were ‘uncertain’. It is clear from this statement that code switching serves a proper function as it helps students to make their point and not to be misunderstood by either their teacher or fellow students.

In response to item 2, ‘I switch to repeat what may not have been understood by the teacher or students’, 54.8% either ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ while 21.5% were in 'disagreement' or 'strong disagreement'. Again, code switching here seems to serve the function of making students’ answers and intentions known to other students and their teacher.

Item 4 aimed to collect data concerning the statement that, ‘students code switch to keep the line of communication without interruption’. 72.4% either ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’, whereas 13.6% ‘disagreed’ or ‘strongly disagreed’. It is clear, therefore, that the majority are in agreement with this statement due to its value in keeping the conversation flow smooth and uninterrupted. Sustainable communication and proper turn taking, sometimes referred to as floor holding, are crucial to student’s self concept. It may consequently reflect positively not only on his self image but also on academic achievement. This finding is in line with Shanehsazzadeh and Heidari Darani (2017) who reported that floor holding is one of the main functions of code switching among Iranian EFL learners.

71 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. 8 I switch to maintain rapport relationshipsinterpersonaland 46.7 30.9 6.9 3.6 11.8

In responding to item 5, which reads ‘code switching makes it easier for learners to acquire knowledge and master language’, 13% of the sample ‘agreed’ and 38.2% ‘strongly agreed’. Only 17.9% ‘disagreed’ or ‘strongly disagreed’. Indeed, this function or strategy can be of utmost help in language learning and mastery; it is, of course, a practical one as it eliminates the need for groping for words, idioms clichés or language structures. This goes in line with Roxas (2019) who found that code switching could be used to facilitate mastery of subject content. In response to item 1, which reads, ‘code switching enables me to say what I want to say more easily’, 47.8% are either in ‘agreement’ or ‘strong agreement’ and 18.1% ‘disagreed’ or ‘strongly disagreed’. In line with this, code switching to Arabic, though not directly of importance in developing learners’ speaking

Responses to item 7, which reads ‘I switch because of my low proficiency in English’, tilted towards an agreement as 60.8% either ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ in contrast to 14.2% who ‘disagreed’. This reflects the lack of learners’ proficiency in English, but not many students seem to admit it. In classroom observation, there were many instances where teachers had manifested language insecurity and lack of total command when they gave incorrect answers or hesitated to answer some questions.

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. skills in the target language, nevertheless, it has some value as it enables learners to overcome the psychological barrier when speaking the target language. This may sound controversial, but the fact of the matter is that when a learner is asking about something in his native tongue, this can certainly help him or her to translate it and say it in the target language.

The data in this section relates to code switching and its relationship to classroom procedures and processes, as shown in Table 3. When responding to item 12, which reads, ‘Code switching builds a bridge from the known to the unknown,’ 73.3% of the sample either ‘agreed,’ or ‘strongly agreed,’ while only 13.8% were in disagreement. So students seem to subscribe to the notion that code switching plays a pivotal role in acquiring foreign language where students can ask about issues related to pronunciation, vocabulary, and other language skills, and this ties in well with the results reported by (Song & Lee, 2019). 3: Code switching functions and classroom

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4.3. Code switching functions concerning classroom procedures and processes

Table

In response to item 6, 45.5% expressed either ‘agreement’ or ‘strong agreement’ to the statement that ‘code switching helps me to understand new vocabulary, and grammatical rules’ and only 24.5% disagreed with the statement. A small minority believes that code switching helps them understand new vocabulary items or language structures. Besides, 30% are uncertain about the role of code switching in language learning in general.

procedures and processes Item StronglyAgree Agree Uncertain Disagree DisagreeStrongly 9 It provides tools and ways for &commentsquestionsstructuring 17.9 41.8 21.8 14.5 3.9 10 Because inisswitchingcodetoArabicusedbyeveryonetheclassroom 39.4 13.9 29.7 11.5 5.4 11 It is a central feature of language learning 39.4 28.2 14.5 13 4.8 12 It builds a bridge from the known to the unknown 44.8 28.5 12.7 9 4.8 13 It enhances social and classroominteractionacademicinthe 26.7 38.8 18.2 6.7 9.7 14 Because constant use of English makes the class more formal 14.5 31.5 19.4 21 13.3 15 Because constant use of English makes the class monotonous 36 11.5 30.6 5.4 16.4

Many scholars have conducted several research studies about this phenomenon; however, most of these studies thoroughly investigated code switching functions and roles among teachers to the exclusion of students. Unlike some other studies, this research has made use of two instruments, namely a questionnaire and classroom observation. This study demonstrated one function of teacher’s code switching that has not been reported by other researchers. This function is triggered by the teachers' lack of language proficiency.

One problem with code-switching functional analysis is that switches may have different functions or interpreted differently as argued by Eldridge (1996), and therefore it is not easy to classify a switch within one category or another. Eldridge (1996) maintains that the functions may cause some problems, “the

Finally, concerning item 14 stating that code switching occurs ‘because constant use of English makes the class more formal,’ 46% either agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ and 21% were uncertain. This shows that a relationship exists between formality and English use in the classroom which gives rise to the use of Arabic, a less formal medium of education, at least in students’ minds.

This study contributed to the growing body of literature that examined the functions and roles of code switching in a foreign language learning context.

Item 11 aimed to collect responses to the statement, ‘code switching is a central feature of language learning,’ 67.6% were either in ‘agreement’ or ‘strong agreement’, whereas 17.8% were in ‘disagreement’ or ‘strong disagreement’. It is clear from students’ responses that the majority believe that code switching is not necessarily a haphazard or aimless but rather a planned and purposeful activity. In responding to item 13, 65.5% expressed either ‘agreement’ or ‘strong agreement’ to the statement that ‘code switching enhances social and academic interaction in the classroom’ and 16.4% ‘disagreed’ with the statement. It seems that students give more importance to the role of code switching as a catalyst in social and academic interaction than a means of acquiring words or mastering language structures. In responding to item 9, which reads ‘code switching provides tools and ways for structuring questions and comments’ 59.7% either ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ and 21.8 were ‘uncertain’. It is clear that although its percentage is relatively high, it ranked fourth in the category of classroom procedures and processes, and students did not seem to attach the same importance as to the items preceding it. In response to item 10, which states ‘code switching is used because everyone switches to Arabic in the classroom', 53.3% either ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ and this phenomenon is not necessarily restricted to students as was evident in the data obtained from classroom observation where teachers themselves showed instances of code switching. In response to item 15, which reads ‘code switching occurs because constant use of English makes the class monotonous’, 47.5% showed either ‘agreement’ or ‘strong agreement’ to the statement, and this indicates that a minority are in favour of code switching to diversify, expand, and enrich their language learning experience. In line with this, Maluleke (2019) and Gulzar (2010) maintained that code switching contributes to effective instruction.

5. Summary and Conclusion

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students, it was found that they code switch mainly to maintain rapport and interpersonal relationships, to keep the line of communication without interruption, and to avoid any sort of conflict or misunderstanding. It is evident that code switching serves non linguistic functions and focuses on affective issues such as friendship, rapport and social relationships, and classroom communication. One implication of this is that teachers should enhance students’ English language skills in aspects related to solidarity, rapport, and interpersonal relationships by providing students with ample English terms and expressions that serve this function and directing students to use them regularly. References Adriosh, M., & Razı, Ö. (2019). Teacher’s Code Switching in EFL Undergraduate Classrooms in Libya: Functions and Perceptions. SAGE Open, 9(2), 1 11. doi:10.1177/2158244019846214

Al Adnani, A., & Elyas, T. (2016). The Effect of Teacher’s Code Switching on Students’ Achievement in Speaking in the EFL Context. Paper presented at the European Conference on Language Learning. Retrieved from content/uploads/papers/ecll2016/ECLL2016_22567.pdfhttp://papers.iafor.org/wp Aqad, M. H. A. (2018). Fever of Code switching and Code mixing between Arabic and English in School’s Classrooms. Translation journal, April, 1 15. Retrieved from https://translationjournal.net/April

The findings have shown that teachers and students code switch for various reasons. Similar to the findings obtained by other researchers, teachers in this research have code switched for several reasons and in the following order: affective purposes, giving instructions and direction, linguistic insecurity, repetition, translation, topic shift, and class management. One finding peculiar to this study is that teachers code switched because of inadequate command or mastery of the target language and this has not been reported by other researchers. The relatively high rank ordering of this function is, therefore, worth considering. Teachers’ inadequate command of the target language points to the gravity of the problem. It perhaps requires reconsidering other ways of qualifying and training teachers to attain acceptable standards of language proficiency which enable them to use the target language correctly and Concerningeffectively.

Aronoff, M., & Rees Miller, J. (2001). The handbook of linguistics (Vol. 460). New Jersey: Wiley Blackwell. Azlan, N., Ismail, M. N., & Narasuman, S. (2013). The role of code switching as a communicative tool in an ESL teacher education classroom. Procedia Social Behavioral Sciences, 90, 458 467. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.07.115

main problem in analysing code switching in functional terms is that many switches may be either multi functional or open to different functional interpretations” (p.305). To overcome this problem, the researchers consulted with some experts and English language teachers to check whether the switches were listed under the right category and provide any necessary modifications.

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Skiba, R. (1980). Code switching as a countenance of language interference. The internet TESL journal, 3(10), 1 6. Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Skiba SöderbergCodeSwitching.html,AJ.,&Jørgensen, J. N. (2003). Code switching as a communication, learning, and social negotiation strategy in first year learners of Danish. International journal of applied linguistics, 13(1), 23 53. doi:10.1111/1473 4192.00036 Song, D., & Lee, J. H. (2019). The use of teacher code switching for very young EFL learners. ELT journal, 73(2), 144 153. doi:10.1093/elt/ccy049 Tariq, A., Bilal, H., Abbas, N., & Mahmood, A. (2013). Functions of code switching in bilingual classrooms. Research on Humanities Social Sciences, 3(14), 29 34. Retrieved Üstünel,https://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/RHSS/article/view/7922/7674fromE.,&Seedhouse,P.(2005).Whythat,inthatlanguage,rightnow?Codeswitchingandpedagogicalfocus. International journal of applied linguistics, 15(3), 302 325. doi:10.1111/j.1473 4192.2005.00093.x Wong Fillmore, L. (1985). When does teacher talk work as input. In S. M. Gass & C. G. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 17 50). New York: Newbury House Publishers. Yao, M. (2011). On attitudes to teachers' code switching in EFL classes. World journal of English language, 1(1), 19 28. doi:10.5430/wjel.v1n1p19

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77 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Appendix 1 DearQuestionnairestudent This questionnaire aims to investigate an academic issue related to code switching to Arabic in EFL classes. The researchers assure you that your responses to the questionnaire will be used only for research purposes. We hope that you will cooperate in filling out this questionnaire by providing accurate answers to the questions which follow. Your cooperation is highly appreciated The Researchers Section one o Age o Sex _______ o Class _______ o School name ______ Section Two: Read the following statements 1 thru 18 carefully and then put an (x) in the right place. If you strongly agree to the statement, put an x mark in the first column next to the statement and if you strongly disagree with it, put an x in the fifth column until you are finished. 1. Why do you generally code switch to Arabic in EFL classes? (see Table 1) Table 1: Students’ code switching functions in the classroom Item StronglyAgree Agree Uncertain Disagree DisagreeStrongly 1 Code switching enables me to say what I want to say more easily 21.8 26 33.9 14.2 3.9 2 I switch to repeat what may not have been understood by the teacher or students 29 25.8 23.6 14.8 6.7 3 I code switch to avoid any sort of conflict or misunderstanding 36.4 32.7 9.4 7.9 13.6 4 I switch to keep the line of withoutcommunicationinterruption 44.2 28.2 14.2 7.8 5.8 5 Code switching makes it easier for learners to acquire knowledge and master language 13 38.2 30.9 12.7 5.2

78 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. 6 Code switching helps me to understand new vocabulary grammaticalandrules 28.8 16.7 30 8.5 16 7 I code switch because of my low proficiency in English 26 34.8 24.8 4.5 9.7 8 I switch to maintain rapport relationshipsinterpersonaland 46.7 30.9 6.9 3.6 11.8 2. Why in your opinion does code switching occur in the classroom? (see Table 2) Table 2. Code-switching functions and classroom procedures and processes Item StronglyAgree Agree Uncertain Disagree DisagreeStrongly 9 It provides tools and ways &commentsquestionsstructuringfor 17.9 41.8 21.8 14.5 3.9 10 Because inisswitchingcodetoArabicusedbyeveryonetheclassroom 39.4 13.9 29.7 11.5 5.4 11 It is a learningfeaturecentraloflanguage 39.4 28.2 14.5 13 4.8 12 It builds a bridge from the known to the unknown 44.8 28.5 12.7 9 4.8 13 It enhances social and classroominteractionacademicinthe 26.7 38.8 18.2 6.7 9.7 14 Because constant use of moremakesEnglishtheclassformal 14.5 31.5 19.4 21 13.3 15 Because constant use of monotonousmakesEnglishtheclass 36 11.5 30.6 5.4 16.4 Thank you so much for your cooperation

Introduction Transformations in technology, mainly in Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0), created intense competition, especially in the education system (Schwab & Davis, 2018) Besides, the sophistication of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things requires a teaching approach that meets the needs of current trends (Darling Hammond, 2017; Hinton, 2018).

Abstract. This study aimed to validate the instrument of change readiness to improve teacher competencies. The tool was divided into four main dimensions, namely, change self efficacy, discrepancy, personal valence, and organizational valence using verification factor analysis (CFA). The study utilized a cross sectional design involving 383 primary and secondary school teachers selected through stratified random sampling from eastern coastal states in Malaysia. The instrument for this study used a seven point Likert scale. The hypothesis was tested with a measurement model using IBM SPSS SEM AMOS version 25.0. Four items identified as having low factor loadings were dropped. This finding indicates that the final measurement model is compatible with the data obtained. This model meets the requirements of reliability and constructs validity, convergent validity, and discriminant validity In conclusion, this measurement model could measure the degree of change readiness among school teachers to become a competent teacher. Change is a crucial element in the teaching profession as the education world had to face ongoing changes rapidly.

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Validating a Model of Change Readiness among Malaysian School Teachers: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

The findings of this study have implications for the importance of teacher readiness to change to become a competent teacher who plays a crucial role in student achievement indirectly

Banu Ramanan and Mua'azam Bin Mohamad School of Education and Modern Languages University Utara Malaysia

Keywords: Measurement model; Readiness change; competency; verification factor analysis; school teachers

The founder of change readiness theory (Armenakis et al., 1993) readiness is a precursor to resistance or acceptance behavior. Measuring the level of readiness

Change Readiness

The Gap of the Study

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Teachers play a crucial role in educating, training, and providing individuals with knowledge that enhance students outcome (Darling Hammond, 2017; Schunk & DiBenedetto, 2016) As such, teachers need to adapt to new developments and face the challenges of implementing change. But how? Here change management strategies could help. Initially, the concept of evolution is widely used in the management field. Contemporary research uses the changing concept in order to know change readiness among organization members to adapt to the new changes. Since the change management strategy model could apply to other fields, therefore we sought further to understand individual change readiness through the eyes of education. Using a change readiness tool will help bridge the gap between change management and education. The integration of knowledge from management to education will provide new knowledge in everyday life. Besides that, unfortunately, existing studies generally respond to staff readiness in the private sector (Armenakis, Harris, & Mossholder, 1993; Holt, Armenakis, & Harris, 2007) whereas the public sector gets less attention (Sawitri & Wahyuni, 2018) especially in the education field.

The lack of empirical studies on the readiness of teacher change to became competent teachers has never been investigated in previous studies. Therefore this research will be a foundation for the responsible authorities to design more targeted change programs to enhance teacher change readiness

Increment straightforwardness in open responsibility to transform the system focus needs to be placed on in service teachers' change readiness. According to the Educational Planning and Research Division (MOE, 2018) the total enrollment of in service teachers is 240,101 at primary and 183,465 at secondary school. Its shows almost half a million teachers act as a mediator to embrace & uphold the milestones to achieve the goal. Nevertheless, change alone will take time. Therefore, the readiness of change will ensure to determine how ready the teachers before changes in the education field implemented (Holt et al., 2007).

The readiness of change creates the positive energy that a teacher needs and is an early step in the process of transforming the educational system (Armenakis et al., 1993; Vakola, 2014). In this regard, to support the success of educational change initiatives by Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) in Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013 2025 as stated in eleven shift (i.e., giving evenhanded access to universal quality training, to guarantee that each understudy is capable in both Bahasa Malaysia and English, to deliver Malaysians who acknowledge esteem, showing change as a calling of decision, guarantee elite pioneers are set in each school, to empower the state, district education offices and also schools to give explicit arrangements dependent on their needs, using ict to improve the nature of learning in Malaysia, change of instruction conveyance capacities and abilities, work together with guardians, networks and the private division generally, boost understudy accomplishment for each dollar.

organizationalReadinessChangevalence

Figure 1: Model of Individual Change Readiness (Holt, Armenakis, Feild & Harris, (2007)

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Purpose of the Study

to accept significant changes needs to be done so that school administrators and the education ministry can identify the gaps that exist between their expectations of change initiatives. This measurement helps to identify if there are significant gaps in teachers and could help to take appropriate action so that teachers are prepared and accepting changes. The readiness of change is widely used in management and health areas (Berger & Hudmon, 1997; Haffar, Al Karaghouli, & Ghoneim, 2013; Neves, 2009). However, in the field of education, especially to know the level of readiness of teacher change in education, the transformation has not been made. Therefore, the validation factor analysis (CFA) should be performed to ensure that this measurement model matches the available data. Besides, this analysis will help to gauge the level of readiness of teachers to become competent in the process of elevating Malaysian educational outcomes to international standards.

personalvalence changeefficacyself Discrepancy

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This study aims to determine the validity and reliability of the proposed level of change readiness model to enhance teacher competence. The change readiness model comprises four subconstructs, namely, change self efficacy, discrepancy, personal valence, and organizational valence as the underlying primary dimension of change readiness construct. To address the research objective, the study used a four factor model of change readiness synthesized from (Holt, Armenakis, Feild, & Harris, 2007). Based on the above objective, the research question is as follows: RQ1. Is the measurement model for the change readiness level of Malaysian school teachers valid and reliable? Thus, based on the conceptual framework (Figure1), research objective and research question the following hypotheses were formulated: H1. All the four models for the level of change readiness model of Malaysian school teachers are valid and reliable.

Figure 2: Preparedness measurement model for Level of Change Readiness Among Malaysian School Teachers.

Methodology

The design used in the study is a cross sectional survey method to gather information from the teachers. The cross sectional method is the best way for this study because it helps to gather responses from a broad educational field. The instruments were able to distribute widely in a short period (Holt et al., 2007) Teachers from primary and secondary schools, particularly national schools from eastern coastal states involved in this study. National primary schools and national secondary schools are grouped by city and rural category by state. A total of 383 respondents were selected through a random sampling technique based on the states of Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang. According to (Creswell, 2013; Hair, Black, Babin, & Anderson, 2014), this sampling technique is an appropriate technique to enhance the representativeness of the sample in the study population. Since the study carried out among national government schools, a permission letter was sought from the Ministry of Education and State level Education Departments. The survey questionnaire was

The hypothesized measurement model contains change readiness (KP) as a second level construct, which measured by four first level constructs, namely, change self efficacy, discrepancy, personal valence, and organizational valence, as shown in Figure 2.0. These four factors are defined in Holt et al., (2007) change model and each construct are measured with specific items as suggested by him.

82 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Measurement Model

Dimensions Numbers of Questions Numbers of Items Change self efficacy 1 6 6 Discrepancy 7 9 3

Personal valence (6) 10 15 6 Organizational valence 16 25 10

The questionnaire has initially been published in English, but the back translation method was developed, as suggested by (Brislin, 1973) At least two independent translators did the first translation from the original language to the Malay language. And then, the primary translation independently back translated from the Malay language to English to check the accuracy of the translation. It is because the researcher using a questionnaire which was developed and tested across different language and culture so this will help to make sure that the questionnaires in different languages are assessing the equivalent construct with an equivalent metric. It is the best method to ensure that a translated measure is equivalent to the original questionnaire (Beaton, Bombardier, Guillemin & Ferraz, 2000) Furthermore, a total of five experts from the field use to validate the questionnaire. It is to ensure the translated questionnaire is measured whether the items are adequately measuring the construct intended to assess and also whether the items are sufficient to measure the domain of interest Responses were measured on a seven point scale with 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = somewhat disagree, 4 = neutral, 5 = somewhat agree, 6 = agree, 7 = strongly agree. The questionnaire used consisted of two sections. Part A collects demographic data, and Part B gathers information on the level of individual change readiness. Table 1 shows more information in detail about dimensions that used to measure the level of change readiness among school teachers which is separated according to four main constructs namely Change self efficacy (6) items, Discrepancy (3) items, Personal valence (6) items, and Organizational valence (10) items.

The question of willingness to change was based on Kurt Lewin's theory of change (1951) and the model of readiness to Change (Armenakis et al. 1993). The questionnaire was selected based on its ability to met the criteria for measuring individual readiness, had positive and negative dimension questions to reduce bias, was easy to understand, concise, and had good validity and reliability.

distributed according to the chosen school by systematic random sampling. The researcher personally visited the respondents during working hours with permission and was asked to complete the questionnaire. The questionnaire was translated in the Malay language as Bahasa Malaysia is the standard national language which is used by all the teachers in government. The respondents were informed about the confidentiality and purpose of the study. A period of two weeks of the time was given for the respondents to complete the questionnaires. The researcher personally dispersed a total of 583 questionnaires, but only 522 of a questionnaire that was returned and 383 are usable questionnaires.

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This study used seven Likert scale instruments adapted from (Holt et al., 2007).

Table 1: Dimensions, numbers of questions and numbers of the items of Individual Change Readiness

Moreover, the widespread use of this questionnaire (Andersen Lisbeth, 2008; Duxbury & Higgins, 2009; Ilyas, 2018) further enhances the validity and reliability of this instrument. Before the real study, the pilot test was carried out among selected primary and secondary schools at Kota Baharu District. A total of 120 teachers represent the test. The results of the pilot test revealed that the value of Cronbach Alpha which is referred to as a measure of “internal consistency” reliability (Bonett & Wright, 2015) shows overall alpha value is more than 0.7 which is good considering that 0.70 is the cut off value for being acceptable (Nunnaly, 1978).

Indices

3

10 0.785 IndividualChange Readiness 25 0.913 Data

Change Readiness Dimensions Numbers of

Table

reliabilityConstruct

validityConvergent

6

6 0.724 Organizational

Fit Indices :

Figure:

Table 2 shows in detail the results of the pilot test according to the construct. 2: Dimensions, numbers of questions and numbers of the items of Individual Items Cronbach Alpha Change self efficacy 0.766 Discrepancy 0.714 valence (6) valence analysis

Relative

Personal

.08

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The study used SPSS version 25 for data analysis and AMOS 25.0 for the advanced analysis involving (SEM). Since the multivariate technique is the power to analyze the measurement model thus confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to validate the model in terms of convergent validity and construct reliability (Hair et al., 2014). There were three types of measures involved in confirmatory factor analysis, i.e., Test for Model Fit, Convergent validity, Construct reliability (Bentler & Bonett, 1980; Byrne, 2013; Hair et al., 2014). Chi square <.05 At least 3 Fit RMSEA < Model Fit GFI,NFI,CFI,TLI>.90 CFA Std Loadingsfactor >.50 AVE>.50 CR>.70 3: An overview of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) for this study

85 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Results Table 3 shows the demographic information of the respondents obtained from descriptive analysis using IBM SPSS version 25.0 (N=383) Demographic n % Types of School Primary 199 52.0 Secondary 184 48.0 Area Urban 166 43.3 Rural 217 56.7 State Kelantan 130 33.9 Terengganu 126 32.8 Pahang 127 33.1 Gender Male 187 48.8 Female 196 51.2 Qualification Certificate 14 3.7 Diploma in education 32 8.4 Degree 306 79.9 Masters 31 8.1 Years of Service 1 10 years 61 15.9 11 20 years 140 36.6 21 30 years 171 44.6 >30 years 11 2.9

Table 3 shows the distribution of demographic characteristics of the respondents in this study. The result shows that 199 (52.0%) respondents represented the national primary school, while 184 (48.0%) respondents represented the national secondary school. Response distribution based on school location indicates that rural schools dominate the school location category. A total of 217 (56.7%) respondents were employed in rural schools, while 166 (43.3%). On the other hand, the number of respondents based on the three states did not differ significantly from each other. Instead, it is within the range of 30 to 35%. Respondents from Kelantan were 131 (34.2%), Terengganu was 135 (35.2%), while Pahang was 117 (30.5%). Besides, the distribution in terms of gender, it was found that the number of female respondents exceeded the number of male respondents. The total number of male respondents was 187 (48.8%) compared to the number of female respondents, which was 196 (51.2%). Besides, the findings from Table 3 also indicate that 158 (41.3%) of respondents from the age group of 41 50 years dominated the study. 23 (6.0%) were between the ages of 21 30, 99 (25.8%) were between the ages of 31 and 40, while 50 and above were 103 (26.9%). Meanwhile, the proportion of respondents according to academic qualification found that the number of respondents with a bachelor's degree qualified to dominate the overall demographic factors of the academic

Table 4: Descriptive Statistics Of Change Readiness Among Malaysian School Teachers Construct No of items Mean DeviationStd. Level Change self efficacy 6 5.5226 .65716 (3) High Discrepancy 3 5.5135 .83987 (4) High Personal Valence 6 5.7032 .68684 (1) High Organizational Valence 10 5.5394 .60403 (2) High Notes: Level=Low (1 2.33);Medium (2.34 4.67); High (4.68 7.00) Based on the findings of the descriptive statistics of the study as in table 4, generally, Malaysian school teachers had demonstrated a high level of change readiness. The highest score of individual change readiness was personal valence (M = 5.7032, SD = 0.68684), while the lowest was discrepancy (M = 5.5226, SD 0.65716). However, organizational valence and change self efficacy were considered in a high category that falls within the range of (M = 5.5226 to 5.5394).

86 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. qualification of the respondents. A total of 31 (8.1%) had at least a bachelor's degree, 306 (79.9%); 32 people (8.4%) had pre university qualifications while fourteen (14) (3.7%) had at least a college certificate. The distribution of respondents in terms of teaching experience revealed that 61 respondents (15.9%) had work experience as teachers for less than ten years. While the number of experienced respondents taught more than ten years, each 140 (36.6%) experienced between 11 to 20 years, 171 (44.6%) between 21 30 years, and 11 (2.9%) experienced more than 30 years. Overall, teachers with 21 to 30 years of work experience were significantly higher in terms of several respondents compared to other teacher service periods.

Confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine the compatibility of the measurement model to measure the relationship between constructs. IBM SEM Amos Version 25.0 was used to analyze the data obtained. Figure 4 shows the CFA output of the original measurement model hypothesized. Several compatibility indices are generated to determine the measurement model. The fit of the measurement model is essential and needs to be determined in advance, and if the measurement does not match the data, then the built in structural equation (SEM) model is invalid (Byrne, 2013).

Findings and Discussions

Figure 5: Final measurement model for Level of Change Readiness Among Malaysian School Teacher

Figure 4: Original Second order measurement model for Level of Change Readiness According to Hair et al. (2014) measurement models need to reach one of the model's compatibility categories, Absolute Fit (see (Browne & Cudeck, 1992) Incremental Fit (see Bentler, (1980) and Parsimonious Fit) (see Marsh & Hocevar (1985) ). The measurement model does not achieve good Goodness of fit Indices value. Besides, there are also items with low factor loading, which is less than 0.50, as suggested by (Hair et al., 2014). Items, i.e., KPID 23, KPID 24, KPIC10, KPIC 15, were identified with low factor loading. The diagram below shows the Goodness of fit Indices values after delete items with a low factor loading.

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KPIA1

All four values of Goodness of fit Indices (CFI) (0.926), RMSEA (.074), TLI (.0916), ChiSq / df (3.076). All revised index fit values are CFI, TLI, ChiSq/df has increased after the elimination of the problematic item. The table shows the results of the internal reliability and convergent validity of the constructs and sub constructs in the model. Convergence validity is assessed based on factor loadings, average extracted variance (AVE variance extracted), and composite reliability (composite reliability CR) (Awang, Hui, 2018; Byrne, 2013; Hair et al., 2014) The measurement model of all four change readiness construct was assessed in order to ascertain the reliability and validity before the evaluation for the structured model. Table 5 provides the result of construct reliability. Thus, based on the above measurement model results, the reliability of the four change readiness constructs was determined by using composite reliability assessment. As recommended by Hair et al., (2014) the construct reliability attains when the value of internal consistency reliability is above 0.70. In this regard, the results of composite reliability in Table 5 suggested that the four change readiness constructs had a reliability value higher than the minimum required threshold of 0.70. The values are ranged from 0.87 to 0.91 5: Results of Measurement Model Factor Loading AVE CR self efficacy 0.81 0.63 0.91 KPIA2 0.85 KPIA3 0.85 KPIA4 0.75 KPIA5 0.76 KPIA6 0.74 Discrepancy KPIB7 0.77 0.69 0.87 KPIB8 0.89 KPIB9 0.84 Personal valence KPIC10 Item deleted 0.65 0.88 KPIC11 0.64 KPIC12 0.80 KPIC13 0.91 KPIC14 0.86 KPIC15 Item deleted Organizational valence KPID16 0.70 0.56 0.91 KPID17 0.67 KPID18 0.68 KPID19 0.80 KPID20 0.82 KPID21 0.84 KPID22 0.77 KPID23 Item deleted KPID24 Item deleted KPID25 0.66

Table

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Construct Item

Note: AVE= Average Variance Extracted, CR=Composite Reliability In ascertaining convergent validity, average variance extracted (AVE) value was used. As recommended by Bagozzi and Yi (1988), Hair et al. (2014) that the

Change

Table 6: Discriminant Validity efficacyselfChange- Discrepancy valencePersonal valenceOrganizational Change self efficacy 0.79 Discrepancy 0.28 0.83 Personal valence 0.18 0.25 0.80 valenceOrganizational 0.31 0.18 0.34 0.75

The findings of this study were in congruence with Adil (2016), Anjani and Dhanapal (2012), Mua’azam Mohamad (2016), Vakola (2014), all of whom had discovered there is high level of change readiness among individuals in a organization to support the new change initiatives. Fullan (2007), Karp and Helgo (2008) found that the willingness to change is always ineffective without the support of leaders in the organization. The findings of this study support this statement where administrative support is significant in the readiness of individual change This study is important because change is taking place in the education system globally. Teachers are a vital element in developing a balanced human model

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The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. minimum acceptable AVE value must be 0.50 and above, the AVE results in Table 5 revealed that all the four change readiness constructs had attained the minimum verge. Furthermore, Fornell and Larcker (1981) criterion were employed in determining that discriminant validity. The Fornell and Larcker (1981) criterion proposed that discriminant validity is attained when the AVE of study constructs is statistically significant and also recorded a value higher than its squared correlation with other latent variables. This study accepted the Fornell and Larcker (1981) criterion in ascertaining the discriminant validity of the model.

The above results in Table 6 suggested that the squared root values of four change readiness constructs (bolded) are higher than the correlation among the variables, thus indicating discriminant validity is attained. As a result of the CFA, the sub construct of change readiness, namely change self efficacy, discrepancy, personal valence, and organizational valence, mutually fit without any multicollinearity problem. Therefore, it can be concluded that the validity of the four constructs has been achieved. After modifications to the model were done by eliminate items with low factor loading and meet the desired validity and reliability of the model, it can be determined that there is a consistent model of change readiness among school teachers with the available survey data. Thus, hypotheses H1 were supported. Twenty one items were retained in the model and were able to measure the level of readiness of individual teacher change in the educational context. As this study is the first study conducted on school teachers to determine the change readiness to become a competent teacher, researchers have trouble finding relevant literature that can directly support the findings of this study. However, most of the research which was done in the field of management is backed up by this study.

Implications and Contributions

Conclusion This study’s findings disclose the ongoing opportunity for change researchers to investigate the issue of change readiness among school teachers, which remains an inevitable issue that should take into consideration. The results show an essential element in change management strategy, whereas change readiness plays a vital role in whether teachers ready for change and extend theory and research on the importance of change readiness among teachers in educational settings. Also, there were several works of literature reported that there is high level of relationship between change readiness, i.e., change self efficacy (Cunningham et al., 2002; Kwahk & Lee, 2008; Rafferty & Simons, 2006) organizational commitment (Kwahk & Kim, 2008; Kwahk & Lee, 2008; Madsen, Miller, & John, 2005) perceived personal competence (Kwahk & Kim, 2008) Hence, based on the data and contemporary studies, change readiness had a significant impact on change implementation, and it is critical for educational transformation change’s success. As has been noted, the individual change readiness in an educational setting, especially to develop competence among school teachers, was found one of the most exceptional contributions to the existing Changestheory.ineducation will be more successful if the concern of change recipients (teachers) is considered. Educational transformation cannot be successful unless teachers ready to change. Teacher's readiness to accept the changes that happened in education is a big challenge for the Ministry of education, but this issue frequently neglected in planning and implementing new issues (Backer, David, & Soucy, 1995) By identifying specific change, readiness features can help the Ministry of education to direct and implement more new ideas to

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. through the national education system. The main aim of the Malaysian Education Development Plan (PPPM) (2013 2025) is to make Malaysia outstanding among other developed countries, and that will only be achieved by competent educators (MOE, 2013). Competent teachers in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes can produce a balance of physical, Emotional, Spiritual, and Intellectual Capital (National Philosophy of Education, FPK). Readiness to accept changes in education helps a teacher apply 21st century learning.

Theoretically, this study enables to successfully produce a four factor model of change readiness among Malaysian school teachers. Thus, to confirm the four factor model for this study, qualitative evaluation of the model should be carried out, and it will be the next phase of exploration in this area of study. The findings of this study might help the Ministry of education, district offices, and schools to know about the importance of change readiness among school teachers. According to MacCallum, Wegener, Uchino and Fabriga (1993) there may be other alternative models that use different sub constructs with similarities to the same data. Thus, future studies are encouraged to test the existence of other alternative models and to compare them with the original model to help make improvements to the original model.

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References Adil, M. S. (2016). Impact of change readiness on commitment to technological change, focal, and discretionary behaviors: Evidence from the manufacturing sector of Karachi. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 29(2), 222 241.

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Pendekatan mudah SEM:Structural equation modeling (1st ed.). Bandar Baru Bangi, Malaysia: MPWS Rich Publication. Backer, T. E., David, S. L., & Soucy, G. (1995). Assessing and enhancing readiness for change: Implications for technology transfer. NIDA research monograph, 155, 21 41. 003 Bagozzi, R. P., & Yi, Y. (1988). On the evaluation of structural equation models. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 16(1), 74 94.

Limitations and Further Research

Anjani, P., & Dhanapal, D. (2012). Impact of employee commitment on readiness for change in banking sector in Salem district. Global Management Review, 6(3), 24 34. Armenakis, A. A., Harris, S. G., & Mossholder, K. W. (1993). Creating readiness for organizational change. Human Relations, 46(6), 681 703. Awang,https://doi.org/10.1177/001872679304600601Z.,LimSH,&Zainudin,N.F.S.(2018).

11 2014 0198 Andersen, L. (2008). Readiness for change: Can readiness be primed?(Unpublished master's thesis) San Jose State University, California, United States Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.31979/etd.pnn8https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/3517n98c

https://doi:10.1037/e495742006

https://doi.org/10.1108/JOCM

Future research may test the hypothesis that other focused teachers change readiness and the relationship between school climate and students' achievements. We also admit the limits of our study design. Forthcoming studies may use longitudinal, diary studies rather than cross sectional to prevent the existence of common method variance.

https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02723327

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Abstract. Technology affects our daily lives, although many people do not have any specific knowledge or interest in it. In the learning module fundamentals of technology and biology in different examples of bionics were combined. 324 students took part in a student centered intervention in a zoo with an affiliated exhibition about bionics. Students were monitored in the interest of technology and its social aspects two weeks before (T0), directly after (T1) and six weeks (T2) after our research centered learning program with the revised technology questionnaire (Marth & Bogner, 2018). A sub sample of 191 students have filled questionnaire at two more testing points at twelve weeks (T3) and one year (T4) after participation. Interest reached its peak immediately after the program and dropped again after six weeks and unfortunately fell back to the level before the intervention. The social aspects sub scale also showed a peak directly after participation as well as a drop six weeks later. In contrast with the interest sub scale, the social sub scale remained constant at the level after six weeks and even after one year was still higher than before the intervention. The previous interest was shown to be dependent on the scores for knowledge acquisition prior to participation.

Technology Interest of Secondary School Students at Five Testing Points over one Complete School Year after Participating at a Student Centered Learning Program about Bionics

Marth-Busch Michaela and Bogner Franz X. ZMNU (Centre of Math & Science Education), Department of Biology Education, University of Bayreuth

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Keywords: STEM; technology; interest; bionics; long term study 1. Introduction Technology is omnipresent in daily life (Ardies, De Maeyer, Gijbels, & van Keulen, 2015). Therefore it is important to know what technology exactly means. A common definition of technology is: "any modification of the natural world done to fulfill human needs or desires" (Ardies, De Maeyer, & David Gijbels, 2013). But technology is more than that, as Mc Robbie (2000) pointed out using five main dimensions of technology: 1) a human dimension, designed and constructed by inventors 2) a social dimension, used and implemented by society, as well as influenced society’s values 3) technology as a process,

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knowledge of and working with materials as well as technology involved in the solution of problems 4) a situated dimension elaborated with limitations 5) an artifacts dimension involving the development of products.

Although technology affects nearly all categories of life, most people regard it as boring, hard to learn and also often associated with risks (Ardies et al., 2013). Because of this, it is important that even young students come into contact with technology as early as possible. Technical toys at home show a positive influence on technology variables (Ardies et al., 2013). Also, parents have enormous influence through their own experiences, for example, parents with technology occupations exert a positive influence on attitudes and interest in technology (Ardies et al., 2015). School curricula and teachers should prepare children appropriately and sufficiently (ISB, 2004). Therefore it is important that students at the beginning of their technology education make positive experiences, that they are interested in technology and science, and also enjoy learning technology topics during their school time as well as the rest of their lives because initial negative experiences lead to avoiding technology afterward (Akpınar, Yıldız, Tatar, & Ergin, 2009). Therefore, building positive attitudes toward technology is of great importance (Akpınar et al., 2009). Negative experiences often lead to negative attitudes, which are afterward very difficult to change and probably remain for the rest of students’ lives (Simpson & Oliver, 1990). The overall beliefs of students about the utility of science and technology are positive, but general attitudes towards it decrease during school time (George, 2006). Technology education is at the moment more important than ever before, but general views are still negatively (Ardies et al., 2015). This is also shown in a study of Ardies et al., (2013) who described students’ interest in technology during a school career and showed that interest in technology decreased from the first to the second level of secondary education, especially for girls. Integrative STEM education approaches showed positive effects on technology education in high schools (Fan & Yu, 2017). In the United States, for example, more and more STEM schools have been established to ensure pupils fulfill future job requirements (Eisenhart et al., 2015). Curricular changes in the STEM education sector are omnipresent (Dickerson, Eckhoff, Stewart, Chappell, & Hathcock, 2014). Innovative technology driven pedagogical approaches seem to lead to international cooperation with the aim to generate knowledge and new and inspiring ideas in the STEM sector (Kärkkäinen & Vincent Lancrin, 2013). Technology education could be a chance to build positive and reduce negative attitudes towards technology (Wolters, 1989). A possibility to overcome the negative attitudes is to train even pre service teachers to generate positive attitudes as early as possible (Wolters, 1989). Especially primary school teachers have incorrect concepts about technology and its applications, and therefore they have to be supported in technology education (Mc Robbie, 2000). Moreover, secondary school teachers often view technology education as unimportant; and they see in the eyes of their subject and what is the additional benefit for the taught subject specification (Alister & Carr, 1992). Professional teacher development could help to improve such attitudes, as could the provision of appropriate training material for the students (Alister & Carr, 1992). Students

Nevertheless, to date, no study exists monitoring interest in technology and its social aspects over the long term. There have been several questionnaires about technology, including interest. In the 1980s the PATT (Pupils Attitudes towards

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The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. should be taught that technology is a part of everyday life and that it could help them in nearly every area of their lives (Raat, de Klerk Wolters, de Vries, 1989). Teachers could include technology in every subject if there is no separate subject in school: this would improve the technology know how and skills of students (Wolters, 1989). Technology education should be included in the curricula, integrating content knowledge, teachers’ pre knowledge and educational approaches to teach effectively using the newest technologies (Harris, Mishra, & Koehler, 2009). A decade ago such an attempt was conducted in the Bavarian syllabus with the introduction of a subject called "Nature and technology"(ISB, 2004). The latest reform was introduced in 2017 when the curriculum was renewed in Bavaria to introduce technology education (ISB, 2017). Interest in technology is of great importance in our study. Interest is defined “as a content specific motivational characteristic composed of intrinsic feeling related and value related valences" (Schiefele, 1991). Interest is accordingly dependent on the intrinsic value and feelings of a person. Interest can be influenced and could be increased through motivation as well as through meaningful personal engagement (Renninger, 2015). Interest in tasks could be also increased if the value for usefulness is known even before the task, but those who have low expectations of success do not have an advantage from the utility value (Durik, Shechter, Noh, Rozek, & Harackiewicz, 2014). That is in line with the findings of Ryan & Deci (2000) who showed that interest is the most relevant regulatory process of intrinsic motivation. The self determination theory of Deci & Ryan (1985) differentiated two types of motivation, namely intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is related to the inherent will to do something and is not driven by outer circumstances. Extrinsic motivation has to do with goal orientated tasks that are dedicated and driven from the outside. The first type of motivation exists in every human being, but not every task motivates people intrinsically; it is dependent on the person what does them motivated intrinsically (Ryan & Deci, 2000). People who have authentic motivation also show more interest in any situation (Ryan & Deci, 2000). One can enhance intrinsic motivation by using interesting activities, but when an external variable is added, the intrinsic value goes down. For example, when people are rewarded for an interesting activity, intrinsic motivation is lower than when they are not rewarded for the action because they get an external inducement for an interesting duty (Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999). The more externally regulated and motivated students are, the less interest they show. It is important to raise student’s intrinsic as well as extrinsic motivation towards technology, to overcome the decrease of interest, as shown in many studies (Osborne, Simon, & Collins, 2003; Kiemer, Gröschner, Pehmer, & Seidel, 2015). Especially the intrinsic factor of interest must be promoted as early as possible to capture interest technology, and hence we tried to enrich our student centered learning program with a variety of learning materials in order to reach as many students as possible via intrinsic motivation.

The present study focused on interest in technology as well as social aspects of technology, in the context of a short time cooperative learning program about bionics at a zoo. The objectives of our study were: (I) to analyze scores on interest and on social aspects of technology (II), to analyze long term effects over one year, (III) to monitor potential gender differences in technology interest and knowledge acquisition (IV) to examine the relationship between knowledge acquisition and individual technology preferences.

Technology) (Raat, & de Vries, 1986) and the APAT (Attitudes and Perceptions About Technology) measured technology perceptions of students (Rennie & Treagust, 1989). An improvement in that questionnaire led to Harding & Rennie (1992) Technology Questionnaire. This Questionnaire was shortened in the study of Marth & Bogner (2018) and extended to other age groups. It proved suitable also for freshmen and teachers. To measure these pre perceptions of interest in technology and the social aspects of technology we use the Technology Questionnaire of Marth & Bogner (2018) with two sub scales: Interest in Technology (5 items) and Social Aspects of Technology (5 items). To test whether we could raise interest over a longer time period, we conducted 5 testing points in a single year.

Often Technology and Science are male led professions and institutions, often resulting in gender differences in the technology area (Akpınar et al., 2009). For example, Marth & Bogner (2018) reported higher technology interest scores and recognition of more social implications of technology for boys in lower secondary school than girls. This trend has also been detected with freshmen and in service science teachers. Only the social implications of technology seem similar to teacher cohorts. Often Technology as well as Science, in general, are often dominated by males, so that women often feel themselves in a minority, or even discriminated against (Steele, James, & Barnett, 2002). Negative attitudes of women are also due to the small chance to combine family and work in the science sector (Frome, Alfeld, Eccles, & Barber, 2006). This negative trend for female employees is familiar with the entire STEM sector (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) (Blickenstaff, 2005). Although many jobs in the STEM sector are available, most are given to male applicants (Dasgupta & Stout, 2014).

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Research Gap Interest in the technology sector mostly have been observed shortly and not in a long term investigation. This experiment was conducted in this study.

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Women are often in the minority in the STEM sector in university degrees as well as in permanent jobs (Beede, Julian, & Langdon, 2011). The gender differences are present in every age and social group and developed already in school, where pupils display negative attitudes (Weinburgh, 1995; Cannon & Simpson, 1985). This is in line with Weinburgh (2000), who also showed that males have more positive attitudes towards the STEM sector.

Research Goals

2. Methods Bionics Module in the zoo

The bionics intervention required five complete school lessons in a zoo, where the students worked in different areas including a seminar room as well as areas at the compound (see table 1). All study days were conducted by the same teacher and the same tutor to ensure the similarity of the sessions (Marth & Bogner, 2017a). At the beginning of the intervention, there was a teacher guided introductory pre group phase to ensure a common level of pre knowledge. This phase included selected issues concerning bionics, biology, and technology. In this phase, students get to know what bionics is and what they will learn during the out of school day in the zoo. Afterward, the students are divided into groups and work on their own with hand on guided learning in these groups for the aquarium and the seminar room module.

Aquarium module

Seminar room module

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The group phase was divided between a seminar room and an aquarium module, where we followed a student centered learning approach with groups of 3 or 4 students. The seminar room module was held inside a special classroom in the zoo, while the aquarium module was directly at the aquaria in the zoo. These module parts were cooperative learning forms, where the teacher just gave help if it was needed. The group work in the seminar room and the aquarium module was self explanatory, with hands on work stations but guided by a workbook, issued to every student at the beginning of the program.

The second module was conducted in a seminar room module at the zoo. The main topic was the streamlined shape of aquatic animals and their bionics applications in cars or planes. Students performed an experiment with different shapes such as a bowl, a cube or a streamlined shape. Subsequent analyses with an immersion gauge head measured the depth and drew conclusions about streamline shape. Another main topic was the Fin Ray effect in the tail fins of fish, applied in picker arms for lamps or eggs. Also, the sharkskin and its technical application in riblet layers were presented in the seminar room. Another station dealt with different famous bionics topics to show the daily applications of bionics.

In the last phase, students repeat all the learned topics in the public exhibition “Bionicum”, which is directly affiliated to the zoo. In the exhibition has hands on stations, interesting experiments like the hexagonal construction model of a

The main topic was aquatic bionics: dolphins, seals, fish, and manatees were the biology models. Students get to know bionics examples modeled directly from the original object. The self explanatory station at the aquarium dealt with a variety of bionics examples of the dolphin like sonar system or the nose of the dolphin, knowledge of which is applied in the tsunami pre warning system and the bulbous bow of big tankers. The sonar system and the bionics application were compared at an auditory station where students could follow scientists’ thoughts and the transfer to technical applications. Another example was the vibrissa of seals, applied in antenna.

pre group phase introduction to bionics teacher introductoryguidedphase module module)(seminar1room seminar room activity hands on guided learning module (aquarium2 module) Learning directly on the living animal hands on guided learning post group phase exhibition „BIONICUM“ example of informal learning

At the end of the intervention day, students completed a post test (T1), and, after six weeks, a retention test (T2). A subsample (n=183) completed two more surveys at testing points after 12 weeks (T3) and 1 year (T4) (Figure 1)The knowledge test consisted of 30 items dealing with the topics of the day, and general questions about bionics, technology, and biology. All students filled to all testing points both scales (technology questionnaire and knowledge test).

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honeycomb, which is inserted I washing machines. The students could test the stability of different metal forms, concluding that the hexagonal form is the best. They could also watch a film about the honey bee and look inside a beehive. The human being is also a bionics example shown in a robot, which could dance, walk or speak to visitors.

Design In the Bionics module, 324 Bavarian 6th graders (age M=12.2 years, 189 girls, 135 boys) participated in the intervention in the zoo. We have 6 schools participating in the out of school project with all their 6th graders. Participants first completed a survey two weeks before the intervention, including the technology questionnaire and a pre knowledge test (T0). The technology questionnaire, which was confirmed by Marth & Bogner (2018) had two subscales: interest (5items) and social implication (5items).

Table 1: Relevance of objectives of teaching subjects at the university phase of teaching description students activity binationCom

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The change in interest and social aspects seems reasonable (see figure 2). The lowest scores are at the pre level, followed by an increase directly after participation and a decrease 6 weeks later, which is however higher than before Meanintervention:scores (M) differed significantly for the interest sub scale: between the 3 different measurement points T0 (M=2,12 SD=1,026), T1 (M=2,98 SD=,99) and T2 (M=2,45 SD=1,20) (Figure 2) (F(2,61,669)=84,600, p<.001) for the total sample (n=324). The pairwise comparison using post hoc test and Bonferroni correction showed an increase in technology interest, both short term (T0 to T1; p<.001) and medium term (T0 to T2; p<.001). The sub scale social aspects differed significantly for mean scores (M):between the 3 different measurement points T0 (M=1,67 SD=1,05), T1 (M=2,85 SD=,74) and T2 (M=2,38 SD=,975) (Figure 2) (F(1,902,119,821)=163,649, p<.001) for the total sample (n=324). For ANOVA of the sub scale Social Aspects Mauchly`s test showed a violation of the assumption of sphericity: chi square (2)=16,968, therefore, degrees of freedom were corrected by using Huynh Feldt estimates of sphericity .957. The pairwise comparison using Bonferroni post hoc tests showed an increase of technology interest, both short term (T0 to T1; p<.001) and medium term (T0 to T2; p<.001).

Change in interest and social aspects at three testing points

3. Results

For the statistical analysis, the updated SPSS 23 was used. Accepting the central limit theorem, we used parametric tests (Field, 2013). We analyzed the Technology Questionnaire using mean scores. We used repeated measurement ANOVAs for three as well as for five measurement points each, for interest and for social aspects. For the pairwise comparisons at the various testing points, we used post hoc testing with a Bonferroni correction. For the analysis of the gender differences, we used t tests. The Pearson correlation coefficient shows the relationship of knowledge levels with the TQ subscale mean scores. Analysis of knowledge was based on sum scores, with correct answers labeled “1”, incorrect ones “0”.

Figure 1: Schedule of questionnaire implementation Statistical analysis

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Figure 2: Mean scores of the sub-scales interest and social aspects at 3 different testing points; Bars are 95% confidence intervals. Change in interest and social aspects at five testing points

The mean scores increased from T0 to T1, dropped at T2, T3, and T4 (Figure 3a). The post hoc pair wise comparison with the Bonferroni correction showed similar results. Interest increases only in the short term (TO to T1; p<.001) and showed after six weeks, twelve weeks and one year the same level of interest as before the intervention (T0 to T2; p=.053), (T0 to T3; p=1.00) (T0 to T4; p=1.00). In the subscale social the lowest scores are again T the pre level, followed by an increase directly after the participation and a decrease six weeks later which is however higher than before the intervention. The following retention scores after twelve weeks and one year after participation showed the same trend as after 6 weeks (see figure 3A). The repeated measurement ANOVA showed significant differences in the sub scale social aspects (F (3,515;35,162)=41,426, p<.001). For the chi square (9)=50,552 Mauchly`s test showed a violation of the

A sub sample of n=183 completed the Technology Questionnaire 5 times within one year (Figure 3). In the subscale Interest, the lowest scores are again at the pre level, followed by an increase directly after participation and a decrease six weeks later, even back to the level before the intervention. The following retention scores after twelve weeks and one year after participation showed the same trend. The repeated measurement ANOVA showed significant differences in the sub scale interest (F(3,220,26,967)=21,849, p<.001). For the total module chi square (9)=83,101, Mauchly`s test showed a violation of the assumption of sphericity, therefore degrees of freedom were corrected by using Huynh Feldt estimates of sphericity .805.

Figure 3A&B: Mean scores of the sub scales interest (A) and social aspects (B) at 5 different testing points; Bars are 95% confidence intervals. Gender distinction Technology Questionnaire Female and male participants did not differ significantly at any testing point in both sub scales social aspects as well as interest in technology (see table 3).

The social aspects mean scores increased from T0 to T1, dropped at T2 and remained constant at T3 and T4 (Figure 3B, Table 2). The post hoc pair wise comparison with the Bonferroni correction showed similar results. Social aspects increase short term (TO to T1; p<.001, mid term (T0 to T2; p<.001), mid mid term (T0 to T3; p<.001) and also in the long term (T0 to T4; p<.001). Social aspects dropped from T1 to T2, T3 and T4 (T1 to T2; p<.001, T1 to T3; p<.001, T1 to T4; p<.001). The social aspects mean score remained constant after T2 and showed no differences to T3 and T4 (T2 to T3; p=1.00, T2 to T3; p=.295, T3 to T4; p=.791) and seemed to remain constant for a one year time period (T4).

Table 2: Mean value and standard deviation of the items in the different sub-scales

102 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. assumption of sphericity, therefore degrees of freedom were corrected by using Huynh Feldt estimates of sphericity .879.

Module T0 SD T1 SD T2 SD T3 SD T4 SD Interest 2.24 1.00 3.08 .97 2.50 1.16 2.32 1.29 2.30 1.17 aspectsSocial 1.69 .94 2.83 .76 2.36 .99 2.32 .98 2.13 1.04

103 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Table 3: Mean value and standard deviation of the items in the different sub scales T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 TQ (sub scale interest) Female 2,05±1,02 2.98±.94 2.40±1.12 2.41±1.31 2.33±1.17 Male 2,11±1,03 2.96±1.04 2.44±1.24 2.27±1.28 2.26±1.16 t test, Sig. n.s. n.s. n.s. n.s. n.s. TQ (sub scale social) Female 1.64±1.15 2.84±.73 2.23±.89 2.36±.88 2.11±.96 Male 1.61±.94 2.84±.78 2.44±1.04 2.26±1.06 2.13±1.07 t test, Sig. n.s. n.s. n.s. n.s. n.s. A relationship between scores on the Technology Questionnaire and pre knowledge was observed and showed significant correlations at all measurement points and with both sub scales social aspects and interest of technology (see table 4). Table 4: Correlations between sub-scales of TQ and knowledge T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 Correlation TQ (sub scale interest) coefficientCorrelation .576*** .674*** .697*** .763*** .029 Sig. <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 n.s. Correlation TQ (sub scale social implication) coefficientCorrelation .496*** .589*** .653*** .667*** .080 Sig. <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 n.s. 4. Discussion The bionics module raised interest and also scores on social aspects of technology significantly. Students showed more interest in technology and higher scores on social aspects of technology directly after the intervention. There are different explanations for the growth in interest and social aspects of technology from the students who are participated:

Reasons for interest and social aspects enhancement Cooperative learning could be mentioned as one reason for interest and social aspects growth in our study. The students worked in groups of 3 or 4 in a hands on cooperative learning approach. Cooperative learning seems to be more than putting some students together for working on a special topic. Cooperative learning is described through the personality interaction of students as well as through the responsibility of each student for the output of the group and also the effectiveness of the group (Johnson & Johnson, 1994, S.32). Cooperative learning classes often show more achievement as in traditional learning approaches, as shown by Bertucci, Conte, Johnson, & Johnson (2010). They also indicated a higher value of peer supporting than individual learning, especially social self esteem seems to be higher (Bertucci, Conte, Johnson, & Johnson, 2010). This result is also shown in a meta analysis of 65 studies with cooperative learning approaches, which showed positive effects on attitudes and learning (Kyndt et al., 2013). Studies of cooperative learning in a zoo are rare in the literature, but Sattler & Bogner (2016) reported a study on marine mammals in the zoo which demonstrated an increase in knowledge after participation. The cooperative learning approach in combination with the zoo offers a possibility to increase interest and social influences in the belonging of technology. Lord (2001) showed that scientific thinking, as well as social skills, are improved during cooperative learning forms. Our hands on learning seems to increase interest and motivation for technology. These results are also shown in a study by Poudel et al. (2005), who also showed that hands on learning promotes interest and motivation. Another reason for interest increase could be the out of school environment. Our intervention was in a zoo with an affiliated exhibition, where the students learned bionics directly on the living animal and could replicate everything in the exhibition with interesting experiments and hands on materials. Out of school activities, such as visiting zoos, science centers or botanical gardens have been shown to be useful for learners Sattler & Bogner (2016). For that purpose, good teacher preparation is obligatory (Davidson, Passmore, & Anderson, 2010), because there are many influences such as pre knowledge levels, previous experiences in out of school learning environments, cognitive loads of the students as well as a novelty effect that could disturb the instruction (McClafferty & Rennie, 1995). Outreach learning often generates knowledge and interest gains (Langheinrich & Bogner, 2016), so we decided to combine an out of school learning approach with hands on experiences in the zoo. In our study we conducted a pre group phase to insure the same pre knowledge of all students. With good preparation it is possible to raise interest as well as social aspects of technology.

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Attitudes forming experiences In science and technology education it is of great importance from the beginning that students enjoy positive experiences and also build positive attitudes, so that they may later be successful in the scientific sector (Akpınar et al., 2009).

Technology and technological education till have a negative image even though the technical sector is increasingly important in the daily life of students (Ardies et al., 2015). Ardies et al. (2013) pointed out that the interest of technology decreases from the first to the secondary level of school. Speering & Rennie

Long term effect in questionnaires

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Long term interest gain persisting over one year Our study yielded a long term effect on social aspects of technology, but we couldn’t conclude that this effect derived from our intervention because in a school year many other topics as well as out of school events could have happened, which we couldn’t influence. But we can say that after one year the social dimensions of students in the technology area are higher than one year before. We are able to assume that our intervention influenced the high scores in the social sector. On the other hand, interest was raised only immediately after the intervention. Six weeks later as well as one year later the interest was at the level it had before the intervention. This result finds support in other studies, where interest is hard to influence because it is a fundamental part of the personality (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Interest is dependent on intrinsic values as well as on the feelings of persons and not so easy to change has. It is much easier to stimulate interest briefly than to change intrinsic motivation and interests. This is included in the self determination theory of Deci & Ryan (1985), who differentiate between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: On the one hand doing something on the basis of inherent will (intrinsic), or on the other doing something which is mostly driven by outer circumstances (extrinsic). The first kind of motivation exists in every human, but not in the same areas (Ryan & Deci, 2000). So it could be that less interested students also showed less intrinsic motivation for our science and technology related intervention about bionics.

Most questionnaires yield similar scores for different times of testing. The questionnaire (MEV (Major Environmental Values) yields persisting structures (Bogner & Wiseman, 1999). Other studies, using mostly knowledge questionnaires, report an increase in knowledge scores. For example, Schmid & Bogner (2015) examined in an inquiry based science education learning module about hearing and sound for 9th graders, observed an increase in knowledge directly after participation as well as a long term effect twelve weeks after the intervention. Another example, a study on bionics in a zoo, showed a knowledge gain persisting even after one year (Marth & Bogner, 2017a). Another study about bird species in the zoo also showed long term effects after nine weeks (Randler, Baumgärtner, Eisele, & Kienzle, 2007). The control group visited the

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. (1996) also showed that attitudes to technology grow more negative during a school career, although technology influences students’ life. For example, social media influence is omnipresent (O’Keeffe & Clarke Pearson, 2011). Technology reaches all areas of life and influences students as well as adults. This trend is recognized even by policymakers but society still has a negative image of technology (Ardies et al., 2013). Hence, it is important that students are come into contact with technology and acquire more positive attitudes than previous generations. Attitudes of peers, as well as their self concept influence the students (George, 2000). It is important for teachers to know their students’ attitudes towards science and technology, in order to adapt teaching methods and educational procedures (Lovelace & Brickman, 2013). A teacher’s knowledge also influences attitudes (Rohaan, Taconis, & Jochems, 2010). Educational initiatives should always be aware of attitudes in order to foster interest.

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The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. zoo with no intervention, but also showed greater interest than the treatment group. Fančovičová & Prokop (2011) also demonstrated a knowledge increase after three months compared to a control group.

Gender differences

Neurohr & Dragomirescu (2007) have shown that bionics have the potential to foster interest and generate also knowledge. In our out of school day in the zoo, bionics should be the link between living animals and technical applications, to create interest and also enrich the knowledge of bionics phenomena. Technology preferences even before the intervention showed high scores for knowledge in our study. Knowledge and interest in technology are cognate, and high scores in interest in technology, as well as social aspects of technology, lead to high knowledge scores. So it is important that interested students should be motivated towards still more interest, while the uninterested should be more motivated from the beginning. Bionics is only an example to foster interest in the STEM sector, for a longer time impact such days need to be repeated, and integrated into interdisciplinary learning in the daily school routine.

Most studies working only with shorter pre and post test designs, because of the logistical problems longer testing periods. We measured at 5 testing points even one year after the intervention to see the long term effect of our learning intervention and found significant differences. The results followed the same pattern as in the studies with knowledge questionnaires: a peak directly after participation, followed by a long time decrease, still above the pre testing level.

Gender differences are often seen in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) sector (Beede et al., 2011). These findings are also seen in the study of Marth & Bogner (2018), where secondary school students showed gender differences in technology interest as well as in the social implications of technology. This was also shown for two different age groups, namely freshmen and a teacher’s cohort (Marth & Bogner, 2018). Only the social aspects of the teacher’s cohort showed no change. This trend is often seen in school, where attitudes of students are formed (Cannon & Simpson, 1985). Other studies support our findings of no gender differences with regard to technology, like Zeyer & Wolf (2010) or Zeyer (2010), who have shown that cognitive style is more important for learning gender. Primary school children showed nearly the same confidence in math and science, whereas middle school students already show gender differences (Wigfield, 1996). This also supports our findings, as our students are in the transition phase between primary and secondary school. It could be that gender differences are not yet established. Hence it is important to begin technology and science intervention even in school as early as possible to reduce negative images. Bionics as a link between technology interest and knowledge Bionics is one of the newest and most innovative research fields of the last decade. Bionics improves technical applications from the science view and finds appropriate solutions for technical problems and gives many examples of how nature could act as a model for technical problems (Nachtigall & Wisser, 2013).

5. Conclusion Relating bionics, cooperative learning form, the hands on station, and the outreach area may support social aspects of technology (Marth & Bogner, 2017b). The usual logistics problems make testing beyond a year’s schedules difficult so that any study of long term interest needs to demonstrate memory retention after a long time span. In our case, we were able to foster interest shortly after the intervention; for a persisting change in interest, there should be more approaches like the bionics module in the zoo. If you could catch the interest and social aspects of technology at an early stage, young people could be interested perhaps for a lifetime. Therefore, any barriers against such interventions should be conquered to bring more students in the STEM sector (Dasgupta & Stout, 2014). The STEM sector is a big chance for the next generations to make the world a better place to live in and be prepared for the requirements of the next years. One major goal is also to connect the science fields with the technology fields, to get the best out of collaboration. In addition, these fields have to be brought in school to raise the motivation and interest of young students.

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6. Compliances with the Ethical Standards Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The article is the authors' original work, hasn't received prior publication and isn't under consideration for publication elsewhere. Research involving Human Participants but the ethical standards are followed. The Permission Note has been received to use any material in the manuscript such as figures etc. which isn't original content.

8. Funding Statement

Financial support was granted by the CREATIONS Project (European Union Grant Agreement, [No. 665917]), by the OSOS Project (European Union Grant Agreement, [No. 741572 ]), by the University of Bayreuth as well as by the LfU (Landesamt für Umwelt). References Akpınar, E., Yıldız, E., Tatar, N., & Ergin, Ö. (2009). Students’ attitudes toward science and technology: an investigation of gender, grade level, and academic achievement. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1(1), 2804 2808. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2009.01.498 Alister, J., & Carr, M. (1992). Teachers’ perceptions of technology education: Implications

We are grateful to the „BIONICUM` for assistance as we are to all schools, teachers, and students for participation. Similarly, we thank the Bavarian Ministry of Education for permitting the study within schools (X.7 BO4106/453/9, 03.02.2015). The paper is based on the dissertation thesis of Michaela Marth 20unterschrift.pdfbayreuth.de/3532/5/Regenschirm%208.12.2017%20Abgabe%20Final%20ohne%(https://epub.uni).

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Introduction As a result of the increasing number of immigrants in the United States, schools across the country admit students from different racial and cultural backgrounds every year. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (2016), the 2014 2015 academic year was a turning point for major changes in the demographics of students. For the first time in the United States, students of color (50.3 percent) outnumbered their White peers (49.7 percent) in public schools, and this trend is expected to continue (Grant, Lee, & Lyttle, 2018). By 2023, students of color are expected to account for 55 percent of the public school populations (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2016). Besides, about 20 percent of school aged children live in poverty, 13 percent of the students in public schools have various disabilities (Gollnick & Chinn, 2017), and many are

Becoming Critical: In service Teachers’ Perspectives on Multicultural Education

Abstract. Many in service teachers take a passive position regarding multicultural issues such as race, class, ethnicity, socio economic, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. This passive position impacts classroom dynamics and has social justice consequences. The present qualitative study focuses on 12 in service teachers’ perspectives on multicultural issues. It describes the transformation of their perspectives and practices as they take a semester long course on diversity. Data sources include the participating teachers’ written reflections on assigned readings, classroom discussions and activities, paper presentations, instructor’s field notes, and the teachers’ final implementation papers. The findings of the study suggest that classroom activities and discussions provided teachers with opportunities to critically reflect on who they are and make changes in their perspectives and practices. Also, the study discusses the vital role of classroom social norms established by the instructor and the participating teachers as a form of praxis. This step is crucial for creating caring communities relative to cross cultural interaction and individual transformation, which in turn has social justice implications in terms of rethinking teaching and learning as well as school reform.

Roland G. Pourdavood and Meng Yan Cleveland State University (CSU) Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Keywords: multicultural education; teachers’ critical reflection; teachers’ transformation; school reform; social justice

112 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 112 135, February 2020 https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.2.8

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English language learners. While in contrast, the demographics of teachers in public schools are not keeping pace, with White teachers comprising up to 82 percent and female 76 percent (Hussar & Bailey, 2013).

Except for the mismatch between the demographics of teachers and students, majority of the curricula, textbooks, and teaching materials focus on mainstream Americans, the dominant cultural group (Banks, 1994; Nieto, 2000a, Sleeter & Grant, 1999), with little attention to most of the diverse groups. In addition, the educational strategies practiced in schools are based on the values and beliefs of mainstream culture (Darder, 1991), which severely marginalizes the less dominant groups. Gay (2003) presents that those racially or culturally diverse students do not find schooling exciting or inviting and they feel unwelcome, insignificant, and alienated more often because what is being taught has no direct value to them and does not reflect who they are. Studies show that students are more successful when they can see their own experiences mirrored in the school curriculum and make personal connections to the content being taught (Hrabowski & Robbi, 2002; Salako & Adu, 2013). A major factor in establishing educational relevance for these students is cultural similarity and responsiveness (Bruner, 1996; Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 1995). Research indicated that when teachers use culturally responsive pedagogy, the academic achievement of minority students increases (Au, 2011; Ladson Billings, 1995a; & Moll et al, 1992). Banks (1994) contends that “a curriculum that focuses on the experiences of mainstream Americans and largely ignores the experiences, cultures, and histories of other racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious groups has negative consequences for both mainstream American students and students of color. A mainstream centric curriculum is one major way in which racism and ethnocentrism are reinforced and perpetuated in the schools and also in society at large” (p. 229). Multicultural education arose at the historic moment to provide educators with a platform for working with the diverse school populations and achieving justice within societies marked by inequalities based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, language, gender, and religion (Banks, 2004). The culturally and racially diverse student populations require educators to be cognizant of the differences among them and integrate diversity content throughout the curriculum to

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The majority of teachers continue to be predominantly Caucasian, middle class and English monolingual speakers (Nieto, 2000b; Sleeter, 1994), and many new entrants to the field of teaching lack the knowledge of the experiences and resources of culturally and linguistically diverse student populations. In this sense, they are in vulnerable conditions facing the challenging issues such as racism, sexual orientations, and social inequality (Sleeter, 2001), which raises an essential question about teacher preparation and professional competence to effectively educate the students in those diverse classrooms (Grant, Lee, & Lyttle, 2018). It is generally agreed that good teachers need to have content knowledge (Hill & Ball, 2004), pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1986), and knowledge of students and their communities (Ladson Billings, 1995a; 1995b). Moreover, teachers also need a deep understanding of social movements, history, culture, political economy, and local and global socio political forces that influence students’ lives as well as special tendencies of social change to develop critical thinking (Gutstein, 2006a).

Based on the complexity of what goes on in the day to day classroom, teachers need to be aware, prepared, and adaptive to meet the demands of today’s classrooms. The purpose of this research study is to examine in service teachers’ prior perspectives on multicultural issues and the transformation of their perspectives and practices as they engage in classroom discussions and activities. The primary research question is: how may a semester long course on diversity provide in service teachers opportunities to examine their prior perspectives on multicultural issues and transform their perspectives and practices? This study contributes to two major areas of the current research on multicultural issues. The first area of contribution is the vital role of critical reflection as a form of praxis for professional transformation. By focusing on who they are, teachers can better understand their own biases and limitations. This critical reflection helps the teachers cross the boundary of their own familiar culture and enter into other unfamiliar territories (e.g. professional transformation). The second area is creating a safe, fair, and caring classroom community, which is crucial for establishing a viable and adaptable classroom where critical thinking is encouraged by the teacher. Establishing classroom social norms conducive to learning has social justice implications for reaching out to all students in a multicultural classroom.

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The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. successfully implement multicultural education, thereby helping to improve their performance and promote their development. Smith, Constantine, Dunn, Dinehart, and Montoya (2006) conducted two meta analyses on 82 studies of multicultural education, the findings of which demonstrate a positive effect of multicultural education on a wide variety of participants and study characteristics. Apart from narrowing the achievement gap among students of different races, Ameny Dixon (2004) and Gay (2003) conclude that multicultural education is beneficial in many other ways it fosters intellectual and moral development of all humans, promotes positive relations between people, and helps to reduce prejudice. Moreover, inclusive curriculum can help deepen students’ understanding of important social issues and prepare them to be critical and active participants in a democracy (Gutstein & Peterson, 2013). Freire (2000) contends that multicultural education helps achieve the pursuit of education as emancipatory. However, due to ideological and political resistance, high stakes testing, teacher accountability, and most importantly, teachers’ lack of sufficient skills and knowledge of their students’ cultures, any changes towards multiculturalism have been difficult (Alismail, 2016). Sue, Arredondo, and McDavis (1992) hold that three levels of understanding are required for multicultural competences, namely awareness, knowledge, and skills. Yet these competencies are not easy to acquire (Garcia & Pugh, 1992). Hence, teacher training is an important and urgent approach to helping educators improve their capability of implementing and enhancing multicultural education. Villegas and Lucas (2002) argue that one of the critical goals of teacher education programs should be to develop teachers into “agents of change” who challenge and transform institutional and societal inequalities reproduced in schools.

In the context of globalization, effective teaching requires educators not just know about the students, their communities, and their histories, but their experiences before coming to the United States, which include the movements,

The historical roots of multicultural education date back to the Civil Rights Movement in 1962 (Banks, 2013). During the 1960s and 1970s, various oppressed groups demanded freedom, social justice, political and educational rights. They demanded that public schools include their histories, cultures and other ethnic content into curriculum, and provide equal education and employment opportunities, thereby providing minority children with role models. These actions helped to determine multicultural education’s early idealization (Gay, In1997).the 1980s, one of the pioneers of multicultural education, James A. Banks worked to examine schools as social systems from a multicultural perspective (Alismail, 2016). Banks (1989) defines multiculturalism as “a philosophical position and movement that deems that the gender, ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity of a pluralistic society should be reflected in all of the institutionalized structures of educational institutions, including the staff, the norms, the values, the curriculum, and the student body” (p. 11). This philosophical concept is the basis of his multicultural education thoughts, and its goal is that all children, regardless of race, social class, gender, and language, should have equal access to education (Alismail, 2016). Therefore, multicultural education, as an ideal and movement, was the purpose and means to realize this philosophical concept (Banks, 1989). By the late 1980s, research of emerging scholars such as Carl Grant, Christine Sleeter, Geneva Gay, and Sonia Nieto laid a solid foundation for early multicultural education. By providing a profound framework aimed at promoting social change and equal access to education, they developed educational models based on equal opportunities, social justice and critical thinking (Banks, 2001).

Banks and Banks (2001) define multicultural education as “an idea, an educational reform movement, and a process whose major goal is to change the structure of educational institutions so that male and female students, exceptional students, and students who are members of diverse racial, ethnic, language, and cultural groups will have an equal chance to achieve academically in school” (p. 1). He describes five dimensions of multicultural education, namely content integration; knowledge construction; prejudice reduction; equity pedagogy; and empowering school culture and social structure (Banks, 1993; 1994). Banks (1999) states that a multicultural school should be a place where responsive teachers and school administrators treat all the students positively, show respect for the students' first languages and dialects, and expect high with care. He continues that school curriculum and instructional materials should reflect the experiences, cultures, and histories of all racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious groups as well as of both genders; the assessment and testing procedures are culturally sensitive, allowing students of color to account for a certain proportion of talented classes; and school counselors show high expectations for diverse students and help them set and achieve positive career goals in a culturally and ethnically diverse school culture.

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Literature Review

politics, cultural traditions, and conflicts from their home countries, and this is essential for creating curricular and teaching culturally relevant practices (Apple, 2011; Apple & Beane, 2007; Ladson Billings, 1994). Besides, all teachers need to better understand global realities, think relationally and face the global political, economical, and cultural context to help achieve social justice (Apple, 2011). Apple (2017; 2018) calls for critical educators and argues that they should engage in building critically democratic education, thinking about what is being taught, whose knowledge it is, how it became official, who has cultural, social, and economical capital in this society, who benefit from the definitions of legitimate knowledge, what are the overt and hidden effects of education reforms on real people and real communities, as well as what they can do as critical educators and activists to challenge existing educational and social inequalities and to create more socially just curricula and teaching.

To foster moral students and citizens, Noddings (1992, 1995, & 2008) contends it is necessary that schools establish a moral climate in which caring relations can develop, especially in such an era when there is increasing violence among school children and society while schools only focus on students' academic performance. She thinks good teachers should connect the moral worlds of school and public life to enhance the possibility for the students to live in and promote a caring climate and take a caring attitude into their future career and civil life (Noddings, 2012). Holding that “caring implies a continuous search for competence” (p. 676), Noddings (1995) emphasizes that it is important to organize school curriculum around the theme of care, and suggests educators choose curriculum that contributes to the growth of children as carers.

As Le Roux and Connors (2001) noted, teachers’ perceptions and attitudes influence their expectations and treatment of the learners, which may directly impact students and cause them to exhibit either positive or negative attitudes or behaviors. To implement and enhance multicultural education, schools and educators should be culturally responsive, however, some widespread misperceptions hinder educators’ and administrators’ appreciation of and respect for multicultural education, thus slowing its implementation (D’ Souza, 1991; Ford, 2014). One such misconception is that multicultural education is only for minority students and White students do not need to learn about other cultures; another misconception is the view that multicultural education is a movement against the western civilization; and a third one is that multicultural education is divisive and undercuts the unity of the nation (Banks, 1993; Ford, 2014). Literature also shows quite a few issues in the implementation of multicultural education such as resistance from some students, parents, educators, and administrators, lack of teacher training, parent involvement and school funding, as well as the difficulty in helping students with various traumatic backgrounds. Given this, Banks and Banks (1995), Delpit (1992), Gay (1994), and Ladson Billings (1995a) identified the following variables of school that need to be reformed to promote multicultural education thoughtfully and comprehensively. They include school policy and politics, school culture and hidden curriculum, learning styles of the school, languages, and dialects of the

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The theoretical assumption of the study is grounded in social constructivist perspective (Cobb, 1994; Cobb, Wood, & Yackel, 1990, Cobb & Yeckel, 1996; Guba & Lincoln, 1994). This perspective is important for understanding and examining teaching practices and underlying world views implicit in actions, stated beliefs, and classroom dynamics. “Human behavior unlike that of physical objects, cannot be understood without references to the meanings and purposes attached by human actors to their activities” (Guba & Lincoln, 1994, p. 106). Classroom dynamics represent an open system whereby complex interactions and mutual connections prevent the attribution of simple causes to classroom events. According to social constructivism, reality is built individually as well as socially. In this sense, active participation in and contribution to the classroom activities and assignments are necessary conditions for constructive teaching and Thislearning.currentstudy was conducted in an American university in the Midwest.

The participants included 12 in service teachers enrolled in a graduate course titled Diversity in Educational Settings during the spring semester of 2019. It was a three credit hour course occurring once a week for three hours for a total of 15 weeks. The participating teachers’ age varied from 28 to 52, with their teaching experience ranging from 3 to 20 years, and some of them have taught internationally. Also, the grade levels they were certified to teach differed from elementary to high school focusing on different specializations such as early childhood, special education, middle childhood mathematics and science, middle childhood and secondary language arts.

The course focuses on issues related to political ideologies which have a powerful influence on one’s views regarding other forms of diversity such as multicultural education, race, ethnicity, sex, social class, religion, exceptionalities, language, and age. The course intends to prepare teachers for the harsh realities of today’s schools such as students’ various family backgrounds, poverty and its correlates, students with cognitive and emotional issues, apathetic students, poor administration, and schools with low academic standards, which are the issues that the participating teachers may encounter in their schools. In addition, the course examines how diversity, in its many complex forms, is related to all aspects of education. It discusses the role of tolerance in a diverse society and conflict resolution techniques that can minimize prejudice, discrimination, and violence in educational settings.

Although a significant number of studies investigated multicultural education, there is a clear lack of research focusing on how a semester long in person education course may provide the in service teachers with opportunities to transform their perspectives and practices relative to multiculturalism. The transformation of teachers into change agents in their classrooms may be a big step towards mass access and equity in education.

Theoretical Assumption and Context of the Study

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The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. school, community participation and input, counseling programs, assessment, and testing procedures, instructional materials, the formalized curriculum and course of study, teaching styles and strategies, and school staff (their attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, and actions).

The required assignments of the course include discussions on reading reflections; first project “Ethnic History” or “My Story” paper presentation; second project “Current Event” paper presentation; and third project paper “My Plan for Implementing Multicultural Education”. The Ethnic History paper presentation is a writing of the participating teachers’ ethnic history through a description of their ethnic identity and cultural background. Ideas for the paper include countries of origin, traditions, customs, family stories/jokes, foods, favorite holiday celebrations, expectations regarding education, gender roles, work and family, neighborhoods, language use, dialects, and religious practices. In their writing of Ethnic History Paper, the teachers were guided to include the areas and issues covered in their reading assignments, such as Race and Ethnicity, Gender, Class, Language, Religion, Ability, Geography, and Age. They needed to include their former and current attitudes, beliefs, and values, and were encouraged to identify important issues or situations that had influenced their life, their beliefs and values, their thoughts, and their actions.

Furthermore, the course provides the participating teachers with opportunities to critically examine the relationship between diversity and cultural unity in a democratic society characterized by dynamic changes owing to globalization, cultural turbulence, technological advances, and immigration trends. It examines issues and problems from multiple perspectives, with emphasis on empirical evidence and social justice issues.

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The participating teachers were also encouraged to reflect on the following questions: Who am I? What kind of teacher am I, or what kind of teacher will I become and why? Is there anything about me that should be my asset as an educator? For the second project, “Current Event”, each participating teacher selected a news article on a controversial or debatable topic and presented their selected topics to the class. The articles should be current and focus on multicultural or diversity issues that affect education and our social life. The participating teachers may utilize a variety of resources such as journals, newspapers, the internet, etc. They were expected to thoroughly investigate the topic to answer the 5W questions (who, when, where, what, and why) that would relate the article to real life situations and/or experiences they encountered during their lives. In the third project, “My Plan for Implementing Multicultural Education”, the participating teachers focused on their plans for implementing and enhancing multicultural education in the context of their current and/or future educational settings. The teachers were encouraged to use various resources including class notes, class activities and discussions, class video presentations, along with information and materials identified by the instructor. Methodology The present research aims to investigate in service teachers’ perceptions of multicultural education and the change of their perspectives and practices, qualitative research design, therefore, is the most suitable approach in that it is “exploratory in nature” (Hays, & Singh, 2012, p. 5) and helps researchers to use inductive analysis for answering the research questions. Creswell and Poth (2018) posit that qualitative data could add richness and clues to the complexity

This qualitative, descriptive, and interpretive research design and methodology is influenced by Guba and Lincoln’s (1994, 1989) constructivist inquiry. Data sources included the participating teachers’ written reflections on assigned readings, classroom discussions and activities, paper presentations, instructor’s field notes, and the participating teachers’ final implementation papers. These data were compared through a constant comparative method (Guba and Lincoln, 1994; 1989). Simultaneously with data collection, data analysis began with coding which Charmaz (2001) describes as the “critical link” between data collection and meaning interpretation According to Saldana (2013), a code is “a research generated construct that represents and captures a datum’s primary content and essence” (p 4). The initial codes were vivo and descriptive codes (Saldana, 2013) which summarized primary topics of the data such as the participating teachers’ prior experiences, challenges they encountered in their work, their views about multicultural education, their future plans, etc. As we moved along to the second cycle of coding, we distilled more specific information from which patterns and themes began to emerge as some repetitive codes appeared naturally such as critical reflection, inclusive teacher, pro active teacher, caring relationship, etc. As patterns and themes began to emerge, we went back to the participating teachers to ask them how well the ongoing data analysis represented their experience (Hays & Singh, 2012). Along with the coding process, analytical memos were written to “document and reflect on the coding process and code choices” (Saldana, 2013, p. 41) which helped achieve researcher reflexivity on the data corpus and at the same time provide documentation and transparency about our methodology. Once coding was completed, important factors were identified as considerations regarding participating teachers’ perceptions of and transformation towards multicultural education.

Social constructivism paradigm assumes that in the pursuit of science, there are many contextual perspectives and subjective voices that can mark the truth (Hays & Singh, 2012). The participating teachers’ classroom discussions and activities play a vital role in understanding and interpreting the research. Hence, we believe a constructivist research methodology can best reflect the flow of information as the study evolves. The in service teachers develop subjective meanings of their perceptions, which are varied and multiple, leading us to look for the complexity of views, and those subjective meanings are negotiated between participants and researchers (Creswell & Poth, 2018). This paradigm may offer insights as to how in service teachers construct their ways of understanding meaningful multicultural classroom practices, since research relies much on participants’ views of the situation (Creswell & Poth, 2018).

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. of our understanding of the in service teachers’ experiences, perceptions, competence, and willingness to implement multicultural education. Similarly, Burton (2012), who researched the ability of certain methods courses to change students’ attitudes, suggests that qualitative data could provide valuable information on different factors that influence the change process that occurs in participants, something that quantitative research cannot achieve. In addition, the specific setting of the course on diversity creates a bounded system (Creswell & Poth, 2018) through which rich data can be collected to understand the effectiveness of the course.

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At the beginning of the semester, the instructor of the course negotiated with the participating teachers regarding his roles and expectations. He clearly communicated with the teachers his role as a facilitator and a member of the classroom community. He stated that he was not there to evaluate or judge the teachers’ perspectives or practices. Instead, he was there to understand, describe, and interpret classroom activities and the teachers’ perspectives. This honest and open conversation between the instructor and the teachers was a critical step towards establishing democratic and emancipatory classroom social norms.

On the first day of the class, the instructor started sharing his “Ethnic Story”. He talked about where he came from, how he came to the United States as a political refugee without being able to speak English. He talked about his country of origin which he escaped from because of political persecution. He talked about the geography of his country of origin, his religion, original language, and his family he had to leave behind because of political activities and the risk of his life. He also talked about his education in the United States. This honest presentation of who he is as an instructor of the course opened the door for the participating teachers to emancipate themselves and talk about their “Ethnic Story” freely and openly. The classroom atmosphere gradually changed into a mood of transforming learning community, and the relationship between the instructor and the participating teachers became collegial. They were communicating on an equal footing, sharing their ideas and information in a conversational manner. For example, a female teacher from a traditional working class family openly shared her complex family background and upbringing. Married at a very young age, her parents got divorced when she was only eight and her brother six. Soon her mother remarried to her stepfather who had two children with him and they gave birth to another two kids shortly. She said it took her quite a long time to adapt to life with the new family members living in the same house. With neither of her parents well educated, she went to a community college having no idea what to do for her career. Luckily, after spending two years taking random courses in college, she realized her passion for education. She described her first job as follows, “My first job was the most eye opening experience I had ever had. I had never been in a room with so many languages and cultures all mixed together. All of my students were immigrants or refugees within their first or second year in the country. Welcoming them on the first day and

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We triangulated data in three ways. First, we compared multiple data sources for consistency. Second, we conducted conversations with the participating teachers once a week for clarifications of our understanding and interpretations. Third, the researchers analyzed the data independently and they conducted a meeting once a month for compatibility of their interpretations. These three ways of triangulation contributed to the trustworthiness of the data analysis. By providing in depth analysis as to how and how much the participating teachers’ perceptions of multicultural education transform after a semester long course on diversity, we hope this study can contribute to the research on school reform, policies in teacher education and the improvement of people's attention to courses on diversity. Search for Meaning

The participating teachers shared their stories in an open and honest way. They knew they had support from their instructor and colleagues. This safe environment provided them with the opportunity to share their ideas and information freely and openly. This free flow of information was a step towards crossing the boundary of their own familiar culture and being invited to enter other unfamiliar territories. For example, one of the male participating teachers from Iraq shared a picture of his middle school class and recalled that all but three of the students in the picture died one afternoon when the school was bombed. All the students were in the classroom at that moment. Only three including himself survived because they did not go to school that day. He stressed that this is why he values life and his family greatly. Currently, he is teaching in Middle East and he hopes to become a viable teacher to help children

Another female teacher raised in a rather affluent suburb shared that growing up in a predominantly white community, she was relatively ignorant of cultural differences, the history of other cultures, and the struggles other cultures experienced. From kindergarten through high school, she never had a teacher who was not Caucasian. She said that it was not until high school that she began to realize and truly understand how privileged she was. She described her first job in this way, “When I got my first teaching job, to say that I was excited was an understatement. My students and I were very different. I was one of the Caucasian women teachers but most of my students were African American with the majority males. I taught in a district where 80% qualified for free or reduced lunch. The culture in my classroom was very different from what I grew up knowing. The differences between each of the students were astounding as well. I realized that I need to participate effectively in more than my culture” (Participating teacher’s Ethnic Story).

not knowing if they understood me or not, I had no idea what to expect with my new middle school students. My number one goal now is to establish a strong rapport with my students and create a supportive classroom community to help them grow” (Participating Teacher’s Ethnic Story).

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An African American teacher shared that she grew up in a neighborhood where there were only people of her race and ethnicity, with no children from different communities or economic backgrounds. All she knew about people different from those of her community was what she saw on TV, showing that those who were Caucasian had everything they didn't have. She said that people of color on television were in ghetto, ugly and did not have any goals; while White people had everything they were cute, stylish and had their life goals. She shared that she didn't know whether those Caucasians also lived in trailer parks or used government assistants. She recalled her first trip to the mall: seeing so many people who looked different from her, she got scared and felt herself not belonging to that place. She felt great when she went to a college that was 1% black, and that is why she now wants her students to know there are different people outside their neighborhoods.

In what follows we will describe several themes emerging from the analysis of data including participating teachers’ written reflections on assigned readings, classroom discussions and activities, paper presentations, final implementation papers, instructor’s field notes, as well as reflexive and analytical memos. The themes that emerged are as follows: Importance of critical reflections

By critically examining who they are, they were better situated to understand their own biases and transform their practices. One teacher reflected on the issues of race and gender differences by saying, “No one ethnic group or race is better than another, but in a society that deems the dominant culture as superior to others, that sometimes is hard to see. We as teachers need to model behavior of tolerance and acceptance of different races and genders. We need to be always aware whether we have any bias based on students’ race and gender” (Participating Teacher’s Reflection).

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Data analysis reveals that most participating teachers realized the vital role of critical reflection as a form of praxis for professional transformation. The teachers reflected on various aspects of multicultural education. For example, one teacher reflected on people’s bias against African American students when she shared her experiences relative to false assumptions. She learned during a training session that many people including teachers had lots of misconceptions about African American students, and she thought how the world views her students would affect the way they see the world. She underlined that her job as a teacher is to show her students this colorful world and let them know that some people may dislike them because of their skin color but their differences are worth celebrating. Another teacher expressed the importance of self examination. He said that this course opened his eyes to the seriousness of the issues faced by many of his students. He thought it very important to examine our own motives and feelings. He reflected, “Even the reflection of negative feelings is what allows us not to get trapped in them. It is terrible to know that we have negative feelings towards others, but once we understand them, we could challenge stereotypes, overcome prejudice, and develop relationships with various people the multicultural population” (Participating Teacher’s Reflection).

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. in need around the world.

He noted that gender differences are extreme due to society’s implications for masculine or feminine roles; there is no gender equality in the school building where the curriculum is full of men and their accomplishments with little attention to women in an equal light. He held that teachers should add more content focusing on women who are not mentioned in textbooks, those whose roles need to be exposed for students to learn. The importance of visibility and contribution of marginalized groups along with gender equity became the focus of the classroom discussions.

Becoming inclusive teachers Analysis of the data led to the observation that the participating teachers attach great importance to inclusiveness. Becoming inclusive teachers to create an

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Realizing that the curriculum does not accurately represent the students in an average American classroom, participating teachers began to reflect on the limitations of the current curriculum and biases of many textbooks. One of them stated, “When I got more educated and aware of cultural differences, I realized I was lucky to attend a top rated school but unfortunate to have been taught the Anglo Saxon based curriculum that has ruled our society for generations” (Teacher’s Reflection during Classroom Discussions). Looking back at her own schooling and educational career, she became increasingly cognizant of how sheltered, one sided, and White the curriculum actually was and how ignorant educated and blind she was to other cultures around her. She began to understand and realize it important for students to see themselves in the curriculum. She stated, “I woke up realizing the importance and critical need for a new, reformed, and culturally appropriate curriculum” (Teacher’s Reflection during Classroom Discussions).

Another teacher pointed out that many districts and schools do not seem to be concerned or interested in making any changes. He said, “Understanding the importance and need for a multicultural curriculum is the first step in actually creating and providing students with access to meaningful education. It is incredibly important for educators to understand that teaching practices not taking into consideration students’ cultural backgrounds or validating their cultural identities is another example of how societal and political forces influence schooling” (Participating Teacher’s Reflection).

Several participating teachers reflected on the transformation of their perspectives by focusing on their teaching philosophy on the implementation of multicultural education in their classrooms. They held that educators need to be open minded, aware of and accepting all cultures, religions, languages, disabilities, etc. “Educators are in a position to raise students up by having high expectations and providing the least restrictive environment for each student regardless of their race, ethnicity, socio economic status, gender, language, or ability” (Teacher’s Reflection during Classroom Discussions). The teachers believed that it is educators’ responsibility to foster motivation, progress, achievement, as well as a love of learning and that it is educators’ obligation to facilitate 21st century skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, innovation, and cultural literacy. They stressed that their job is to promote empathy, awareness, and integration in the world and that educators are models and advocates for equality, justice, and social changes. As the course evolved, the participating teachers became more aware of their role in their classrooms and schools as change agents. They expressed their transformed perspectives during the classroom discussions and in their presentation papers. Below we will describe two major aspects of teacher transformation, namely becoming inclusive teachers and taking more pro active roles in the classroom.

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One of the teachers held, “The way we educate a child can make or destroy him/her. If we do not value our students individually, acknowledge what they bring to the class community, and celebrate their cultures and interests, we are doing them a disservice” (Teacher’s Reflection during Classroom Discussions). He held that students need help to recognize their full potential and find their places in this diverse world; with discrimination pervading our society, teachers need to make it their major goal building an inclusive and supportive classroom community. He stated passionately, “If we truly care about and respect our students, everything will follow. Use students’ experiences and backgrounds to enhance the learning environment and place students first every day, and they will really shine” (Teacher’s Reflection during Classroom Discussions).

inclusive classroom is one of the most repetitive codes. It has been mentioned 57 times by the teachers and is the most used description. Almost all of the 12 participants emphasized the notion of inclusiveness and stated that being inclusive is the first step in the implementation and promotion of multicultural education.

A special education teacher expressed the importance of respect and responsibility in teaching children with varying abilities and exceptionalities. He believed that inclusion is an incredible tool. He put, “As a behavior therapist, I am always committed to promoting diversity through acknowledgment of different cultures. I am also committed to educating parents about how their own child is diverse in his or her own way. Whether their diversity shines through their sensory needs, their communication needs, or their academic abilities, they are part of an extremely diverse group of individuals who deserve to be treated with respect and valued as citizens who contribute to society in their own ways” (Participating Teacher’s Written Reflection).

Another teacher stressed the importance of caring and love in an inclusive classroom. She stated, “No two children are identical, and children need to know that they are loved and accepted the way they are. Every child deserves a chance to get a great education. We as educators must do everything we can to promote an inclusive classroom and provide opportunities for each individual kid to ask questions, say opinions, and express preferences. The most effective classroom is one that is centered on diversity and brings students all together” (Participating Teacher’s Written Reflection). To enhance inclusive teaching, she stated that teachers should incorporate unbiased lesson plans, engage students’ real life experiences or knowledge in textbooks, and address diverse topics through varying instructional techniques. She held that it is educators’ duty to make students feel proud of their heritage.

He highlighted that diversity exists in almost every facet of society, and it is of the utmost importance to not only acknowledge but also celebrate it.

One of the participating teachers who was teaching in a Catholic school

Becoming pro active teachers Data analysis reveals that becoming pro active teachers is another most repetitive code. Again, this concept was highlighted by all of the 12 participating teachers. It appeared 52 times in the data, demonstrating the high premium participating teachers’ put on the significance of becoming pro active for promoting multicultural education.

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. expressed her tolerance and respect for different religious beliefs of her students. She noted that while individuals have religious freedom in the United States, not all religions are accepted equally. She shared, “In the classroom of different types of schools, there is a large spectrum of religious beliefs and practices that may or may not be integrated into the day. I work in a Catholic school and each month the entire school community is to attend a mass service. To ensure that other religions are recognized in my classroom, I allow my students who are of different religious backgrounds to say a prayer in their religions. I would also say prayers in all religions to show students that all religions are accepted and welcomed in my classroom” (Participating Teacher’s Written Reflection).

The teachers expressed their opinions on what teachers need to be aware of and how to create an inviting, safe, and inclusive classroom to promote students’ learning. They indicated that it is important that teachers be cognizant of diversity in various aspects such as different races, cultures, languages, religious beliefs, and so forth in their classrooms and school buildings as each affects how students learn and behave. They believed that educators who are able to accept these differences, use them as students’ strengths, and incorporate them in their classroom instruction will be successful in promoting multicultural education. They stressed that students learn best when they feel welcome, accepted and safe. One teacher expressed, “Working in a multicultural classroom is like enjoying a delicious salad, filled with all different flavors, textures, colors, and sizes. Educators need to embrace the differences between students and acknowledge all the variety among the children in the classroom to make them all feel equal, loved, and special” (Participating Teacher’s Written BecomingReflection).aninclusive teacher goes hand in hand with becoming a pro active teacher. The participating teachers became convinced that in order to transform the culture of their classrooms and that of their schools, they need to become teachers as change agents. They emphasized that becoming pro active and critical is a significant step towards reforming the school into a transformative learning community.

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The significant role of school culture was stressed by participating teachers, who held that creating a positive and empowering school culture cannot rely solely on administrators; teachers may also make a big contribution since their attitudes and behaviors directly affect students and have a significant impact on their classroom and school climate.

In addition, the significance of teaching students following their aptitudes was noted by participating teachers. They held that teachers should develop interdisciplinary collaboration, implement effective co teaching, and improve assessment strategies. One of them shared her ideas, “I always start the school year with a survey that helps me understand my students’ diverse learning preferences and multiple intelligences. I stay close with the intervention specialist during lesson planning for enhancing students’ education and make sure to use appropriate scaffolds to differentiate instruction, allowing for multiple pathways to meet students’ different objectives” (Participating Teacher’s Written Reflection). One of the participating teachers expressed her determination to change the inequalities affecting the academic achievement of low income students by integrating diversity into her teaching to create an equal and safe classroom environment. She presented her classroom social norms and activities this way, “I will be mindful that classroom activities do not favor one group over another, pay attention to the leadership roles in small groups, and treat both sexes fairly in my classroom. I will do my best to deal with any bullying issues related to gender, language, ethnicity, and race. Besides, I will be vigilant in observing problems that are developing in my classroom, know my limitations, and seek help from the administration when necessary” (Participating Teacher’s Written Reflection).

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Similarly, an inner city high school teacher designed a project lesson to create opportunities for her students to learn about other cultures, demonstrating her commitment as a change agent. She shared her project as follows, “As an inner city high school teacher, I discovered that my students have little access to any other culture beyond their communities. To introduce them to cultures and worlds with which they are unfamiliar, I

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Working collaboratively with parents and communities was also highlighted by most teachers. One of them proposed a statement “involve to evolving” which basically explains that for students from different cultures to succeed in school, the teacher must first get involved and learn about the communities and cultures of the students so that the students can successfully grow and evolve into their full potential. She shared, “In my view, there are three steps to make a student from a different background successful. First, school personnel need to reach out to parents rather than simply wait for parents to show up at a meeting; second, educators must know about the community and understand the cultures of the families; third, teachers should listen to parents and participate in the community to develop a range of teaching strategies” (Participating Teacher’s Written Reflection).

Several teachers emphasized the vital role of communication among teachers. One of them stated that to promote multicultural education, it is highly necessary that teachers engage with each other in dialogue. She held, “Sincere communication can not only help avoid conflicts but contribute to better cooperation among colleagues. It is essential that all teaching staff is on the same page” (Participating Teacher’s Written Reflection).

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Apart from the above, data analysis suggests that the participating teachers also emphasized the importance of establishing caring relationships with students in multicultural classrooms, describing it as one of the most necessary elements for the implantation and promotion of multicultural education. It has been repeated 44 times; 10 of the 12 participating teachers talked about how caring relationships may help establish a harmonious, respectful, and moral classroom climate in which students are provided academic and emotional support to make meaning of their learning.

a transformative learning community during the study, where they were free from fears of being judged by the instructor and their peers, the participating teachers became more sensitive to the students’ diversity and voices. They realized and valued the caring relationships in their classrooms. In what follows we discuss the participating teachers’ implementation plans.

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. designed a project lesson which consists of four parts interview, presentation, reflection, and discussion based on “four broad principles” put forward by Amthor and Roxas (2016)” (Participating Teacher’s Written Reflection).

Another teacher shared the strategies she would apply for building a strong relationship with her students’ families. She planned to keep two checklists readiness for children with learning disabilities and their families checklist and environmental readiness checklist which will provide different perspectives on self supporting related to internal and external environments. She expressed that she wants her classroom to be full of friendship and care. She stated, “This is what I want to do with my life: to care deeply for others and make everyone care for each other. I love my profession, which makes me truly happy. I love the students from complicated families who need someone to look at them with kindness and care; I love to see students implement a growing mindset and strive to meet expectations and goals with the help of my care and love; and I love to be the person to see the raw potential within a child” (Participating Teacher’s Written ThroughReflection).experiencing

The participating teachers explicitly presented their ideas and action plans for becoming pro active teachers and agents of change in their own classrooms and schools. They stressed that it is their responsibility to create classroom environments that celebrate diversity as a strength for teaching and learning.

One of the teachers stated that to carry out multicultural education, his first goal is to create a classroom culture where all students feel safe, cared for, and loved. He stated that the main reason he loves teaching is that he wants to let his students know that there is a person who believes in them, loves them, and truly cares for them, especially when they don’t have much love or support outside of school. He said, “Sincere love and care can do wonders” (Teacher’s Reflection during Classroom Discussions).

Importance of caring relationships in multicultural classrooms

From the limited understanding of multiculturalism at the beginning of the semester to their gradual in depth study of cross cultural activities, as participating teachers became more aware of who they are, they became more observers of their own perspectives and those of their colleagues. Believing that implementing multicultural education is an effective way to promote students' social and academic achievements, they became convinced that creating this type of learning environment is their moral and ethical obligation. In the final implementation paper, all the 12 participating teachers drew up their plans for the implementation of multicultural education in their classrooms, mainly focusing on the following three aspects: (1) attitudes towards teaching and students’ learning; (2) selection and use of teaching materials; and (3) ways and activities to promote multicultural education.

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In their future action plans, the first aspect emphasized by most participating teachers is their teaching attitudes and beliefs. They stated that the first thing they are to do is to get to know about their students and respect them as different individuals. They would assist the students to demonstrate their full potentials by providing them with a positive and caring environment and supporting their individual needs. The teachers noted that they would be transparent and authentic to their students, appreciate diversity, and create an inclusive classroom. They would also try to become acquainted with other cultures and become more aware of the cultural differences in nonverbal behaviors and gestures to serve the students effectively. They also mentioned that they would use appropriate scaffolds to differentiate instruction and modify their ways of teaching to suit the special requirements of individual students to facilitate their improvement.

A special education teacher stated that self actualization would be the catalyst for implementing free growth. He claimed that specific personalized support for special students must be taken into action. He presented, “I will guide my students to explore and celebrate exceptional talents, providing opportunities for them to share and demonstrate their unique knowledge and interests with peers in the general education classroom. But much like a parent removes the training wheels from their child’s bike, my students, after appropriate instruction, will also be expected to take independent steps to discover what they are capable of accomplishing on their own. I strongly believe that a policy of freedom will result in the most comprehensive inclusion in society since students gain confidence and become empowered to direct their own future” (Participating Teacher’s Implementation Paper).

The participating teachers also indicated that they would stay approachable for the students to talk to if they need someone to listen and help students think critically about sensitive issues such as racism, classism, and sexism. Further, the teachers stated that they are eager to learn and understand youth culture, get to know about different age groups to help students manage their age related behaviors. They also highlighted constant reflection on themselves, their biases, attitudes, the practices and methods chosen, and what they bring into their

Attitudes towards teaching and students’ learning

Participating teachers’ implementation plans

She held that this would enable students from different cultures to integrate their kitchen and family traditions into the classroom, providing more multicultural opportunities. Ways and activities to promote multicultural education In their action plans, the participating teachers also included various ways and activities which may help facilitate multicultural education in their classrooms.

To help students learn about other cultures, one of the teachers planned to link stories to a globe. She noted that for primary pupils, by showing them where they are on the globe, teachers can teach them different continents and describe how they are different from people living in other places speaking different languages, eating different foods, and practicing different religions. Several teachers noted that simulations and role playing allow students to get out of their comfort zone and develop empathy with others, thus promoting higher

To know more about students, some teachers planned to involve students in writing assignments, which cannot just help them understand students’ thinking patterns and tendencies, but also helps students improve their writing skills. Also, they mentioned relating life struggles in the literature to students’ real life, making them feel comfortable sharing their own stories and struggles of their family life. Further, using the Internet such as creating a “Google Classroom” to provide students with opportunities to share their unique immigration stories privately or publicly was also proposed.

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classrooms. Selection and use of teaching materials Regarding teaching content and curricula, all the participating teachers expressed in their plans that they would try to include the experiences, cultures, and histories of diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious groups, avoid mainstream centric curricula, and reflect on curricula and teaching materials constantly, making sure not to blindly accept educational materials and policies that seem discriminatory, outdated, or unfair to students. For example, one of the teachers stated that she would introduce her students to learning materials created by people from diverse backgrounds, make the materials she teaches engaging and meaningful to her students, and include them in discussions so that they can interact with their learning.

A teacher of special education noted in her plan that special education teachers usually work with a small caseload of students who have math, science, social studies, language arts, and electives. Based on the characteristics of different subjects she planned to adopt different approaches to multicultural education. For mathematics and science, she would incorporate real life scenarios into teaching and connect students’ backgrounds to help improve their understanding and engagement with the materials. Current events would be included in social studies to emphasize contemporary social dynamics. She believed involving students in reading literature related to their upbringing and personal experiences in language arts class could significantly increase their engagement and interest and also boost their confidence in their reading abilities. When it came to teaching electives such as cooking, she shared that she would choose a different cultural background as the weekly focus, introducing the culture, food and the reasons why the food may be cooked in certain ways.

Discussion, Limitation and Recommendation

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level engagement and understanding of how other cultural groups may differ from their own. Another teacher planned to organize eye opening sessions on stereotypes, racism, sexism, and sexual orientations and to hold international or ethnic festivals or multi cultural expositions where families can share their native cuisine, traditional costume, music, and dance. He also proposed inviting students’ family members or guest lecturers from diverse backgrounds to the classroom to introduce their cultures and traditions to students. In his view, genuine interaction is the best approach and working collaboratively with parents and communities is an important step. One of the participating teachers planned to have students research and present different occurrences happening around the world, which would offer them opportunities to connect what they are learning with the real world and life. Similarly, another teacher stated in her plan that letting students research music of different cultures could be an extremely powerful tool to help them understand various traditions and ideas of people in multiple cultures. One of the teachers stated that in order to ensure fair and meaningful learning opportunities for students, teachers need to apply different tools to enhance diversity, such as arranging classrooms accommodating different learners, diversifying images and content on bulletin boards, posters, and other visible materials, celebrating events and festivals of different cultures, imparting life skills to students through hands on activities, etc. He noted that teachers need to “continuously raise their consciousness and stay current on issues of diversity. To help promote multicultural education, it is also important that teachers keep learning for their own personal and professional growth” (Participating Teacher’s Implementation Paper).

Diverse students seeking education in the United States have different characteristics compared with their peers in the dominant society. It is demanded that multicultural education be implemented to help improve the academic achievements of those students from diverse cultural backgrounds (Banks, 1999; Apple, 2011). However, due to various factors, the implementation of multicultural education has been difficult. Multicultural education needs more insights and appreciations, especially from educators. The purpose of schooling is to cultivate the innate curiosity of human beings about the world around them and hand down the fundamental tools needed to fully explore and participate in it. However, the teaching strategies will not be truly effective unless the students have the stability of believing that they are accepted, safe, included, and have an advocate with their best interest at heart. This requires teachers to eliminate bias, tolerate and embrace diversity, and thus examine their own taken for granted perceptions and transform them into perspectives of Themulticulturalism.purposeofthis study is to investigate how may a semester long course on diversity provide in service teachers opportunities to examine their prior perspectives on multicultural issues and transform their perspectives and practices. The findings suggest that participating teachers’ reflection is an important component of teachers’ professional development and

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transformation. In addition, the social norms of the classroom provided the participating teachers opportunities to emancipate themselves from fears of being evaluated by their classmates and/or their instructor. This situated learning environment afforded the teachers to critically reflect on who they are, how they feel, why they think and act the way they do, and what they should do as educators in the current era of diversity. These emancipatory critical reflections were crucial steps for teachers to understand their own biases and transform their perspectives and practices. As Grundy (1987) states, “Moving from being uncritical to critical and from being ahistorical to a subject who sees his/her work within a historical framework, require not growth but transformation of consciousness. This is not a process of steady development, but a transformation which might best be called professionalization. This does not imply a spontaneous transformation from constrained to liberated subjects. Rather, it is a process of transformation in which knowledge and action are dialectically related through the mediation of critical reflection” (Grundy, 1987, p.191).

Our research findings support Grundy’s statement. The classroom discussions and activities invited the participating teachers to cross the boundary of their own familiar cultures and enter into unfamiliar territories. This crossing of boundary is a significant step towards changing their own classroom culture and hence impacting the current structure of their schools.

The limitation of this study is that it is context specific and therefore cannot be generalized. Besides, the 15 week course was insufficient for follow up observational studies on the participating teachers' implementation of their plans which requires further reflection, adjustment, and evaluation. Therefore, future research is needed on teachers' practical implementation of multicultural education in their classrooms and school buildings. We also recommend research on collaboration among emerging teachers, experienced teachers, and university professors for planning, instruction, and assessment relative to multicultural education. Conclusion In this study, we examined 12 in service teachers’ perspectives on multicultural issues. We described the transformation of their perspectives and practices as they took a semester long course on diversity. The findings of the study can be useful and beneficial for other teachers and scholars relative to teaching, learning and educational research in similar contexts. Teachers’ professional development, establishing classroom social norms conducive to multicultural classrooms, critical reflections, and building a caring relationship with students are essential components of educational equity. Do existing school structures provide teachers with opportunities to engage in meaningful discussions and dialogues regarding multicultural issues? Do current school curricula include all students’ cultural and social activities? From our perspective, reflections and discussions regarding the above questions among teachers are vital for creating learning opportunities for all students in multicultural school settings. Reconstructing current school structures and curricula is a necessary step towards inclusive, democratic, open, and emancipatory education.

Meng Yan is a second-year doctoral student of learning and development in urban education at Cleveland State University. Her current research interests include curriculum development and instruction, teacher student relationship, motivation, parenting style and student well being. She is also interested in second language acquisition, bilingualism, and the relationship between language and thought.

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About the Authors: Roland G. Pourdavood is a professor of mathematics education at Cleveland State University, Department of Teacher Education. His research interests include mathematics teachers’ dialogue and reflection for transformation and school reform. In addition, he focuses on cultural diversity, socio cultural aspects of education, and emancipatory action research for personal and social praxis.

For our participating teachers, moving from a passive member to a pro active member of their school community, moving from being non confrontational to a critical teacher was a dialectic process. Grundy (1987) calls this process “transformation of consciousness”. This transformation is non linear and complex, and it requires an on going professional development and support. Future research may focus on an on going partnership between higher education institutions and public schools for sustaining this culture of “professionalization”.

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Abstract. The purpose of this study was to verify the consistency between the qualitative entries and quantitative ratings of the Teaching Internship evaluation document through Consistency Verification Analysis (CVA), a proposed novel method offered by the investigators to explore the consistency of the two parts of the evaluation forms. Twenty two evaluation forms were collected from the internship portfolios of the Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSE) English graduates across the five batches as the main data. Since the two datasets analyzed in the study were quantitative and qualitative data, the convergent parallel design, a mixed methods design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011) was adopted as the research design of the study. Detailed analysis of the data obtained has identified weaknesses as well as verified inconsistent cases between the two main parts of the evaluation forms. A focus group interview with the cooperating teachers or evaluators was conducted to provide an explanation of such cases of inconsistency. The findings may provide awareness for cooperating teachers and Teacher Education Institution (TEI) professors with insight into an effective way of completing the evaluation forms and also for a possible internship curriculum revision.

Teachers William D. Magday, Jr. and Issra Pramoolsook Suranaree University of Technology Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand

Keywords: evaluation forms; consistency verification; teacher education program; pre service teachers; teaching internship portfolio 1. Introduction In the Philippines, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that offer undergraduate Teacher Education Programs (TEPs) continuously train future teachers to perform their functions and sustain excellence and quality in education (Higher Education Act 1994). It is stipulated in the Commission on Higher Education Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 30, s. 2004 that the undergraduate TEPs need to keep pace with intricacies of global development and to adjust to the evolving nature of education curriculum. Accordingly, the policies and standards for TEPs should be improved to uphold “highest

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Consistency Verification between Qualitative Entries and Quantitative Ratings in the Teaching Evaluation Forms of Filipino Pre-service

1.1 Internship Portfolio

The internship portfolio is a very relevant document to have at various points in the teaching practices of the pre service teachers. It is a package of internship experiences that encourages the student teachers to reflect on the approach to teaching and how this may have evolved over time. It also helps to reflect on the teaching and related activities over the internship course and reinforce their worth as future teachers A teaching portfolio is an opportunity to synthesize and publicize an individual’s work of self assessment, reflection, and analysis on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of his/her own teaching practice. This concept is necessary because others may not intuitively understand how a particular activity, publication, or process demonstrates the teaching philosophy and provides support for student learning (Smith, 2006).

In the Philippine context, all undergraduate curricula in the Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) include the internship portfolio as one of the requirements for the Teacher Education Programs (TEPs). The Teaching Internship grade is based on the following scoring criteria: a) Portfolio 40%, b) On Campus 20%, c) Off Campus 30%, and d) Attendance/Participation 10%. The internship portfolio is expected to have the ten components:1) Table of Contents, 2) Prayer of a Student

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standards of objectives, components, and processes of teacher education curriculum” (CMO, 2004, p. 1).

The Teacher Education Program (TEP) in the Philippines is the teaching and training provided to pre service teachers before they become in service teachers and undertake any teaching related work. The Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSE) is one of the baccalaureate programs under TEP that has curricular components which are General Education courses, Professional Education courses, and Specialization/Content courses. One of the valuable components of these programs is the Experiential Learning Courses (ELC) having six units of Field Study (FS) courses and another six units of Teaching Internship (CMO, 2004). Teaching internship is an integral part of the teacher education program which is geared towards preparing the student teachers into the teaching profession. In the Teaching Internship course, the student teachers are deployed in public secondary schools and undertake teacher related training under the supervision of their respective cooperating teachers. Aside from the cooperating teachers, the head teachers and the school principals also supervise the student teachers during the Teaching Internship course. This group of in service teachers ensures that the student teachers participate actively in school related activities and project a noble image at all times by observing DepEd’s Code of Ethics, proper dress code, and punctuality in all activities (Department of Education [DepEd] Order, 2007).Teaching internship has usually a 3 month duration, which exposes interns to actual classroom situations and offers their cooperating teachers and evaluators the opportunity to observe them and see how they handle situations in the classroom (CMO, 2017a). No teacher education students are allowed to graduate without finishing the required number of hours for the Teaching Internship course and accomplishing the requirements, one of which is the internship portfolio, where evaluation form is one of its components.

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Teacher, 3) Resumé, 4) Description of Cooperating School, 5) Lesson Plans, 6) Teaching Journals, 7) Evaluation Forms, 8) The Sample of Learners’ Works, 9) Professional Readings and References, and 10) Pictures (CMO, 2004).

1) college supervisors from a Teacher Education Institution (TEI), where the student teachers take their education courses, and 2) in service teachers from the cooperating schools where the student teachers undergo Teaching Internship course (CMO, 2017a) However, inconsistencies are identified in this internship document because quantitative ratings do not conform with the qualitative entries of the evaluators of the evaluation forms. Thus, there is a need to verify the consistency of this document to avoid confusion on the part of the student teachers when they produce other subsequent documents during the internship process, which are lesson plans for the next demonstration teaching and teaching journals, a reflective narration of teaching experiences. To realize this, there must be an approach to verify the data presented in the two parts of the evaluation forms and that is the consistency verification method. According to Veregin (2000), consistency verification is a test performed to determine if there are conflicts between the two variables. The main purpose of the consistency verification is to determine consistencies and inconsistencies of the data. This approach is extensively used in statistics, geography and computer programming. The investigators did not find any studies in the literature using this analysis method in the field of teacher education or even linguistics specifically using the student teachers’ evaluation forms as the main data. However, considering the purpose of this approach, the investigators firmly believe that this could be an academically suitable method to verify whether the quantitative ratings and qualitative entries provided by the evaluators of the forms are consistent or not. Thus, the investigators proposed a new method of analyzing the two parts of an internship document, the evaluation form, in

1.2 Evaluation Form as an Internship Document An evaluation form was adopted from CHED and DepEd’s Experiential Learning Courses Handbook (see Appendix B, footnote), and has two main components which are (a) the quantitative part of the evaluation in which the evaluators provide the numerical ratings based on the six competencies, i.e. 1. Teacher’s Personality, 2. Lesson Planning, 3. Content, 4. Teaching Methods, 5. Classroom Management, and 6. Questioning Skills of the student teachers; (b) the qualitative part in which the evaluators write their observations and recommendations based on the teaching performance of student teachers. This part has three components (a) Strengths, (b) Weaknesses, and (d) Recommendations (CMO, 2004; CMO, 2017b; CMO, 2017a). The quantitative ratings are based on a scoring system, which is 1.0 1.25 as Outstanding (O), 1.50 1.75 as Very Satisfactory (VS), 2.00 2.25 as Satisfactory (S), 2.50 2.75 as Fair (F), and 3.00 5.00 as Poor (P). In a final demonstration teaching, the student teacher is expected to have a score of at least a ‘very satisfactory’ rating. Such form serves as a mirror of the student teacher to have a self reflection and self evaluation to improve his performance in the next teaching task. There are two groups of evaluators who complete such form during demonstration teaching:

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2. What are the quantitative ratings scored by the evaluators in the student teachers’ evaluation forms?

This study was primarily anchored on the Theory of Constructivism by Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky (DeVries, 2000) and the Framework for 21st Century Learning. It was further directed to the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers as basis of the standards for teaching competence.

1. What are the qualitative entries written by the evaluators in the student teachers’ evaluation forms?

In the literature of teacher training studies, only a few studies on observation sheets used in evaluating the teaching performance of the pre service teachers have been conducted (Gonzalez, 2005; Genc & Buyukkarci, 2013; Devos, 2014; Subban & Round, 2015), and no study has reported to verify the consistency of the evaluators’ writing comments and the corresponding ratings or scores of such form. The present study, therefore, attempted to contribute a piece of new knowledge to teacher education studies and a new methodological effort for linguistic analysis by verifying the consistency between the qualitative entries and quantitative ratings of the evaluation forms within the discipline of Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSE) English. The objectives of this study, therefore, translates into three particular research questions:

1.4 Framework of the Study

1.3 The Gap, Purpose and Question

Furthermore, this study is also anchored on the Framework for 21st Century Learning, which describes the skills and knowledge learners need for long term development and success in work, life and citizenship, as well as the support

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A student centered pedagogy implies a critical role of the teachers. In a constructivist classroom, the teacher is a facilitator and is mostly responsible for creating and maintaining a collaborative problem solving environment where students are allowed to construct their own knowledge. According to McPhail (2017), the teachers under constructivism need to reflect on their own practices and apply these ideas into their work. Thus, this theory greatly influenced the objectives of this study considering that the student teachers as the main participants would also become the cooperating teachers of the next interns.

3. How consistent are the evaluators’ quantitative ratings and qualitative entries on the evaluation forms produced by the cooperating teachers and college supervisors?

terms of their consistency: the Consistency Verification Analysis (CVA).

The Theory of Constructivism is the most important theory in teaching and learning (Dagar & Yadav, 2016). It was the anchor of this investigation because its objective was not to set standards but to look into probable areas for the improvement of teachers based on the set standards aided by their learning experiences (DeVries, 2000). Above all, educational reforms were all aimed for the students to succeed wherein the students must be the focus of teaching (Filatova, 2015) Kuter and Özer (2020) pointed out that constructivism has shifted in pedagogy from teacher focused to student focused.

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In recent years, there have been a considerable number of research studies (Stuart & Thurlow, 2000; Liou, 2001; Boz & Boz, 2006; Ogonor & Badmus, 2006; Hong, 2010; Ng, Nicholas & Williams, 2010; Hollins, 2011; Biesta, 2012; De Beer, Petersen, & Dunbar Krige, 2012; Timoštšuk & Ugaste, 2012; Yuan & Lee, 2014; Beltman, Glass, Dinham, Chalk & Nguyen 2015; De Vries, Jansen, Helms Lorenz, Van de Grift, 2015; Hsieh, 2016; Ulla, 2016; Gravett, De Beer, Odendaal Kroon, Merseth, 2017; Ramsaroop & Gravett, 2017; Besa, Cabrera & Diaz, 2018; Nilsson & Nilsson, 2019; Tindowen, Bangi & Parallag, 2019) that explored various dimensions of the teaching internship experiences, from student teachers’ beliefs and perceptions to the issues and challenges they face within the internship Theseprocess.reported studies examining internship experiences have focused on roles, experiences, teaching methods, views and expectations of student teachers, college supervisors as well as cooperating teachers for teaching and learning different subjects. One thing in common in these studies is that student teaching has significant and positive effects on teacher outcomes. It is a cornerstone of teacher preparation, which provides opportunities for student teachers to link theory and practice (Zeichner, 2002; Ronfeldt & Reininger, 2012) Within this large body of research, it is surprising that few studies focused on the evaluation form or observation sheet used in evaluating the teaching performance of the student teachers (Gonzalez, 2005; Genc & Buyukkarci, 2013; Devos, 2014; Subban & Round, 2015), and no study has reported to verify the consistency of the evaluators’ writing comments and the corresponding ratings or scores of such form.

3. Methods This section presents the research design, corpus management, analysis process, and inter rater reliability of the study.

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Finally, the study is linked to the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST). In the K to 12 Program of the Department of Education (DepEd), this is the quality assurance instrument assessing the competence of teachers in line with the national educational standards (DepEd Order, 2017) Through this instrument, the teacher will be able to cultivate his or her ability to identify students’ particular learning styles, intelligences, strengths and weaknesses (P21 Framework for 21st Century Learning, 2015). Thus, the theory of constructivism and teacher quality assurance instruments must work together to complete the process of seeking improvements in the 21st century teaching and learning framework.

2. Previous Studies on Pre-service Teaching Experiences

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. systems necessary for 21st century learning outcomes. It is a blend of content knowledge, specific skills, expertise and literacies. Moreover, this enables the 21st century professional learning communities for teachers that model the kinds of classroom learning that best promote the 21st century skills and the role of teachers to teach the students (P21 Framework for 21st Century Learning, 2015).

3.2 Corpus The first step to get hold of the internship portfolios produced by the BSE English graduates from Batch 2014 to Batch 2018, in which the evaluation forms are packaged as one of the components, was to distribute the request letters asking for permission to the College of Teacher Education (CTE) Dean, and Secondary Education Department Chair of the Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU), Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines. Unfortunately, the investigators were notified that the only accessible internship portfolios were those produced by Batch 2018 BSE English graduates. Nonetheless, the Form Verification

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Figure 1. The research process using the convergent mixed-parallel design

3.1 Research Design

With the purpose of validation, the investigators triangulated the methods by comparing and verifying the qualitative entries and quantitative ratings findings obtained in the evaluation forms. In the research process, two datasets from one internship document were obtained, analyzed separately, and verified together using Consistent Verification Analysis (CVA) if they were consistent or inconsistent. The research process in this study is given in Figure 1.

The study investigated one internship document that has two parts, which are the quantitative and qualitative sections. Thus, the convergent parallel design, a mixed methods design was adopted as the research design of the study. A convergent parallel design entails that the investigator concurrently conducts the quantitative and qualitative elements in the same phase of the research process, weighs the methods equally, analyzes the two components independently, and interprets the results together (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011).

A focus group interview with 9 evaluators in September 2019 was also conducted after the verification process. A request letter was sent to the concerned secondary school administrators asking permission to allow the investigators to officially enter the schools where the target interviewees work at. These interviewees were those who had cases of inconsistencies between the qualitative entries and quantitative ratings of the evaluation forms. Before the interview process, they were informed through email that the questions were focused on the inconsistencies identified in their evaluation forms and that their participation was voluntary. They all agreed to participate in the interview provided that their identity would not be disclosed. The interview was conducted after the consistency verification analysis because the questions were based on its findings. This is a way of assuring the validity of the findings through the use of a variety of methods to collect data on the same topic, which involves different types of samples as well as methods of data collection (Creswell, 2012).

Evaluation

Qualitative QuantitativeDataData CompareAnalyzeand

investigators were aware that TEP graduates produce three sets of internship portfolios wherein a copy is provided for the cooperating school, NVSU, and themselves as well. Thus, the investigators decided to visit the workplaces of the BSE English graduates of Batch 2014 to Batch 2017 and handed the request letters to borrow their internship portfolios. The internship portfolios were duly approved by the college supervisors, Department Chairs and College Dean and are accessible because these were produced by all BSE English senior students before they received their college diplomas. In another sense, the internship portfolios serve as the final product of the 4 year learning experiences of the education students. Thus, they are imperative data to be analyzed concerning the BSE English program offered in NVSU. The investigators used a convenience sampling method, and the evaluation forms were taken from the final demonstration teaching of the student teachers. Table 1 shows the number of BSE English internship portfolios selected from Batch 2014 to Batch 2018 and the actual sampling evaluation forms.

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2017

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2018 6 6

Total 22 22

Convenience sampling, following the concept of Dörnyei (2007), was used by the investigators because the participants were graduates of the BSE program, and it was impossible to find these individuals who are teaching in the different schools nationwide. Another reason was the only available internship portfolios filed in the college were those submitted by the Batch 2018 graduates. Thus, in order to collect the other portfolios, the investigators visited the work places of Batch 2014 to 2017 graduates who were conveniently available to take part in the study by lending their portfolios The total number of internship portfolios collected was 31. Since there were only 4 portfolios gathered from the Batch 2015 graduates, the investigators decided to have 4 from Batch 2014 to Batch 2017 and 6 from Batch 2018 as shown in Table 1. Twenty two evaluation forms were then selected as the total corpus size. According to McCarthy and Carter (2001), it is not always the number that matters, but the purpose why a corpus is explored. Thus, 22 evaluation forms across the five batches were enough to investigate in order to achieve the objectives of the current study. There were three intentions of including the BSE English graduates of Batch 2014 to Batch 2018 with different numbers of texts. First, for having six portfolios from Batch 2018, is that this group of students was the newest batch of graduates and the possible impact of the proposed pedagogical implications would be more timely and evident. Second, it is necessary to have a corpus size across the

2014 4 4 2015 4

Table 1. Number of internship portfolios and actual corpus selected

CorpusActual 4 4 4 4

Batch Portfolios

2016 4

4. Verifying the quantitative scores and qualitative entries

1. Investigating the quantitative data

To perform the Consistency Verification Analysis (CVA) between the qualitative entries and quantitative ratings of the evaluation forms, four steps were employed as proposed by the investigators:

The investigators identified the ratings given by the evaluators in each competency dimension by categorizing whether it is Outstanding (O), Very Satisfactory (VS), Satisfactory (S), Fair (F), or Poor (P). The scoring categories were shown in the evaluation forms.

In this final step, the investigators verified whether the qualitative entries were consistent or inconsistent with the ratings in the quantitative part of the evaluation forms. For example, if a qualitative entry written under the strengths part had at least a ‘very satisfactory’ rating in its corresponding sub competency of the quantitative part, that would be verified as consistent coded as C. However, if that entry had a rating lower than a ‘very satisfactory’ rating, it would be verified as inconsistent coded as I An example of how to apply verification check using VCA is presented next In the actual investigation, all of the 6 competencies and their constituent sub competencies were coded and their ratings were identified, but in the example below, only 1 competency and its

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The statements or sub competencies in the quantitative ratings were investigated to come up with a set of codes. These codes were based on the six expected teacher’s competencies of the quantitative part (see Appendix A) which are: C1 Teacher’s Personality, C2 Lesson Planning, C3 Content, C4 Teaching Methods, C5 Classroom Management, and C6 Questioning Skills. For instance, C1 has 5 sub competencies, so code C1A pertains to ‘Teacher’s Personality’ as competency 1 and ‘The teacher is neat and well groomed.’ as sub competency A (see Appendix B).

2. Identifying the ratings

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. five batches to elicit a kind of longitudinal data that are more reliable and could strengthen the findings of the investigation. Third, the investigators are aware that there is a reshuffle of the overall in charge of the Teaching Internship course every three years, so the student teachers receive different instruction from whoever the overall in charge during their Teaching Internship course, who is the Teaching Internship Chair.

3. Analyzing the qualitative entries

The qualitative entries composed by the evaluators in the second part of the evaluation forms were analyzed by the investigators. This part has three components, 1) Strengths, 2) Weaknesses, and 3) Recommendations. The Strengths part as its purpose suggests should have at least a VS rating to be verified as consistent, while the Weaknesses and Recommendations parts should have ratings below VS to be classified as consistent. The statements in each part were matched according to the codes and ratings that were identified in Step 1.

3.3 Analysis Process

Step 1: Investigating the quantitative data

Strengths She has a very good voice. She is commended on the way she read the story. All English teachers must have this kind of well modulated voice.

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Step 4: Verifying the quantitative scores and qualitative entries

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. sub competencies were presented. Extract from EF 9

3.4 Inter rater reliability To enhance the reliability of the findings, the services of two English language teachers from the cooperating school and teacher training college who have had a long experience in handling the Teaching Internship course and have linguistic sophistication (Crookes, 1986) were tapped to do the final scrutiny after the initial analysis of the investigators. Another inter rater was requested to do the same kind of analysis in case of disagreement among the investigators and two English language teachers, but since there were no cases of disagreement, the said inter rater was no longer needed. The results were compared following the standard simple agreement of Neuendorf (2002), which is a measuring procedure that yields the same repeated results on repeated trials. In this investigation, the inter raters and investigators unanimously agreed on the findings of the CVA, which as per Neuendorf’s (2002) rule of thumb, it displayed a high level of reliability. C1E O

Step 3: Analyzing the qualitative entries

It was verified as consistent because this entry coded as C1E had an ‘outstanding’ rating in its corresponding sub competency in the quantitative Alongpart. this line, the investigators admitted that the analysis did not take the factor of evaluators’ individual differences in the account. The investigation was only focused on the ratings and entries they accomplished in the forms. On account of this, after the consistency verification analysis of evaluation forms, the investigators conducted a focus group interview, as a form of triangulation to have a more reliable source of information. The investigators also utilized the codes, EF for Evaluation Form and numbers (1 22) for the 22 evaluation forms as reference numbers for the analysis. Thus, EF 1 to EF 4 data were from Batch 2014, EF 5 to EF 8 were Batch 2015, EF 9 to EF 12 were Batch 2016, EF 13 to EF 16 were Batch 2017, and EF 17 to EF 22 were Batch 2018.

The Teacher’s Personality competency was coded as C1. The 5 sub competencies underneath C1 were coded C1A, C1B, C1C, C1D, and C1E (see Appendix A).

Step 2: Identifying the ratings

The corresponding ratings of the 5 sub competencies in C1 were identified, i.e. C1A VS, C1B O, C1C VS, C1D VS, and C1E O.

145 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. 4. Findings and discussion Table 2. Consistency verification between the qualitative entries and quantitative ratings of evaluation forms EF Qualitative Quantitative Verification Strength Weakness Rec. Code Rating C I 1 Teacher’s personality C1D O  Content C3A O  Teaching method C4C O  managementClassroom C5C S  2 Content C3A O  Teacher’s personality C1A, C O  skillQuestioning C6A O  43 managementClassroom C5A S  5 Content C3B O  Teacher’s Personality C1E O  managementClassroom C5AB O  *Teaching method -technical problems C4 Questioning skill C6A VS  Teaching method C4C O  76 Content C3D O  Teaching method C4C VS  8 managementClassroom C5B O  Teaching method C4A,B O  9 Teacher’s personality C1E O  Teaching method C4C O  skillQuestioning C6A VS  Lesson planning C2B O  10 Teacher’s personality C1A O  Lesson planning C2A O  11 managementClassroom C5B VS  12 Content C3A O  Teaching method C4C O  13 skillQuestioning C6G O  Teacher’s personality C1E O  1514 Lesson planning C2A,B O  Content C3A S  16 Teaching method C4A,C S 

Table 2 shows that there were 38 qualitative entries, and out of the 22 evaluation forms, 5 did not have qualitative entries. These forms had only congratulatory messages from the evaluators as shown in the excerpts.

Legend: C Consistent, I Inconsistent, C1 Teacher’s Personality, C2 Lesson Planning, C3 Content, C4 Teaching Method, C5 Classroom Management, C6 Questioning Skill, O Outstanding, VS Very Satisfactory, S Satisfactory, F Fair, * new sub competency

146 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. 17 Content C3D O  18 skillQuestioning C6A S  2019 Teaching method C4A O  skillQuestioning C6BF O  2221 Teacher’s personality C1B F  Questioning skill C6E O 

Congratulations! Welcome to the world of teachers. (EF 3) Congratulations. You did a great job. Pass the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) and be a professional English teacher. (EF 14) The excerpts illustrate that the evaluators congratulated the student teachers for their successful final demonstration teaching. This occurrence was also identified in some of the other evaluation forms that contained qualitative entries. Congratulatory messages are always part of every successful demonstration teaching. The only difference is that there were qualitative entries identified in those evaluation forms and these 5 forms had no entries at all. Thus, based on the purpose of this analysis that is to verify the consistency between the qualitative entries and quantitative ratings of the evaluation forms, if there are no qualitative entries, it is no longer necessary to do consistency verification.

The only possible outcome of this occurrence is that there are no guides for the student teachers in producing the other components of the internship portfolio, i.e. lesson plans and teaching journals. In the focus interview of which two of the participants were those who did not write anything in the qualitative section, Evaluator 3 explained that the time was not enough for her to summarize all the comments and suggestions of the other evaluators. This response was not expected, however, and the reason for this is the lack of time because there are usually 5 or 6 student teachers evaluated in just a day. According to her, the evaluators were too tired to evaluate this amount of student teachers who did their demonstration teaching in a row. Evaluator 14, who did not also write any qualitative entry, even suggested that it would be better if there are only 2 to 3 demonstrators to be observed and evaluated in a day. The most striking feature of the interview, as recorded on the interview field note was they were surprised when they were told that the student teachers did not write much on their teaching journals because there were no qualitative entries in the evaluation forms.

There were 26 consistent entries, 6 for each of the Teacher’s Personality (C1) and Content (C3) competencies, 5 for each of the Teaching Method (C4) and the Classroom Management (C5), 3 were Lesson Planning (C2), and 1 was Questioning Skill (C6). Excerpts from the evaluation forms are presented.

The results are interesting in several ways. First, out of the 38 qualitative entries, 1 did not match in any of the sub competencies of Teaching Methods. Second, 8 were verified as inconsistent with their corresponding quantitative ratings. Finally, 26 were found consistent with their respective ratings. An interesting finding which requires the creation of a new coding/category that could lead to an addition of another sub competency was found in the qualitative entry of Evaluation Form 5, which was under the Teaching Methods competency. It did not match any of the 4 sub competencies of the Teaching Methods (see Appendix A). The teacher is commended for having a Plan B when the power went off. (EF 5) Since the above excerpt was not part of the 4 sub competencies underneath Teaching Methods, the investigators propose an additional statement, which will be coded as C4E, ‘The teacher taught the topic successfully even if there were unexpected issues, i.e. technical problems, power outage, etc.’. This statement should be added as part of the Teaching Methods competency because there are circumstances that power outage or technical issues might happen during the demonstration teaching of the student teachers. The following section details the findings on the verified consistent entries.

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Through a background check, Evaluator 3 had started supervising student teachers since 2012, two years before the occurrence of such phenomenon, and Evaluator 14 had just supervised student teachers for only one year before the conduct of the study. The other two evaluators (Evaluators 19 and 21), who did not have qualitative entries, were newly hired teachers from the private schools. This could mean that these concerned in service teachers might not be aware of their functions as cooperating teachers/evaluators and the importance of the qualitative entries to the teaching journals of the student teachers. Out of curiosity, the investigators reviewed the guidelines on the selection of a cooperating teacher stipulated in a DepEd Order in which the first criterion reads, ‘a. has at least 3 years of teaching experience;’ (DepEd Order, 2007)

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The findings imply that before in service teachers would become cooperating teachers, it would be better if they must have at least 3 years of teaching experience in public/government school. Thus, the first criterion of the guidelines must be ‘a. has at least 3 years of teaching experience in public schools;’. The 3 year span is long enough for the in service teachers to be apprised of their functions and responsibilities as cooperating teachers of the student interns/teachers. The results also point to the probability that the whole guidelines must likely to be revisited for a possible revision.

4.1 Findings on the consistent entries

3) The teacher’s energy motivated the students to participate actively in the discussion. (EF 5) The quantitative rating of this entry was ‘outstanding’ in the fourth sub competency of Teacher’s Personality competency, which was verified as consistent.

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2) The teacher is well groomed and has a very strong personality. (EF 2) This consistent entry had ‘outstanding’ ratings for both A and C sub competencies of the Teacher’s Personality competency.

7) The teacher is very knowledgeable about the topic. A lot of relevant ideas were included in the discussion. (EF 1) 8) She displayed mastery of the lesson. (EF 2)

6) Avoid distracting mannerisms like pinching the bridge of your nose. (EF 22) This entry was identified beneath the Weakness section and coded as C1B, in which Student Teacher 22 got a Fair rating that made it consistent.

4.1.1 Teacher’s Personality

4.1.2 Content

10) The teacher is commended for giving more examples in every query of the students. (EF 7) 11) The teacher answered all the questions of the students, which manifests that she displays in depth knowledge of the subject matter. (EF 12) These qualitative entries were identified in the Strength section of the evaluation forms and were rated ‘outstanding’ in their corresponding quantitative ratings, which verified as consistent.

14) Instructional materials helped the teacher to discuss the topic efficiently. (EF 7)

5) The teacher has a very professional look. (EF 10) It was coded C1A and verified consistent because the student teacher’s rating was ‘outstanding’

13) The teacher used different colored papers in every activity. (EF 1)

1) The teacher is very energetic. (EF 1) This qualitative entry, which was coded C1D, was under the Strength part of the evaluation form. The student teacher got an ‘outstanding’ rating, hence this entry was verified as consistent.

9) The teacher related the subject matter to real life situations. The students were able to share their actual experiences. (EF 5)

12) The teacher is advised to discuss the difference between Prose and Poetry as part of the topic. The students did not understand well the topic because the two major types of literature were not discussed thoroughly. (EF 15) The ‘satisfactory’ rating was found in the first sub competency of Content (C3A), which was verified as consistent. This entry was located in the Recommendation section of the evaluation form’s qualitative part.

4) She has a very good voice. She is commended on the way she read the story. All English teachers must have this kind of well modulated voice (EF 9) This was coded as C1E and rated ‘outstanding’, thus verified as consistent. The evaluator indeed appreciated the voice of the Student Teacher 9 because of the inclusion of the smiley () symbol in the entry.

4.1.3 Teaching Method

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20) The teacher should arrange the visual aids according to their right order. She picked the wrong material (answer key) instead of the questions that made her students laugh. (EF 1) 21) It would be a great idea to ask questions by saying ‘Put your hand up if you can tell me.’ rather than encouraging everyone to shout out their response. That scenario made your students noisy. Call their attention. (EF 4) The ratings of these entries (C5C and C5B) that are identified in the Recommendation section were ‘satisfactory’, thus consistent.

15) The audio visual aids, especially the ICT tools, motivated the students to participate actively in the discussion. (EF 9)

19) You had full control of the class. Your students were all attentive. You maintained the classroom discipline. (EF 8) These entries, coded C5AB and C5B, were located in the Strength section of the qualitative part, and both were rated ‘outstanding’ .

4.1.5 Lesson Planning

17) The teaching styles of the teacher were very effective. They [students] enjoyed the activities. (EF 20) These qualitative entries were all written in the Strength section, and their corresponding quantitative ratings were ‘very satisfactory’ and ‘outstanding’ They were all verified as consistent.

18) The teacher was very organized. He had room rules for the students to follow. Great classroom management. (EF 5)

23) The objectives resembled all the activities of the lesson. Congrats! (EF 9) 24) Lesson objectives were met. (EF 10) 25) A well planned lesson. The objectives were written following the subject matter, procedure, group activities, among others. (EF 15) These entries were all verified as consistent because their corresponding ratings in the quantitative part were ‘outstanding’. They were all identified in the Strength section of the qualitative part.

4.1.6 Questioning Skill 26) Be attentive to the students’ responses to your questions. I bet most of them did not get what you wanted them to know. Ask more questions to probe their understanding. (EF 18) Excerpt 37 shows that the entry was written in the Recommendation section of the qualitative part. C5A’s rating was ‘satisfactory’, which is considered to be a low score in a demonstration teaching. Thus, this entry was verified as consistent. In the following section, the details of the findings on the verified

16) Congratulations! You are an epitome of a 21st century teacher who is well versed at teaching using technology. Your modified Kangaroo and Plants versus Zombies computer games made your class a hi tech ESL learning environment. (EF 12)

22) You did a great job of managing the class. Your setting of standards activity was effective in disciplining the students. (EF 11) This qualitative entry written in the Strength section corresponds to C5B in the quantitative part that had a ‘very satisfactory’ rating.

4.1.4 Classroom Management

There were 11 verified inconsistent entries, which were classified into 4 competencies. One was verified for each of the Teacher’s Personality (C1) and Content (C3), 3 were identified in Teaching Methods (C4) competency, and 6 in Questioning Skills (C6) competency.

27) The teacher spoke in an unmodulated voice. She lacks variation of tone and volume. (EF 13) This entry was coded as C1E, and the evaluator gave an ‘outstanding’ rating. It was identified that the entry was written in the Weakness section, but the student teacher got an ‘outstanding’ score. Thus, it was verified as inconsistent.

31) ‘Visual aids helped the teacher in teaching the topic. ICT tools motivated them as well.’ (EF 16) This entry that was written in the Strength section, coded as C4C, was verified inconsistent because its rating was ‘satisfactory’. The upshot of this finding is the possibility that a matrix that shows both the quantitative ratings and qualitative entries can at least prevent such inconsistency. The summarized quantitative ratings could somehow serve as a guide of the evaluators while completing the qualitative part of the evaluation forms. Moreover, since it is a form widely used

150 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. inconsistent entries are presented.

4.2.3 Teaching Method 29) The teacher relied much on reading the story from the book. Use [student teacher] instructional materials like television or projected screen in this scenario. (EF 5) 30) Your teaching strategies were not appropriate for the students who are only Grade 7; [sic] too difficult for them. (EF 8) These entries (C4C and C4AB) were written in the Weakness section of the qualitative part, but their ratings were verified as ‘outstanding’. During the interview, Evaluator 5, upon realizing this result, stated that the comments must be in accordance with the ratings, and suggested that the evaluators should be very careful in accomplishing the forms, which concurs well with the purpose of the current investigation.

4.2 Findings on the inconsistent entries

4.2.1 Teacher’s Personality

28) The teacher should give more examples of lines from the poem with their rhymes and meters to guide the students in the poem's scansion activity. (EF 17) The rating of the student teacher in C3D was ‘outstanding’, thus this entry identified in the Recommendation section was verified inconsistent. Evaluator 17 was one of the participants during the interview, and although it was not an easy task to show the finding to this evaluator, the investigators were allowed to do such with her permission. When the investigators showed the entry that she wrote and its inconsistent corresponding quantitative rating in C3D, she smiled and was a little bit astonished. This response has further strengthened the finding that this entry was indeed inconsistent with the rating shown in C3D. This finding would seem to imply that carelessness in accomplishing or unfamiliarity with the evaluation form could somehow be considered as the culprits of such inconsistency.

4.2.2 Content

4.2.4 Questioning Skill

35) The teacher should employ more strategies like games, songs, etc. Avoid the lecture method. (EF 20) 36) The teacher must encourage the students to ask questions. (EF 13) 37) The teacher’s art of questioning needs improvement. Give follow up questions when needed. (EF 22) These 6 entries were written in the Weakness and Recommendation sections of the evaluation forms, and 4 of them were marked ‘outstanding’ while 2 were ‘very satisfactory’. These ratings are considered high scores for the final demonstration teachings of the student teachers as stated previously. Out of the 11 qualitative entries that were verified inconsistent with their corresponding ratings, 6 or 54.5% were identified under the Questioning Skill competency. This suggests that there is a need to pay more attention to the statements or sub competencies of Questioning Skill competency for a possible modification.

Evaluators 9 and 2 in the focus group interview frankly detailed that the evaluation forms are not user friendly. When the participants were asked about the reasons why there were identified inconsistencies between their qualitative entries and quantitative ratings, the main themes that emerged were a) Teaching experience, b) Too broad statements (sub competencies), and c) Number of Tdemonstrators.hus,theresults indicate that it is necessary to revise the guidelines on the selection of cooperating teachers (DepEd Order, 2007), which focuses on the number of teaching experience in the government secondary schools. As for the sub competencies in the quantitative part of the evaluation forms, it is necessary to modify such statements. A revision of the sub competencies in the quantitative part of the evaluation form is deemed necessary by paying more attention to Questioning Skill competency since it was found that out of the 11 inconsistent entries, 6 or 54.5% was identified in this competency. However, since this is a nationwide evaluation form, the investigators will present the findings to the concerned TEI professors and student teaching supervisors, and all of them will work as one team to reword or rephrase the sub competencies of the evaluation form. The revision will be shown to the TEI Dean and concerned authorities and, finally, be submitted to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for review. This matches well with the study of Del Vecchio and Matsuura (2016) that critically reviewed the existing evaluation form of the Teaching Internship Program of Nihon University, in which the authors identified some problems of the form, thus created a more organized observation form to be used by the cooperating teachers in evaluating the

151 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. by the TEIs, it is not easy to just carry out any possible modification, so a proper forum with the concerned evaluators and administrators be organized for the improvement of the evaluation form’s statements or sub competencies.

32) It is suggested that you should ask more questions for a better understanding of the lesson. Don’t be contented in throwing one question repetitively. (EF 2) 33) The teacher should give follow up questions regarding the answer/response of the students. (EF 9) 34) It would be better if you could engage your students to participate in the activity. Motivate them to accomplish the tasks actively. (EF 5)

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The majority of the interviewees also proposed that a seminar workshop for all the concerned evaluators and cooperating teachers might be of great help regarding this issue. This is also a possible action that is taken into consideration by the investigators of the current study. Before the deployment of the student teachers to their respective cooperating schools, an orientation program is organized for them. Thus, this seminar workshop for the concerned evaluators can also be done simultaneously. Finally, for the number of demonstrators in a day, the TEI and cooperating schools should lessen the number of student teachers who will have their final demonstration teachings in one day. In this case, a maximum of 3 demonstrators is recommended. Relative to this, Evaluator 13 stated that: “It was not easy to observe and evaluate 5 or even 6 demonstrators in one day. There were circumstances that we [evaluators] were confused about if these entries were really for [name hidden] or for the other student teachers. It was exhausting considering that we have other responsibilities in the school. I wish there will only be a lesser number this time [giggles].” (Evaluator 13, focus group interview, September 15, 2019) Based on the experiences of one of the investigators as a member of the supervising committee of the student teachers, this situation indeed happened in the demonstration teaching. However, for the consideration of the Evaluator 13’s appeal, it is suggested that a break must be given to the evaluators after every demonstration teaching for them to review, reorganize, and finalize the evaluation forms. As signposted in the interview field note, even if the investigators are not psychologists nor have enough training to read minds, the giggles and body language, which were coined as beyond words by Denham and Onwuegbuzie (2013), of the participant had something to depict. The Evaluator 13’s response and giggles coupled with body language sounded more of indirectly waking up the investigators and the concerned TEI professors to lessen the number of demonstrators in one day. Thus, the investigators designed a flowchart for the evaluators, which is presented in Figure 2.

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Figure 2. Evaluation flowchart

The function of the first step, Pre evaluation is to let the evaluators read and assess the demonstrators’ lesson plans since this is included in the evaluation forms (see Appendix A, Lesson Planning). This initial step is important so that during the demonstration teaching, the evaluators’ focus is not divided into observing the demonstrators and at the same time evaluating the detailed lesson plans that have normally 11 15 pages. Second is the Evaluation stage, where the evaluators observe the demonstration teaching of the student teachers. In this step, the main focus of the evaluators is to evaluate the performance of the demonstrators in terms of Teacher’s Personality, Content, Teaching Method, Classroom Management, and Questioning Skill using the evaluation forms. Since the lesson plans are already pre assessed in Step 1, there will be more time for the evaluators to pay attention to the demonstrators’ teaching. Finally, the Post evaluation, where the evaluators can have ample time to review, rewrite, and finalize the evaluation forms. A matrix, as suggested by the investigators previously, that shows both the quantitative ratings and qualitative entries can also be used in this stage. The evaluators can also talk to the student teachers in Preevaluation Evaluation Postevaluation

Figure 2 displays the 3 stages proposed by the investigators to somehow lessen the cases of inconsistency between the qualitative entries and their corresponding quantitative ratings of the evaluation forms. The usual practice of observing a demonstration teaching is that no pre evaluation is done. The evaluators immediately start observing and evaluating the demonstrators. Pre evaluation is not done because of time limitation (Evaluator 3) caused by several demonstrators in a day (Evaluator 13), which were reported earlier. This phenomenon supports the suggestion of Evaluator 14 who stated that 3 to 4 demonstrators in one day are much better for them to have some rest before observing another one and to finalize the evaluation forms as well. Thus, this flowchart is designed for the evaluators who will observe 3 to 4 student teachers’ demonstration teachings in one day.

For a clearer look, Figure 3 summarizes the comparison between the consistent and inconsistent entries found in the evaluation forms.

1

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C6C5C4C3C2C1

Inconsistent Consistent

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this stage to share their feedback about their teaching performances. In the final stage, a break is part of it that has a goal to give a rest time for the evaluators before observing another demonstrator. The investigators included a break in this stage after considering the appeal of Evaluator 13 that evaluators need a rest time before observing another one, and one of the investigators as a member of the supervising committee deemed it necessary because observing more than 2 demonstrators in one day is indeed a very tough job. After this stage, the evaluators are ready to observe and evaluate another demonstrator.

Figure 3. Comparison between the consistent and inconsistent entries

Figure 3 displays that if the inconsistent entries had a large number, the corresponding consistent entries would have a small number and vice versa. One best example was C6, in which there was only 1 verified consistent entry with its rating while there were 6 inconsistencies. It suggests that more attention should be given to C6 concerning the modification of its sub competencies. On the other hand, C1 and C3 had only 1 verified inconsistent entry with their ratings compared to 6 cases of consistency, which would seem to imply that C1 and C3 need less attention concerning the modification or rewording of their sub competencies. The same case is also applied to C2 and C5 competencies because there were no reported cases of inconsistency. Concerning the possible modification of the sub competencies of the quantitative part, it is recommended that a special meeting cum workshop should be organized with the TEI dean, department chairs, college supervisors and concerned cooperating teachers to discuss the findings of the study giving more emphasis on the words or phrases that need to be revised in the evaluation form. Since all TEIs in the Philippines are under the tutelage of the government’s school leaders, this modification should then be sent to the concerned DepEd and CHED officials for their approval. Also, a review of the guidelines on the selection of a cooperating teacher (DepEd Order, 2007) for a possible revision and the relevant interview responses of the 9 evaluators were also considered to be part of the 0 2 3 4 5 6 7

Legend: C1 Teacher’s Personality, C2 Lesson Planning, C3 Content, C4 Teaching Method, C5 Classroom Management, C6 Questioning Skill

5. Conclusion

Using Consistency Verification Analysis (CVA), a proposed novel method, and a focus group interview data, the investigators found that there are cases of inconsistency as well as consistency between the qualitative entries and their corresponding quantitative ratings of the evaluation forms. Such cases of inconsistency made it difficult for the student teachers to produce the other genres packaged in the internship portfolio, which are the lesson plans and teaching journals. Correspondingly, the evaluators also voiced out some concerns (i.e., time constraint, teaching overload and number of demonstrators in a day) through the focus group interview that could somewhat shed light on such cases of inconsistency in completing the form It can be concluded that a well completed evaluation form would yield a better internship portfolio, which has the highest percentage (40%) among the components of the Teaching Internship grade (CMO, 2004). Thus, this study in its own simple and unique way, could contribute to the major goal of the Teaching Internship Program, which is to provide student teachers a challenging, relevant and rewarding internship experience that will allow them to develop desirable professional interests, attitudes, ideals, character and skills.

The Guidelines on the Selection of a Cooperating Teacher (DepEd Order, 2007) should be revisited for a possible revision. A meeting with the concerned TEI professors and cooperating teachers is recommended to discuss the possible modifications of such guidelines, and a copy of the revision will be forwarded to the concerned DepEd officials for their perusal.

6. Pedagogical Implications

The issue on teaching overload, as voiced out by the evaluators during the interview as one of the main reasons why they have had limited mentorship time with the student teachers, is also taken into consideration in this recommendation. Thus, it is suggested that they should only be given a light teaching load during the Teaching

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 A seminar and workshop are suggested for the newly appointed cooperating teachers and TEI college supervisors, who are the evaluators and mentors of the pre service teachers. They should be facilitated before the Teaching Internship course, and the findings of this investigation could also be presented to the participants during the seminar and workshop giving more emphasis on the cases of inconsistency.

This study attempted to verify the consistency between the qualitative entries and quantitative ratings of the evaluation forms used by the in service teachers, as the evaluators, during the demonstration teaching of the pre service teachers.

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. investigation’s implication.

The findings of the study could suggest possible pedagogical actions, which are:

The statements or sub competencies in the quantitative part of the evaluation form need to be reviewed for a revision because the findings show that some of the sub competencies’ communicative functions were not clearly stated.

The investigators acknowledge that follow up interviews with a bigger number of both the pre service teachers and cooperating teachers would provide more in depth information about the evaluation forms. Although this study identified some interesting results about the consistency verification between the qualitative entries and quantitative ratings of the evaluation forms, it was conducted on a small corpus of internship portfolios using only English discourse community. Therefore, more studies of this kind with a bigger corpus across disciplines (e.g., Mathematics, Social Studies, Sciences, Physical Education, etc.) should be conducted in order to provide a more comprehensive representation concerning the consistency between the qualitative entries and quantitative ratings of such form. Findings from such studies would have practical implications for both the Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) and cooperating schools on how to properly complete this evaluation form Also, the issue that inconsistency between the two parts of evaluation form causes confusion on preparation of the other components of the internship portfolio, will be confirmed using other groups of discourse communities. In other words, further studies would still contribute to the motto of Teacher Education Program (TEP) in the Philippines, which is quality pre service teacher education is a key factor in the quality of Philippine education. As such, all efforts to improve the quality of teacher education are dependent on the service of teachers who are properly equipped to undertake the various functions and responsibilities of teachers.

 The guidelines on demonstration teaching of the College of Teacher Education (CTE) should be revised. The findings highlight 3 specific suggestions concerning the conduct of demonstration teaching to somehow lessen the cases of inconsistency between the qualitative entries and their corresponding quantitative ratings of the evaluation forms, which are: 1. The maximum number of demonstrators in each day should be 3 to give sufficient time for the evaluators to complete the evaluation forms well.

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The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Internship course to have an ample time working with the student teachers.

2. There should be a break time of at least 30 minutes after every demonstration teaching to give adequate time for the evaluators to peruse and finalize the evaluation forms before handing them to the student teachers.

3. An Evaluation Flowchart (see Figure 2) for the evaluators is suggested that highlights the 3 stages: 1. Pre evaluation, 2. Evaluation, and 3. Post evaluation.

7. Limitations and Suggestions

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(2017a). CMO No. 104, s. 2017, Revised guidelines for the student internship program in the Philippines (SIPP) for all programs. Retrieved from Commissionhttp://www.ched.gov.phonHigherEducation.

(2017b). CMO No. 75, s. 2017, Policies, standards and guidelines for bachelor of secondary education Retrieved from Creswell,http://www.ched.gov.phJ.W.(2012).

Department of Education (2017). DepEd Order No. 42, s. 2017, National Adoptation and Implementation of the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers, Philippines: DepartmentDepEd.ofEducation (2007). DepED Order No. 3, s. 2007, Guidelines in the deployment of pre service teachers in experiential learning: field study and practice teaching, Philippines: DepED. Devos, N. J. (2014). A framework for classroom observations in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher education. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 10(2).17 28. Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics. New York: Oxford University

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159 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. portfolios? Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education, New York. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED499959.pdf

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B. The teacher was creative enough to adapt his/her method to the student’s capabilities.

160 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Appendix A

3. Objective and formative test 4. Objective and assignment

D. The teacher made effective use of the formative test after teaching.

D. The teacher shows dynamism and enthusiasm

B. The teacher is able to relate lessons to actual life situations

IV. TEACHING METHOD

C. Visual aids and other examples were used to illustrate the lesson

V. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

C. The teacher keeps abreast of new ideas and understanding in the field.

Competencies and Sub competencies of the Evaluation Form’s Quantitative Part

The teacher’squestioningskillstimulated discussion in different ways such as: A. Probing for learner’s understanding B. Helping students articulate their ideas and thinking process C. Promoting risk taking and problem solving

I. TEACHER’S PERSONALITY

VI. QUESTIONING SKILL

A. The teacher is neat and well groomed B. The teacher is free from mannerisms that tend to disturb the student’s attention.

D. Facilitating factual recall E. Encouraging convergent and divergent thinking F. Stimulating curiosity G. Helping students to ask questions

III. CONTENT A. The teacher demonstrates in depth knowledge of the subject matter.

A. Method/s used was/were suited to the needs and capabilities of the students.

D. The teacher gives sufficient and concrete examples to create meaningful learning experiences.

A. The teacher had a systematic way of checking: 1. Attendance 2. Assignment/homework/agreement 3. Practice exercises 4. Group works/projects 5. Passing in and out of the room 6. Correcting, distributing and collecting paper

C. The teacher’s personality is strong enough to command respect and attention.

E. The teacher has a well modulated voice II. LESSON PLANNING

A. The lesson plan is well prepared.

B. There is congruence between: 1. Objective and subject matter 2. Objective and teaching procedure

C. Visual aids were within easy reach of the teacher during his/her teaching.

B. Order and discipline were present in the classroom

161 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Appendix B Sample of Evaluation Form Protecting Participant Confidentiality Part I

162 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Note: This evaluation form was taken from a participant’s internship portfolio. Protecting Participant Confidentiality Protecting Participant Confidentiality Protecting Participant Confidentiality Part II

Personalized learning provides a unique experience for learners based on their needs instead of receiving traditional training through a "one size fits all”

163 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 163 187, February 2020 https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.2.10

Abstract. This case study aimed at designing a collaborative learning approach and measuring its impact on developing personalized learning skills among the employee in the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFAD). To achieve this purpose, the researcher adopted and applied two collaborative learning techniques: 1) Sequential Collaboration I (Purposeful) and, 2) Sequential Collaboration II (Round Horse). Besides, the research generated a personalized learning conceptual framework and knowledge test based on Bray & McClaskey’s model (2015) to build a personalized learning agency through collaborative learning in a governmental organization This model addresses seven integrative dimensions to build a learning agency, they are voice, choice, engagement, motivation, purpose, ownership and self efficacy. This case study presents how this collaborative approach assists learners (trainees) to promote their personalized learning skills and build learners’ agency in the GDRFAD Personalized learning skills and competencies became an integral part of any learning organization in the 21st century. The study concluded that collaborative learning has the potential to revamp traditional learning and training approaches to build a culture of unique performance.

Promoting Personalized Learning Skills: The Impact of Collaborative Learning (A Case Study on the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai) HamdyA.Abdelaziz

HamdanBinMohammedSmartUniversity,UAE, AishaAl Ali GeneralDirectorateofResidencyandForeignersAffairsinDubai

Keywords: Personalized Learning; Collaborative Learning; Blended Learning; Pedagogical Design; GDRFAD Introduction Personalized learning is a learner driven environment that supports learning in the 21st century. Many studies showed that learners’ achievement is likely to be successful when they can learn at their own pace with various methods of accessing the information, especially adults (Daines, Daines & Graham, 2006).

The training programs are arranged for employees to develop their skills and capabilities. These programs are managed by the Training & Performance Development Department to achieve the strategic objectives by providing this

The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs Dubai (GDRFAD) has the responsibility to regulate and monitor the international travelers who enter and exit Dubai and to provide supervisory services to the foreigners living in Dubai. The GDRFAD has seven sectors, including the Airport Sector, the Sector of Higher Management, the Sector of Maritime Ports, the Sector of Nationality, the Sector of Entry and Residence Permits, the Sector of Followers of Violators and the Foreigners and the Sector of Human Resource ("GDRFAD," 2019).

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. technique. It assists the individual learner to meet the required potential. The culture shift from a teacher centered approach to a learner driven environment has been identified in the theories of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, and Jean Piaget (Bray & McClaskey, 2015) Giving the learners freedom in learning to allow them to set their own goals and directing the learning journey. They will be more responsible about how, when, what and where to acquire new experiences based on their prior knowledge. The intent of personalized learning is not to tailor the curriculum for the learner. However, it helps each learner to identify the needed skills that he wants to develop (Bray & McClaskey, 2015).

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According to Varlas (2011), there are five essential elements of personalized learning (PL) they are: 1) Fixable, the learner can learn anytime and anywhere without restricted bounders; 2) Teacher roles are redefined and expanded; 3) Guided by project based and promote authentic learning opportunities; 4) Focus on student Driven learning, and 5) Mastery Based Pace. Thus, PL increases the chance of the learner to drive the learning and career path and progress based on the competency. It creates authentic learning with a meaningful experience that prepares the learner to be a life long learning agent (Ali et al, 2015) New developments in the science of learning emphasize the importance of helping people control, mediate, and regulate their learning. Therefore, the roles of teaching and learning expand beyond the traditional concepts of testing to help learners build their personalized values and illustrate their cognition to themselves, their peers, their teachers, and their macro and micro community and network (Abdelaziz, 2015). The 21st century learning paradigm is a very personalized paradigm that has major shifts. These shifts apply to all educational levels, including K 12 and the higher education level. The most important shift in the teaching paradigm in the 21st century is the shift from direct teaching to indirect and dynamic or developmental (personal) teaching (Abdelaziz, 2014). The Problem

GDRFAD has seven main values and thirteen strategic goals (GDRFAD, 2019). These core values and goals are reflecting the organizational training that every employee should be aware of and be able to transform them into professional practice with an outstanding performance level. Every new affiliated in the GDRFAD has to attend continuous training programs for professional development.

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This study may help the employees to adopt personalized learning to become more efficient in their workplace. They can plan and seek the needed knowledge and skills. The employees of GDRFAD consist of a diverse group of people with different talent levels, enabling them to collaborate would enhance many aspects of their personalities. To achieve the strategic goals and objectives of the organizations, the employees should be given voice to say about what type of learning approach they want to become experts in their fields. Moreover, the branch in charge must give the learners a choice to choose how they would like to learn, to increase their motivation, and engagement, and to create meaningful learning. The employees should become proactive and suggest solutions to the problem by their personalized learning abilities. Thus, this study was conducted to promote personalized learning skills through a collaborative learning approach to change the existing culture of learning and training in GDRFAD. Design collaborative learning to promote personalized learning is another new challenge that the current study is trying to investigate and discover to support and update literature in this regard.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to design a collaborative learning approach and measure its effectiveness and impact on promoting personalized learning skills among GDRFAD employees.

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. support service to the employees of the organization. The approach used by GDRFAD for employees to learn is static, One size fits all approach, which is ineffective for proficiency development. It provides all the employees to learn in the same way, which is not possible. Many researchers have researched this approach. The results show that it is not enough for learners to get ready for future tasks and skills (Bray & McClaskey, 2015; Chatti, Jarke, & Specht, 2010; Langa & Yost, 2007). However, this approach is not utilizing in the personalized learning environment. Therefore, this study suggests a new learning approach to be used in the organization as an opportunity to make their path for personal learning and align the objectives with the needs of the core business. Thus, the employees, as the learners, will have full control of their learning. After taking personalized learning training and developing skills, the employees may be able to make the structure of the responsibilities and then track their development. The employees can measure their progress towards realizing their goals and objectives.The problem arises because of the current training approach of GDRFAD which is still very conventional and does not adopt the new trends of personalized training and coaching to build a culture of unique performance and learning organization. They are learning through a one size fits all approach, which is not enough for the employees to learn in the changing environment. The employees need a personalized learning environment in which they can learn, and remain up to date. The one size fits all approach is well known but is not proved to be as efficient as personalized learning (Bray & McClaskey, 2015). Each year, the employee is required to choose two training programs based on the needs. This leads to a delay in development and the worse is using an approach that cannot benefits the learner.

1. What are the personalized learning skills required for GDRFAD employees?

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2. To measure the impact of collaborative learning on promoting personalized learning skills of GDRFAD employees.

Significance of the Study

1. To design a collaborative learning approach to promote personalized learning skills.

Research Objectives

Research Questions

The research questions are:

This study is trying to achieve the following two objectives:

Personalized learning is an approach of learning in which the learner can learn at his own pace and ability. The learner is not forced to learn in the same way as the other learners do. However, personalized learning allows the learner to learn based on their needs and wants. The most interesting thing is that personalized learning is a flexible learning environment that does not have boundaries or strict rules to learn. Further, it is a strategy of education style that focuses on adhering to the unique learning needs, culture, and individual interests. This type of learning is an alternative to the traditional style of teaching where all students are provided with the same kind of treatments. An example of personalized learning design is occurring when a school offers diverse learning experiences. Specifically, a school could offer internships related to a career that provides credit towards their graduation while also allowing students to explore a career of Personalization,interest. as a learning approach, is one way to guarantee that all learners are achieving at their highest potential (Heacox, 2002; Bulger, 2016 ). It is a dynamic process for personal development. Personalized learning also reflects differentiated instruction. Differentiated instruction is found to be of the

Theoretical Background and Literature Review

3. What is the impact of collaboration on promoting personalized learning skills of GDRFAD employees?

The findings of the study will demonstrate the effectiveness of the collaborative learning approaches to promote personalized learning skills in GDRFAD. The results will convince the training and performance department to train the employees to develop personalized learning skills. This research will help them to uncover critical areas related to the training, development, and practice in the organization. Giving the reason, in this changing world of globalization and new technology, personalized, as well as collaborative learning, are both significant for the employees to deliver the best quality services.

Personalized Learning

2. What is the appropriate design of a collaborative learning approach to promote the personalized learning skills of GDRFAD employees?

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Besides, personalized learning stimulates learners’ creative abilities. Philip (2015) noted the importance of creative teaching variables in comparison to the variable of technology used in teaching, where creative teaching should be applied before selecting the technology associated with teaching. Personalized learning leads to the formation of learning organizations and insights into the practices of effective learning. Smith (2009) agreed with the previous idea that the characteristics of effective activities for e training and intrinsic motivation are factors that lead to the success of the computerized creative training programs design, and that leads to improved performance in the field of e training. Benefits of Personalized Learning

to Bray and McClaskey (2016), there are various advantages of personalized learning for learners and trainees. For instance, personalized learning makes them able to learn anytime and anywhere. The learner has unlimited access to the content. Since the learners can give their voice and choice, the content will be designed based on their interest which makes them motivated and engaged while they are learning. Moreover, personalized learning allows learners to become self directed and self regulated (Zimmerman, 2002). Hence, they can design their own goals.

Equipment learners with personalized learning skills have many positive aspects. For example, they can activate prior knowledge and assimilate new information. Personalized learning stimulates learners to develop further skills such as flexibility, digital literacy, leadership and management, creativity, collaboration, analytical skills, and effective communication skills (Hansen & Hansen,According2008).

most important attributes to build a collaborative online learning community (Tu & Corry, 2003; Zheng, 2018). To differentiate their instruction, online instructors should utilize varied approaches and strategies to fit with what their students need to learn, how they will learn it and how they can express their values of learning to increase their capabilities to be life long learners. In doing so, instructors or trainers should enrich, enhance and empower learners through multi learning objects, activities, spaces, and resources that support learners’ needs, creativity and values.

Collaborative Learning

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The goal of personalized learning is to turn regular learners into expert learners who have the desire to learn and know how to learn by choosing fixable ways that suit their interests. By following this approach, learners would focus and work strategically toward their aims through; knowing how to learn best, develop individual learning plans, design strategies of learning that scaffold meeting goal, tracking progress while learning and altering the learning when realizing it is not effective (Bray, 2015).

Collaborative learning is an educational strategy in which the groups of learners work together to solve a problem and find the solutions, to complete a project or a task, and to make any product or deliver any service. Collaborative learning encourages the learner to think critically and improve social interactions (Noh & Yusuf, 2018). Collaborative learning includes sharing of information, interaction with others, processing of the information, and problem solving methods.

2) The sequential collaboration II (Round horse).

Every group member has the responsibility to enhance the knowledge of other members and support in their learning and behavior Active interaction is required in the collaborative learning environment.

1) The sequential collaboration I (Purposeful).

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Collaborative learning is a learning situation. Collaborative learning is team based learning. Two or more group members or learners interact with one another. Learning depends on cognition between the groups. Learning depends on the engagement of the group members in creating knowledge and solving any problem. The main role of collaborative learning is to share experiences and knowledge positively.

Collaborative learning is a learning situation in which two or more people learn together and share their ideas which is the actual collaboration (Cheng, 2017). It includes the collaboration of the skills of the people engaged in the collaborative learning task. Further, it enables the sharing of information, ideas, and sometimes monitoring one another’s work (Zhang, et al., 2015). The collaborative learning environment is created based on the interaction between the group members to share their knowledge. The following main points characterize the collaborative learning according to (Abdelaziz, 2018):

During times of collaboration, those working together should have clear guidance. Additionally, tasks should be manageable in scope, and each member of a collaborative team should have a specific role in the group. There exist several benefits of group collaboration. For instance, when several people work on a certain task, the workload can be divided, and individuals can specialize in each task. Not only does this decrease each person's total workload, but it allows the team to have much more specific information about that subsection (Maruping & Magni, 2015). Different team members can also contribute different ideas and build on one another's suggestions which an individual unlikely to come up with on his or her own (Michaelsen, 2008). Businesses report that their employees who work together as a group are more motivated, productive, and engaged in their work (Tapscott & Williams, 2011). Collaborative learning makes employees able to exchange their experiences and build upon each other perspectives. Hence, this creates a greater outcome, because collaboration is the best thing to bring innovation (Ali et al., 2015).

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Collaborative learning is the technique in which the learners discover methods to share information, knowledge, and communicate personal and professional experiences with others. Collaborative learning designs can be a simple collaboration, or computer based, or eLearning collaboration that includes the collaboration of different people from different areas and in a different times According to Abdelaziz (2018), collaborative learning design takes four independent approaches:

Collaborative Learning Design for Personalized Learning

Brain writing is needed in collaboration, not just brainstorming. Collaboration can only be guided by the shared responsibility of the learners.

The above mentioned collaborative learning approaches are designed for the learning of the group members and teams of learners. In the sequential collaboration I (purposeful) presented in figure 1 below, the main task is divided into the sub tasks, and the load of the tasks is distributed among the learners. The outcome is collaborative learning based on sharing experiences, capitalize on each other skills through asking for information, evaluating peer ideas and monitoring the work (Chiu, 2008).

The sequential collaboration II (round horse) technique presented in figure 2 below. In this type of collaboration, the first learner gives his input and passes it to the second learner. Then the second learner can add some useful information and improve the inputs, but he cannot change the input of the first leaner. After that, the second learner passes it to the third and so on until the whole cycle is completed. The load is reduced in this collaboration, and the outcome is presented by the first learner. In this collaborative approach, learners actively interact and share experiences. The participants depend on each other knowledge, skills and are accountable for each other’s achievement (Mitnik, Recabarren, Nussbaum, & Soto, 2009). They seek understanding and elaborating to find meaning and solution to artifact a product. The trainer can design collaborative activities based on collaborative writing, group assignments, case studies, and debates

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1) The Sequential Collaboration I (Purposeful)

3) Parallel collaborative I (Pick think pair share). 4) We mind (Pick think pair share). These collaborative learning approaches are discussed below:

Figure 1: Sequential Collaborative I (Purposeful)

2) The Sequential Collaboration II (Round Horse)

In the workplace, collaboration is essential in teamwork in any organization. The group member works together to decide. Collaboration fosters communication among the team (Brake, 2007). Grouping employees together can build and expand skills as they are like the pool of talents. Even more, the employee can self evaluate his knowledge and upgrade it. Since collaboration requires participating from different inputs the employees can learn faster. It increases the teaching and learning opportunities and assures flexibility among learners or trainees.

The parallel collaborative I (Pick think pair share) is presented in figure 3 below.

The “We mind (Pick think pair share)” technique is presented in figure 4 below. In this collaboration technique, the tasks are distributed randomly, and the outcome is creative and connected, and the responsibility is shared.

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Figure 2: The Sequential Collaboration II (Round Horse)

Figure 3: The Parallel Collaborative I (Pick Think Pair Share)

In this collaboration, the tasks are assigned randomly, and the load and challenges are distributed. in the PTPS approach, the outcome is collective since the responsibility is shared between partnerships.

4) We-Mind (Pick-Think-Pair-Share) II

3) Parallel Collaborative I (Pick-Think-Pair-Share)

The purpose of assessment is to measure the knowledge and skills generated while students learning (Carfax, 2002). Assessment as learning, assessment for learning, and assessment in learning can be used in personalized learning environments (Bray & McClaskey, 2015). In the first type of assessment, the trainer allows the trainee to reflect on their learning and make amendments. For instance, in the collaborative learning approach, the learners can peer evaluate themselves and alter their behavior. Hence, the learner can reach a deeper understanding (Carless, Gordon & Liu, 2006).

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Figure 4:We Mind (Pick Think Pair Share) Assessing Collaborative Learning

Theories and Pedagogical Models that Support PL and Collaborative Learning

In the second type of assessment, which is considered as a formative assessment, the trainer can track and monitor learners learning. For example, the trainer can use this type as an indicator of whether to move to the next phase or provide more details on a certain topic (Carless, Gordon & Liu, 2006). The last type of assessment used at the end of the unit or a course. It is used to determine whether the learners achieve the lesson outcomes or not based on collective certificates (Daugherty, 2010). In this study, designing a portfolio considered as a summative assessment, to examine the extent to which instructional goals of the personalized learning lesson have been achieved. A portfolio can be described as a tool to collect evidence and artifacts that represent the process and production of individual learning (Basken, 2008). It is a versatile tool that serves learners, trainers, job seekers, and employees. Besides, this tool can be used as an indicator of employee qualifications, abilities, and experiences.

According to constructivism theory that depends on using the information already known to try to make sense of new information, learners create or construct information based on their perspectives. That is what makes learning different for each person even if he/she had been learning the same way (Marquis, 2017). The idea behind activating prior knowledge is to make learning easier and prepare learners to learn (Phillips, 1995). Besides, it enables using different methods to access information and to choose appropriate tools and resources that support the assigned task. Personalized learning turns

According to the social interaction of Vygotsky's theories, which centers around making meaning: Social interaction has a critical role in cognitive development. In detail, the learner functions the cultural development twice, first during the interaction with another peer and later alone (Culatta, 2013).

Further, the effective design of a particular task or concept that enables learners to collaborate to extract knowledge from each other is necessary for a personalized learning environment. In any community of learning, there are levels of learners. Each has his characteristics and background. Therefore, the More Knowledgeable Other theory (MKO) can be used. It refers to anyone who had a better understanding than the learner. It could be technology, peer, trainer, and coach (Bray & McClaskey, 2015). Moreover, the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is another theory by Vygotsky that supports learners in a personalized environment. It is about the distance of what the learner can do alone and with guidance. By that, the learner can innovate through analyzing and conceptualizing old information to create new knowledge (Bray & McClaskey, 2015). Thus, how the learner makes meaning of their learning. As noted by John Dewey (1938), the development of curricula should be tailored based on learners’ interests and this increases their motivational level in learning (Bray & McClaskey, 2015). In personalized learning designing a curriculum based on learners’ needs and wants which create meaningful learning and relevance (Bray & McClaskey, 2015). Students as independent learners should exhibit the following qualities: voice, choice, engagement motivation, ownership, purpose, and self efficacy which are personalized learning dimensions (Bray & McClaskey, 2015). The most important dimension of personalized learning is engagement and motivation. The individuals when performing together with a higher level of entertainment the team will be (Lank, 2006). Working with different people develops debates that make the group view from multiple perspectives and extend critical thinking skills (Huxham & Vangen, 2013). To personalize learning, Hargreaves and his colleagues have suggested nine gateways (Pilley, 2016):1.

Vygotsky believed that in developmental theory the learner must learn more than a bunch of information and skills. The learners need a set of mental tools to extend the critical thinking abilities, which in return being able to solve problems and generate solutions (Kozulin, 2007). This enables the learners to own and direct their learning in a purposeful way (Bray & McClaskey, 2015).

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Besides, the interaction that happens in personalized learning within and between learners enables cognitive development.

Integrating learner's voice 2. Inserting assessment for knowledge 3. Developing learning to learn policies 4. Completely using new technology 5. Suggesting a good choice of program pathways 6. Regularly assisting and guiding learners through active support structures 7. College and career readiness

Personalized learning is an approach of learning in which the learner can learn at his own pace and ability. The learner is not forced to learn in the same way as the other learners do. However, personalized learning allows the learner to learn based on their needs and wants. In personalized learning, there are three stages. In stage one; trainers universally design instruction that encourages learners to share their voice and choice. In stage two; both instructors and learners co design lessons, projects and assessments. In stage three, the learners drive their learning; the instructor is a partner in learning (Bray & McClaskey, 2015). Personalized learning is not about tailoring the content of the curriculum for the learners. It is about assisting everyone to identify and develop the needed skills to enhance their learning. Therefore, the agency and self advocacy can be realized (Bray& McClaskey, 2015). The personalized learning is customized to strengths the needs of the learner, and the learner gets a learning plan which is based on his learning abilities and suits him best (Pane, 2015). This learning approach is adopted by the organizations to make their employees able to learn unique trends and set their own goals. Personalized learning helps the employee to learn differently and adopt new techniques unlike the past experiences of the employees. It keeps the employee more engaged than the other learning approaches. It is considered employee driven, which means that the employee becomes able to set personal goals and track the progress of learning and development.Personalized learning itself does not promote the skills and ability of the learners. However, integrating techniques that enable the learners to collaborate in these environments would generate additional skills. This is what the study is trying to discover.

Theoretical Framework

8. Mentoring and coaching

9. The organization and design of the school

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The figure below shows the framework that represents the seven dimension of personalized learning which has been adopted from (Bray & McClaskey, 2015).

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Figure 5: Seven Dimensions of Personalized Learning (Bray and McClaskey, 2015)

This research is a case study that depends on a quasi experimental intervention supported by qualitative and qualitative data collection techniques. the case study consisted of two groups of the employees at GDRFAD who were on the

Dimensions of Personolized Learning Voice

ChoiceEngagment MotivationPurpose

These seven dimensions were developed for the development of learner agency. It helps learners to become independent and self directed learners. These dimensions include the major skills and processes that the learner acquires undertaken in the environment of personalized learning. It helps learners to move from teacher centered to learner centered, to learner driven which is also known as the personalized learning environment (Murphy et al., 2014).

OwnershipSelfEfficacy

Research Design and Methodology

2. What is the appropriate design of a collaborative learning approach to promote the personalized learning skills of GDRFAD employees?

3. What is the impact of collaboration on promoting personalized learning skills of GDRFAD employees? Research Design

This section describes the research methods used in this study to collect the needed data and explains their appropriateness for the exploration of the three research questions. It encompasses the research design, target sample, and research procedure, data collection process, and analysis techniques used. This study was based on the following research questions:

1. What are the personalized learning skills required for GDRFAD employees?

Methods

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The Sample

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The group who exposed to the collaborative learning strategies was learners of innovation programs that consists of several training programs. To clarify more, it includes more than 10 training programs, of them: Future Accelerators, Idea Systems, Innovation Lab, Intellectual Property Rights, Knowledge Management, Change Management Models, etc. The goal of the innovation program is to qualify trainees to come up with the best solutions to the challenges faced by the GDRFAD. The duration of the training program was two months. The researcher has discussed with the authorized employees in GDRFA to integrate personalized learning within this training program. Both groups joined a training program about personalized learning. However, the experimental group exposed to the design of a collaborative learning approach to promote personalized learning skills and the control group had no application of the collaborative learning approach. The learners in both groups were asked to design a portfolio at the end of the training. However, the training for staff in the training department was self paced.

In this study, the sampling technique used is a purposive sample in which the researcher focused on a subset of the population. The total number of participants in this study was 30 employees. They were divided into two groups, 15 employees for each group. The control group participants who were selected from the Training and Performance Development Department are (9) males and (6) females. While the experimental group consists of 15 employees (12 males and 3 females) who were selected from different sectors at the GDRFAD.

job in deferent sections during 2019. The two groups were trained in personalized learning for five days. The experimental group exposed to formal training with collaborative learning approaches. The control group learned the same material about personalized learning but with no application of the collaborative learning approaches. Moreover, the skills of seven dimensions of personalized learning are developed before conducting the training program about personalized learning. The training program was designed and developed based on both collaborative learning approaches for the experimental group. A pre test and post test conducted on a sample of GDRFAD employees to examine the difference in learners' scores. A research hypothesis is made to test whether the collaboration may or may not promote the personalized learning of the employees. Further, the personalized learning skills of the employees were tested by a portfolio creating assessment; they were asked to design a portfolio that describes personalized learning at the end of the training program. The portfolio follows a holistic grading rubric

The methods used in this study to collects data are questionnaires, pre tests, post test, and portfolios. Therefore, to gather information from the participants about their, attitude, knowledge and feeling about applying personalized learning in the GDRFAD instead of the “one size fits all” approach. The main goal of applying the pre/posttest and the portfolio was to collect data from two different dimensions that may reflect the knowledge and competencies of participants The reliability and validity of the research instruments were assured

Then the focus group has been conducted to find out what are the needed skills that would prepare the employees to promote personalized learning skills An adopted model of personalized learning of Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey (2015) has been used. The researchers have listed skills that would enable the participants to master the seven dimensions of a personalized learning environment. For each dimension, four skills need to be mastered from the learner for a successful implementation of a new approach in teaching and learning. Moreover, expertise was involved in validating the importance level of the skills in each dimension. Then two groups of participants were selected to measure the impact of applying the collaborative learning approaches in promoting personalized learning skills. The researcher divided the participants

Research Procedures

Models In this research, a model of personalized learning was adopted from Barbara Bray and Cathleen McClaskey (2015), knows as the continuum of personalized learning or the dimensions of personalized learning. As they suggested to successfully implement personalized learning learners must move from being passive learners to self directed where they acquire the skills needed to design a product. The dimensions of Barbara Bray and Cathleen McClaskey’s model are: voice, choice, engagement, motivation, purpose, ownership and self efficacy (2015). Further, the researcher developed the skills of these dimensions to move from the traditional settings of learning to a learner driven environment. They were 28 skills developed based on the strategic goals and values of the Theorganization.adopted techniques of collaborative learning (Abdelaziz, 2018) have been integrated with the dimensions of personalized learning. They were used as a trigger to promote personalized learning. The selected approaches are sequential collaboration type I (purposeful) and sequential collaboration type II (round horse) These two approaches are presented in detail in the literature review section above.

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Successful research largely depends on having a well outlined research procedure that covers the different phases of the research. For this case study to be effective, different instruments and methods were used to collect the information needed for the design. Towards this end, the following research procedure was adopted: Interview

Conducting the study on the GDRFAD employees took place in several stages. The current learning approach used in the training and performance development department has been reviewed analyzed, and compared to the personalized learning environment. A random sample of employees who were taking a training program has been interviewed and asked about their opinion of the "one size fits all" learning method. Then, their opinion has been gathered and shared with the manager of the department to convince him to move to the new learning environment to prepare the employees to form a learner agency.

Focus Group

Choosing the Best Collaborative Learning Approach

2. The level of interactivity and interaction between the employees will decide the collaboration technique.

3. The size of the group affects the decision of collaboration strategy selection.

5. The type of participants and their characteristics.

into two groups, experimental (collaborative learning), and control (traditional non collaborative F2F training). A training program about personalized learning paradigm was designed for the experimental group. A pre test and post test have been given for the two groups to measurer their knowledge level before and after conducting the training program. Finally, both groups were tested by a portfolio to measure their application of personalized learning skills as a summative product oriented assessment.

In this sub section the main principles are of selecting the best collaborative learning approaches; According to Abdelaziz (2018), the six major principles of selecting and suing collaborative learning approaches are:

6. The delivery mode of the session whether (physical blended Fully online) Based on the above principles, two techniques were selected to encourage effective collaboration between the employees in the experimental group. They are sequential collaboration I (purposeful) and sequential collaboration II (Abdelaziz, 2018). Data Collection

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The data were analyzed by checking the validity of the seven dimensions skills by sending it to experts and having their comments on it. The experts checked if the seven dimensions of personalized learning skills are important and critical or highly important or critical, and not important at all. The experts gave their

4. The technological tools used by the group members, and how they can afford the use of these tools. Is there access to using technology tools? and the response of them will also decide the type of collaboration.

1. The knowledge of the content should be known, this knowledge can be factual, conceptual, holistic or integrated, metacognitive and procedural. The content knowledge will decide the type of collaborative learning strategy that should be chosen.

The data were gathered from the experts to get benefit from their knowledge and experience on the suggested personalized learning skills as well as to validate it and add credibility to the study. The collaborative learning strategies are selected based on the nature of the activities. The learner's knowledge was tested by using the pretest and posttest measurements. Therefore, the primary data were collected from the test of the employees and the secondary data is collected from the results of the portfolio that represent the impact of applying the collaborative learning strategies Data Analysis

Table 1: The Final List of Personalized Learning Skills

9. Engage in learning without waiting to be directed

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1. Have the chance to share opinions and be active participants

4. Have the chance to identify problems and generate solutions

2. Create a personal profile that describes how to learn best

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8. Self direct and adjust the learning based on what they want to do Engagement

This chapter presents the results and findings related to the research questions of this study.

7. Self regulates learning based on passion and purpose

The answer to question # 1 that states: “What are the personalized learning skills required for GDRFAD employees? To answer this question, the seven dimensions model of personalized learning design (Bray & McClaskey, 2015) was transformed into a list of skills addressing the voice, choice, engagement, motivation, ownership, purpose, and self efficacy of learners. Each main dimension has a set of sub skills that are/could be relevant to the GDRFAD employees. The personalized learning skills were validated by educators/senior trainers and e learning experts as previously mentioned in the methodology section. As per the experts’ recommendations, the final list is presented in the following table.

3. Collaborate and co plans with others to design lessons, projects, and assessments

Choice 5. Select the appropriate type of technology for the learning tasks

6. Access the information, engage with the content and express what has been understood

Voice

The effectiveness of the selected collaborative learning approach was tested on the experimental group to promote personalized learning skills among the employees in the GDRFAD. Personalized learning skills of the employees were assessed by designing a portfolio. Based on the collected results a t test conducted to test the difference between groups means performance on the portfolio. Findings and Discussion

opinions on the validity of the developed personalized learning skills for this study.

Dimension Skills

Moreover, the pretest and posttest conducted by the employees of the GDRFAD were also analyzed through a one way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to test between group differences in the achievement test after excluding the effect of the pre test

11.

24.

14.

19. Develops skills to work independently and collaboratively Collects evidence of learning to demonstrate a mastery Purpose 21. Prepared for the future as a lifelong learner Able to make a difference in the workplace

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Dimension 10.SkillsApply inquiry to discover and explore new ideas Learns from another learner and enjoy teaching others Set goals and track learning progress

According to what is presented in table 1, the overall personalized learning skills are very important for the GDRFAD employees are 28 skills addressing the seven dimensions of the personalized learning model. This list of main skills and sub skills is the key factor to build a culture or self based learning and learning agency, should we consider them in re skilling and upskilling the learning and career path in governmental and non governmental organizations. They have the promise to transform the current training and coaching practice from teacher driven to learners/trainees driven paradigm. The future smart training paradigm will give trainees a personal learning space to act, mentor, and self organize their learning and professional development needs.

The answer to question # 2 that states: “What is the appropriate design of a collaborative learning approach to promote personalized learning skills among the GDRFAD employees?

The two collaborative learning techniques were selected based on the research requirements and sample characteristics, and some collaborative learning design

Ownership 17. Monitor their own progress

22.

12.

Motivation 13. Intrinsically motivated to learn Having the desire to succeed Develop a growth of mindset of believing in the ability Self evaluate his/her strengths and challenges or weaknesses

28. Able to make and adopt a transformative personal vision, mission and core believes

20.

23. Finding solutions to unexpected personal and professional problems Build concepts, skills, and information about his/her unique power Self efficacy 25. Believes in the ability to develop skills to support learning 26. Willing to take risks and embraces challenges to achieve any goal set 27. View failures as a learning opportunity

18. Make a connection with prior learning

15.

16.

criteria. These two collaborative learning techniques are explained in the following.

1) Sequential Collaboration I (Purposeful)

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Figure 1 above mentioned is stipulating the sequential collaboration type I technique

These two techniques of collaborative learning designs were selected to promote personalized learning skills. These strategies suit the nature of the activity assigned to the learners. These two techniques were also validated by a jury of experts in learning design and technologies. The results found that the two collaborative learning designs are suitable for promoting such personalized learning skills. Furthermore, employees can acquire new skills while doing any task in a collaborative environment. They can share their skills with other people to make the outcome of the task more effective and transformable.

This collaborative learning technique is different from the one discussed above. The major steps in this technique are that the main task is distributed to whole group members. The task is described in detail. The load of the main task is distributed amongst the group members. The first learner will write his inputs first and then send it to the second learner. The second learner has the right to read, add, and improve the input of the first learner. However, the second learner cannot delete anything from the input of the first learner. After that, the second learner will send it to the third learner, he can also improve the content, and add something that he thinks that it should be added in the inputs of both the first and second learner, but he cannot delete anything too. Thus, the whole circle of the group members is completed in this way. Lastly, the first learner will report about the outputs of the task.

Figure 2 above mentioned is stipulating the sequential collaboration type II technique. The sequential collaboration II (Round Horse) is a collaborative learning technique in which the learners can promote their personalized learning skills when working together for a given problem or task.

The major step of sequential collaboration I (Purposeful) is dividing the main task into the sub tasks. Then these tasks are assigned to each learner by the guidance of the teacher or the trainer. An important consideration in this technique is that the assigned sub task is selected by each learner with an in mind purpose. For instance, the group member classified upon their military rank, university degree level, competencies, and experience. In a collaborative environment, there were (3) groups and each one consists of (5) members. The tasks are well structured and are described with full details. Therefore, the load of the main task is distributed among the learners. The outcome includes the efforts of all group members. They worked collaboratively towards an outcome. This collaborative learning strategy applied in the designing of personalized learning skills sessions. Thus, to enhance such skills through collaboration with peers or trainers. Accordingly, this is how the collaborative learning strategy is used for promoting personalized learning. In this way, the employee can exchange and share their knowledge. The employee can work with the group, but he can use personalized learning here when the task is assigned to him.

2) Sequential Collaboration II (Round Horse)

ModelCorrected

Error

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Collaboration (Experimental) 15 92.6667 5.85133 No collaboration (Control) 15 82.8667 5.61715

Total

Univariate analysis of variance conducted to compare results in a collaborative and non collaborative learning environment by using collaborative techniques. The table below indicates the number of participants in the collaborative and non collaborative learning conditions/groups and their mean score and standard deviation in the post test of PLS

The answer to question # 2 that states: “What is the impact of collaboration on promoting personalized learning skills among the GDRFAD employees?”

The employees of GDRFAD were exposed to PLS pre/posttest to measure their learning with and without the application of collaborative techniques. The data below show the difference in the results of learners in posttests of both groups.

Table 2 shows that learners/trainees performance in posttest in collaborative learning environment (M = 92.6667, SD = 5.85133). In contrast, in non collaborative environment the results were (M = 82.8667, SD = 5.61715). These values do not include any adjustments made using a covariate in the analysis. Therefore, the data show how the effect of the collaborative techniques on learners’ cognitive development is noticed as it was hypothesized to be greater than in non collaborative environment conditions Besides, a one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was applied. It was conducted to test the difference between groups in the achievement test after excluding the effect of the pre test. Table 3 informs whether the different interventions were statistically significantly different. Based on the results there is a statistically significant difference between adjusted means (p < .0005). Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected. As the results show both groups had improvement in their knowledge and skills in PL. However, the environment designed with the collaborative learning approach displays better results.

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The following section presents the data analysis results of the 30 employees’ tests score of pre test/post test and learning portfolio.

Table 3: Tests of Between Subjects Effects, One way Analysis of Covariance Source Type III Sum of Squares df. SquarMeane F Sig. SquaredPartialEta 893.112a 2 446.556 16.114 .000 .544 Intercept 56755.226 1 56755.226 2047.955 .000 .987 PL TestPre 172.812 1 172.812 6.236 .019 .188 Group 565.187 1 565.187 20.394 .000 .430 748.254 27 27.713 232731.000 30

Pretest/ posttest

Table 2: Descriptive Statistics PL Post test Descriptive Statistics: Dependent Variable: PLS Post test Groups N Mean Std. Deviation

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TotalCorrected 1641.367 29 a. R Squared = .544 (Adjusted R Squared = .510) ePortfolio

The two groups were asked to design a portfolio that represents their implication of personalized learning skills (showcases). It used as a collection of concrete evidence that consists of videos, texts, sounds that demonstrate the learner’s acquired knowledge and skills. Participants were reflecting on their experience of learning. The portfolio used as an assessment tool to translate their learning outcomes into authentic practices. As they navigated this process, the results show the differences between the outcomes of both groups’ scores. Tables 4 and 5 below summarize the result of the t test conducted on learners’ scores in designing collaborative ePortfolio compared to the non collaborative learning environment. In non collaborative environment (M = 24.20, SD = 10.69). While with collaboration (M = 74.1333, SD = 11.78296). Therefore, the means are significantly different.

Table 4: Descriptive statistics of groups’ score in PL ePortfolio Groups n Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Collaboration 15 74.13 11.78296 3.04235 No collaboration 15 24.20 10.69179 2.76061

Table 5: Independent samples test results of groups’ score in PL ePortfolio As table 5 shows there was a highly significant difference in the means for collaborative PL ePortfolio group (M = 74.13, SD = 11.78) whereas in non collaborative group Portfolio (M = 24.20, SD = 10.69 ); t (27.74) = 12.16, “p < .001”. These results suggest that collaborative learning approaches affect learner’s performance in applying personalized learning skills. Specifically, the results suggest that when applying the collaborative learning techniques among the learners it promotes personalized learning skills.

Source t test for equality of means t df tailed)Sig.(2 DifferencMeane DifferencErrorStd.e Effectsize PortfolioPL variancesEqual not assumed 12.16 27.74 .000 49.93333 4.10814 0.438842

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Participants can incorporate their voice and choice which increases the level of engagement. The collaborative learning environment challenges learners to articulate and receive feedback concerning their actions that may support them to transform it into another learning or training context for personal or professional purposes. Moreover, learners can generate new skills from a diverse background in the co learning environment. Since it's a military organization that follows a command and control style of management, which mainly seems less effective and less relevant.

The voice, choice, motivation, engagement, ownership, purpose and self efficacy are considered to be the most important personalized learning skills. These skills can increase the learner's ability to do things without the direction of others and be independent in his learning and working. The motivation keeps the desire of learning within the employee (Maruping, et al., 2015). The employees can make their mission, vision, and goals that are aligned with the vision, mission, and goals of the GDRFAD. By doing this, they will be able to provide quality services and they will have an eagerness to learn and explore new ideas and challenges. Giving learners the choice in what they want to learn especially if something they are passionate about creates flow (Bray & McClaskey, 2016). The choice dimension in personalized learning forces trainer’s role to be changed. Thus, encourages learners to own and drive their learning journey. Applying co designed activity that includes voice and choice of learners in a collaborative learning environment promotes personalized learning skills. The interaction was positive for example, their voices were involved in the design of the training program and their opinions were taken into account where they wanted to be trained. Even, they have been given full freedom to choose how they would like to present their project. For example, during the training program of personalized learning, the first group decided to use WhatsApp as a tool to transfer knowledge, while the other group chooses to record a video and the last group creates a poster. They were motivated, and their level of engagement was high. It does not matter how would they learn; it is all about how they would apply what they have learned. However, the personalized learning environment alone is not enough to develop the skills of the employee (Twyman & Redding, 2015).

Leaders in the 21st century workplace must change their behavior to activate the learner's agency. They must ask the employees how they might help them to achieve the goals instead of telling the staff what to do. As a result, this would create better products and services. The collaboration between employees will increase their personalized skills and they can use their personalized learning skills to make the project more effective.

Discussion As the statement explains collaboration is one of the greatest aspects in the workplace to improve productivity. Working together enables employees to be more effective compared to employees who prefer to work on their own. The value can be seen within the team members when they work together which gives them a meaningful reason to cope together along with getting mutual benefits for the organization. The learner in the collaborative environment has a great chance to rise personalized skills.

Recommendations

Finally, the results of this case study are limited to participants and employees who are working at GDRFAD or any similar organization. Due to the small sample size, other researchers may use the findings of this case study with caution. However, the four collaborative learning approaches presented and adopted in this study are useful to be adapted and applied in any learning or training context. Collaboration is the stuff of growth of human minds. and Future Actions

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Despite the limited focus and resources of the current study, evidence has been collected to allow the formulation of collaborative learning approaches that promote personalized learning in a governmental organization. Personalized learning skills and competencies became an integral part of any learning organization in the 21st century. Toward this end, the following recommendations are proposed: As per the findings of this case study, the following recommendations are suggested:1.Shifting from the traditional system of teaching and learning and adapt the trendy models in education that centered around the learner based on the personalized learning framework presented in this reproach.

Conclusion Making learning personal is evolving in many educational districts and institutions around the world. In such environments, the learners drive the learning while the trainer guides the process. The study was conducted to test whether collaborative learning approaches can promote personalized learning skills or not in the GDRFAD. The study found that collaborative learning designs can promote personalized learning skills. The learners can use their personalized learning skills to accelerate their capabilities in the workplace. This case study showed that collaborative learning techniques could be a catalyst in skills development. Moreover, collaborative learning techniques were used in designing a training program for personalized learning. The performance of a collaborative learning group scored higher than a non collaborative environment in PL post test and authentic portfolio. Therefore, the relation between collaboration and learner achievement was moderated by the collaborative strategy. They show a high level of acceptance for applying personalized learning. Two collaborative learning techniques were selected. They are sequential collaboration I (purposeful) and sequential collaboration II (Round Horse). The first technique was a little bit faster to accomplish an assigned task to the learners, while in the second technique the learners can elaborate on one topic to come up with the greater output. The learners classified as adult learners have already built experience and skills. Hence, the collaborative environment allows them to share their knowledge, ideas, perspectives, and experiences. In other words, the collaborative learning environment enables the employees to interact with each other; they can share ideas, information, and recent news. Even more, they can share their experiences and offering help by listening and solving their problem by suggesting the solution.

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5. Moreover, we recommend conducting further research to measure the impact of the four types of collaborative learning techniques presented in this study in developing additional future skills and personality of learners.

6. Finally, there is a need to assign experts to analyze the data and prepare training curricula and programs that suit the collaborative learning approaches in personalized training and development environments. References Abdelaziz, H. A. (2014). The Interaction between the Source and the Level of Feedback in Blended Courses and Its Impact on Achievement and Self Efficacy. Journal of Communication and Computer, 11, 423 440. DOI:10.17265/1548 7709/2014.05 003 Abdelaziz, H. (2015). The Echo of Value: A Suggested Model to Build a Culture of Personalized Learning through Digital Media. The D4learning 2015, International Conference on Innovations with Digital Learning for Inclusion (d4l) in Aalborg, Denmark, November 17 20, 2015 Abdelaziz, H. A. (2018). Collaborative Learning Design Toolkit. HBMSU, Innovation Lab Report 2018. Ali, S. M., Ghani, I., Latiff, A., & Shafie, M. (2015). Interaction based Collaborative Recommendation: A Personalized Learning Environment (PLE) Perspective. KSII Transactions on Internet & Information Systems, 9(1). Basken,DOI:10.3837/tiis.2015.01.028P.(2008).ElectronicPortfolios May Answer Calls for More Accountability. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved https://www.chronicle.com/article/Electronicfrom: Portfolios May/20892 Brake, T. (2007). Welcome 2 the Funhouse: Global Collaboration in the 21st Century Workplace London: TMA. Bray, B. (2015). Rethinking Learning to Bring Joy, Creativity, and Innovation Into Learner Cantered Environments. Retrieved December 2, 2019, from https://barbarabray.net/. Bray, B., & McClaskey, K. (2015). Make Learning Personal: The What, Who, Wow, Where, and Why. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Bray, B., & McClaskey, K. (2016). How to Personalize Learning: A Practical Guide for Getting Started and Going Deeper. Corwin Press. Bulger, M. (2016). Personalized Learning: The Conversations We are Not Having. Retrieved from: https://Datasociety.Net/Pubs/Ecl/Personalizedlearning_Primer_2016.Pdf

4. Additionally, since the GDRFAD contains special needs employees, we suggest using the collaborative learning techniques in designing training programs and merge them with normal employees to allow sharing the knowledge and capitalize on each other experience.

2. Personalized learning may help in preparing leaders who have the power to persuade their employees to accept and implement the change successfully by having a shared meaning of personalized learning and its benefits in building a culture of collaborative learning and collective mindset.

3. Further, building a coaching culture in any organization considers an investment. Coaching increases, the feeling of authenticity that in return makes them more excited to accomplish the projects.

6 Possible Roles for Teachers in a Personalized Learning Environment. Retrieved November 11, 2019, https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/6frompossible roles for teachers in a personalized learning environment/ Maruping, L. M., & Magni, M. (2015). Motivating Employees to Explore Collaboration Technology in Team Contexts. MIS Quarterly, 39(1), 1 16. MichaelsenDOI:10.25300/misq/2015/39.1.01,L.K.(2008).

Chatti, M. A., Jarke, M., & Specht, M. (2010). The 3P Learning Model. Educational Technology & Society, 13(4), 74 85. Cheng, E. (2017). Active Learning with Five Collaborative Learning Tools. Paper presented at the JALTCALL 2017 Conference: Active Learning through CALL, Matsuyama University, Shikoku, Japan. Chiu, M. M. (2008). Flowing Toward Correct Contributions during Group Problem Solving: A Statistical Discourse Analysis. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 17(3), 415 463. DOI:10.1080/10508400802224830 Culatta, R. (2013). Social Development Theory (Lev Vygotsky). Retrieved December, 02,2019 https://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social development/ Daines, J., Daines, C., & Graham, B. (2006). Adult Learning, Adult Teaching. Cardiff: Welsh Academic Press. Daugherty, R. (2010). Summative Assessment by Teachers. International Encyclopedia of Education, 384 391. DOI:10.1016/b978 0 08 044894 7.00363 8 General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFAD, 2019). Hansen,https://gdrfad.gov.ae/enR.,&Hansen,K.(2008).What Do Employers Really Want? Top Skills and Values Employers Seek from Job Seekers. Retrieved December 07, 2019, from http://www.physics.emory.edu/faculty/roth/careerskills/soft_skills.pdf Heacox, D. (2002). Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom: How to Reach and Teach All Learners, Grades 3 12. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit. Huxham, C., & Vangen, S. (2013). Managing to Collaborate: The Theory and Practice of Collaborative Advantage. Place of publication not identified: Routledge. Kozulin, A. (2007). Vygotsky's Educational Theory in Cultural Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Langa, M. A., & Yost, J. L. (2007). Curriculum Mapping for Differentiated Instruction, K 8 Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Lank, E. (2006). Internal Collaboration. Collaborative Advantage, 141 158. Marquis,DOI:10.1057/9780230511392_11J.(2017,August30).

Team Based Learning for Health Professions Education: A Guide to Using Small Groups for Improving Learning. Sterling, VA: Stylus Pub. Mitnik, R., Recabarren, M., Nussbaum, M., & Soto, A. (2009). Collaborative Robotic Instruction: A Graph Teaching Experience Computers & Education, 53(2), 330 342. DOI:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.02.010 Murphy, M., Redding, S., & Twyman, J. (2017). Handbook on Personalized Learning for States, Districts, and Schools. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

186 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Carfax. (2002). Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice. Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK. Carless, D., Gordon, J., & Liu, N. F. (2006). Improving Assessment, Improving Learning. How Assessment Supports Learning, 1 6. DOI:10.5790/hongkong/9789622098237.003.0001

Personal Competencies: Reflection on Instruction. A Peer to Peer Learning and Observation Tool. Place of publication not identified: Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse. Varlas, L. (2011). Five Elements of Personalized Learning in Finland. ASCD Newsletters & Publications Retrieved from:

Pilley, A. J. (2016). The Role of Technology in Personalized Learning and the Effect on Student Achievement (Doctoral dissertation, Lindenwood University). Smith, A. E. (2009). Designing computer based training for creativity: An examination of learner control, feedback, and creative personal identity. (Doctoral Dissertation, Colorado State University). Retrieved Tapscott,http://search.proquest.com/docviewfrom/304862317D.,&Williams,A.D.(2011).

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https://inservice.ascd.org/mary forte hayes/ Zhang, L., Kalyuga, S., Lee, C. H., Lei, C., & Jiao, J. (2015). Effectiveness of Collaborative Learning with Complex Tasks under Different Learning Group Formations: A Cognitive Load Perspective. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Hybrid Learning: Innovation in Educational Practices, 149 159. DOI:10.1007/978 3 319 20621 9_12 Zheng, R. Z. (2018). Personalization with Digital Technology. Digital Technologies and Instructional Design for Personalized Learning Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design, 1 27. DOI:10.4018/978 1 5225 3940 7.ch001 Zimmerman, B. J. (2002). Becoming a Self Regulated Learner: An Overview. Theory into Practice, 41(2), 64 70. DOI:10.1207/s15430421tip4102_2

187 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Noh, M. A. C., & Yusuf, S. A. M. (2018). Collaborative Learning Technique within Higher Learning Education Students. Creative Education, 09(14), 2367 2375. DOI:10.4236/ce.2018.914177 Pane, J. F. (2015). Continued Progress: Promising Evidence on Personalized Learning: Executive Summary. RAND Corporation. Philip, R. (2015). Caught in the Headlights: Designing for Creative Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. PhD dissertation. The Queensland University of Technology. Phillips, D. C. (1995). The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Many Faces of Constructivism. Educational Researcher, 24(7), 5 12.

Abstract. The article examines the factors, psychological and pedagogical conditions for obtaining a second higher education. The leading trends of lifelong education in theEU countries areidentified. It is found that the trend of adult participation in education is growing in the EU countries; on average, the share of women receiving second higher education exceeds the share of men in this indicator; EU countries differ significantly in the level of adult participation in education during life; there is a tendency for non formal education to prevail over formal education; the proportion of those who receive training and training among the adult population is significantly higher among those who have already received higher education; in countries with a higher level of GDP per capita, there is a smaller share of the population, through the cost of obtaining a second higher education, does not have the opportunity to study; in countries with high income and GDP per capita, the share of the population, cannot get a second higher educationthrough significant expenses, is less. The proportion of thepopulationwhosaytheydo not need asecond higher educationalso fluctuates significantly in EU countries. A study was conducted to identify motivational factors for obtaining a second higher education among students of the two year program of various specialties. It is

188 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 188 202, February 2020 https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.2.11

Roksolana I. Sirko

Lviv State University of Life Safety Lviv, Ukraine Halyna V. Bezverkhnia Lutsk National Technical University Lutsk, Ukraine Olha Ya. Zaverukha Lviv State University of Life Safety Lviv, Ukraine Svitlana V. Chupakhina

Motivation to Get a Second Higher Education: Psychological and Pedagogical Aspect

Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University Ivano Frankivsk, Ukraine Nataliia R. Kyrsta Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University Ivano Frankivsk, Ukraine

1. Introduction

The share of enterprises in the EU countries providing staff with ICT training and training is 24% in 2019 and 19% in 2012 (Eurostat, 2019a).

2. Literature review

Analysis of recent studies and publications confirmed that the processes of providing and receiving services in the field of second higher education have not yet been sufficiently reflected as a subject of scientific research. Motivational aspects of obtaining a second higher education are based on approaches to personal motivation: as a structural and hierarchical education, as a determination of personal development, as motivation in ontogenesis, as motivation of an active personality. Over the past decades, a number of modified theories of Maslow's motivation have been developed, including human capabilities, training and teaching, marketing and consumer behavior,

The development of information and communication technologies has accelerated the pace of globalization, enabling companies to break production processes into global value chains (GVCs) according to the OECD (2019). Staff with skills are at the center of GVC, which must meet the requirements of the creative economy, digital business transformation: social and emotional intelligence, the ability to use technology, the ability to self motivate and motivate continuous learning through constant technological transformations.

Keywords: motivational sphere; psychological factors; second higher education; lifelong learning; non formal education; formal adult education

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established that secondary needs, in particular self realization, realization of potential opportunities, the need to increase the level of professional competence, are the main ones for the recipients of the second higher education, which corresponds to a higher level of needs accordingtothehierarchyofneeds.

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Low skill levels are characteristic of a significant proportion of the population in different countries of the world according to an OECD (2019). Such countries include Ukraine, where workers do not possess the basic skills that are in demand in high tech companies, and educational institutions ' programs lag far behind the needs of the labor market. Higher education applicants have a higher level of literacy and skills to solve technologically complex tasks, and therefore the demand for their services is high in the labor market (OECD, 2019). In Ukraine, the same trends can be traced, where employees with a high level of proficiency in professional skills and competencies receive high wages and are in demand in the labor market, in addition, their supply is significantly limited. This requires clarification of the impact of technology development in the EU and Ukraine on the motives of professional development of applicants for second higher education. It is advisable to find out how the need for digital skills affects the choice of a second profession, professional development programs, and retraining programs.

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. management, information, and others. These models can be divided into four groups: theories of individual expectations of success, theories focused on the significance of tasks, theories that combine significance and expectations, and theories that integrate motivation and cognitive abilities.

The motives of adult education for second tertiary education, as well as additional vocational training have been considered by many authors (Bélanger, 2011; Boeren, 2016a; Chikileva, 2017; Courtney, 2018; Davis & Coryell, 2019).

The problem of educational motivation in higher education was investigated in the context of a set of motivational factors and mechanisms that influence human behavior, educational and professional activity of a person, the role of motivation of communication in the structure of students' motivational sphere, the connection of learning effectiveness with the development of social value motives in accordance with education and profession, the role of the motive for achievement in the learning process, the dynamics of cognitive and educational motives (Savchenko, 2015). Initially, the theory of needs was proposed by American psychologist of Russian descent Abraham Maslow, leader of humanistic psychology, in 1943 (Savchenko, 2013). By itself, it was never intended for management or organizations, the scientist was concerned with the problems of social psychology. The hierarchy of needs became the foundation that provided the starting point for most subsequent studies. According to the theory of Maslow, all human needs can be divided into five main categories: physiological; the need for security; social; the need for respect and the need for self actualization. Their satisfaction occurs in a certain order: from a lower level (physiological needs) to a higher level (the need for self actualization). This means that as long as the lower needs are not satisfied, the person will not seek to meet the higher needs. Thus, a five level hierarchy is formed, which is often represented graphically as a triangle or pyramid. And the top of the pyramid is much narrower than its base. It follows that only a small number of people reach the satisfaction of higher needs.

The motivational component of educational activity covers the cognitive needs, motives and meanings of learning, including the motives of self improvement, self realization and self expression. Adult learning activities include formal, non formal and informal learning (Boeren, 2016b). Formal education includes those types of educational activities provided by the country's educational system at educational institutions. It is characterized by the opportunity to obtain a diploma, certificate or document proving advanced training (Boeren, Some2016a).studies

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have concluded that the educational opportunities of adults depend on the accumulated cumulative advantages, which means that a person is more likely to want to get additional education in the case of higher education (McMullin & Kilpi Jakonen, 2014). The study shows two interdependent trends: an increase in adult participation in educational programs during life and an increase in the share of educational activities supported by employers (Rubenson, 2017). The growing interest in adult education is associated with

(2010) notes, that there are differences between groups of students of the second higher education in the motives of "opportunities to get new knowledge". This motive is the most important for students who change their specialty (0.78) compared to the group whose students improve their skills (0.50) and in their training are more focused on the motivation of deepening existing knowledge in their field (0.59), which in the group that change their specialty, takes the second place (0.44). However, it should be noted that these motives reflect a pronounced need for knowledge for listeners of both groups. This is what determines the high motivation and activity of students, which is their characteristic feature in the learning process.

The results of the Chikileva’s (2017) survey show that the main motive for obtaining additional professional education 55.9% of the surveyed students named the deepening and expansion of professional knowledge; 34.7% of respondents believe that professional development or professional retraining will allow them to get a career opportunity, and 28.6% to increase their competitiveness in the labor market.

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accelerated structural and technological changes in the labor market of globalized societies (Wahler, Buchoholz, Myrup Jensen & Unfried, 2014). Adult life long learning is considered to be an important factor in improving socio economic equality. It is found in a study by Savchenko (2015) that for those who receive a second higher education, the cognitive motive that meets the 5th level of Maslow's needs is dominant. In this work, we studied individual differences and determined the structure of the respondents motivational sphere based on two samples of undergraduate students and students receiving a second higher education. A correlation was established between the indicator of motivation for success and the level of actualization of motives for the two studied samples (R = 0.391 and R = 0.513, or 0.004).

Among the studies of the psychological aspects of obtaining a second higher education, we should mention the work of Rudenko (2016), in which the author revealed the psychological motives of teaching. Most students (73%) have cognitive interests in the first place, ie, first year higher education students expect new knowledge. Many students also expect that studying at the Institute will contribute to their self development (60%) and the acquisition of practical professional skills (40%). According to the overwhelming majority of students, the actual goal of training is to acquire practical professional skills (80%), and to obtain theoretical knowledge less frequently (60%) (Rudenko, 2016).

The main incentives for additional adult education are the need for new knowledge at work (63% of adults studied), self interest (14%), the desire to find a better paying job (10%), the desire to find more interesting work (7%) (Tyurin, Shabashova,2012).

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According to the results of the periodic questionnaire of second tertiary students, the main motives of studying under the programs of retraining (training in other specialties) and professional development of specialists were determined, as well as the characteristics (profile built) of the average IPO student who obtains the second higher education.

1. Adult participation in learning in EU across countries % of population aged 25 to 64 during the period 2008 2018, Eurostat (2019b).

3. Adult participation in lifelong learning, 2018, Organisation for Economic Co Operation and Development (OECD, 2019).

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3. Data and Study Methodology

Thus, the main motives for obtaining a second higher education are to acquire new professional knowledge and expand skills, self development, self interest, increase the level of remuneration, and change jobs. All these motives are due to pedagogical aspects, which can be divided into macro (education system, labor market), meso (company, personal qualities of the employee, place of residence), and micro (socio demographic characteristics) according to the degree of influence on people who decide to get a second higher education (Ricardo et al , 2016). Global factors, such as digitalization, globalization, ICT development, Internet penetration, technical and technological innovations, are external factors that create a need for additional professional skills and knowledge. Social factors are determined by status, education, place of work, society, state structure, ethnicity, and so on. It is worth noting that the studies reviewed do not analyze the impact of global factors (digitalization, ICT development, Internet penetration, innovation) on the psychological and pedagogical aspects of obtaining a second higher education by students in Ukraine. There are no studies in the literature on the reasons for choosing applicants for second higher education for retraining programs (training in other specialties) and professional development of specialists. Conducting such a study is relevant for determining the impact of new technologies on the motives for obtaining a second higher education by applicants in Ukraine. It is important to determine how applicants understand the need to acquire skills to meet the needs of the market for employees, namely, the ability to use new technologies, the ability to self motivate and motivate continuous learning through constant technological transformations.

2. Adult participation in learning in EU by sex % of population aged 25 to 64, Eurostat (2019b).

4. Participation rate in education and training by educational attainment level in Eu 28 in 2016, %, Eurostat (2019b).

The following indicators are used to assess the status and trends of adult learning and the motivations for adult learning:

We used a method to identify the levels of motivation of Maslow, the two factor motivational profile of Herzberg and the test of life orientations of Leontiev to achieve the task.

CzechRepublic 8 8,8 9,8 8,5 0,5 Denmark 30 27,7 26,8 23,5 6,5 Germany 8,1 8,5 8,4 8,2 0,1 Estonia 9,7 15,7 17,2 19,7 10 Ireland 7,2 6,5 9 12,5 5,3 Greece 3,2 4 4,5 4,5 1,3 Spain 10,7 9,4 9,9 10,5 0,2 France 6 18,8 18,7 18,6 12,6 Croatia 2,6 3 2,3 2,9 0,3 Italy 6,3 8,3 7,9 8,1 1,8 Cyprus 8,8 6,9 6,9 6,7 2,1 Latvia 6,9 7,3 7,5 6,7 0,2 Lithuania 4,9 6 5,9 6,6 1,7 Luxembourg 8,7 16,8 17,2 18 9,3 Hungary 3,4 6,3 6,2 6 2,6 Malta 6,3 7,8 10,6 10,9 4,6

1 The indicator measures the share of people aged 25 to 64 who stated that they received formal or non formal education and training in the four weeks preceding the survey (numerator). The denominator consists of the total population of the same age group, excluding those who did not answer to the question 'participation in education and training'. Adult learning covers formal and non formal learning activities both general and vocational undertaken by adults after leaving initial education and training. Data stem from the EU Labour Force Survey (EU LFS).

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5. Population wanting and not wanting to participate, not participating in education and training, by main reason for not participating in EU 28 in 2011, 2016, Eurostat (2019c, 2019d).

4. Study results According to generalized data, the average annual rate of professional development of employees in Ukraine is no more than 9%, and retraining more than 2%, which indicates that even the minimum requirement defined by law is not met. The proportion of adults receiving formal or non formal education in the EU countries averages 11.1% (Table 1), unlike in Ukraine. There is a steady upward trend in this indicator. The indicator differs within the EU countries. The indicator is significantly higher than the average in Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, France, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Finland, and Switzerland, while in other countries it is close to or below the average. In countries with higher than average levels of adult participation in formal and non formal education as a whole, this figure has increased significantly over the past ten years (except for Denmark). There is a convergence of countries in terms of adult participation in lifelong learning.

Table 1: Adult participation in learning1 in EU across countries % of population aged 25 to 64 geo\time 2008 2016 2017 2018 Change, +/ EU(28countries) 9,5 10,8 10,9 11,1 1,6 Euroarea(19countries) 8,2 11,2 11,3 11,5 3,3 Belgium 7,1 7 8,5 8,5 1,4 Bulgaria 1,6 2,2 2,3 2,5 0,9

NorthMacedonia 2,8 2,9 2,3 2,4 0,4 Serbia 5,1 4,4 4,1 Turkey 2,1 5,8 5,8 6,2 4,1

Source: Eurostat(2019b) According to the theory of motivation, there are significant differences between women and men in the motives of professional development, in particular in external motives. Men are more focused on professional development, which is explained by the need for recognition, respect, and receiving material rewards. There is a more pronounced external negative motivational complex for women due to the unwillingness to receive criticism and the desire to avoid failure, to provide a certain level of security. Thus, data show that, on average, in the EU countries, the proportion of men receiving formal and non formal education is lower by 2.0% than the share of women (Table 2). Table 2: Adult participation in learning in EU by sex % of population aged 25 to 64 geo\time 2008 2016 2017 2018 Change, +/ EU(28countries)total 9,5 10,8 10,9 11,1 1,6 Male 8,6 9,8 10 10,1 1,5 Female 10,4 11,7 11,8 12,1 1,7

UnitedKingdom 20,5 14,4 14,3 14,6 5,9 Iceland 25,1 24,7 23,6 21,5 3,6 Norway 19,7 19,6 19,9 19,7 0 Switzerland 27,9 31,4 31,2 31,6 3,7 Montenegro 3,3 2,8 3,2

Netherlands 17,1 18,8 19,1 19,1 2 Austria 13,3 14,9 15,8 15,1 1,8 Poland 4,7 3,7 4 5,7 1 Portugal 5,3 9,6 9,8 10,3 5 Romania 1,8 1,2 1,1 0,9 0,9 Slovenia 14,3 11,6 12 11,4 2,9 Slovakia 3,6 2,9 3,4 4 0,4 Finland 23,1 26,4 27,4 28,5 5,4 Sweden 22,5 29,6 30,4 31,4 8,9

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Source: Eurostat(2019b) In general, both the proportion of women receiving second higher education and the proportion of men following this indicator is growing by 1.5% and 1.7%, respectively, in the EU countries. As a whole, EU countries differ significantly in the level of participation of adults in lifelong learning (Figure 1).

Table 3: Participation rate in education and training by educational attainment level in Eu-28 in 2016, % European Union - 28 countries 2007 2011 2016 Change Participationrateineducationandtrainingbyeducationalattainment level formaleducationandtraining 35,2 40,3 45,2 10,00 6,6 6,2 5,8 0,80 formaleducationandtraining 31,6 36,8 42,7 11,10 2) Formalandnon formaleducationandtraining 17,8 22,6 24,0 6,20 2,8 2,7 2,1 0,70 formaleducationandtraining 15,9 20,7 22,7 6,80

Non

Figure 1: Adult participation in lifelong learning, 2018

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Source: OECD (2019) The contingent of second graders in Europe and America are, first and foremost, persons with advanced training, as well as the unemployed and migrants. In Ukraine, on the contrary, they are persons with a sufficiently high social status and educational level who either improve their skills or seek their own limits of self Nonrealization.formaleducation

Formaleducationandtraining

Formaleducationandtraining

among adults in the EU was 42.7% in 2016 (Table 3). At the same time, the predominance of non formal education over formal education is most observed among those who have already received higher education (61.9%). Among those who received less than primary, primary and lower secondary education, the share of formal and non formal education is significantly lower than among those who received higher education.

Lessthanprimary,primaryandlowersecondaryeducation(levels0

Formalandnon

Non

Non formaleducationandtraining 52,0 55,8 61,9 9,90

GEO/TIME 2011 2016 2011 2016 2011 2016

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Table 4: Population wanting and not wanting to participate, not participating in education and training, by main reason for not participating in EU-28 in 2011, 2016 Population wanting to participate in education and training, by main reason for not participating: costs Population not wanting to participate in education and training by main reason: No need Population not participating in education or training by main reason: Wanted but difficultiesencountered

Non formaleducationandtraining 30,2 34,7 39,1 8,90 Tertiaryeducation(levels5 8)

Formalandnon formaleducationandtraining 33,5 37,9 41,3 7,80

Formalandnon formaleducationandtraining 58,4 61,3 65,8 7,40 Non formaleducationandtraining 12,8 11,0 10,1 2,70

Formaleducationandtraining 30,2 34,7 39,1 8,90

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Uppersecondaryand post secondarynon tertiaryeducation(levels3and 4)

Source: Eurostat(2019b) The percentage of the population aged 25 64 that wants to participate in education and training in the EU is 18.8%, but the high cost of getting higher education for the second time does not have the opportunity to study (Table 4). It is worth noting that in countries with a higher level of GDP per capita, there is a smaller proportion of the population that does not have the opportunity to study through the cost of obtaining a second higher education (Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia, Albania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Slovenia, Romania, Latvia). The proportion of the population that cannot get a second higher education through substantial costs is lower in countries with high income levels and GDP per capita.

UnionEuropean 28 countries 18,7 18,8 77,5 19,4 21,1 Euro area (19 countries) 17,2 17,7 77,1 21,2 20,8 Belgium 8,8 43,7 20,5 23,8 Bulgaria 33,7 19,6 88,6 97,4 8,0 6,7 Czech 14,3 13,9 41,6 77,3 7,7 10,3

Lithuania 44,1 28,2 68,4 89,1 11,7 7,1

Slovakia 17,5 79,5 16,6 14,9 Finland 10,6 12,8 41,2 53,8 23,9 27,9

Netherlands 19,0 51,9 23,2 25,4

MacedoniaNorth 47,6 93,5 17,1

France 15,7 78,6 80,0 27,8 23,5 Croatia 30,4 70,7 20,7 Italy 25,4 20,8 64,9 27,8 26,0

Latvia 32,9 30,3 87,7 75,7 18,9 32,3

Sweden 11,7 9,4 63,2 88,2 25,6 28,2

Switzerland 15,8 78,5 35,1 30,2

Luxembourg 9,8 12,4 81,5 50,9 27,8 Hungary 37,1 25,3 87,3 85,1 16,3 12,9 Malta 9,5 7,8 76,2 23,8 25,8

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GermanyRepublic 13,1 12,2 72,0 91,3 11,3 11,8 Estonia 25,4 76,9 31,5 36,4 Ireland 18,1 52,8 72,9 29,4 Greece 23,8 26,1 42,2 36,3 19,6 15,0 Spain 10,8 21,7 67,0 16,4 17,3

Cyprus 17,1 22,6 69,1 72,3 42,9 52,9

KingdomUnited 22,2 74,0 35,2 Norway 35,8 18,8

Austria 12,5 11,4 73,3 14,8 25,8

Poland 27,7 15,6 59,7 76,5 12,7 17,4 Portugal 14,5 19,7 64,9 14,6 39,1

Romania 38,4 26,6 91,3 76,0 19,2 Slovenia 34,9 61,8 71,6 18,6 10,5

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The next level of motivation, namely a sense of belonging and the need to be needed, was almost not found in the respondents (7% and 3%), which may indicate a sufficient level of satisfaction with this need in the respondents as a whole and not be associated with the acquisition of a new profession. Since women are predominant in the sample, this again confirms the theory of motivation and gender differences in the motivation for obtaining a second higher education. Self esteem as the predominant motivational aspect is found in 33% of 1st year and 40% of 2nd year respondents. This may be due to the need for respect, recognition of others and the desire for personal achievements, which is more inherent in men behind the theory of motivation.

According to the results of the study of motivation levels, the following can be said: basic needs for security and reliability dominate in 20% of 1st year respondents and 30% of 2nd year respondents. This may indicate the need for safety of these subjects, which is expressed in the desire to keep a job, having received a higher psychological education of the state standard, or the desire to acquire a profession with more comfortable working conditions, which they are convinced of before the end of the training period. As in the sample of 54 women, this confirms the existing theory of motivation for women in professional development to ensure safety.

Albania 35,0 87,9 48,5 Serbia 37,7 35,6 77,9 80,9 17,9 30,7 Turkey 12,6 8,9 82,9 54,5 14,4 16,1 Herzegovinaand 35,5 84,0 10,9

Source: Eurostat(2019c,d)

Bosnia

The proportion of the population who say they do not need a second higher education also fluctuates significantly in the EU, averaging 77.5% in 2016. At the same time, there is again a link with the country's economic development: in countries with a higher level of GDP per capita, the proportion of those who do not recognize the need for a second higher education is lower (Ireland, Greece, Spain, Turkey, Finland, Portugal, Italy, Luxembourg). On average, 21.1% of the population of EU countries have difficulty in wanting to get a second higher education.

5. Results and discussion

We conducted a study to determine the structure of the motivational sphere of applicants of the second higher education of the 1st and 2nd year, who receive the second higher education in different specialties in Ukraine on a two year training program. The total sample of the study consists of 260 respondents (154 women, 106 men) who are receiving a second higher education. The age range of the sample respondents is from 22 to 49 years.

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it was determined that motivational factors clearly predominate in the 1st year, and already in the 2nd year they are compared with hygienic factors. We see that the indicator of financial motives has more than doubled. Interestingly, Hertzberg made the paradoxical conclusion that wages alone are not a motivating factor. Like other hygiene factors, the financial motive is related to the environment in which the work is performed. According to Herzberg's theory, the absence or lack of hygiene factors leads to a person's dissatisfaction with their work. But, if they are presented in sufficient volume, they do not cause satisfaction in themselves and are not able to motivate a person to the necessary actions. The absence of motivators, which are related to the nature and essence of the work itself, does not lead to dissatisfaction with people's work, but their presence in due measure causes satisfaction and motivates employees to take the necessary actions and increase efficiency. It is likely that the decline in motivating factors may be related, again, to the insufficiency (in comparison

The highest level motivation in Abraham Maslow's hierarchical system the need for self actualization was manifested in 40% of the 1st and 33% of the 2nd year of study. In other words, this percentage of respondents considers getting a second higher education as an opportunity for self expression, personal growth and realization of their potential. The decrease in this indicator may be due to the shortened duration of the education program, which is used to study at the second higher education and the inability, in this regard, to realize themselves as a subject of educational and professional activity in full.

There is no need to obtain digital skills for choosing a second profession, professional development programs, or retraining programs in the sample under study. Respondents note that this motive did not dominate the decision to get a second higher education (2% of all the respondents). In particular, respondents noted that they did not take into account the possibility of obtaining ICT skills when choosing a second profession. This indicates significant differences in Ukraine and the EU countries regarding the motives for obtaining a second higher education and lifelong learning in general. Therefore, in the EU countries, companies solve the needs of employees in acquiring digital skills, while in Ukraine this trend has not gained popularity.

The next step we were interested in was the structural peculiarities of the combination of external and internal motives of the applicants who are receiving their second higher education. To this end, we used the methodology of Frederic Herzberg's study of human needs. Hertzberg came to the conclusion that there are two main categories of factors for assessing the degree of satisfaction from the work performed: factors that keep you at work hygienic factors (working conditions, wages, interpersonal relationships with bosses, colleagues, subordinates), and factors that motivate you to work motivational factors (achievements, recognition of merit, responsibility, opportunities for career Asgrowth).aresult,

The study allows us to form a number of conclusions about the motivation for obtaining a second higher education in the EU and Ukraine. In EU countries, the trend of adult participation in education is increasing; on average, the proportion of women receiving a second higher education exceeds the proportion of men in this indicator; EU countries differ significantly in the level of adult participation in education during life; there is a tendency for non formal education to prevail over formal education; the share of those who receive

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. with full time education) of hours of study load, within which the student has the opportunity for self expression and personal growth. Hygiene (external) factors are represented by relation to labor (17% in the 1st year and 40% in the 2nd year), internal motivational factors are needs and career growth and advancement (27% at 1 year and 17% in the 2nd year), achieve success (23% in the 1st year and 10% in the 2nd year), the responsibility of work (17% in the 1st year and 13% in the 2nd year) and the actual content of the work (13% for 1st year and 10% in the 2nd year). Hygiene factors such as social recognition and relationships with management are almost not represented (less than 10%), and relationships with the team as a leading motivational factor are not found in any of the 1st and 2nd year respondents. Considering the leading needs of the motivational sphere of persons receiving second higher education, it is essential in our opinion to identify the fact that even the prevailing motives of respondents (according to both methods) have, in the majority, an average level of manifestation. All semantic categories for both the 1st and 2nd courses are within the average values. There were no high indicators of life sense orientations in persons receiving a second higher education. However, in the second year, we see a decrease in all indicators that go even beyond the average. Thus, having decreased, the indicator of general awareness of life dropped from the upper limit of the average level of manifestation to the upper limit of the low level. This can characterize people who receive a second higher education as searchlights whose plans do not have a real support in the present and are not supported by personal responsibility for their implementation. Also declining, beyond the average values are the sub scales "Goals in Life", "Productivity of Life" and "Locus of control I am".

6. Conclusions

The data evidences that, as a whole, the respondents show a certain dissatisfaction with the process of self realization, self deprecation, lack of clear goals for the future, which give life meaningfulness, orientation and time perspective. This can be conditioned by an adaptation period of entry into the new professional field, which is often accompanied by dissatisfaction with this moment of life situation and confusion in both their own abilities and the correctness of the chosen path. This may be due to the fact that the subjects have not yet completed professional identification, they are not happy with the current state of things, they are not sure about the decision to work or not to work in the specialty after completing the course of study.

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It is determined that the main driving forces are, in the majority, secondary needs, namely, the need for respect, recognition of others and the need for self expression, the realization of their potential capabilities by considering the specific psychological and pedagogical aspects in the process of obtaining the second higher education in Ukraine. Internal motivational factors completely outweigh the external hygienic factors, although the financial aspect is quite high. Even the predominant motives are, for the most part, only an average manifestation level, although there is a fairly high percentage of manifestation of primary needs expressed in the need for security and confidence in the future.

In Lifelong Learning Participation in a Changing Policy Context (pp. 151 165). London, UK: Palgrave Chikileva,Macmillan.doi:10.1057/9781137441836_9E.N.(2017).Motivationalstructure

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. training and training among the adult population is significantly higher among those who have already received higher education; in countries with a higher level of GDP per capita, there is a smaller share of the population, through the cost of obtaining a second higher education, does not have the opportunity to study; in countries with high incomes and GDP per capita, the proportion of the population that cannot get a second higher education through substantial spending is lower. The proportion of the population who say they do not need a second higher education also fluctuates significantly in EU countries.

202 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. McMullin, P., & Kilpi Jakonen, E. (2014). Cumulative (Dis)advantage? Patterns of Participation and Outcomes of Adult Learning in Great Britain. In H. P. Blossfeld, E. Kilpi Jakonen, D. Vono de Vilhena, & S. Buchholz (Eds.), Adult Learning in Modern Societies (pp. 119 139). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi:10.4337/9781783475186.00015

OECD. (2019). Skills Matter: Additional Results from the Survey of Adult Skills. Retrieved from https://www.oecd Ricardo,en&mimeType=text/htmlen/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/1f029d8filibrary.org/sites/1f029d8fR.,Bora,B.,Camilloni,F.,Lizon,L.,Cavaca,M.,Sinha,P.,Kandera,P.,&Egetenmeyer,R.(2016).Participationandnonparticipationinadulteducationandlearning:AcomparativestudybetweenPortugal,Italy,Hungary,andIndia.InR.Egetenmeyer(Ed.),

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Adult Education and Lifelong Learning in Europe and Beyond (pp.149 166). FrankfurtamMain,Germany: PeterLangGmbH. Rubenson, K. (2017). Conceptualizing Participation in Adult Learning and Education: EquityIssues. InM.Milana,S.Webb,J.Holford,R.Waller,& P. Jarvis (Eds.), The Palgrave International Handbook on Adult and Lifelong Education and Learning (pp. 337 357).London,UK: PalgraveMacmillan.doi:10.1057/978 1 137 55783 4_18 Rudenko, S. V. (2016). Features of students' expectations in the system of postgraduate education. Bulletin of postgraduate education. Series: Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1, 99 Savchenko,109.K.V. (2013). Relationship between the indicator of motivation for success and the level of actualization of personal motives in the motivational sphere of students and students receiving a second higher education. Psychology of personality, 4(1),255 262. Savchenko,K. V. (2015).Thestudyof personalmotivationintheprocess ofobtainingthe firstandsecondhigher education. Psychology of personality, 6(1),215 223. Shabashova, E. N. (2010). Features of the motivational sphere of students receiving postgraduate additional professional education. Bulletin of the Novgorod State University, 58,79 82. Tyurin, E. I. (2012). Features of motivation for obtaining additional professional education. Social Sciences,3,77 83. Wahler, S., Buchoholz, S., Myrup Jensen, V., & Unfried, J. (2014). Adult Learning in Denmark: Patterns of Participation in Adult Learning and Its Impact on Individuals’ Labor Market Outcomes. In H. P. Blossfeld, E. Kilpi Jakonen, D. Vono de Vilhena, & S. Buchholz (Eds.), Adult Learning in Modern Societies (pp. 223 241). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi:10.4337/9781783475186.00020

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203 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 203 213, February 2020 https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.2.12

Karol Andrea Puma-Yagua Universidad Nacional de San Agustín Arequipa, Perú Teresa Ramos Quispe UniversidadArequipa,ContinentalPerú

Sonia Esther Castro Cuba Sayco Universidad Católica de Santa María Arequipa, Perú Alicia García Holgado GRIAL Research Group, University of Salamanca Salamanca, Spain Antonio Silva Sprock Universidad Central de Venezuela Caracas, Venezuela Klinge Orlando Villalba-Condori UniversidadArequipa,ContinentalPerú

Abstract. Creativity is a significant flaw that is observed in the Peruvian educational system, and that has its origins in initial education. The purpose of this research is to know the influence of the use of physical space in the development of creativity among pupils of 5 years old classes of the initial level in Arequipa. In particular, the study was carried out in eight public schools of the Local Educational Management Units of South Arequipa and Caylloma, with 151 students. Two instruments were used, one to evaluate the physical space and an adaptation of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. It was found that there is a relationship between the use of physical space and the development of creativity in children of the 5 years old at the public educational institutions of the Caylloma and South Arequipa.

Keywords: Physical space; Creativity; Pre school

The Physical Space and the Development of Creativity in Peruvian Early Childhood Education: A Case Study in Arequipa

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1. Introduction In recent years, pedagogues, architects and teachers have shown great interest in the analysis and study of the physical school space in different regions of the world. In the Peruvian context, however, little research has been carried out on this subject. In order to develop creativity in schools, it is necessary to innovate educational methods, motivate students, redesign the physical space, rethink academic hours, take advantage of technology, and so on. The physical space must be considered an element of the teaching activity, and even more at the initial level; therefore, it is necessary to structure and organize it adequately. This is corroborated by the research of Alonso Sanz (2016), who concluded that children are capable of critically examining their daily educational spaces and expressing their opinions supported by visual forms of communication. For María Montessori, the child takes play very seriously, as work; it is known that the child learns through play, be it free play or guided play; and for this, correctly implemented spaces are needed, without excess or lack of materials. The technological advances have fostered the development of different areas of society. However, the infrastructure of the schools has not changed, classrooms remain rectangular, and students are sitting in front of a blackboard (digital or traditional) (Britton, 1992). There are previous studies that show the importance of the topic addressed here. These include research by Vintimilla and Muñoz (2018) , who conclude that of the ten centres evaluated in the Canton of Cuenca (Ecuador), 90% of them do not meet all the quality standards; and only one children's centre located in the urban area meets all the standards evaluated, which represents 10%. Also noteworthy is the study carried out on children in a private concerted Early Education school in the province of Granada (Spain) (López Megías, 2018). For these authors, the use of qualitative analysis methodologies as an evaluation alternative allows access to an analysis of creativity in early childhood, an area in which there are not too many standardized instruments or those with sufficient validity and reliability. Pagliero and Piderit (2017) conclude in their study that the best orientation for kindergarten classrooms is the Northeast, given the hours of use of the children and the inclination of the sun in the city of Puerto Montt, which corresponds to what is recommended by UNESCO. Finally, Medina, Velázquez, Alhuay and Aguirre (2017) shows as practical results the development of a didactic strategy that contributed to improving the creative capacity of children in early education in Puno (Peru). At present, we are living with problems that are affecting humanity, such as the economic crisis, scarcity of energy resources, global warming, and so on. The 21st century will be full of changes that will be inevitable, and all human beings must commit themselves to find solutions to these problems; this is where creativity emerges to find solutions and ideas to stop the many problems with which we live. For this reason, it is necessary to know the importance of creativity in the personal and social development of the human being, from an early age.

Creativity acquires, then, double importance and meaning. On the one hand, as a cultural value that allows generating effective solutions to contemporary problems. On the other hand, as a fundamental need of the human being, whose satisfaction allows reaching a better quality of life. According to (Klimenko, 2008), the development of creativity is significant because it will make it possible to provide solutions to the current problems of society.

Creativity is a significant flaw that is observed in the Peruvian educational system, and that has its origins in initial education. In this context, this study aims to analyse the influence of the physical space in the development of creativity among pupils of five years old in two different provinces in the Department of Arequipa (Peru), Arequipa and Caylloma. In particular, the study was carried out in public schools of the Local Educational Management Units of South Arequipa and Caylloma. The proposed hypothesis is that physical space is one of the determining factors for the development of creativity in children in the 5 year old classroom of the public educational institutions in South Arequipa and Caylloma.

2. Physical Space For Iglesias (2008), the physical space refers to the classroom, where the furniture, materials, and decoration are for the work with children. From this concept, it can be deduced that the physical space is constituted by the scenarios where the children's learning takes place. Along the same lines, García Chato (2014) specifies that the physical space is the place where the child lives, learns and relates to objects and others. Thus, this space becomes “a network of places and objects that human beings can experience directly through the experiences they may have, through opportunities to learn, to know, and to relate”. García Chato refers to space as an essential entity for the development of the child, since in it he will experience new sensations and will relate to the objects that surround him, in such a way that he will be able to recognize them as part of his space. The Peruvian Ministry of Education concludes that adequate school infrastructure has a positive effect on student performance (How is the school infrastructure related to student learning?, Educational2017).spaces must be renovated according to the methodology used. There is no single successful design since it will depend on the context, pedagogical objectives, methodology, and policy of educational institutions.

Several schools in Europe and Asia were remodelled with one direction in mind: versatility, polyvalence, and transparency. According to the Peruvian early education curriculum (Quality educational environment in initial education, 2016), the organization of educational spaces, the fair and pertinent use of educational materials and resources, as well as the teaching role provide environments and interactions that allow for a favourable climate for learning. For this reason, it is essential to have a relevant space; the classroom must have an infrastructure that provides physical security, adequate

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Regarding space in educational centres, Polanco explains that "it is relevant to consider space, the distribution of furniture, since these elements contribute to the interpersonal relationships that take place within the classroom, favour the construction of knowledge and collaborate with the success of learning situations" (Polanco, 2004). On the physical environment of the school, (Ruiz & Rebolledo, 2015) points out that the organization of the school environment is a broad concept that will influence the daily life of the classroom, so it is necessary to provide rich and stimulating scenarios full of possibilities and challenges that allow children to explore and experience from it as a learning centre.

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3. Development of creativity

According to the learning routes of the initial level (Learning routes, 2015), the Peruvian Ministry of Education has promoted the use of diverse play areas in the early education classrooms; in these, children are encouraged to express themselves through diverse languages. It can be understood that the organization of the play areas is an important part of the initial level where children interact with other children and with classroom materials through free play. The opinion of the children must be taken into account in order to locate, name, and arrange the play areas in the space. Play areas are spaces inside or outside the classroom where children play freely, going to an area voluntarily, interacting with each other, developing their creativity and intelligence, and building on their learning. To this end, all the posters in the classroom must be made by the children using graphic plastic techniques, with the guidance of the classroom teacher. Classroom posters should preferably be made in the first weeks of the school year (How is the school infrastructure related to student learning?, 2017). Cayuela (2018) affirms in an interview that the infrastructure of schools is the same as those of 30 years ago. However, some private schools know what to do to attract 'clients' and seek new educational methodologies and innovative architecture. On the other hand, the architecture of public schools has not been modified in several decades, not because of a budget problem, but because of a lack of research and commitment.

furniture, and materials according to the age of the child so that the learning processes take place in the best way. In the organization of the classroom for school activities, the furniture and materials should be arranged so that they influence the child's learning activities.

A modern approach to the concept of creativity is offered by Cernades Ramírez, who considers it as “an inherent characteristic of the human being, susceptible to being stimulated by the social and family environment of the child. In every human being, there is the impulse to experiment, to investigate, to relate, in short, to create” (Cernades, 2008). She refers to creativity as something inseparable from the human being and which must be stimulated. It can be understood that all human beings are creative, but not all develop their

Guilford (1950) argues that while there is no direct relationship between intelligence and creativity (or if there is one, it is to a low degree), this is because intelligence tests do not measure all the aptitudes of intelligence, including those directly involved in creativity. Guilford does not assume in his theory that intelligence and creativity are different, but that "creativity is within intelligence (divergent thinking)." Torrance (1962), in his threshold hypothesis, explains the relations between intelligence and creativity, postulating that when Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is below a certain limit, creativity is also limited, while when IQ is above this limit (IQ: 115 120), creativity becomes an almost independent dimension of IQ. In other words, a certain intellectual level is necessary, but not sufficient, condition for the development of creativity.

4. Methodology Below we show the methodology used, where we detail the participants involved in the study, including the institutions and the number of people in each institution. In the same way we detail the instruments used, the design of the study and the collection of data and results of the work.

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Children show creativity in play; they explore experiment, investigate, discover, and succeed in overcoming obstacles. It is necessary to become a creative society by cultivating children's creativity to empower them. According to Cernades Ramirez (2008), if from the first moment we manage to maintain this freedom, this naturalness, giving them self confidence, we can ensure that this development does not diminish. Creativity can best be developed in teams since people will have different points of view on the problem posed, and together they will be able to give solutions in a complete and detailed way. The members of the group must have a close and effective interaction; they must be respected, understood, and participated constantly. Creativity is to combine points with a value of originality for society. The more books that are read, the more creative results can be achieved. There is a straightforward correlation between early childhood reading and creative outcomes. According to Hinostroza (2007), all artistic activities help the child's creative development and imagination.

There are authors, such as Gardner (1983), who have ceased to see intelligence as something unitary and compact, diversifying intelligences. According to his theoretical approaches, creativity and intelligence are the same; in fact, his definitions of a creative person and intelligent person are identical.

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. creativity in the same way as others because they are not stimulated at the same Creativitylevel. can also be understood as a vital impulse, as a way of stimulating and leading the development of the human being. According to Astorga (2016) “Creativity must be understood as one of the motors that move the human being. It can be recognized as the vital energy to relate to and face the challenges that the environment indicates day by day.”

4.1 Participants

The initial level schools selected in the UGEL Caylloma were by proximity, 4 schools were selected in the town of Chivay, 2 single teacher schools and 2 multi teacher schools. The schools were I.E.I. Los Angelitos, the Divino Niño Jesús, the I.E.I. Los Patitos II, and the I.E.I. Jardines del Colca, where we studied 86 children of seven classrooms of these schools. At UGEL south in the city of Arequipa, the same factor was taken into account and the schools were taken in the Mariano Melgar district, specifically the G.U.E. Mariano Melgar, I.E. Manuel Veramendi and Hidalgo, I.E. Teniente Diego Ferré and the I.E.I. Alto Mariano Bustamante. In these schools we studied 65 students from 5 classrooms. In total 141 childrens.

The population consisted in childrens of five years old of classrooms of public educational institutions at the initial level of the Local Educational Management Units (UGEL) of Caylloma and South Arequipa. The sample is non probabilistic and intentional since the inclusion criteria considered similar aspects in terms of the number of students and proximity to educational institutions, to facilitate the study, reasons valid in this investigation.

4.2. Instruments

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Two instruments were used in the study. The first instrument is an adaptation of the “guideline for the management of space and materials in the classroom” (http://bit.ly/2MRUrUb) (Observation guideline for classroom space and materials management, 2017) defined by the Peruvian Ministry of Education as part of the evaluation model of Teaching Performance Beginning Level. The instrument evaluates, through inspection of the classroom as a physical space, the extent to which the teacher ensures compliance with criteria of safety, cleanliness, accessibility, and organization, to promote the development and learning of children in their care. The instrument was focused on the organization part and 6 items were added to evaluate the play areas and the materials used in each area. This instrument also evaluates the posters that are used, such as attendance, the calendar, etc. which has to be made by the children themselves. The second instrument is an adaptation of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) (Torrance, 1972; Kim, 2006). The TTCT is made up of 3 games, the 1st game consists of the children making a drawing using a green leaf in the shape of an egg; the 2nd game consists of completing drawings and the 3rd game in making as many drawings as possible using 2 parallel lines as a base. All games were adapted in order to remove the part in which children have to write a title per each draw, due to 5 years old children do not write or read. This part was replaced by a question of the person who applied the instrument. She asked the children what they were drawing. The response table was adapted to the Peruvian reality through a blank test conducted in other institutions of Local Educational Management Units of Caylloma and South Arequipa.

2.37 66.7% 3

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1

means

1 Caylloma I.E.I. Los Patitos II 2.56 66.7% ArequipaSouth I.E.I. Alto BustamanteMariano 2.37 83.3%

2.68 36.7% 4 Caylloma I.E.I. Los Angelitos 2.75 76.9% 4 ArequipaSouth I.E.

Hidalgo 2.25

It is descriptive research. It focuses on the use of physical space in the educational centres of the Local Educational Management Units of Caylloma and South Arequipa. The investigation is not experimental because a deliberate manipulation of variables was not carried out; only the phenomena were observed in their natural environment and later analysed. Two data collection techniques were used. First, the researchers observed the centres objectively without getting involved in the environment. Second, the instrument was applied.

2 Caylloma I.E.I. Jardines del Colca 2.75 57.1% Teniente Diego Ferré Caylloma I.E.I. Divino Niño G.U.E. Mariano Melgar Manuel e 56.3%

5. Results A code was assigned to identify schools from Caylloma (CY) and those from South Arequipa (SA). First, a descriptive analysis between schools peers was conducted. Group Location Schools Physicalspace Creativity

The hypothesis was tested by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test, which consists of determining whether there are differences between the different populations; thus, in order to know whether there are significant statistical differences in the degree of creativity and levels of physical space (representing a given population), the following procedure was developed. the normality test (Table 1), ANOVA was used because it should be when the importance of one or more factors is evaluated when comparing the

Jesús 2.75 64.0% 3 ASouthrequipa

means of

The visits to the educational institutions were made in October 2018. The classrooms were observed before the children's admission time, with the accompaniment of the directors and / or teachers of the classroom. The TTCT was applied in October also, each game is 10 minutes, and then each child was asked personally about the drawings made. The data collected was imported in SPSS Statistics v.24 to carry out the statistical tests.

2 ArequipaSouth I.E.

For

Veramendi

4.3. Study design and data collection

Table 1: Normality test StatisticShapiro-WilkGl Sig. Creativityscore .989 151 .272

Once the selection of the corresponding statistical test was made, the general results of the variables development of creativity and physical space were processed; then, assuming an alpha level equal to (0.05), the results of Table 2 are obtained.

6. Discussion In this study, the use of physical space in the 5 years old classrooms of the public educational institutions selected was described; and the positive and negative aspects of each classroom were highlighted. One of the problems in the physical space is the infrastructure; in the case of South Arequipa, the classrooms are not large enough for the number of children. This appreciation is corroborated by Vintimilla Padilla and Muñoz Castro (2018), who concluded that, of the ten centres evaluated, 90% of them do not meet all of the Quality Standards, and only one Children's Centre located in the urban area meets all of the standards evaluated, which represents 10%.

Consequently, taking into account the results of this process, it can be seen that the p value is greater than the level of significance; therefore, the data come from a normal distribution; then, the ANOVA test will be used.

It was also proven that the development of creativity of children in the 5 years old classrooms of the public educational institutions of Caylloma is greater than the development of creativity of children in the 5 years old classrooms of the public educational institutions of South Arequipa.

210 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. of the response variable in the different levels of the factors. For the hypothesis test, the selection of the appropriate statistical test is made for its verification.

Table 2: ANOVA test Creativity score sum of squares gl Root mean square f Sig. Between groups 7177.420 2 3588.710 1.913 .151 Inside groups 277695.984 148 1876.324 Total 284873.404 150

According to the table, the p value or level of bilateral significance is equal to 0.045, a value less than the alpha level (which is equal to 0.05); following the established criteria it can be concluded that it is admitted that the probability of relationship between the variables is greater than 95%.

The development of creativity of the children of the classroom of 5 years old of the four public schools of South Arequipa and the four public schools of Caylloma was evaluated. The results were given to the IIEE so that they can be aware of the level of development of the creativity of their students. It is considered the number of children who still have a low development of creativity. This disagrees with the research of Romo, Sánchez and Alfonso (2017), who concludes that overall creativity describes a fundamental upward trend, as well as evaluative skills. It is important to note that we managed to identify greater creativity traits in the classrooms of children who freely use their drawings, without restrictions.

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7. Conclusions

The appropriate use of physical space is essential to develop creativity in children in cycle II of regular basic education in Peru; due to this it is important to train teachers so that they know the importance of physical space and can correctly organize their classrooms and thus develop children's creativity. For this reason, it is suggested that talks should be given on the use of physical space, the organization of furniture and materials, which will emphasize the benefits of having furniture that is easily accessible to children and the importance of avoiding an excess of furniture in the classroom. It is convenient to establish a dialogue between teachers, parents and Local Educational Management Units specialists on the importance of the correct implementation of materials in the sectors so that children can develop their creativity through free play. Likewise, a workshop should be held in which teachers learn to conveniently accommodate the furniture and materials in the physical space and complement by commenting on the importance of the development of creativity in the students of the initial level.

References Alonso Sanz, A. (2016). Factores estéticos determinantes de la calidad y el confort en el aula infantile [Aesthetic factors determining quality and comfort in the children's classroom]. Revista Electrónica Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado, 19(3), 53 65. https://doi.org/10.6018/reifop.19.3.267241. Astorga, B. (2016). Creativity in the classroom. Santiago de Chile, Chile: JUNJI. Ediciones de la JUNJI. Britton, L. (1992). Montessori Play and Learn: a parents' guide to purposeful play from two to six. Three Rivers Press, Nueva York, NY, USA. Cayuela, M. A. (2018, October 14). El auténtico motor del aprendizaje en la escuela es la creatividad [The real engine of learning at school is creativity]. Diario La Verdad. Retrieved from https://www.laverdad.es/murcia/autentico motor aprendizaje 20181014002530 ntvo.html Cernades Ramírez, I. (2008). Desarrollo de la creatividad en educación infantil. Perspectiva constructivista [Development of creativity in early childhood education. Constructivist perspective]. Revista Creatividad y Sociedad, 12, 7 20. García Chato, G. (2014). Ambiente de aprendizaje: su significado en preescolar [Learning environment: its meaning in preschool]. Revista de Educación y Desarrollo, 29, 63 Gardner72.,H. (1983). Frames of mind. New York, NY, USA: Basic Books.

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Rutas del aprendizaje. Qué y cómo aprenden nuestros niños y niñas? [Learning routes. What and how do our children learn?] [Brochure]. (2015). Lima, Perú: Ministerio de Educación. Entorno educativo de calidad en educaciòn inicial: Guía para docentes del Ciclo II [Quality educational environment in initial education: Guide for Cycle II teachers] [Brochure]. (2016). Lima, Perú: Dirección General de Educación Básica Regular, Dirección de Educación Inicial, Ministerio de Educación. ¿Cómo se relaciona la infraestructura de la escuela con los aprendizajes de los estudiantes? (Zoomeducativo N° 3) [How is the school infrastructure related to student learning?] [Brochure]. (2017). Lima, Perú: Oficina de Medición de la Calidad de los Aprendizajes, Ministerio de Educación. Pauta de observación de la gestión del espacio y los materiales del aula [Observation guideline for classroom space and materials management] [Brochure]. (2017). Lima, Perú: Ministerio de Educación. Pagliero Caro, M.J. & Piderit Moreno, M.B. (2017). Evaluación y percepción de la iluminación natural en aulas de preescolar, Región de los Lagos, Chile [Evaluation and perception of natural lighting in preschool classrooms, Los Lagos Region, Chile]. Revista científica de Arquitectura y Urbanismo, 38(3), 41 59. Polanco, A. (2004). El ambiente en un aula del ciclo de transición [The atmosphere in a classroom of the transition cycle]. Actualidades Investigativas en Educación, 4(1), 0 15. http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/AIE.V4I1.9049 Torrance, E. P. (1962). Guiding creative talent. Nueva Jersey, USA: Prentice Hall. Torrance, E. P. (1972). Predictive Validity of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 6(4), 236 262. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2162 6057.1972.tb00936.x. Romo, M., Sanches Ruiz, M.J. & Alfonso Benlliure, V. (2017). Creativity and personality across domains: A critical review. The UB Journal of psychology, 47(2), 57 70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anpsic.2017.04.003 Ruiz Gutiérrez, S. & Rebollo Aranda, M.S. (2015). El aula de Educación Infantil: el aula creative [The Pre Primary classroom: a creative classroom]. Revista de la Facultad

212 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Guilford, J. P. (1950). Creativity. American Psychologist, 5, 444 454. Hinostroza, A. (2007). Creative expressions. San Marcos, Lima, Peru. Iglesias Forneiro, M. L. (2008). Observación y Evaluación del Ambiente de Aprendizaje en Educación Infantil: Dimensiones y Variables a Considerar [Observation and Evaluation of the Learning Environment in Early Childhood Education: Dimensions and Variables to Consider]. Revista Iberoamericana de Educación, 49, 49 70. https://doi.org/10.35362/rie470704 Kim, K. H. (2006). Can We Trust Creativity Tests? A Review of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT). Creativity Research Journal, 18(1), 3 14. Klimenko,https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326934crj1801_2O.(2008).Lacreatividadcomoundesafío para la educación del siglo XXI [Creativity as a challenge for 21st century education]. Educación y educadores, 11(1), 191 210. López Megías, L. & Fernández Castillo, A. (2018). Creatividad en la infancia temprana. Análisis cualitativo en un contexto educativo [Creativity in early childhood. Qualitative analysis in an educational context]. ReiDoCrea, 7, 43 54. Medina Sánchez, N., Velázquez Tejeda, M. E., Alhuay Quispe, J. & Aguirre Chávez, F. (2017). Creativity in Preschoolers, a Challenge of the Contemporary Education. REICE. Revista Iberoamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio en Educación, 15(2), 153 181. http://dx.doi.org/10.15366/reice2017.15.2

213 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. de Educación de Albacete, 30(2), 73 74. Vintimillahttps://doi.org/10.18239/ensayos.v30i2.647Padilla,E.T.&MuñozCastro,E.N.(2018). Estándares de calidad de los Centros Infantiles del Buen Vivir del cantón Cuenca 2017 [Quality standards of the Buen Vivir Children's Centres of the canton Cuenca 2017] (Bachelor’s Thesis). Universidad de Cuenca, Cuenca, Ecuador.

Song Pu, Nor Aniza Ahmad* and Mas Nida Md. Khambari Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia Selangor, Malaysia Ng Keng Yap Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia Selangor, Malaysia

214 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 214 230, February 2020 https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.2.13

Abstract. This study aimed to examine and analyze the relationship between five factors in the practicum setting and six components of practical knowledge acquisition among pre service computer science teachers. A total of 219 Chinese pre service computer science teachers were invited to attend this study. The method of data analysis was using multiple regression analysis. The results can be summed as follows: (a) The factor of knowledge preparation, which has strong practicality in practicum, significantly predicted the five components of practical knowledge acquisition; (b) Teaching reflection factor as a meta cognitive and a characteristic of higher order thinking significantly predicted the three components of practical knowledge acquisition; (c) Instructional design factor as a process of systematic reflection significantly predicted the three components of practical knowledge acquisition; (d) Both teaching practice and teamwork factor significantly predicted the two components of practical knowledge acquisition. We also suggested that teacher educators should focus on the integration of theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge by considering the effects of the five factors.

Keywords: pre service computer science teachers; practical knowledge; teachers practicum *Corresponding author: Nor Aniza Ahmad, email: nor_aniza@upm.edu.my

Factors Affecting Practical Knowledge Acquisition of Pre-service Computer Science Teachers During the Practicum: A Multiple Regression Analysis

1. Introduction The practicum represents an integral part of pre service teacher training and a process by which teachers acquire skills and knowledge from the school environment. Especially for pre service teachers in the field of computer science education, which is highly relevant to various hands on activities carried out in schools (Brandes, & Armoni, 2019; Hausswolff, 2017). It should be noted that the distinctive feature of the practicum in computer science or other laboratory subjects is a formative period where practical knowledge, skills, and competencies are developed to use in practical work (Armoni, 2011; Abrahams & Millar, 2008).

In this section, the previous studies on the practical knowledge acquisition among pre service teachers with their practicum in computer science education were reviewed to establish the theoretical framework of practical knowledge and possible factors in a practicum that affects practical knowledge acquisition.

Over the past 20 years, many previous studies on pre service teachers’ practicum have been published, including many topics in various fields. Studies have highlighted diverse viewpoints on the effectiveness of web based teaching practicum model on pre service teachers’ performance (Lee, & Chang, 2000), the role of practicum in computer science teachers preparation (Hazzan, & Lapidot, 2004), the development and implementation of computer science training module (Ragonis, & Osterlevinz, 2011; So, Hung, & Yip, 2008), partnerships between schools and universities in the training of pre service teachers (Chittleborough, Clarke, & Hubber, 2010), and the virtual learning community in teachers’ practicum (Gronn, Romeo, Mcnamara, & Teo, 2013).

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2. Theoretical Framework

2.1 Pre-service teachers' practical knowledge with their practicum Practical knowledge was considered as an integrated set of practical wisdom, knowledge, conceptions, beliefs, and insights that underlie teachers' actions in practice (Elbaz, 1981; Driel, Beijaard & Verloop, 2001). Teachers’ practical knowledge is cultivated out of practice, circumstances, and actions, and helps teachers to focus on their thoughts and decision making; thus, enabling them to

However, limited studies have focused on the topic of practical knowledge acquisition of pre service teachers in practicum. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between different factors in practicum setting and practical knowledge acquisition among pre service computer science teachers. The finding of this study can provide an overall understanding of how pre service computer science teachers acquire practical knowledge with their practicum, which is helpful in constructing an active channel for the pre service teachers' training in university.

Moreover, in the practicum, the identity of pre service teachers is unique. They are not only being educated as students in universities but also educate others as teachers during practicum (Britzman, 2003). Although identity increases the complexity of pre service teachers’ practicum, many studies viewed it as an essential source of teacher knowledge acquisition (Fan, 2014).

There are various connotations regarding the components and classifications of practical knowledge in the teachers' education field. Elbaz (1981) conducted research and pointed out that practical knowledge can be classified into five categories, which include: knowledge of curriculum, knowledge of subject matter, instruction knowledge, knowledge of self and knowledge of milieu. Elbaz believed that it relates these five kinds of knowledge to each other, and they are formed by the interaction of theoretical knowledge and practice. Elbaz's research on teachers' practical knowledge greatly influences other scholars' researches. The components of teachers' practical knowledge on subject teaching developed by Verloop et al. (2001) are similar to Elbaz's research. Moreover, Shulman (1987) had identified that teachers should possess several categories of knowledge, namely: (a) knowledge of educational aims, (b) knowledge of other content, (c) knowledge of learners, (d) content knowledge, and (e) general pedagogical Chenknowledge.(2003)

Many suggested that practical knowledge acquisition is an integral part of pre service computer science teachers’ practicum because it overcomes the traditional dichotomy between theoretical and practical using two approaches (Smith, & Ragan, 1999). On the one hand, theory use can be observed by the degree of how the teachers used theoretical concepts meaningfully and on the other hand, theory use can be observed in the way teachers reflected on the practical process (Oonk, Verloop, & Gravemeijer, 2015). Practical knowledge has four essential advantages in pre service teachers’ practicum. Firstly, practical knowledge is mostly undocumented, but it is necessary for pre service teachers’ teaching practice as it meets the need for immediate actionable action (Zanting, Verloop, & Vermunt, 2001; Carter, 1990). Additionally, not only pre service teachers’ are the applicators and disseminators of knowledge, but they are also the creators who create their own personal practical knowledge of teaching (Ben Peretz, Furthermore,2011).

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. understand their work (Elbaz, 1981; Shulman, 1987). Furthermore, practical knowledge is guided by practice as it is the strategic cognitive system of an individual (Pu, & Xiang, 2017). For pre service computer science teachers, practical knowledge is a reconstruction and assembling of knowledge from their prior knowledge and experiences, which they used as a guide to plan and enact future teaching activities.

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practical knowledge helps to improve pre service teachers’ interest in developing new skills and learning styles (Oss, 2018). Last but not least, practical knowledge will develop into professional knowledge and this will enable pre service teachers to adapt to different educational contexts (Oss, 2018, Pu, & Xiang, 2017). Hence, practical knowledge has been presumed to be one of the central themes in pre service teachers’ practicum Thus, practical knowledge is a necessary condition in the investigation of the process of pre service teachers' education reformation (Driel, Beijaard, & Verloop, 2001).

carried out research based on the practical knowledge theory of Elbaz and Shulman and ascertained six components model connected to practical

to find out the factors that affect practical knowledge acquisition among pre service teachers in the practicum of computer science education, this study established a comprehensive framework to accommodate to different factors.

knowledge in teachers' education and practicum. The six components of practical knowledge ascertained by Chen include educational beliefs, self knowledge, situational knowledge, interpersonal relationship knowledge, teaching strategies knowledge and self reflection knowledge (Chen, 2003; 2019). Chen's model provides a specific category of practical knowledge for teacher education and makes the concept of practical knowledge easy to apply to scientific research. Therefore, various empirical studies use this model to develop theoretical frameworks for, such as Xiaomin (2010), Lifang(2014), and Yubin, Xiaotang, Lilan, & Linlin (2011).

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When applying the model to this study, the six components need to be modified to accommodate to the area of pre service computer science teachers' practicum: (a) educational beliefs refer to teachers' understanding about the purposes of education, why teachers should participate in practicum, what kind of education students should receive, and the teaching method they would like to use; (b) self knowledge mainly refer to teachers know about the mental representation of themselves, which contain self teaching efficacy, self regulation, and self characteristics (interest, attitude, temperament, ability); (c) situational knowledge as teachers' practical pedagogical wisdom acquired through authentic practices or teachers' perceptions and understandings embedded in computer science teaching; (d) interpersonal relationship knowledge includes their perception and understanding of students, enthusiasm and passion; (e) teaching strategies knowledge refer to teachers apply subject matter knowledge, pedagogy and educational theory to specific strategies in teaching, which including the understanding of teaching objectives, the selection of teaching content and methods, the planning and implementation of educational activities, and handling of special cases; (f) self reflection knowledge is a practice oriented reflection, which mainly involved in before, during and after the practicum of computer science education.

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2.2 Possible factors in practicum affect practical knowledge acquisition When realizing that practical knowledge is an important field of teachers' knowledge, many researchers have been thinking about what factors affect teachers' practical knowledge acquisition. According to Meijer, Verloop, & Beijaard (1999), practical knowledge is thought to be generated and constructed through (a) personal experience; (b) frequency and nature of reflection; (c) prior education; (d) personal characteristics; (e) disciplinary background; (f) the school context. Similarly, Abdelhafez (2010) found that a variety of sources that shaped the teachers' practical knowledge including (a) experience, (b) teacher practice, (c) university study in the subject department, (d) student and peer feedback, (e) expert advice. Specifically, Kauchak and Eggen (2003) argued that teacher understanding of the subject matter and experience have proved to be influential factors influencing their practical knowledge. Zanting et al. (2000) believed that teachers could develop their practical knowledge by school teaching context, teaching experience and biographies (teachers' prior education, family lives and Inhopes).order

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Armoni (2011) constructed a conceptual framework for the knowledge acquisition of computer science teacher that was integrating theoretical knowledge and practical activities. Theoretical knowledge should include both social and psychological foundations so that teachers are familiar with these areas and will be able to use them in a broader context (Pietig, 1997). Additionally, teachers' education should include practical activities. Jaworski & Gellert (2003) asserted that the theory could work in two ways. First, it is served as a mirror in the process of reflection on practice. Second, from practice, teachers can get inspiration and experience from their reflection on theory. According to this conceptual framework, computer science teachers' education should focus on theoretical knowledge which involves three aspects of subject matter courses, education related courses and methods courses, and practical activities which involve four aspects of teaching practice, teaching reflection, and teamwork as these aspects had a positive effect on practical knowledge acquisition. Similarly, Jie (2016) also believed that practical knowledge acquisition of pre service teachers should be linked to theoretical knowledge and practical activities. Based on this conceptual framework, Jie investigated various factors affecting practical knowledge acquisition of pre service teachers in practicum, and found that five factors have a strong influence on practical knowledge, including (a) subject matter knowledge learning, (b) teaching practice, (c) the guidance of experienced teachers, (d) feedback of colleagues and students (d) teaching reflection. Although acknowledging the rationality of this framework, the researchers realized that one factor might be missing in the framework. It is the factor of instructional design. Instructional design is an unfamiliar journey that treats design as a dual learning process (innovation and maintenance learning) and describes designers as learners (Yanchar, 2016). More fundamentally, the nature of design per se as an aspect of educational practice, particularly with regard to computer based instruction (Bichelmeyer, Boling, & Gibbons, 2006). Especially for the practicum of pre service teachers, teaching design can improve their flexibility, adaptability and the ability of creative problem solving, as well as help teachers to obtain practical knowledge (Yanchar, 2016). In summary, refer to the previous studies on computer science teachers education as well as a conceptual framework about the pedagogy of computer science, the researchers determine five possible factors affecting practical knowledge acquisition of pre service teachers in their practicum as follows: (a) knowledge preparation, referring to the teacher's knowledge storage in the previous educational course; (b) teamwork, referring to pre service teachers' collective learning, collective practice and collective reflection in the process of practicum; (c) instructional design, referring to the educational practice of systematical design that consists broadly of course related factors (subject matter knowledge, objectives and learner characteristics), teaching tools and pedagogy; (d) teaching practice, referring to the implementation of pre service teachers' instructional design in school educational context; and (e)teaching reflection, referring to the process of teachers' self observation and self evaluation of teaching. These five possible factors, together with the above mentioned six components of teachers' practical knowledge, constituted the theoretical framework of this study.

The questionnaire employed in this study was based on the six components of practical knowledge and five possible factors in the computer science practicum of pre service teachers. For the six components of practical knowledge, the researchers referred to the information technology teachers' practical knowledge questionnaire developed by Yubin et al. (2011), which based on Chen's theoretical model of practical knowledge components. In the compiling process of the five possible factors section, the researcher referred to the effect of pre service teachers’ practicum questionnaire developed by Jie (2016). Besides, the researchers had consulted six experts on computer science teachers' education for their comments on the six components and five factors of practical knowledge and had asked seventeen of pre service computer science teachers in Guizhou province of China to participate in a pilot study. The pilot study helped researchers correct the expression and representation of items in the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 32 questions. Questions 1 3 are intended to provide background information on the age, gender and experience of pre service teachers. Questions 4 27 focus on the six components of practical knowledge acquisition. Specifically, practical knowledge acquisition comprises educational belief, self knowledge, situational knowledge, interpersonal relationship knowledge, teaching strategies knowledge, and self reflection knowledge.

3.1 Participants

3. Method In this section, the method of this study is presented in three parts of participants, research instrument and data analysis, respectively.

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3.2 Research instrument

Questions 28 32 focus on the five factors in the pre service teachers' practicum. Specifically, the five factors include knowledge preparation (subject matter knowledge, educational theories knowledge and pedagogy knowledge), teamwork (collective learning, collective practice and collective reflection), instruc-

This study conducted a rigorous ethical review at the University of Guizhou province before collecting the data. All participating universities had signed consent forms to complete the questionnaire. Participants in this study involved all pre service computer science teachers in the Guizhou province of China, which comprise of eight normal universities. There are two main reasons why these universities were chosen. On the one hand, these universities pay significant attention to pre service computer science teachers’ practicum, especially in their practical knowledge acquisition. On the other hand, these pre service teachers get knowledge of computer science and have three times practicums. To achieve this goal, a contact person, usually the director of the educational technology department, was entrusted with distributing the questionnaire at his/her university. A total of 219 questionnaires were received from eight normal universities. The participants were pre service computer science teachers who were in their sixth semester, 56 males, 163 females with an average age between 18 and 22 years old.

3.3 Data analysis

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The data collected by the questionnaire were processed in depth using the statistical software package for the SPSS 25 edition. To determine the relationship between the five factors in practicum (independent variables) and six components of practical knowledge acquisition (dependent variables), multiple regression analysis was conducted. Specifically, the objectives of this study were to identify: (1) the relationship between the five factors and educational beliefs acquisition; (2) the relationship between the five factors and self knowledge acquisition; (3) the relationship between the five factors and situational knowledge acquisition; (4) the relationship between the five factors and interpersonal relationship knowledge acquisition; (5) the relationship between the five factors and teaching strategies knowledge acquisition; and (6) the relationship between the five factors and self reflection knowledge acquisition.

tional design (students learning needs, instructional strategies design and selection of teaching tools and materials), teaching practice (adjust the instructional design flexibly, interaction with students, face the challenge positively), and teaching reflection (reflection on teaching methods, instructional design, educational theory and teaching practice). The statement of questions4 32in this study was attached in Appendix 1. The questionnaire used the 5 point Likert from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agreed). The overall Cronbach's alpha value is 0.840(>.70). In this study, 219 questionnaires were distributed and 219 valid questionnaires were collected.

4. Results and Discussion In order to achieve the research objectives, multiple regression analysis was run to predict each component of practical knowledge acquisition with the five factors in practicum. Table 1 shows the results of the regression analysis. The research results are presented in the order of research objectives, respectively mentioned as follows: Objective 1:As show in the table 1,the multiple regression model statistically significantly predicted educational beliefs acquisition, F= 11.959, p = 0.0009, adj. R2 = .457 The result indicates that knowledge preparation has predicting function on educational beliefs acquisition of pre service computer science teachers in their practicum (p < .05). Based on the result, it can be concluded that knowledge preparation plays an important role in the educational beliefs of pre service computer science teachers In the literature, teachers’ knowledge is associated with educational beliefs. According to Pajares (1992), educational belief is a part of practical knowledge which is closely interwoven with knowledge. Pre service teachers' beliefs are also influenced by their personal biographies, such as knowledge and disciplinary background, their own teachers and their own students (Driel, Beijaard, & Verloop, 2001). Although the practicum of pre service teachers may cause some changes in educational beliefs, the change might not be enough to affect the way these pre service teachers teach if their educational beliefs are persistent (Swafford, 1995; Armoni, 2011). A probable explanation of this study finding is that knowledge preparation of computer science education, which is an important

221 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. aspect of pre service teachers' practicum in university, is enough to affect their beliefs. It is further supported by the research conducted by Cooney & Wiegel (2003), which states that pre service teachers' educational beliefs are mostly affected by the knowledge and the way they were taught as students at school or university. Hence, pre service teachers who have sufficient knowledge preparation in the computer science education field will significantly influence their educational belief and confidence to teach computer science to children. Table 1: Results of multiple regression analysis Ob-jec-tive Dependentvariables Model Noncoefficientsstandardized Standardizedcoefficients T Sig. 1 Educationalacquisitionbeliefs preparationKnowledge 0.216 0.214 2.667 0.009 2 Selfacquisitionknowledge preparationKnowledge 0.335 0.387 5.028 0.000 Instructionaldesign 0.192 0.204 2.199 0.029 reflectionTeaching 0.90 0.219 2.541 0.001 3 knowledgeSituationalacquisi-tion preparationKnowledge 0.110 0.223 2.678 0.008 Teamwork 0.118 0.187 2.164 0.032 reflectionTeaching 0.120 0.276 3.249 0.001 4 Interpersonal relationshipacquisitionknowledge Teachingpractice 0.175 0.291 3.236 0.001 preparationKnowledge 0.129 0.239 2.657 0.009 5 Teaching knowledgestrategiesacquisi-tion preparationKnowledge 0.098 0.137 1.762 0.008 Teachingpractice 0.119 0.264 2.966 0.004 Instructionaldesign 0.154 0.191 1.915 0.007 reflectionTeaching 0.120 0.188 2.040 0.043 6 Self knowledgereflectionacquisi-tion Teamwork 0.260 0.179 2.286 0.024 Instructionaldesign 0.538 0.427 5.459 0.000

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Objective 3:The multiple regression model statistically significantly predicted situational knowledge acquisition, F= 6.453, p < .001, adj. R2 = .117. The result indicates that three factors of knowledge preparation, teamwork and teaching reflection have predicting function on situational knowledge acquisition (p < .05), and the factors of teaching reflection had a greater effect. In the practicum of pre service teachers, situational knowledge or context knowledge can be observed when a pre service teacher knows, does, and feels every minute in their everyday classroom life. Barnett & Wiegel (2001) found that situational knowledge can be affected by internal and external factors. Internal factors include teaching reflection and personal experiences, whereas external factors include subject matter knowledge, exchange with other teachers, governmental regulation and school policies. Similarly, this study found that both internal (teaching reflection) and external (knowledge preparation and teamwork) factors had contributed to the increase of situational knowledge acquisition of pre service computer science teachers in practicum.

Many studies have proved that teaching reflection is perceived by teachers to be most important to the acquisition of self knowledge (Sedikides, & Skowronski, 1995; MacLellan, 2012; Stenberg, 2011). Teaching reflection as a meaning making process and self explanatory process on teaching practice serve the way to produce self knowledge and making pre service computer science teachers monitor their own behavior and take appropriate action at a conscious and rational level. However, in the context of this study, the most important factor affecting self knowledge acquisition is knowledge preparation, followed by teaching reflection and instructional design. Lifang (2014) also achieves similar results by using the quantitative method, which found that knowledge preparation (knowledge about subject matter, education related and teaching methods) is the foundation of self knowledge construction. This may be due to the fact that the dual identity of pre service teachers (learners and educators) makes the construction of their self knowledge dependent on their knowledge learning and course experience. For instructional design, in the context of constructivism, instructional design as a kind of dialogue based on individual meaning, promote pre service teachers extending their self knowledge through the way of their self reflection on maintenance learning (familiar and apply extant knowledge, experience and tools into the instructional design ) and innovative learning (involves both major and minor excursions into the unfamiliar situation) in the instructional design process (Yanchar, 2016; Reigeluth, & Moore, 1999).

Teacher's self knowledge is a crucial element of teachers' practical knowledge acquisition with their practicum, due to good teaching ultimately emerges from the inner landscapes of teachers, that is, we teach who we are (Palmer, 1997).

Objective 2:

The multiple regression model statistically significantly predicted self knowledge acquisition, F= 6.453, p < .001, adj. R2 = .117. The result indicates that three factors of knowledge preparation, teaching reflection and instructional design have predicting function on self knowledge acquisition (p < .05), and the factors of knowledge preparation had a greater effect.

findings are understandable in terms of the nature of interpersonal relationship knowledge, which involves understanding of students, enthusiasm and passion (Chen, 2019). Pre service teachers engaged in teaching practice were mostly interested in learning about the educational activities in the computer science classroom (Montecinos et al. 2011). Moreover, pre service teachers in practicum engaged in computer science teaching practice, eager to meet the positive interpersonal enthusiasm and passion for psychological needs (Evelein, Korthagen, & Brekelmans, 2008). Hence, interpersonal relationship knowledge in the setting of computer science practicum can be perceived by the teaching practice of pre service teachers. Moreover, the acquisition of pre service teachers' interpersonal relationship knowledge is significantly influenced by their knowledge preparation, which enables pre service teachers to develop positive interpersonal relationships with university mentors and their students. Fundamentally, whether pre service teachers have sufficient knowledge directly determines the quality of knowledge sharing and communication in the process of computer science practicum. In other words, pre service teachers' insufficient knowledge reduces the quality of knowledge sharing and communication, and thus the low reciprocity of knowledge in interpersonal relationships may make pre service teachers hard to acquire interpersonal relationship knowledge (Gainforth, 2014). This is why teaching practice and knowledge preparation in the practicum of pre service teachers could predict the interpersonal relationship knowledge acquisition Objective 5:The multiple regression model statistically significantly predicted teaching strategies knowledge acquisition, F=4.517, p = .005, adj. R2 = .319 The result indicates that these four factors of knowledge preparation, teaching practice, instructional design and teaching reflection have predicting function on teaching strategies knowledge acquisition (p < .05), and knowledge preparation had a greater effect. Similar to a study by Jie (2016), who suggested that teaching strategies knowledge are influenced by three factors of knowledge preparation, teaching practice and teaching reflection. The knowledge possessed by pre-service teachers can influence their teaching strategy choice. That is to say, the teaching strategies adopted by the pre service teachers in practicum are mainly derived from the previous computer science education curriculum, which contains much practical work, because the pre service teachers are not rich in practical experience, can not skilfully master teaching strategies and innovative use in practicum. Moreover, the teaching practice makes pre service teachers reflect on the teaching strategies which pre service teachers willing to use in their practicum. Through the teaching reflection, pre service teachers can transform the

The multiple regression model statistically significantly predicted interpersonal relationship knowledge acquisition, F=6.065, p = .003, adj. R2 = .306. The result indicates that these two factors of teaching practice and knowledge preparation have predicting function on interpersonal relationship knowledge acquisition (p < .05), and the factor of teaching practice had a greater Theseeffect.

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Objective 4:

Objective 6:The multiple regression model statistically significantly predicted self reflection knowledge acquisition, F= 29.11, p < .001, adj. R2 = .284. The result indicates that two factors of instructional design and teamwork have predicting function on self reflection acquisition (p < .05), and instructional design had a greater Althougheffect.pre service teachers in the process of instructional design mainly rely on the existing mature teaching plan and pay attention to the design process without making mistakes, the process of pre service teachers thinking about the scientificity and rationality of instructional design includes their reflection on self knowledge and experience. As Smith & Ragan (1999) claim, in essence, instructional design is a reflective process in which the principles of education are translated into educational activities. For the teamwork factor, Foong, Binti & Nolan (2018), who investigated the relationship between individual and collective reflection, found that collective reflection supported higher levels of individual reflective thinking during practicum. The possible explanation for this might be teamwork allows pre service teachers to exchange their experience and idea to the other team member as well as get feedback from others. Hence, the factors of the above perspectives explain why the factors of instructional design and teamwork in the practicum of pre service teachers could predict the self reflection acquisition, and further help they understand why teachers and students do in the computer science classroom.

5. Conclusion

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. knowledge of teaching strategies from the academic courses into their own knowledge, which is more individuation and practicality. Besides the three factors mentioned, this study found a new factor, which is the instructional design that would have a significant influence on teaching strategies acquisition. When pre service teachers conducted their own instructional design as well as discussed with their peers, they were stimulated to develop their own teaching strategies knowledge (Geddis, 1993; Van Driel et al., 1998). This is why knowledge preparation, teaching practice, instructional design and teaching reflection factors in the practicum of pre service teachers could predict the teaching strategies knowledge acquisition

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Overall, this study aimed to address the issue of which factor in the practicum of pre service computer science teachers can predict the acquisition of each component of practical knowledge, and its main findings suggested that the factors influencing each component of practical knowledge are very different. From the results of this study, the factor of knowledge preparation significantly predicted the acquisition of educational beliefs, self knowledge, situational knowledge, interpersonal relationship knowledge and teaching strategies knowledge in the practicum. This meaning that pre service computer science teachers' knowledge preparation is very useful for their practical knowledge acquisition. Some scholars indicated that educational knowledge from university courses have a minor influence on their practical knowledge acquisition, due to the practicality of educational knowledge is very low (Tsai, & Liu, 2013; Deed, Cox, & Prain, 2011). However, in the setting of computer science education, knowledge preparation

There are some limitations in this study. Although Chinese government departments have established regulations and guidelines for pre service teacher

In conclusion, this study suggested that the education of pre service computer science teachers for practical knowledge acquisition should focus on the integration of theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge with considering the effects of the five factors. From this study, under the conceptual framework proposed by Armoni (2011) and Jie (2016), we have come to understand that the five factors in the process of practicum of pre service computer science teachers do not exist in isolation. Instead, these factors are closely related to each other as they influence one another.

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. or university courses involve much practical work and hands on activities, which have strong practicality in the practicum, and enhance pre service teachers acquire practical knowledge. Moreover, it must be noted that unlike the servicing teachers, pre service teachers are still at the stage of learning and accumulating knowledge. If the pre service teacher is not well prepared, they are likely to experience failure in practicum; thus, losing motivation and confidence to become computer science teachers.

As for the factors of teaching reflection and instructional design, teaching reflection significantly predicted the acquisition of self knowledge, situational knowledge, and teaching strategies knowledge in the practicum, while instructional design significantly predicted the acquisition of self knowledge, teaching strategies knowledge and self reflection knowledge. Teaching reflection would be an essential tool for the pre service teacher education as it is considered as a meta cognitive and a characteristic of higher order thinking, which enable pre service teachers to examine their own educational knowledge, thoughts, attitudes and actions (Cooney, 2003). Meanwhile, as mentioned above, instructional design as a way of pre service teacher's reflection can help teachers organize their educational knowledge systematically in the design, which meets the needs of students, and considers and reviews the feasibility and effectiveness of teaching design. Obviously, teaching reflection and instructional design as two essential factors enhance the acquisition of pre service teachers' practical knowledge by observing their own actions and introspecting their own attitudes, beliefs, and understandings in the practicum Moreover, teaching practice significantly predicted the acquisition of interpersonal relationship knowledge and teaching strategies knowledge. As a possible explanation, this could be the result of the fact that the teaching practice of pre service teachers in the practicum strengthens the relations between theory and practice, pre service teachers and students, the method curriculum and the actual situation (Hazzan & Lapidot, 2004). Finally, the factor of teamwork significantly predicted the acquisition of situational knowledge and self reflection knowledge. In this study, teamwork in the situation of computer science education where a group is working together to achieve a common goal through analysis and adapt to the specific situation of the classroom, and collective reflection, and thus enhance the practical knowledge acquisition.

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6. Funding Statement

226 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. education to regulate the activities of normal universities in implementing pre service teacher education, each university in different provinces of China can still implement different techniques for equipping pre service teachers with abilities, especially in the practicum of computer science teachers. This study only took Guizhou province as the sample. Therefore, it cannot be generalized to all Chinese pre service computer science teacher education. Hence, it is recommended for future research that focuses on comparing the impact of different practicum module on practical knowledge acquisition among pre service computer science teachers in different provinces.

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Oonk, W., Verloop, N., & Gravemeijer, K. (2015). Enriching practical knowledge: exploring student teachers’ competence in integrating theory and practice of mathematics teaching. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 46(5), 560 563. doi:10.5951/jresematheduc.46.5.0559 Orit, H , & Tami, L. (2004). The practicum in computer science education: bridging gaps between theoretical knowledge and actual performance. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 36, 47 51. doi:10.1145/1041624.1041655 Oss, D. I. B. (2018). The relevance of teachers' practical knowledge in the development of teacher education programs. Profile Issues in Teachers Professional Development, 20(1), 167 178. doi:10.15446/profile.v20n1.62327 Palmer, P. (1997). The heart of a teacher. Identity and integrity in teaching. Change Magazine, 29(6), 14 21. doi:10.1080/00091389709602343 Pan, L., (2014). An investigation of teachers' practical knowledge formation: A case study of Shanghai Primary School Teachers. Open Education Research, 202, 80 87. (in Chinese) Pietig, J. (1997). Foundations and teacher education: Do we need a new metaphor? J. Teach. Educ. 48, 3, 177 184. doi:10.1177/0022487197048003003 Ragonis, N., & Oster Levinz, A. . (2011). Pre service Computer Science Teacher Training within the Professional Development School (PDS) Collaboration Framework. Informatics in Schools Contributing to Century Education international Conference on Informatics in Schools: Situation. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. doi:10.1007/978 3 642 24722 4_10 Sedikides, C., & Skowronski, J. J. (1995). On the sources of self knowledge: The perceived primacy of self reflection. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 14(3), 244 270. Shulman,doi:10.1521/jscp.1995.14.3.244L.(1987).KnowledgeandTeaching:

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I can learn from mistakes and adjust my own attitude and behavior I am willing to accept the feedback from students and other teachers I understand my own teaching ability

Situational knowledge I can use educational opportunities reasonably I can adapt to the new environment. I can handle the problems in classroom teaching I can use theoretical knowledgeflexibly in classroom teaching. Interpersonal relationship knowledge I can communicate well with students I am willing to help students. I am willing to learn new knowledge and teach them to students in the area of computer science.

9

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4

9 Appendix

Educational beliefs I understand the purpose of computer science education and work hard to achieve it. I should adjust my teaching method to the classroom situation. I think all students should be educated in computer science.

Von Hausswolff, K. (2017). Hands on in Computer Programming Education. Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research ICER17. doi:10.1145/3105726.310573 Yanchar, S. C. (2016). Instructional design Practice as Innovative Learning: Journeys into the Unfamiliar. Educational Technology, 56(1), 14 21. Zanting, A., Verloop, N., & Vermunt, J. D. (2001). Student teachers eliciting mentors’ practical knowledge and comparing it to their own beliefs. Teaching & Teacher Education, 17(6), 725 740. doi:10.1016/S0742 051X(01)00026 1

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5

6

The statement of questions 4 32 of the instrument NO. Item Statement

7 I believe I can overcome the difficulties in teaching Self knowledge I understand my own character.

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230 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. 19 I can communicate well with other teachers Teaching strategies knowledge 20 I can use teaching methods flexibly. 21 I can present the teaching content in an appropriate manner. 22 I can solve students' problems in their studies. 23 I can use multiple strategies to organize my teaching procedure. Self reflection knowledge 24 I can reflect in action 25 I often use reflective methods in my practicum. 26 I often reflect on my own professional growth 27 I think self reflection is very important for my growth. How much did the following factors contribute to your practical knowledge acquisition during 28practicum Knowledge preparation 29 Teamwork 30 Instructional design 31 Teaching practice 32 Teaching reflection

Computerized Visual Perception Games and its Effects on Learning Letters and Numbers among Jordanian Kindergarten Children

Ebtesam Qassim Rababah Department of Curriculum and Teaching Methods Yarmouk University, Jordan Mais Nusair Ministry of Education, Jordan Ayed Hamdan AlHersh Department of Curriculum and Teaching Methods Yarmouk University, Jordan

231 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 231 247, February 2020 https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.2.14

Abstract. This study investigated the effect of computerized visual perception games on learning letters and numbers among Jordanian kindergarten children. A set of computerized visual perception games, as well as two tests for both Arabic letters and mathematics, were prepared to study the objective. The study was conducted on students in Tawasol Academy Kindergarten in Irbid Governorate, Jordan with a sample size of (50) students divided into experimental and control groups. Results showed that computerized visual perception games had an effect on improving visual perception, letters and numbers learning in these Kindergarten children. Results also showed significant (p ≤ 0.05) differences in numbers and letters learning among Kindergarten students between the control and experimental groups. (40%) of this effect size for both letters and numbers is attributed to the impact of computerized visual perception games. Based on the results, parents of Kindergarten children should be made aware of the importance of computerized visual perception games in learning letters and numbers. Teachers should also learn the impact and effectiveness of using visual perception games in improving learning letters and numbers and the educational process in general.

Keywords: Computerized Games; Visual Perception; Kindergarten Children; Learning Letters and Numbers

1. Introduction The pre school stage is considered one of the most important stages in a child's life and the formation of his or her personality, as it gives the child an

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opportunity to gain experiences and knowledge (Aldridge & Goldman, 2007; Rababah, 2012; Al Shammari & Olaimat, 2019), to develop school readiness skills (Throndsen, Shumway, Moyer Packenham, 2019), and acquisition of numeracy and literacy skills (Al Shammari & Olaimat, 2019; Barham, Ihmeideh, Al Falasi, Alabdallah, 2019). Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to language experiences and the process of preparing children for reading by providing exposure to necessary skills, especially before they are introduced to the actual reading stage (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001; Hashman, 2008; Mukdadi, Batiha, & Martín, 2016; Rababah, 2017).

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Regarding visual perception, Naughton (2001) defined it as the translation of perceptions in the form of symbols transmitted through the optic nerves to the brain. Suleiman (2003) defined it as adding meaning, significance, or interpretation to sensory visual stimuli. Ahmed (2006) defined it as organizing, interpreting and treating the external sensory visual stimuli that exist in the individual's visual field in the visual centers of the brain. Mohamed (2012) described it as a dynamic process based on integrating other senses. Thus, visual perception is defined here as the process that determines responses to visual stimuli so that an individual can perceive what is happening around them and understand the relationship between the perception and the body. Visual perception is considered one of the most important processes that occur in a person’s life (Erhardt & Duckman, 2005; Richmond, 2010). This is especially the case in the first years of life, as the percentage of what a person learns from visual stimuli constitutes approximately (80%) of all stimuli in the first few years (Al Hassan, 2017). Visual perception is also a sensory skill that enables an

One of Jordan's modern issues, and one it is attaching intense attention to, is literacy and the process of preparing children for reading due to the positive effects it has on them, particularly in developing educational and cultural levels.

Previous research has shown visual discrimination and letter and number recognition are important steps in helping children achieve high literacy and numeracy standards (Richmond, 2010). Other researchers have stated that visual perception disturbances can lead to a child falling into many other errors while learning literacy, including an inability to distinguish between similar letters, bad copying, writing letters and numbers backward, and the inability to distinguish between beginnings and endings of letters (Richmond, 2010; Mohamed, 2012). Cognition includes many processes in the brain, including classification and the ability to interpret external stimuli from the environment; cognition is one of the basic psychological processes that are part of forming general human perceptions about meanings related to these concepts (Adam, The2007).development of visual perception skills lasts from about two months to (12) years old. For a six year old child, developing visual perception skills includes developing the distinction between right and left, space and time, and distinguishing shapes, as well as developing and increasing the ability to preserve visual memory (Howard, 1991).

Several studies have previously touched on the relationship between electronic visual perception games, reading and writing development, and the acquisition of basic skills such as knowledge of numbers. Rosas et al. (2003) explored the effects of educational video games on learning basic mathematics and reading comprehension. Their sample consisted of (1,274) students of the first and second grades in Chile, who were divided into three groups: experimental, internal control, and external control. Students were evaluated on their acquisition of reading comprehension, spelling, mathematical skills, and their motivation to use video games. Teachers’ expectations of change due to the use of video games, their technological transfer, and handling of classroom dynamics, were assessed through ad hoc tests and classroom

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The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. individual to perceive the surrounding external environment (Al Hassan, 2017).

Many past studies have investigated electronic teaching games. Most have focused on directing and employing electronic games towards enriching educational material for student learning (Alghazo, Alsawaie, Al Awidi, 2010; AlNatour & Hijazi, 2018), providing them with additional available resources and introducing an element of excitement and suspense during the presentation of educational material (Alghazo et al., 2010; Neumann & Neumann, 2017; Neumann, 2018). In light of rapid technological development, understanding and utilizing electronic games has become an urgent necessity, whereas it was a form of social luxury in the past (Alghazo et al., 2010).

Visual perception functions to distinguish similarities and differences between stimuli in terms of image, clarity, color, size, shape, density, depth and position. How the individual perceives and understands these stimuli all depends on previous experiences.

A child’s ability to distinguish and remember visually are two of the most important visual perception skills in preparation of reading (Sorter & Kulp, 2003; Richmond, 2010), due to the need to distinguish between the forms of letters and the link between sound and shape. Moreover, visual remembering is considered extremely important in learning to read and requires the ability to stop a mental image in the brain for a sufficient period of time to link it with other similar images that were previously stored in memory. In the case of a child's insufficient experience in this field, the ability to preserve the meanings of abstract symbols indicating letters is low, which explains the common phenomenon of substitution and deletion during early attempts to learn to read (Bredekamp and Copple, 1997). Play and the use of educational games could develop perception and visual discrimination skills. Since technological development has affected most areas of life, it has also led to a change in the concept of play in children and a qualitative shift in the nature and types of games played by children. This raises the possibility for educators and educational personnel to integrate education with technology to bridge the gap in childhood learning (McManis & Gunnewig, 2012; Neumann & Neumann, 2017).

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Abdullah (2013) conducted a study based on computerized educational games to improve the visual perception of autistic children. The sample of the study consisted of (30) children with autism ranging between (8 12) years old. The experiment was conducted inside a group of artistic and national museums, following an experimental and descriptive approach. The results indicated a noticeable improvement in the visual perception of autistic children as a result of using computerized educational games.

Furthermore,group.inorder

Al Salami (2014) studied the effects of using multimedia software on developing reading skills for third grade students. The sample consisted of (40) third graders from a school in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The study sample was randomly divided into experimental and control groups of (20) students in each group. A multimedia based program was employed in the experimental group, while the conventional reading method was used in the control group. For data collection, pre and post tests were used. The results showed multimedia increased the ability of these students to read compared to traditional methods. Students in the experimental group also felt the multimedia method fit their learning style better than the traditional reading method.

Islam, Islam, Ahmad, and Shamsuddin (2014) developed two interactive digital learning materials for kindergarten children in Bangladesh, in addition to developing an interactive program aimed at teaching numbers (0 10) in Bengali. Several applications and multimedia programs were used to develop these educational materials. The sample was chosen from a kindergarten school in the Dhaka area, and a total of (52) children aged between (4 5) years were chosen. A pre and post test were performed by the assistant teachers of the class. The results showed that digital educational materials had a positive and noticeable effect on improving number learning skills among these kindergarten children, as they showed marked improvement in learning and adaptation skills.

observations. The results showed significant differences between the groups in Math, Reading Comprehension, and motivation in favor of the experimental video game to enhance preschool counting skills, Alghazo et al. (2010) investigated the effect of computer technology on preschool children's counting skills in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. They recruited 48 preschool children to serve in either experimental or control groups. They found counting skills were improved in both groups, but the experimental group outperformed in all counting skills. Moreover, Mohammad (2012) conducted a study to improve regular writing and reading skills by conducting sessions of a proposed visual perception program. (28) Participants (22 students and 6 teachers) were chosen from the third grade level in Giza, Egypt. A literacy and mental ability test were used, and the researcher developed and used a visual perception tool for written and reading dyslexia. The results indicated improvement in writing and reading skills in post study tools (compared to pre study tools) for both the control and experimental groups, but the experimental group outperformed the control.

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Kamran (2015) also conducted a study aimed at revealing the effect of a tactile kinetic games approach to the development of some elements of kinetic intelligence and visual perception skills among pre school children. The study also aimed at revealing post test differences between the experimental group and the control in children ages (5 6) years. The research participants consisted of (30) kindergarten children in the Koya district of Iraq, where the sample included boys and girls. The sample was randomly divided by lottery into two equal groups, one experimental and the other control. The research tool was represented by tests of motor intelligence, and a measure of the growth of visual perception skills in these preschool children. The sense kinetic games achieved excellence in the elements of motor intelligence and a scale of growth of visual perception skills among the children of the experimental group. The researcher found the children of the experimental group outperformed the children of the experimental group in the post tests of some elements of motor intelligence and the development of visual perception skills.

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The study conducted by Al Hassan (2017) in Ajloun, Jordan aimed to reveal the impact of the use and application of a training program designed to develop the skill of visual perception and measure its impact on improving reading among students with learning difficulties. The sample of the study included (20) students with learning difficulties and was divided equally into control and experimental groups. Two tests were used to collect data (reading achievement and visual perception tests) in addition to using a therapeutic training program to distinguish visual perception skills applied for two months. The results showed statistically significant differences between the control and experimental groups in favor of the experimental group. Neumann and Neumann (2017) conducted a study looking at the importance of using touch tablets to develop writing and reading skills in children during home and pre school stages. The research dealt with three theoretical aspects: the first aspect involved theories in the field of using computers and literacy. The second aspect related to the importance of using tablets (touch screen) in pre school and the third aspect looked at the use of touch screen tablets at home. Neumann (2018) followed by investigating the effect of using tablet applications on enhancing writing and reading skills in young children. The sample included (48) children between (2 5) years old, divided evenly into a control group and an experimental group that used iPads (iPad) for (9) weeks at a rate of (30) minutes per week. During this period, three letters of the alphabet (each week) were used, with (3) different applications such as letter tracking, letter matching, and drawing. The results showed a noticeable improvement in reading skills but not writing. The experimental group had increased knowledge of the names of letters, improvement in writing skills, and sound knowledge of concepts compared to children in the control group. These results did not confirm the ability of tablets to develop and teach writing to young children since it did not reach the level of significance for differences from the control group

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1.1. Research Problem and Questions

After reviewing the previous studies, and in light of the study by Islam et al. (2014), which confirmed that the use of computerized games enriches students’ learning resources, the education of children needs to be supported using more interactive methods based on the use of technology to prepare an interactive environment with a variety of resources. Also, the lack of local studies reveals the need to assess the role of computerized games in enriching the basic skills of kindergarten students in Jordan. Additionally, since the second researcher has been a kindergarten teacher for years, it has become clear that most children at this stage now have tablets that enable them to use electronic games easily and at any time. Although these children own tablets equipped with multiple games, and use them continuously, utilizing these tablets and games to enrich reading and writing skills has not been studied in Jordan (Neumann & Neumann, 2017).

Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of computerized visual perception games on learning letters and numbers for Jordanian kindergarten children. Based on this purpose, the following three questions led the study: Question 1: “What are the effects of computerized visual perception games on learning letters and numbers and visual perception for Jordanian kindergarten children?"

In conclusion, most of the previously discussed studies conducted pre and post tests to analyze the effect of technology based educational game programs. While the samples in the literature have differed, the results have been mostly positive for electronic teaching games. However, the limited literature on emergent literacy, and use of technology to facilitate it, suggests that more needs to be known about the effect of computerized visual perception games on emergent literacy (Neumann & Neumann, 2017; Neumann, 2018) and pre math skills. No Jordanian study on employing computerized visual perception games in learning the skills of reading and numeracy like learning numbers and letters skills were known to the authors at the time of conducting the study. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the role of computerized visual perception games in learning letters and numbers for kindergarten children in Jordan, specifically.

Past research indicates that many children who have problems learning to read in their elementary years may be connected with poor development of pre reading skills, which are skills that are usually acquired during pre school years (August & Shanahan, 2006). Snow and Matthews (2016) stated, “Children who don’t develop age appropriate literacy skills by the end of third grade are at high risk of school failure” (p. 58). Only 17% of Jordanian children were found to be able to read the full text at the end of third grade, according to the National Survey included in the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), which was conducted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the Ministry of Education of Jordan (RTI International, 2013).

Question 3: “Are there statistically significant differences (p≤ 0.05) between the control and experimental groups due to the impact of computerized visual perception games on Jordanian kindergarten students learning numbers?"

Question 2: "Are there statistically significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) between the control and experimental groups due to the impact of computerized visual perception games on Jordanian kindergarten students learning letters?"

• Hypothesis 2: computerized visual perception games will have a positive significant impact on Jordanian kindergarten children learning numbers. Thus, the independent variables for this study were (teaching method) with two values; computerized visual perception games, which were utilized in the experimental group, and the conventional way in the control group. The dependent variables were the students’ scores on pre and post tests to determine the learning of letters and numbers and children’s visual perception.

1.3. Research Hypotheses

1.2. The Significance of the Study

Based on the discussion above and this study's objective, the following hypotheses were identified to examine the effect of computerized visual perception games on Jordanian kindergarten children's ability to learn letters and numbers:

This study has significance in several areas. First, it adds to the knowledge and information about the impact of computerized visual perception games on enhancing letter and number learning for kindergarten children. Second, it explores the possible benefits of services provided by computerized visual perception games in enhancing learning in children. It can also further educate kindergarten teachers about the importance of employing digital visual perception games in enhancing letter and number learning for kindergarten children. Furthermore, this study contributes valuable data and information to the literature on the field of teaching literacy and early numeracy. Overall, it may help open the way for researchers to conduct further research in Jordan on the role of electronic or computerized games.

1.4. Limitations and Delimitations of the Study

This study was limited to the effect of computerized visual perception games on learning letters and numbers of Jordanian kindergarten children and cannot be generalized further. The results are limited by the tools used by the researchers for this study. Delimitations included time limits related to conducting the study to the academic year 2018/2019 and kindergarten students in Irbid Governorate. Targeting different participants or changing the treatment time or duration might yield different results.

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• Hypothesis 1: computerized visual perception games will have a positive significant impact on Jordanian kindergarten children learning letters.

2.2. Participants and setting Two intact kindergarten groups, of (25) students each, enrolled at Tawasol Academy Kindergarten in Irbid Governorate were selected by convenience. The sample consisted of (21) boys, and (29) girls (mean age before intervention = 61.2 months; SD = 2.18). The two groups were randomly assigned as experimental and control groups. The experimental group used the computerized visual perception games to learn letters and numbers. The control group received conventional classroom instruction.

One of the kindergarten’s aims in Jordan is to enhance the children's readiness to begin school and improve literacy and numeracy skills (UNICEF, 2009). All levels of school in Jordan are taught in the Arabic language. The children are expected to know the 28 Arabic letters and know the numbers from 1 20 at the end of kindergarten. The focus is on distinguishing, memorizing and writing letters and numbers. The Arabic language is considered relatively difficult to learn, as its letters have different shapes when connected to make words based on different rules. Some letters can have up to four different shapes, which puts many young students in a difficult position to learn and remember these letters (Rababah, 2017). Thus, developing their early visual perceptions of letters and numbers would provide additional assistance to their learning (Beja, 2003; Sorter & Kulp, 2003; Richmond, 2010; Abdullah, 2013; Ihmeideh, 2013; Al Hassan, 2017).

2.3. Ethical Consideration

1.5. Study Context

Consent from children, children's parents, the general directorate of education in Irbid Jordan, and school staff (principals, and kindergarten teachers) were obtained to implement the study.

Jordan is located in the Middle East. The high percentage of young citizens with very few natural resources creates many challenges to Jordan's government achieving the fundamental needs of this part of the population. Education is one of the most vital sectors of the government’s attention and concern. Jordan is considered an innovator in its focus to promote preschool (kindergarten) in the Middle East (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund UNICEF, 2009). Pre school in Jordan consists of two grade levels: Kindergarten 1 (KG1) for 4 year olds and Kindergarten 2 (KG2) for five year olds.

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2.1. Study design

The present study used a quasi experimental research design and entailed two variables. The independent variable was instruction, and it had two levels: instruction from computerized visual perception games or conventional instruction. The dependent variable was the participants’ performance on the letters and numbers post tests.

2. Research Method and Procedures

First: Achievement Test of Numbers in Mathematics: This test consists of (5) questions that measure the following skills: Remembering the numbers and distinguishing them, completing the missing number, the previous number, the subsequent number and linking the number to the next number.

The researchers prepared and collected a set of computerized visual perception games, as well as prepared two tests for both letter and number subjects and visual perception tests. These tools were judged under the supervision of arbitrators, and the following are definitions of the study tools:

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2.4. Instruments

Second: Achievement test of letters in the Arabic language: This test consists of (4) questions that measure skills such as remembering letters, distinguishing letters and distinguishing missing letters.

The validity and reliability of the tools were confirmed in several ways. First, the instruments were presented to a group of (6) arbitrators from the faculty that specialize in educational technology, psychology, child rearing, statistics, and evaluation. They were asked to express opinions on the tools in terms of the accuracy and integrity of the language formulation, and to add, omit, or merge items as they saw appropriate. This process was repeated until consensus was reached. The achievement test of numbers in mathematics consisted of (5) questions. The achievement test of Arabic letters consisted of (4) questions that measured the following skills: letter memorizing, distinguishing letters, distinguishing the missing character, and visual perception of the letters. Construct validity was confirmed by applying the tools to a survey sample from outside the study sample, consisting of (20) students from the same study community, and the test was re applied with a time difference of two weeks over the same sample. A two week period is an appropriate period to re apply

Third: The visual perception test: This test consists of (6) questions, each question is worth 5 points. The visual perception test was limited to the following skills: visual distinction, visual recall, visual impairment, and visual integration. These skills were chosen because they have a great relationship with remembering and distinguishing letters and numbers, and they are among the reading readiness skills of children (Beja, 2003). Then, a group of computerized visual perception games was chosen. This consisted of several games, including the programs Cyber, Smart Games, and Tex Typing, which contained a set of games for numbers and letters, and a multiple choice option to select the correct number or shape. The games were shown to the experimental group for two months at the rate of three hours per week. Also, the tools were presented to arbitrators to express their opinion about them before being used on the children. These programs aim to develop children's visual perception and develop their distinction of the forms and numbers they see. 2.5. Validity and Reliability

Both the experimental and control groups took letters and numbers pre tests to find out if the two groups were homogenous in terms of their knowledge. The equivalence of the experimental and control group was verified by analyzing the results using the (t) value of the independent samples. Table (1) indicates these results. The control group for the letter learning pre test obtained an average of (6.68) and a standard deviation of (4.24); the experimental group had an average of (8.32) and a standard deviation of (5.699). The (t) value was (1.137), with a probability value (0.261) that is greater than the level of significance. In other words, the differences between groups were considered and not statistically significant and the two groups could be considered equivalent for the purpose of this study.

Table 1: Equivalence Tests Dimension Group N Mean DeviationStd. T Sig. Achievement Test of Numbers* experimental 25 10 76 6 220 1.41 0.165 Control 25 8.68 3.966 Achievement test of letters in Arabic language* experimental 25 8 32 5 699 1 137 0.261 Control 25 6.68 4.424 The visual perception test** experimental 25 17 44 4 992 0,15 879 Control 25 17.20 6.013 *The score out of (20) ** The score out of 30 It is also clear from the data in Table (1) that there were no statistically significant differences at (p = 0.05) among the three different pre test results between the two groups. Thus, the two groups’ levels were equivalent before implementing the instructional program. 2.6. Study Procedures The researchers did the following to achieve the purposes of the study: • Collect and prepare appropriate tools for the study through reviewing previous relevant research and by searching the Internet for games that

240 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. the test. The stability test parameter (Re test Test) was calculated as the value of the constant stability factor of the number measurement tool in mathematics was (0.88). The construct validity of the letter measurement tool in the Arabic language was (0.87), and the construct validity of the visual perception measurement tool was (0.84). These values are appropriate for these types of scales (Odeh, 2010) The internal consistency coefficient also was verified through Cronbach's Alpha. The internal consistency of the number measurement tool in mathematics was (0.81). The internal consistency of the letter measurement tool in the Arabic language was (0.85), and the coefficient of reliability of the Visual Perception Measurement Tool was (0.83). These values are suitable for this type of scale (Odeh, 2010). 2.6. Equivalence tests

Results were found after implementing the semi experimental study procedures, collecting data, and performing the descriptive and inferential statistical treatment. These results are presented according to the initial study questions.

(1) show that the mean score of the

performance on learning numbers post test,

• The study sample was chosen from KG2 students in an appropriate way to ensure its representation in the total study community.

• A paper test for numbers in mathematics and Arabic letters were distributed to students of the two divisions as a pre test, and

test Test Dimension Group N Pre-test Post-test Mean DeviationStd. Mean DeviatiStd.on Learning letters* Control 25 6.68 4.424 10.28 3.974 Experimental 25 8.32 5.699 16.64 4.020 Learning numbers* Control 25 8.68 3.966 11.92 3.774 Experimental 25 10.76 6.220 17.40 3.028 The perceptionvisualtest** Control 25 17 20 6 013 21.30 3.891 Experimental 25 17 44 4 992 26.47 4.360 *The score out of (20) ** The score out of 30 Table (2) and

group on the learning letters post test (16.64) was higher than that of the control group (10.28). Regarding the

• After presenting these games to the experimental group, the students' results were recorded and compared with the conventional results.

The first question was: "What are the effects of computerized visual perception games on learning letters and numbers and visual perception for Jordanian kindergarten children?” To answer this question, the researchers calculated the means and standard deviations of the participants’ performance on the letters and numbers post tests. The results are shown in Table (2). 2: Means and standard deviations of the participants’ performance on the numbers learning and visual perception pre and post Figure experimental participants’

• After checking the validity of the study tools, they were presented to a group of arbitrators, who reviewed and revised the study tools until they were finalized.

3. Findings and Discussions

Table

letters,

• A test was built that included a set of questions that measured some of the children's visual perception skills.

• After being presented to the arbitrators, the tool was applied to a pilot sample to ensure its stability.

• The test was repeated after two months of teaching programs as a post test.

241 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. serve this study, provided that these games contain exercises related to Arabic numbers and letters.

Figure 1: Means of the participants’ performance on the letters and numbers learning post test. The results of the current study coincide with Mohamed (2012), which aimed to improve the skills of reading aloud and improving ordinary writing skills through the use of a tool to diagnose visual perception of students with learning difficulties in the first cycle of primary education. Also, these results were consistent with Abdullah (2013), which aimed to improve visual perception through educational games and indicated a marked improvement in the visual perception of the children as a result of the use of educational games. These results also are consistent with Abdel Al and Al Najjar (2014), which aimed to reveal the impact of electronic educational games on developing and enhancing computer skills in kindergarten children. Their study also found a significant difference between the control group and the experimental group that used technology on pre and posttest measurements, with the experimental group showing greater improvement.

242 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. the mean score of the experimental group (17.40) was also higher than the mean score of the control group (11.92). This difference indicates that the group that used computerized visual perception games obtained a higher difference in the means for the numbers and letters learning test between the pre and post tests. This could be a result of the increase of children’s visual perception (M = 26.47), which is very important and affected the children learning letters and numbers (Beja, 2003; Sorter & Kulp, 2003; Richmond, 2010; Abdullah, 2013; Ihmeideh, 2013; Al Hassan, 2017). 0 5 10 15 20 Learning Letters Learning Numbers

Control Experimental

The second question was: “Are there statistically significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) between the control and experimental groups due to the impact of computerized visual perception games on kindergarten students learning letters?" To test question 2, the Independent Samples T Test was performed and results are in Table (3):

Table 3: T Test of the participants’ performance on the letter learning post test Dimension Group N Mean* Std. Deviation T Sig. Achievement test of letters in languageArabic Control 25 10 28 3 974 48 5 626 001.< experimental 25 16 64 4 020 *the highest score is 20

To find the effect size of the learning method on the letter learning post test scores, the Eta squared was calculated. The computerized value of P was (31.651) and the value of Eta (η2) was (39.7). This is a large impact size, with nearly (40%) of the variance found in the post tests attributable to the impact of the computerized visual perception games. This result is consistent with Al Salami (2014), which analyzed the impact of using multimedia software on developing the reading skills for third grade students and found that the ability of students to read in the experimental group compared to traditional methods was Theincreased.current results also matched Rosas at al. (2003), who studied the effect of electronic games on numbers of mathematical and linguistic skills. They found that the groups with the electronic games outperformed the control groups. Moreover, the results were consistent with Neumann and Neumann (2017) and Neumann (2018) who found tablet applications enhanced pre reading skills in young children.

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The third question was: “Are there statistically significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) between the control and experimental groups due to the impact of computerized visual perception games on Jordanian kindergarten students learning numbers?” To answer this question, the Independent Samples T Test was performed and the results are in Table (4). Table 4: T Test of the participants’ performance on the numbers learning post test Dimension Group N Mean* DeviationStd. T Sig. thetestAchievementoflearningnumbers Control 25 11 92 3 774 48 5 663 001.< experimental 25 17 40 3 028 *the highest score is 20 It is clear from the table (4) that the mean of the experimental group reached the value of (17.40), with a standard deviation of (3.028), which was considerably higher than the mean of the students ’marks for the control group of (11.92) with a standard deviation of (3.774). The result of the test (F = 5.663) reached the level of statistical significance. The square Eta was calculated to find the effect size of this method on number learning scores. The effect was nearly identical to the result in question 2, with (40%) of the variance between students attributable to the impact of the computer games. This may be related to what Alghazo et al. (2010), AlNatour and Hijazi (2018), and Saprudin, Liliasari, Setiawan, and Prihatmanto (2019)

It is clear from the data of Table (3) that the mean of the experimental group reached (16.64) with a standard deviation of (4.020), which is higher than the mean for the control group of (10.28) with a standard deviation of (3.974). The difference was statistically significant, with the experimental group outperforming the control group.

abound from these findings. First, consider these strong results, along with similar results found in previous studies, further scientific research and studies are warranted to determine the impact of using computerized visual perception games in developing the learning of letters and numbers, and the educational process in general, for all levels of study.

4. Conclusion and Recommendations

Disclosure statement

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. indicated about the many advantages of using computer based activities such as audio and graphics, which made students interested, motivated, enjoyed, relaxed and engaged in the learning. These results are consistent with Alghazo et al. (2010) and Islam et al. (2014), who developed two interactive educational materials for school children in a kindergarten in Bangladesh to enhance their numbers learning.

This study investigated the effect of using computerized visual perception games on learning letters and numbers and visual perception skills for Jordanian kindergarten children in the Irbid Educational Directorate. In order to achieve the study purpose, (50) kindergarten children were recruited and served in two sections (experimental and control group). The control group was taught by using conventional strategies, and the experimental group was taught by using computerized visual games. By comparing the performance of the experimental and control groups, the results showed computerized visual perception games had a significant effect on improving Jordanian kindergarten children's visual perception and ability to learn letters and numbers. It also showed significant (a ≤ 0.05) differences in both number and letter learning among these kindergarten students, with the experimental groups significantly outperforming control group results. In conclusion, the results of the current study were strongly in favor of the experimental computer game lessons over traditional methods, with the experimental groups scoring considerably higher on post tests for both numbers and letters. The effect size was also high, at about (40%) for both numbers and letters. These results are significant and important for kindergarten teachers to understand and implement. Findings educate kindergarten teachers about the importance of employing digital visual perception games in enhancing letter and number learning for kindergarten children. Teachers can be supported in this by holding training workshops to design and implement computerized visual perception games. Also, conducting and holding training courses for teachers at all stages of study on employing and using computerized visual perception games in the educational process and academic achievement is Manyrecommended.implications

The authors reported no potential conflicts of interest.

244 ©2020

Barham, A., Ihmeideh, F., Al Falasi, M., & Alabdallah, A. (2019). Assessment of first grade students’ literacy and numeracy levels and the influence of key factors. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 18(12). 174 195. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.18.12.11

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Al Salami, H. (2014). The effectiveness of multimedia on the third grade intermediate students' reading skills outcomes and on their attitudes toward reading (Unpublished Master Thesis) Umm Al Qura University in Makkah Al Mukarramah. Al Shammari, K., & Olaimat, H. (2019). The degree to which kindergarten teachers in the state of Kuwait practice language skills. An Najah University Journal for Research, B: Humanities, 33(5), 877 906. August, D., & Shanahan, T. (2006). Developing literacy in second language learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on minority language children and youth. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315094922

Beja, A. F. (2003). Teaching children reading and writing skills. Cairo: Dar Al Fikr. Bredekamp, S , & Copple, C. (1997). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs. (Revised Edition). National Association for the Education of Young Children, Washington, DC 20036 1426. Dickinson, D. K., & Tabors, P. O. (2001). (Eds.). Beginning literacy with language. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes. Erhardt, R. P., & Duckman, R. H. (2005). Visual perceptual motor dysfunction and its effects on eye hand coordination and skill development. In M. Gentile (Ed.), Functional visual behaviour in children: An occupational therapy guide to evaluation and treatment options (pp. 171 228). Bethesda, Maryland: AOTA Press. Hashman, A. N. (2008). Educational play and the extent of its impact on the psychosocial compatibility of a pre school child (3 5 years) in Algiers: an educational psychological study (Unpublished doctoral thesis). Algeria University.

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Keywords: Mindset; pedagogical strategy; praise; adaptive teaching

Same Mindset, Different Pedagogical Strategies: A Case Study Comparing Chinese and Finnish Teachers Junfeng Zhang* University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland Elina Kuusisto TampereTampere,UniversityFinland Kirsi Tirri University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland

248 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 248 262, February 2020 https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.2.15

* Corresponding author: junfeng.zhang@helsinki.fi, zhouxixijay1991@gmail.com

Abstract. Given that little is known about the correlations between teachers’ mindset and their pedagogical strategies, in this article, we explore Chinese and Finnish teachers’ mindsets and their pedagogical strategies from the perspective of praise and adaptive teaching. This study was conducted in two Chinese schools (N = 50) and one Finnish school (N = 77) with instruments of the mindset inventory, praise scale and adaptive learning scale (PALS). The results reveal that Chinese and Finnish teachers’ preferences for pedagogical strategies differ even though they hold the same growth mindset, which confirms that teachers do not necessarily utilize growth mindset messages even though they endorse a growth mindset. While Finnish teachers prefer pedagogical methods in accordance with growth mindset pedagogy, Chinese teachers seemtoapplymixed strategiesreflectingbothgrowthandfixedmindsets

The results imply differences within Finnish and Chinese teacher education regarding the internalization of the principles of growth mindset pedagogy.

Mindsets, also known as implicit theories, are beliefs held by individuals about the malleability of basic qualities, such as intelligence (Dweck, 2006). Numerous studies over several decades have shown howmindset is associated with learning performance (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007; Dweck, Walton, & Cohen, 2014; Zhang, Kuusisto, & Tirri, 2019). People with a growth mindset (the incremental theory) acknowledge that individual qualities can be nurtured, and they prefer to undertake challenging tasks and expend effort, often leading to the attainment of higher levels of achievement. By contrast, people with a fixed mindset (the entity theory) are of the opinion thathuman qualities are immutable, and they are inclined to avoid risks and devalue effort, which usually results in achieving less than their full potential (Dweck, 2017).

1. Introduction

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Mastery goals (i.e., learning goals) and performance goals have been identified as learning orientations associated with the growth and fixed mindset, respectively (Dweck, 2000). Individuals with mastery goals are oriented toward developing new skills and competencies, whereas those with performance goals tend to demonstrate their skills and avoid any indicationsofincompetence.In the seminal work by Dweck and Leggett (1988), a research based model was developed to specify how individuals’ implicit theories orient them toward particular goals. Morespecifically, an incrementaltheoristisapttopursuemasterygoalsand adopt mastery oriented behavioural patterns (e.g., seeking challenges), whereas an entity theorist values performance goals and helpless behavioural patterns (e.g., avoiding risks). That adaptive and maladaptive patterns can be predicted by underlyingpsychologicalprocesses has been verified byseveralempiricalstudies

For example, when testing a mediational model, Blackwell et al. (2007) found that American adolescents who were taught about the incremental theory later endorsed mastery goals. Moreover, consistent with such results from Western societies, the Chinese university students with an incremental view of intelligence are believed to be more likely to set mastery goals, increase their knowledge and satisfy their curiosities (Chen & Wong, 2015).

Equally noteworthy, however, is the fact that empirical studies have challenged Dweck’s theory, especially regarding the link between individuals’ mindsets and their behaviours. For instance, Leondari and Gialamas (2002) observed that “incremental beliefs were not related to academic achievement” (p. 287) among Greek elementary and lower secondary school students, which corresponds to a similar conclusion for the American undergraduates made by Robins and Pals (2002). Moreover, a further study among the French students failed to find a correlation between mindset and participants’ goal orientation and cognitive engagement in learning (Dupeyrat & Mariné, 2005). A possible explanation for such contrary results might be that, rather than affecting achievement directly, mindset operates through mediators, such as students’ goal orientation (Zhang, Kuusisto, & Tirri, 2017), teachers’ mastery vs. performance oriented instructional practices (Park, Tsukyama, Gunderson, Levine, & Beilock, 2016) or teachers’ mindset related messages, such as process focused or person focused praising (e.g., Schmidt, Shumow, & Kackar Cam, 2015). Research results on the relationship between teachers’ mindsets and their teaching practices also appear to vary. On one hand, teachers’ pedagogical

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. practices seem to reflect their implicit theories. For example, the endorsement of incremental theories is demonstrated in teachers’ process focused pedagogical thinking as well as in their classroom interaction (Rissanen, Kuusisto, Hanhimäki, & Tirri, 2018; Rissanen, Kuusisto, Tuominen, & Tirri, 2019). Further, growth mindset teachers engender supportive autonomy in their interactions with students (Leroy, Bressoux, Sarrazin, & Trouilloud, 2007).

Based on Schmidt et al.’s study (2015) students of teachers who implement the principles of growth mindset pedagogy are more likely to enjoy long lasting benefits from the mindset intervention, such as beliefs about the malleability of intelligence, mastery oriented learning goals and better academic achievement. This positive effect on academic grades has been verified by an online growth mindset intervention among lower achieving students in secondary education (Yeager et al., 2019). These results correspond to Rattan, Good and Dweck’s (2012) earlier finding that teachers’ performance oriented pedagogy (comfort feedback) lowers both students’ motivation and expectations for their academic Theperformance.majority of previous mindset studies have investigated students’ perspectives, while research on teachers has remained relatively scarce (e.g., Zhang et al., 2017). Moreover, studies on teachers have mainly surveyed the connection between mindset and a single pedagogical strategy, such as praising style (Jonsson & Beach, 2012). However, to the authors’ knowledge, little is known about the correlation between teachers’ mindsets and other pedagogical behaviours, such as goal orientation. Thus, the implications of teachers’ mindsets for their pedagogical practices, especially from the perspective of both praise and goal orientation, have remained understudied. Consequently, the present study investigates and compares Chinese and Finnish teachers’ mindsets and pedagogical preferences by answering the following research questions:

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Conversely, teachers with entity theories are likelyto adoptperformance oriented (Park et al., 2016) and unproductive (Rattan, Good, & Dweck, 2012) pedagogical practices. They view themselves as less responsible for students’ academic performance (Patterson, Kravchenko, Chen Bouck, & Kelley, 2016; Rissanen et al., 2018). On the other hand, regardless of their personal implicit beliefs, highly educated teachers seem able to provide consistent support for their students’ learning processes, mastery orientation, and process focused thinking, which have been identified as core features of growth mindset pedagogy (Rissanen et al., 2019). Rissanen, Kuusisto, Tuominen and Tirri (2019) also identified one critical aspect of such growth mindset pedagogy, for instance, a highly educated teacher in the investigation failed to teach academically talented students how to cope with setbacks and tackle learning challenges. Schmidt, Shumow and Kackar Cam (2015) observed that even though teachers seem to hold a growth mindset, they donot necessarily utilise growth mindset messages in their teaching practice.

1) What kinds of mindsets about learning do Chinese and Finnish teachers hold?2) What kinds of pedagogical strategies do Chinese and Finnish teachers prefer ⚫ from the perspective of goal orientation? ⚫ from the perspective of praise?

2. Research context: Teacher education in China and Finland

2.1 China As indicated in Table 1, although the teaching profession can be traced back to Confucian times, the formal establishment of teacher education in China is considered to have begun by the 1900s (Guo, 2005; Li, 2012, 2013) with the first teaching training school, Nanyang Gongxue, in 1897, and to have developed especially after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 (Wen, 1989). To improve the social position of teachers, the first national Teachers’ Day was celebrated in 1985, and the Law of Teachers was formulated in 1993 to guarantee teachers’ legal rights. In 2010, the “Outline of China’s National Plan for Medium and Long term Education Reform and Development 2010 2020” was issued as China’s first major educational initiative of the 21st century. Today, the main institutions to offer teacher education in China are specialized universities and colleges and, increasingly, comprehensive universities with separate educational study programmes (State Council of People’s Republic of China, 2010; Li, 2012). In China, all teachers in compulsory basic education are subject teachers who instruct in one specific subject; thus, their studies consist of their respective subjects and educational science, including teaching practice. Student teachers are usually selected based on the National College Entrance Examination. Generally, elementary teachers are required to hold an associate degree (3 years) (State Council of People’s Republic of China, 2010), while a Bachelor’s degree(4 years) is essential for secondary teachers (Li, 2012). Moreover, for some secondary school teachers in economically developed regions, graduate studies (2 3 years) are mandatory (Ministry of Education, 2002; Li, 2012).

As for the current aim of Chinese teacher education, quality improvement is considered the core task of education reform and development, and moral behaviour has been identified as the foremost factor when employing and evaluating teachers (State Council of People’s Republic of China, 2010). In China, all prospective teachers must hold a teaching qualification, which is obtained after passing the teacher qualification test, comprised ofa written examination, lecture based structured and language assessment for Mandarin Chinese (Ministry of Education, 2013). Further, since 2015, in service teachers’ teaching qualification certificates have been evaluated every fifth year for moral behaviour, annual performance and teacher training (Ministry of Education, 2013) In addition, the Chinese government offers financial and administrative support to guarantee the living standard of the teaching community, such as improving teachers’ living and working conditions, guaranteeing the teachers a minimum salary that's no less than theaveragesalaryofthe country's civilservants and introducingmedical and retirement insurance schemes (State Council of People’s Republic of China, 2010). More importantly, free education with a living allowance has been introduced for student teachers at key Chinese national universities specializing in teacher training

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3) How do Chinese and Finnishteachers’mindsets relate to theirpedagogical strategies?

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Teacher education in Finland is provided in eight Finnish comprehensive universities (Niemi & Jakku Sihvonen, 2011) Teacher education for elementary and secondary school teachers involves a two tier degree system comprising a three year bachelor’s degree and a two year Master’s degree (Bachelor 180 + Master 120 = 300 Credits). In basic education, teachers are divided into class teachers (teaching all subjects in elementary schools) and subject teachers (teaching at least one subject in lower secondary schools). Class teachers major in educational science, in which they study multidisciplinary subjects and cross curricular themes and complete teachers’ pedagogical studies (60 credits, including approximately 20 credits of guided teaching practice). By contrast, subject teachers begin by studying their respective subjects, then, usually after two years, they apply for teachers’ pedagogical studies. Teacher education has traditionally been one of the most sought after study programmes in Finland, with only 10 15 percent of applicants successfully acquiring a place (Niemi & Jakku Sihvonen, 2011). The selection procedure consists of an academic examination and interviews to assess the applicants’ motivation for entering the teaching profession and their social and communicational skills (Kansanen, 2003; Niemi & Jakku Sihvonen, 2011).

Finnish teacher education aims at enabling teachers to make educationaldecisions based on rational argumentation in addition to everyday or intuitional argumentation (Kansanen, 2003). In addition, Finnish teacher education is research based, aiming to educate teachers who are able to think pedagogically and combine academic research with practical teaching (Tirri, 2014). Then, pedagogical thinking, especially regarding equality and autonomy, is seen as essential for producing overall high quality education, as the central objective of Finnish education has been to provide all citizens with equal opportunities (Finnish National Agency for Education, 2016). In order to highlight the moral aspect of the teaching profession, ethical codes for teachers were published in 1998. Moreover, teachers’ pedagogical autonomy has been embedded into each administrative level of the Finnish educational system. For instance, municipal authorities and local schools have been granted the right to manage funding allocation and personnel recruitment, and teachers enjoy autonomy in choosing teaching methods and materials (Zhang et al., 2019) Thirdly, the Finnish educational system highlights the individualistic and holistic development of students in addition to their academic achievement (Kuusisto, Laine, & Tirri, 2017). Thus, teachers are expected to create an integrative, innovative, and inclusive learning environment Additionally, teachers require high level ethical and pedagogical skills to cope with the challengescreated by the growing number of immigrant students (Tirri, 2014).

Finnish teacher education originated from the establishment of the first professorial chair at the University of Helsinki in 1852 and the founding of the first teacher training seminar in 1863. The formulation of the Teacher Education Act in 1971 resulted in the reassignment of class teacher education to universities in 1974 and the requirement of a Master’s degree for both elementary and secondary school teachers (Kansanen, 2003).

2.2 Finland

classificationTeacher Subject teachers Elementary: Class teachers Lower secondary: Subject teachers programsLearning Institute Universities and colleges Universities Enrolment National academic examination Academic examination + Interview Curriculum Respective Educationalsubjectscience Class teachers: Educational science + pedagogical studies Subject teachers: Respective subject + pedagogical studies Qualification Degree Elementary: Associate degree Lower secondary: Bachelor Master Certificate Teacher qualification certificate Teacher’s pedagogical studies (60 credits) Current aims Teaching quality improvement Moral behaviour of teachers Guarantee of living standard Research based teacher education Pedagogical thinking Inclusive learning environment

Moreover, the average age of the Finnish teachers (M = 41.80, SD = 11.128) was 10 years higher than the Chinese teachers (M = 32.80, SD = 9.602), and the Finnish educators had much more teaching experience (MFin = 12.34, SD = 9.851; MCh = 9.98, SD = 10.467). All the Chinese teachers spoke Mandarin Chinese as their first language, whereas 96.1% of the Finnish teachers considered Finnish their first Thelanguage.principals of the Chinese schools provided meeting rooms in which the teachers could participate in the study, where the first author was present to China Finland History Beginning 1900s 1860s eventsMajor 1st teacher training school (1897) 1st Teachers’ Day (1985) Law of Teachers (1993) Outline of China’s National Plan for Medium and Long term Education Reform and Development 2010 2020 (2010) 1st professorship in education (1852) 1st teacher training college (1863) Teacher Education Act (1971) Ethical code for teachers (1998)

3.

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Table 1. Teacher education in China and Finland for basic education Data and Methods

3.1 Participants and procedure

As shown in Table 2, teachers from two Chinese schools (N = 50) and one Finnish school (N = 77) participated in the survey from 2017 to 2018. Among them, 24 teachers worked at the elementary level and 26 at the lower secondary level in the Chinese sample, while 40 teachers worked at the elementary level and 37 at the lower secondary level in Finland. The Chinese school was located in the south western rural region of Sichuan province, which represents a relatively low socioeconomic area, while the Finnish school was situated in a less affluent suburb of the Helsinki metropolitan area As can be seen in Table 2, up to 97.4% of the Finnish teachers held a Master’s degree, while 54.0% of the Chinese teachers held a bachelor’s degree and the remaining 46.0% an associate’s degree. The majority (81.8%) of the Finnish teachers were female compared to under half (44.0%) of their Chinese peers.

Ch = China, Fin = Finland 3.2 Measurement instruments

This study measured teachers’ perceptions of mindset and the pedagogical strategies they preferred to adopt. The self evaluated survey consisted of the following instruments: the Implicit Theory of Intelligence (ITI, Dweck, 2000), the Implicit Theory of Giftedness (ITG, Dweck, 2000; Kuusisto et al., 2017), the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scale (PALS, Midgley et al., 2000), and Praise (created based on Gunderson et al., 2013). Both theITIandITG instrumentsutilized a 6 pointLikert scale (1 =strongly agree, 6 = strongly disagree) to record participants’ attitudes to the nature of intelligence and giftedness respectively, among which values above 3.5 indicated a growth mindset and values below 3.5 a fixed mindset. The items of the ITI and ITG are presented in Table 3. By contrast, the PALS (items shown in Table 4) utilized a 5 point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). Nine original items were modified to measure the extent to which teachers would like to adopt the given pedagogical strategies to support their students’ performance goal orientation (PGO) and mastery goal orientation (MGO)

254 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. introduce the details and distribute the printed versions of the questionnaires. Some teachers completed the questionnaires at that point, while others later returned the survey to the principal’s office. The Finnish data were collected with an online questionnaire utilizing Qualtrics software. The average completion time was around 20 minutes. In both countries, consent for the teachers’ participation was obtained from the schools’ administration and the teachers themselves. Table 2. Participant demographics China N = 50 (26.3%) Finland N = 77 (73.7%) In total N = 127 Gender Female 22 (44.0%) 63 (81.8%) 85 (66.9%) Male 28 (56.0%) 14 (18.2%) 42 (33.1%) Age 32.80 (9.602) 41.80 (11.128) 38.27 (11.406) First language Finnish 74 (96.1%) 74 (58.3%) Chinese 50 (100.0%) 50 (39.4%) Other 3 (3.9%) 3 (2.3%) Teaching experience (year) 9.98 (10.467) 12.34 (9.851) 11.41 (10.121) Education degree Associate degree 23 (46.0%) 23 (18.3%) Bachelor 27 (54.0%) 2 (2.6%) 29 (23.0%) Master 74 (97.4%) 74 (58.7%) School Primary School 24 (48.0%) 40 (52.6%) 64 (50.8%) Secondary School 26 (52.0%) 36 (47.4%) 62 (49.2%)

In turn, a total of 16 praise statements reflected the oral praise that teachers preferred to offer when their students achieved exceptional academic grades, as indicated in Table 5. The instrument was developed based on Gunderson et al.’s

Second, combining previous theoretical underpinnings about the given four instruments (ITI, ITG, PALS, Praise), exploratory factor analysis approach (EFA) with the principal component extraction and direct oblimin rotation in SPSS 25 was performed to identify the latent factors. The Cronbach’s alpha value was calculated to test the internal reliability.

4. Results 4.1 Teachers’ mindsets about learning To answer the question of what mindsets about learning that Chinese and Finnish teachers hold, we began the analysis by calculating the Cronbach’s alpha values of the ITI and ITG for the Chinese and Finnish teachers separately. The internal reliability for the ITI (αCh = .725, αFin = .900) and ITG (αCh = .820, αFin = .953) indicated acceptable, good and excellent consistencies (Chen, 2014). Among the Chinese teachers, the mean scores for intelligence (M = 4.34, SD = .913) and giftedness (M = 4.02, SD = 1.076) were above 3.5, demonstrating the Chinese teachers’ growth mindset. One sample t test revealed that the difference between the two mean scores was statistically significant (tITI(49) = 6.506, p < .001, d = .92; tITG(49) = 3.417, p < .01, d = .48). Meanwhile, a paired sample t test proved that the Chinese teachers identified intelligence as more malleable than giftedness (t(49) = 2.721, p < .01, d = .38). Among the Finnish teachers, there appeared to be the same growth mindset tendency (MITI = 4.54, SD = .886; tITI(76) = 10.253, p < .001, d = 1.17; MITG = 4.16, SD = 1.12; tITG(76) = 5.192, p < .001, d = .59), and the Finnish teachers also considered intelligence to be more changeable (t(76) = 2.801, p < .01, d = .32) than giftedness. An independent-samples t-test found no significant differences between the Chinese and Finnish teachers regarding the nature of intelligence (t(125) = 1.201, p = .232, d = .21) or giftedness (t(125) = .711, p = .479, d = .13).

Chinese and Finnish samples were analyzed with similar methods. First, the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 was used to estimate missing values: there were none (0.0%) in the Chinese sample and very few (0.5%) in the Finnish sample. According to Little's MCAR test, the data were missing completely at random (China: no EM estimated statistics given that there were no missing values; Finland: χ2(53) = 68.365, p = .076).

Third, given the fact of ordinal variables, small sample size and non normality of data distribution in the present study, correlation analyses were performed with non parametric methods, using Spearman’s Rho, to identify the correlations between mindset and pedagogical strategies (Hauke & Kossowski, 2011)

3.3 Statistical analysis

255 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. (2013) study on process, person and neutral praising styles. In addition, items indicating luck were also included. The items werescored on a 5 point Likertscale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree).

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4.2 Teachers’ preferred pedagogical strategies in supporting students’ goal orientation

(2) Your giftedness is something that you can’t change very much. 3.94 (1.331) 4.14 (1.155)

(1) You have a certain amount of intelligence, and you really can’t do much to change it. 4.76 (1.021) 4.68 (1.044)

(3) To be honest, you can’t really change how gifted you are. 4.06 (1.376) 4.19 (1.203)

(2) Your intelligence is something that you can’t change very much. 4.04 (1.245) 4.51 (1.021)

(4) You can learn new things, but you can’t really change your basic intelligence. 4.10 (1.418) 4.29 (1.050) Mindset about Giftedness (ITG) 4.02 (1.076) α = .820 4.16 (1.120) α = .953 (1) You have a certain amount of giftedness, and you really can’t do much to change it. 4.10 (1.216) 4.30 (1.171)

To answer the question of what pedagogical strategies Chinese and Finnish teachers prefer from the perspective of goal orientation, Cronbach’s alpha values for PGO and MGO were calculated among the Chinese and Finnish teachers separately. For the Chinese teachers, this yielded a poor level of reliability regarding PGO (α = .551) and MGO (α = .541), which needed to be considered when interpreting the results (Chen, 2014). By contrast, the results illustrated an acceptable and good level of reliability for the Finnish teachers’ PGO (α = .725) and MGO (α = .820). Among the Chinese teachers, the mean scores for PGO (M = 4.08, SD = .496) and MGO (M = 4.11, SD = .498) were above 3.0, indicating they were prone to adopt teaching strategies relating to both performance and mastery goal orientation. This was also verified by one sample t test (tPGO(49) = 12.656, p < .001, d = 1.79; tMGO(49) = 19.483, p < .001, d = 2.76). In turn, the Finnish teachers appeared to have adopted mastery goal orientation (M = 3.85, SD = .821; t(75) = 5.871, p < .001, d = .67) but not performance goal orientation (M = 2.49, SD = .762; t(75) = 8.982, p < .001, d = 1 02). This was confirmed by a paired sample t test: Finnish teachers utilized MGO more than PGO (t(75) = 8.491, p < .001, d = .97). Furthermore, independent samples t test revealed that the usage of both PGOand MGOamong Chinese teachers was more frequent than it was among their Finnish peers (tPGO(123.408) = 12.299, p < .001, d = 2.21; tMGO(117.062) = 2.573, p < .05, d = 48).

(3) To be honest, you can’t really change how intelligent you are. 4.46 (1.216) 4.68 (.924)

Table 3. Items, means and standard deviations of Implicit Theories of Intelligence (ITI) and Giftedness (ITG) M (SD) Item China (N = 50) Finland (N = 77) Mindset about Intelligence (ITI) 4.34 (.913) α = .725 4.54 (.886) α = .900

(4) You can learn new things, but you can’t really change your basic giftedness. 3.98 (1.407) 4.01 (1.251)

(9) I give a wide range of assignments, matched to students’ needs and skill levels. 4.02 (.795) 3.87 (.957) The items in italics were not included in the Chinese mean variables, since they lowered the alpha values.

The Chinese teachers were more likely to adopt process (M = 4.13, SD = .704; t(49) = 11.351, p < .001, d = 1.61), neutral (M = 3.73, SD = .961; t(49) = 5.373, p < .001, d = .76) and person (M = 3.52, SD = .899; t(49) = 4.090, p < .001, d = .58) praise, with average scores above 3 for each item’ (excluding luck praise), which was also verified by a one sample t test. By comparison, the Finnish teachers were more likely to adopt process (M = 3.65, SD = .894; t(76) = 6.385, p < .001, d = .73) and neutral (M = 3.65, SD = .706; t(76) = 8.027, p < .001, d = .91) praise. However, they were unlikely to praise students’ person (M = 1.94, SD = .675; t(76) = 13.737, p < .001, d = 1.57) or luck (M = 1.47, SD = .567; t(76) = 23.724, p < .001, d = 2.70). Moreover, a paired sample t test demonstrated that both Chinese and Finnish teachers utilized process praise more than person praise (tCh(49) = 6.923, p < .001, d = .98; tFin(76) = 15.568, p < .001, d = 1.77). Interestingly, an independent samples t test showed that Chinese teachers felt they were more likely to utilize process (t(125) = 3.202, p < .01, d = .57), person (t(84.206) = 10.613, p < .001, d = 1.90) and luck (t(72.256) = 8.877, p < .001, d = 2.09) praise than were their Finnish peers.

(7) I encourage students to compete with each other. 4.08 (.804) 2.08 (1.080)

(3) I display the work of the highest achieving students as an example. 3.82 (.774) 2.87 (1.147)

(2) In particular, I will pay attention to the pupil’s individual development. 4.18 (.482) 3.79 (1.087)

4.3 Teachers’ preferred pedagogical strategies in praising students’ academic achievements To answer the question of how Chinese and Finnish teachers’ mindsets relate to their pedagogical strategies from the perspective of praise, similar analyses were utilized as above. The Cronbach’s alpha values for the Chinese data showed internal consistency to be at an acceptable level (Chen, 2014): process praise (α = .720), person (α = .744), neutral (α = .776) and luck (α = .713). In turn, among Finnish teachers, reliability was good for process praise (α = .860), acceptable for person praise (α = .726), and questionable for neutral (α = .639) and luck (α = .692).

(6) I help students understand how their performance compares to others. 4.18 (.691) 2.34 (.974)

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Table 4. Items, means and standard deviations of Patterns of the Adaptive Learning Scale (PALS) M(SD) Item China (N = 50) Finland (N = 76) Performance Goal Orientation (PGO) 4.08 (.496) α = .551 2.49 (.762) α = .761

(8) I point out those students who do well as a model for the other students. 4.22 (.764) 2.53 (1.013) Mastery Goal Orientation (MGO) 4.11 (.498) α = .541 3.85 (.821) α = .874

(1) I give special privileges to students who do the best work. 2.86 (1.107) 2.62 (1.107)

(4) During class, I often provide several different activities so that students can choose among them. 4.00 (.535) 3.72 (.858)

(5) I consider how much students could improve when I give their report card grades. 4.32 (.713) 4.00 (.938)

258 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Table 5. Items, means and standard deviations of Praise scale M (SD) Item China (N = 50) Finland (N = 77) Process 4.13 (.704) α = .720 3.65 (.894) α = .860 (3) You practised a lot and it can be seen in this result! 4.52 (.735) 3.23 (1.213) (7) I can see that you have put a lot of effort into learning new issues. 4.44 (.837) 4.01 (.980) (11) It was worthwhile to read for the exam! 3.34 (1.303) 3.53 (1.137) (15) You must have worked hard for this score! 4.22 (.840) 3.83 (.951) Neutral 3.73 (.961) α = .776 3.65 (.706) α = .639 (1) Wow! That’s a really good score! 3.44 (1.402) 2.56 (1.175) (5) Great! 4.28 (1.089) 4.35 (.839) (9) Fine result! 3.46 (1.265) 3.94 (1.017) (13) It went well. 3.74 (1.192) 3.74 (1.018) Person 3.52 (.899) α = .744 1.94 (.675) α = .726 (2) You are so smart on this subject! 3.84 (1.076) 2.25 (1.053) (6) You are so gifted! 4.04 (1.195) 2.35 (1.061) (10) You always do well! 3.66 (1.189) 1.93 (.929) (14) You were born to be successful! 2.54 (1.313) 1.23 (.510) Luck 2.78 (.940) α = .713 1.47 (.567) α = .692 (4) Here you see, sometimes things just go well! 3.80 (1.107) 1.90 (1.083) (8) The exam questions seemed to be suitable for you! 3.02 (1.392) 1.53 (.836) (12) Well done. I guess you guessed that these questions would be asked. 2.42 (1.372) 1.29 (.629) (16) You were really lucky! 1.88 (1.239) 1.12 (.364) 4.4 Correlation between mindsets and preferred pedagogical strategies To investigate the final question of how Chinese and Finnish teachers’ mindsets relate to their pedagogical strategies, correlation analyses were conducted. The results presented in Table 6 show no correlation between Chinese teachers’ mindset about learning and their perceptions of their pedagogical practices. By contrast, in Finland, the more teachers held a growth mindset about intelligence, the less they preferred to utilize teaching strategies related to performance goal orientation. Table 6. Spearman correlations between mindset and pedagogical strategies ITI ITG PGO MGO Neutral Person Process Luck ITI .342** .334** .181 .022 .115 .171 .126 ITG .623** .221 .073 .006 .058 .206 .073 PGO .069 .034 .405** .066 .294** .096 .196 MGO .148 .108 .288* .063 .034 .108 .119 Neutral .034 .009 .463** .170 .282* .298** .217 Person .014 .124 .430** .186 .804** .190 .582** Process .051 .128 .447** .148 .653** .774** .083 Luck .053 .190 .214 .095 .556** .752** .606** Chinese data are given below the hypotenuse; Finnish data above in italics *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

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4. Discussion Despite the abundant research conducted on students’ motivational framework, little is known about teachers’ mindset and pedagogical practices The current study investigated Chinese and Finnish teachers’ mindsets and preferred pedagogical strategies from the perspective of goal orientation and praise. The participants were elementary and lower secondary teachers from two Chinese (N = 55) schools and one Finnish (N = 77) school

In turn, the Chinese teachers appeared to prefermixed pedagogicalstrategies. The Chinese teachers favoured the adoption of strategies that supported both performance and mastery goal orientation, and they utilized diverse and even contradictory feedback strategies, including process focused, person focused and neutral messages. Instead, the Finnish teachers’ pedagogical strategies seemed to conform more to Dweck’s theory and growth mindset pedagogy, since these teachers were more likely to opt for strategies supporting students’ mastery goal orientation than performance goal orientation, and they were also more apt to emphasise process and neutral messages than the student’s person or luck when giving Accordingly,praise the teachers in China and Finland seemed to adopt different, even opposite, pedagogical strategies despite supporting the same growth mindset. However, among the Chinese teachers no statistically significant correlation was found between mindset and pedagogical strategies, and only one statistically significant correlation was identified among the Finnish teachers: the teachers’ mindset about intelligence correlated negatively with a preference for performance goal orientation, indicating that a fixed mindset is associated with supporting students’ performance goal orientation The Finnish teachers’ pedagogical behaviour seemed to align well with previous findings suggesting that teachers who endorse a fixed mindset are more likely to adopt performance oriented strategies (Park et al., 2016; Rissanen et al., 2018, 2019). The results of the present study indicate that teachers in Finland have been educated on the importance of process feedback and support for mastery orientation, topics that are also emphasised in Finnish National Core Curriculum (Finnish National Agency for Education, 2016). By contrast, Chinese teachers’ pedagogical strategies seem to be more mixed and less coherent, implying that Chinese teacher education has yet to adopt the core principles of growth mindset pedagogy in teaching practice. Further, the pedagogical strategies of the Chinese teachers in the current study confirmed earlier research illustrating that teachers do not necessarily utilize growth mindset messages even though they endorse a growth mindset (Schmidt et al., 2015). In line with previous studies critiquing Dweck’ theory, especially the non significant correlation between individuals’ mindsets and their behaviours (e.g.,

The results illustrated that the Chinese and Finnish teachers identified both intelligence and giftedness as malleable; in other words, they demonstrated a growth mindset. Further, the teachers in both samples evaluated intelligence as more changeable than giftedness, a view which has also been identified among the American (Makel et al., 2015), Finnish and Chinese students (Zhang et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2019).

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Dupeyrat & Mariné, 2005; Leondari & Gialamas, 2002; Robins & Pals, 2002), the current study also found relatively weak associations between mindsets and pedagogical strategies Nevertheless, it seems that high quality, research based teacher education, such as that provided in Finland (Tirri, 2014), guides teachers to use strategies that are in line with the growth mindset theory (Rissanen et al., 2019). By contrast, the Chinese teachers in the present study adopted more mixed teaching strategies, including multiple and even contradictory strategies

Finally, given that this research is just a case study, the implication might be conservative. Thus, big samples and in depth analysis of the direct or indirect impact of teachers’ background variables are required in future research References Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Development, 78(1), 246 263. doi:10.1111/j.1467 8624.2007.00995.x Chen, W. W., & Wong, Y. L. (2015). Chinese mindset: theories of intelligence, goal orientation and academic achievement in Hong Kong students. Educational Psychology, 35(6), 714 725. doi:10.1080/01443410.2014.893559 Chen, Z. C. (2014). SPSS 与统计分析[SPSS and statistic analysis]. Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House. Dupeyrat, C., & Mariné, C. (2005). Implicit theories of intelligence, goal orientation, cognitive engagement, and achievement: A test of Dweck’s model with returning to school adults Contemporary Educational Psychology, 30, 43 59. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2004.01.007 Dweck, C. S. (2000). Self theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. New York: Psychology Press. Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Random House. Dweck, C. S. (2017). Mindset: Changing the way you think to fulfil your potential. London: Hachette UK. Dweck, C. S., & Leggett, E. L. (1988). A social cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95(2), 256 273. doi:10.1037/0033 295X.95.2.256 Dweck, C. S., Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2014). Academic tenacity: Mindsets and skills that promote long term learning. Seattle, WA: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The present research has implications for both theory and practice. In terms of theory, it enriches the literature on teachers’ mindsets and instructional practices with regards to students, since mindset, praise and adaptive teaching among teachers were investigated in a cross national setting with different cultural and educational features. In terms of practice, since the results confirm that teachers with the same growth mindset might adopt different pedagogical strategies, it provides evidence ofthenecessity ofeducatingpre service and in service teachers on selecting the appropriate strategy With its relatively small sample size, the present study was, however, unable to test the possible effect of background variables, such as teachers’ educational degree and length of teaching experience, on their pedagogical strategies. The different cultural backgrounds might cause aggregation bias or heterogeneity.

260 ©2020

261 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Finnish National Agency for Education. (2016). National core curriculum for basic education 2014. Helsinki: Finnish National Board of Education. Gunderson, E. A., Gripshover, S. J., Romero, C., Dweck, C. S., Goldin Meadow, S., & Levine, S. C. (2013). Parent praise to 1 to 3 year olds predicts children's motivational frameworks 5 years later. Child Development, 84(5), 1526 1541. doi:10.1111/cdev.12064 Guo, S. (2005). Exploring current issues in teacher education in China. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 51(1), 69 84. Hauke, J., & Kossowski, T. (2011). Comparison of values of pearson's and spearman's correlation coefficients on the same sets of data. Quaestiones Geographicae, 30(2), 87 93. doi:10.2478/v10117 011 0021 1 Jonsson, A. C., & Beach, D. (2012). Predicting the use of praise among pre service teachers: The influence of implicit theories of intelligence, social comparison and stereotype acceptance. Education Inquiry, 3(2), 259 281. Kansanen,doi:10.3402/edui.v3i2.22033P.(2003).Teachereducation in Finland: Current models and new developments. In B. Moon, L. Vlăsceanu, & L. C. Barrows (Eds.), Institutional approaches to teacher education within higher education in Europe: Current models and new developments (pp. 85 108). Bucharest: European Centre for Higher Education. Kuusisto, E., Laine, S., & Tirri, K. (2017). How do school children and adolescents perceive the nature of talent development? A case study from Finland. Education Research International 2017, 1 8. doi:10.1155/2017/4162957 Leondari, A., & Gialamas, V. (2002). Implicit theories, goal orientations, and perceived competence: Impact on students’ achievement behavior. Psychology in the Schools, 39, 279 291. doi:10.1002/pits.10035 Leroy, N., Bressoux, P., Sarrazin, P., & Trouilloud, D. (2007). Impact of teachers’ implicit theories and perceived pressures on the establishment of an autonomy supportive climate. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 22(4), 529 545. doi:10.1007/bf03173470 Li, J. (2012). The Chinese model of teacher education: Retrospects and prospects over a century. Frontiers of Education in China, 7(3), 417 442. doi:10.3868/s110 001 012 0022 2 Li, J. (2013). China's quest for world class teachers: A rational model of national initiatives and institutional transformations. Asia Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 41(3), 316 330. doi:10.1080/1359866X.2013.809053 Makel, M. C., Snyder, K. E., Thomas, C., Malone, P. S., & Putallaz, M. (2015). Gifted students’ implicit beliefs about intelligence and giftedness. Gifted Child Quarterly, 59, 203 212. doi:10.1177/0016986215599057 Midgley, C., Maehr, M. L., Hruda, L. Z., Anderman, E., Anderman, L., Freeman, K. E., & Urdan, T. (2000). Manual for the patterns of adaptive learning scales. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan. Ministry of Education (2002). 教育部关于“十五”期间教师教育改革与发展的意见[The opinion on the reform and development of teacher education during the tenth five year national plan period]. Retrieved Ministryhttp://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s7058/200203/t20020301_162696.htmlfromofEducation(2013). [Interim measures for the qualification examination of primary and secondary school teachers, interim measures for the regular registration of primary and secondary school teachers' qualifications]. Retrieved http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A10/s7151/201308/t20130821_156643.htmlfrom

教育部关于印发《中小学教师资格考试暂行办法》《中小学 教师资格定期注册暂行办法》的通知

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Rattan, A., Good, C., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). “It's ok Not everyone can be good at math”: Instructors with an entity theory comfort (and demotivate) students. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(3), 731 737. Rissanendoi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.12.012 , I., Kuusisto, E., Hanhimäki, E., & Tirri, K. (2018). Teachers’ implicit meaning systems and their implications for pedagogical thinking and practice: A case study from Finland. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 62, 487 500. Rissanen,doi:10.1080/00313831.2016.1258667I.,Kuusisto,E.,Tuominen,M.,&Tirri, K. (2019). In search of a growth mindset pedagogy: A case study of one teacher's classroom practices in a Finnish elementary school. Teaching and Teacher Education, 77, 204 213. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2018.10.002 Robins, R. W., & Pals, J. L. (2002). Implicit self theories in the academic domain: Implications for goal orientation, attributions, affect, and self esteem change Self and Identity, 1, 313 336. doi:10.1080/15298860290106805 Schmidt, J. A., Shumow, L., & Kackar Cam, H. (2015). Exploring teacher effects for mindset intervention outcomes in seventh grade science classes. Middle Grades Research Journal, 10, 17 32. State Council of People’s Republic of China (2010). 国家中长期教育改革和规划纲要( 2010 2020)[Outline of China’s national plan for medium and long term education reform and development (2010 2020)]. Retrieved nal_long_term_educational_reforhttp://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/sites/planipolis/files/ressources/china_natiofromm_development_20102020.pdf

Niemi, H., & Jakku Sihvonen, R. (2011). Teacher education in Finland. In M. Valenčič Zuljan, & J. Vogrinc (Eds.), European dimensions of teacher education: Similarities and differences (pp. 33 51) Ljubljana: University of Ljubljana. Park, D., Gunderson, E. A., Tsukayama, E., Levine, S. C., & Beilock, S. L. (2016). Young children’s motivational frameworks and math achievement: Relation to teacher reported instructional practices, but not teacher theory of intelligence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(3), 300 313. doi:10.1037/edu0000064 Patterson, M. M., Kravchenko, N., Chen Bouck, L., & Kelley, J. A. (2016). General and domain specific beliefs about intelligence, ability, and effort among preservice and practicing teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 59, 180 190. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2016.06.004

Tirri, K. (2014). The last 40 years in Finnish teacher education Journal of Education for Teaching, 40(5), 600 609. doi:10.1080/02607476.2014.956545 Wen, H. J. (Ed.). (1989). Brief introduction to teacher training. Beijing: Beijing Teachers' University Press. Yeager, D. S., Hanselman, P., Walton, G. M., Murray, J. S., Crosnoe, R., Muller, C., ... & Paunesku, D. (2019). A national experiment reveals where a growth mindset improves achievement. Nature, 573(7774), 364 369. doi:10.1038/s41586 019 1466 y Zhang, J., Kuusisto E., & Tirri, K. (2017). How teachers’ and students’ mindsets in learning have been studied: Research findings on mindset and academic achievement Psychology, 8(9), 1363 77. doi:10.4236/psych.2017.89089 Zhang, J., Kuusisto E., & Tirri, K. (2019). How do students’ mindsets in learning reflect their cultural values and predict academic achievement? International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 18(5), 111 126. doi:10.26803/ijlter.18.5.8

Gamification Acceptance for Learners with Different E-Skills

263 ©2020TheauthorsandIJLTER.ORG.Allrightsreserved International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 263 278, February 2020 https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.2.16

Aliki Panagiotarou, Yannis C. Stamatiou and Christos Pierrakeas University of GreecePatras

Abstract. As gamification may benefit the learning experience, many Technology Acceptance Models affecting the user's acceptance of using gamification have been investigated However, there has been limited work on the digital skills level and the adoption of user acceptance gamification. This paper examines the user’s perceptions of gamification acceptance in e learning environments. For this reason, a research model based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) proposed to reveal the relationships between the constructs of the model and participants with different e skills Level. The search data collected from 188 participants of a Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) course focused on enhancing cybersecurity skills Nonparametric tests and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) implemented for the hypothesis tests. Findings prove that there are statistical differences among participants with different Level of e skills on Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU), Intention Use (IU) and Actual Use (AU) Also, the study reveals significant positive relationships among most of the model’s constructs on gamification acceptance. The extra factor “ICT Level” provides a roadmap deeper understanding of the studies based on e learning Technology Acceptance Models and show that affect the adoption of user acceptance Keywords: Gamification; Technology Acceptance Model; ICT skills; Structural Equation Modelling; ICT skills; e learning

Achilles Kameas Hellenic Open GreeceUniversity

1. Introduction It is well acknowledged in many types of research that the adoption of the effectiveness of e learning could achieve a much better learning performance either independently or in a complementary way to the educational process (Fokides, 2017; Serdyukov, 2017). So, many educational organizations are in this direction and they provide as many as online courses (Rajabalee, Santally, &

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Rennie, 2019; Vlachopoulos & Makri, 2017). However, there are still many issues regarding the use of appropriate methods and learning tools to achieve the desired motivation and dedication of learners (Moghavvemi, 2015). For this reason, a massive array of different digital learning environments (tools) has been implemented and evaluated in diverse learning environments. Those tools increase engagement, motivation, achievement and retention while at the same time improving personal learning and thinking skills (Abrahim, Mir, Suhara, Mohamed, & Sato, 2019). Besides, it can enchance the quality of teaching and increase digital literacy (Krasna & Bratina, 2010, 2012).

According to Hamari & Koivisto (2013) , the improvement of digital literacy through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) is a high priority in many countries, including Greece ( Nikolaidis, Nath, Procaccia, & Srinivasa., 2017). MOOCs are open educational platforms that provide online courses without any previous knowledge or experience on ICT except Internet Access (Al Shabandar, Hussain, Liatsis, & Keight, 2018; Al Rahmi, Aldraiweesh, Yahaya, Bin Kamin, & Zeki., 2018; Castaño Muñoz, Kalz, Kreijns, & Punie, 2018). There are educational tools that used in courses, including video lectures, weekly quizzes, regular assessments and even documents. Learners have proved this in beneficial collaboration by using asynchronous discussion forums (Bogdanova & Snoeck, In2018).recent years, the systematic use of gamification has been evolved into a highly popular learning tool, integrated into many information systems. This activity also reflected in the continued growth researches involved in the study of the gamification phenomenon, that focus mainly on designing modules and learning activities during e learning procedure (Giannakos, 2013; Varannai, Sasvari, & Urbanovics, 2017). The main objective of Gamification in Education is to increase the motivation and engagement of learners to improve their skills when engaging in e learning activity (Koivisto & Hamari, 2019; Woo, 2014). In this context, the use of gamification in the educational environments can be a good solution and show that the user can produce the desired results (Fokides, Atsikpasi, Kaimara, & Deliyannis., 2019; Fokides, 2017; Sánchez Mena, Martí Parreño, & Aldás Manzano, 2018). So, recently research interest has focused on developing standardized and modularized curriculums, applying many methodologies, albeit on a theoretical level. In educational contexts, researchers investigated the effects of game elements and found that they motivated students to go further in their lessons and thus improve learning outcomes (Hamari, Koivisto, & Sarsa., 2014). Most games are built as simulations of some real world situation or hypothetical situation that have similarities to the real world. Moreover, gamification provides feedback to measure players’ growth towards outcomes, while the players can influence progress by their actions and overall strategies of play (Bayerl, Davey, Lohrmann, & Saunders., 2019). Until now, there are a variety of previous studies about (e learning) technology acceptance of learners. These studies adapted in popular models and theories such as TAM Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989), Technology Acceptance Model 2 (TAM2) (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000) and Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM3) (Venkatesh & Bala, 2008). Theory of Reasonable

TAM Perceived usefulness, Perceived ease of use, Behavior Intension Telepresence, Flow, Enjoyment,Interactivity, Content Interface (Davis, 1989; AmelingStrahringer,&Herzig,.,2012)

UTAUT2 expectancy,Performance Effort Expectancy, Social Gamification impact (Baptista & Tiago., 2017; Venkatesh,

2. Literature Review A. Related Work In this section, we gathered a summary of previous works in learner’s perceptions of gamification acceptance models. These works clarified in four columns: a) the theory based on b) the factors used c) the external variables added and d) the linked reference as show the table 1: Table 1: Gamification acceptance models Theory that used Factors Extra Factors Reference TPB Social influence, Attitude, continued use intention, intention to use exposurebenefits,perceivedRecognition,reciprocalnetwork (Ajzen, 1985; Venkatesh & Bala, 2008

Action (TRA) (Ajzen & Fisbein, 1980), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1985), Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003) and show the user attitude of using technology in the presence of different factors. These factors, such as characteristics of learners or characteristics of the system, influence the technology acceptance. In this context, many models can be unified and further extended using external factors Those models have been proved that affect the user e learning acceptance denotes as “computer self efficacy” , “computer anxiety” , “prior experience” , “enjoyment” , “learning motivation” , “perceived learnability” , “Hedonic Motivation” , “personal innovativeness” and “student engagement” (Esteban Millat, Martínez López, Pujol Jover,. Gázquez Abad & Alegret, 2018; Tarhini, Hone, & Liu, 2013; Liu, Chen, Sun, Wible, & Kuo, 2010; Tan & Hsu, 2018; Wu, & Chen 2017). A variety of studies in the gamification acceptance model are explored in detail in the literature review section. This paper organized as follows: In section 2, firstly, related work about Gamification acceptance is shown and secondly, propose a research model for gamification acceptance in an e learning environment. Section 3 describes the e skill construct and the hypotheses tests Section 4 outlines the methodology including Descriptive statistics, Validity and Reliability of constructs and in Section 5 describes the Data Analysis. In Section 6, the results are discussed and finally, Sections 7, 8, 9 provides the conclusions, recommendations and implications.

TAM 2 intentionBehaviouralto use, Subjective norm, Perceived usefulness, Perceived ease of use Curiosity, Joy, Control Focused immersion Davis,VenkateshFadiyaCemalVanduhe,(Oluwajana,Idowu,Nat,&,2019;&2000)

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266 influence, value,motivation,intention,gender,conditions,FacilitatingageandbehaviouralHedonicPriceHabit Thong, & Xu., 2012) SLE Research Model content, technical features, user state of mind, learning enabling features (Fokides et al., 2019) TRA TAM intentionBehavioural to use technology, Attitude toward use, Perceived usefulness, Perceived ease of use Self Efficacy (Ajzen, 1985; Ajzen & Fisbein, 1980; Fokides, 2017)

ΤΑΜ The attitude of Educational Video games, Ease of use of Educational Video Games, Intention to use Educational video games, Perceived usefulness of Educational video games (Davis, 1989; Sánchez Mena, Martí Parreño, & Aldás Manzano., 2016)

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ModelAcceptanceGamificationTAM, GamificationUsefulPerceivedGamificationness, of Ease to use, Attitude Towards using gamification Student Engagement (Davis, 1989; Ab. Ahmad,Rahman, & Hashim, 2018) TAM Perceived usefulness, Perceived ease of use, Attitude, Intention AvailabilityExperience, Varannai,(Davis,1989;et al., 2017) TAM Intention to Use the Educational Game PerformanceHappiness,Enjoyment, Giannakos,(Davis,1989;2013)

B. The constructs of the proposed model

As can be seen from the table above, the original TAM fits for this study. So, the basis of the new proposed model relies on its basic constructs which are Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU), Intention to Use (IU) and Actual Use (AU). As concerns, the additional constructs, the meaning of Perceived Self Efficacy (PSE) is the degree of self confidence in the ability to complete a task. Many studies have proven that a higher Self Efficacy enhances productivity using an information system (Chao C. M., 2019; Fokides, 2017; Fathema, Shannon, Ross, 2015; Moghavvemi, 2014). Thus, the meaning of Perceived Learnability (PL) would be how someone understands, learns and remembers using an application. According to Hu & Hui (2011) and Stiles

C. Theoretical model construct ICT skills

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Digital skills exist on a spectrum, from basic to more advanced, and encompass a “combination of behaviours, expertise, know how, work habits, character traits, dispositions and critical understandings.” (Unesco, 2017). So, previous works examined factors denoted as computer self efficacy (Abdullah, & Ward, 2016; Liu, 2010), IT experience (Brezavšček, Šparl, & Žnidaršič., 2014; Cheng, Wang, Moormann, Olaniran, & Chen, 2012), Perceived digital competence (Callum, Jeffrey, & NA, 2014), computer anxiety (Al Gahtani, 2016; Schlag & Imhof, 2017) Digital competence (Kim, et al., 2018; Stephan, Markus, & Gläser Zikuda, 2019). However, all the items used to create the above constructs are restricted and insufficient in the context to investigate the digital skills of learners (usually a maximum of 3 5 items examined). So, the items that used must be enriched and redefine. This gap comes to close a framework, named DigComp (Carretero, Vuorikari, & Punie, 2017), and define what does mean digital competency and is an appropriate tool for self assessment tool and present successful approaches for improving basic and intermediate skills (Panagiotarou, Vasiliadis & Kameas., 2019). The digital profile of participants of this course is examined based on the European digital competences’ framework (Ikanos, 2019). Categorizing participants relative to the digital skills level, used a 10 point Likert scale to give more variance and a higher degree of measurement accuracy Participants classified into three categories: Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Level.

Shields et al. (2017), someone with a higher Perceived Learnability believes that using an information system improves his or her performance. Finally, the Fun and Reward (FUN) construct measures the enjoyment of using educational games (Giannakos, 2017; Wang & Chuen Tsai, 2012) and is expected to affect the proposed model.

D. A Proposed Research Model Figure 1: A proposed Research Model PEOUPU IU AUFUNPSEPL ICT_level B I A H1 H2 H3 H5 H4 H6 H9 H10 H7 H8

Hypothesis tests described below: A. Firstly, the first hypothesis test investigates to what extent the adoption of gamification is influenced by the e skills Level of participants.

H1: There are statistically significant differences between PU, PEOU, IU, AU, PSE, PL, FUN between Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Level of e skills

H9: Level of ICT skills has a significant effect on IU of gamification in learning H10: Level of ICT skills has a significant effect on AU of gamification in learning

This paper proposes a model based on factors of past related works according to TAM and providing mainly the relationship between constructs of TAM and ICT Level group. (figure 1). Based on the review of the literature, further relationships among these constructs of the proposed model examined investigating the adoption of gamification.

4. Method To examine the acceptance of gamification in learning, a MOOC course was developed (Spyropoulou, Pierrakeas, & Kameas., 2019) in a Moodle server of the research group DAISSy at Hellenic Open University (HOU) (DAISSy, 2001). This course aimed at improving internet safety skills. The learning activities include (1) texts, projects and game elements for student performance (2) interactive forum and multichoice test for feedback and assessment activities. Among the different types of game elements that offered (Vlachopoulos & Makri, 2017) we choose to embed simulations type meaning that participants must achieve real world problems. The author sent two online questionnaires in each participant, the first one included demographics and measured the Level of e skills of participants and the second one measured the effectiveness of gamification technique for learner’s engagement.

The following assumptions investigate the relationships among constructs of H2:TAM:PU has a significant effect on PEOU H3: PU has a significant effect on IU H4: PEOU has a significant effect on IU H5: IU has a significant effect on AU H6: FUN has a significant effect on PEOU H7: PL has a significant effect on PU H8: PSE of gamification has a significant effect on PU of gamification in learning

A. TheSamplesample of this study consisted of 188 participants in a MOOC course Firstly, the course trailer shared on social media networks. The participants included different groups of social media that responded by a subscription. Two hundred fifty individuals’ candidates applied for the course, but only 188 completed it In overall, 101(53%) of the responders were female, and 87(47%) of them were male and according to their age 65(34%) of them were 20 30, 35(18%) of them were 30

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3. Hypotheses Tests

B. Additional Hypotheses tests

26 119 12 16 3

50 100 150 YesNo

course?learningeaattendedeveryouHave

Figure 2: Attendance e learning course/Digital knowledge gained B. Validity and reliability of constructs ΚΜΟ Bartlett’s test indicated the sampling adequacy of data for structure detection and showed that was suitable (82,9%) for all the variables in the analysis. However, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) implemented for the validity of the questionnaire. All the constructs had Cronbach’s alpha greater than 0.7 confirming their reliability. The indicator of reliability tested, and all factor loadings were higher than 0.7 (p<0,01). Then, the convergent validity included the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) (where AVE was slightly below 0.5), and Composite Reliability (CR) were tested (results in Table 2) Both criteria were satisfied and ensure that all items demonstrate good construct reliability, good indicator reliability and good convergence validity. Finally, however, some of a set of indicators goodness of fit used to evaluate the overall fit of the model such as Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR), Related Fit Index (RFI), and Normed Fit Index (NFI) (Prudon, 2015; Abraham et al., 2019) (Table 3). All indicators support the goodness of fit of the model. 9 0 How did you gain your current knowledge of information and communication technologies (ICTs)?

269 ©2020TheauthorsandIJLTER.ORG.Allrightsreserved 40, 56(30%) of them were >40 and 32(17%) of them were <20. Hence, 88(47%) of the responders have three types of devices, 73(38%) of them have two types of the devices while just 27(14%) have one type of device. In the following figure (Figure 2) shows the participants that attended the e learning course and how they gained their ICT knowledge.

I am self-taught (from my internet contact, work experience, the need to attend school Ietc)have very basic IT skills My studies concerns ICT knowledge In vocational training centers

11

270 ©2020TheauthorsandIJLTER.ORG.Allrightsreserved Table 2: Validity and reliability of the constructs Items AlphaCronbach's AVE CR Loadings PU1 0,723 0,472 0,830 0,715 PU2 0,805 PU3 0,758 PU4 0,756 PEOU1 0,778 0,517 0,859 0,738 PEOU2 0,743 PEOU3 0,770 IU1 0,725 0,501 0,729 0,727 IU2 0,701 IU3 0,769 IU4 0,723 AU1 0,786 0,669 0,865 0,915 AU2 0,708 PSE1 0,720 0,468 0,862 0,727 PSE2 0,708 PSE3 0,739 PSE4 0,544 PL1 0,812 0,530 0,889 0,832 PL2 0,817 PL3 0,851 PL4 0,773 FUN1 0,809 0,552 0,797 0,901 FUN2 0,783 Table 3: Goodness of Fitness The goodness of Fit Indices Value (Saturated Model Estimated Model) The expected value for Well fitting model SRMR 0.068 0.072 <0.08 RFI 0.922 0.937 >0.90 NFI 0.939 0.946 >0.90 5. Data Analysis A. One Way ANOVA. As concerns hypothesis test 1 (H1), nonparametric tests were implemented among participants with different Level of digital skills because data are not normally distributed. These groups are categorized as Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Digital Skills. Independent samples Kruskal Wallis test determined if there are statistically significant differences among different groups of digital skills Level for each factor of the model. The results

Each node shows the sample average rank of PU, PEOU and AU for each ICT level group. Each line tests the null hypothesis between group distributions. (Orange lines show when rejecting the null hypothesis show table 4 figure 4) (p<0.05) As shown in the first distance network of figure 4, the differences in side effect score of Advanced level group vs Basic level group, as well, Advanced level group vs Intermediate level group are statistically significant

Figure 3: One way ANOVA results

showed that there are statistically significant differences of PU, PEOU and AU factors among different Level of digital skills. In contrast, there aren’t statistically significant differences of IU, PSE, Pl and FUN factors among different Level of digital skills. (Figure 3). Post hoc tests confirmed the differences that occurred between groups, as seen in Figure 4, all pairwise comparisons show in which groups there are differences.

Figure 4: Pairwise comparisons in Post Hoc Test

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Equation Model (SEM) SEM was processed by using AMOS 21 software and examining the path coefficients between proposed hypotheses (H2 H10). The purpose of SEM subjected to the multivariate technique that combines factor analysis and multiple regressions to simultaneously explore a series of interrelated dependence relationships among measured variables and latent variables as well as several latent constructs. The results indicated that Perceived ease of use (β=0.3562, p<0.001) has a significant positive relationship on Perceived usefulness; Perceived usefulness has a positive relationship on Intention to Use (β=0.240, p<0.05); Perceived ease of use (β= 0.236, p<0.05) also has a positive relationship on Intention to Use; Intention to Use has a significance positive relationship with Actual Use(β=0.580, p<0.001); Fun has a significance positive relationship with Perceived ease of use (β=0.388, p<0.001); Perceived Learnability has a positive relationship on Perceived usefulness (β=0.413, p<0.05); ICT level has a positive relationship on Intention to Use (β=0.150, p<0.05); ); ICT level has a significant negative relationship on Actual to Use(β= 0.437, p<0.001).The results displayed in Figure 5 and Table 4. ***p<0.001

Figure 5: SEM results PEOUPU IU AUFUNPSEPL ICT_ Level B I A 0.352*** 0.240** 0.580*** 0.236** 0.388*** 0.150** 0.437*** 0.413** 0.060

**p<0.05,

272 ©2020TheauthorsandIJLTER.ORG.Allrightsreserved and Basic level group vs Intermediate level group is not. The Advanced level group has a high effect score in PU than other groups. In the same way of explanation is displayed in the third distance network of figure 4 and the Advanced level group is displayed with high effect score in AU. Finally, regarding second distance network, the differences in side effect score of Basic level group vs Intermediate level group and Basic level group vs Advanced level group are statistically significant and Basic level group vs Advanced level group is not. The Basic level group has a profound effect score in PEOU than other B.groups.Structure

6. Discussion A thorough identification of the participants level of digital skills investigated in this paper. The categorization of these groups based on a questionnaire with fifteen items Hence, we had a bright appearance of the Level of ICT of Greek participants who most of them have never attended before an e learning course (72%). So, as we saw in Figure 2, most participants (67%) had an intermediate level, and they are mostly self taught (77%). This study also developed a Gamification Acceptance model by adding ICT skills variable. This extra variable extended analysis by the different ICT level group and the fundamental factors of TAM. One of the significant findings is that the different ICT Level group sufficiently affects the factors of TAM. In more detail, as concerns the H1 hypothesis significant differences there are among different ICT level groups on factors Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use and Actual Use (Figure 3).In detail, as concerns Perceived Usefulness, participants with advanced ICT Level had higher perceived usefulness(represents high average ranks) in comparison to the other participants with Intermediate and Basic ICT level (lower average ranks) Then, there are no significant differences between the advanced ICT level group and the intermediate ICT level group on Perceived Ease of Use, (both exhibit high average ranks) in comparison to the Basic ICT level group. Lastly, regarding the Actual Use on advanced ICT level group, it differs significantly from the other groups (represents quite high average ranks) as seen in Figure 4. This means that users with an Advanced ICT level are more likely to accept the Usefulness, Ease of Use, and the actual use of a digital game for educational purposes.

H7 PL >PU 0.413 Supported (p<0.05)

Table 4: Estimates and results of hypothesis Hypothesis Relationship β(Estimate) Result H2 PEOU >PU 0.352 Supported (p<0.001) H3 PU >IU 0.240 Supported (p<0.05)

H6 FUN >PEOU 0.388 Supported (p<0.001)

The hypothesis tests (H2 H5) has shown that the impact of fundamental TAM factors, namely Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Intention to Use and Actual Use of gamification has a positive effect (Abdullah & Ward, 2016; Al Shabandar, et al., 2018; Bogdanova & Snoeck, 2018; Bayerl et al., 2019; Esteban Millat et al., 2018). Also, the Perceived Learnability and Fun and Reward factors found to positively affect usefulness (H7) and ease of use gamification (H6). As concerns in Η8, Perceived Self Efficacy was found not to be significantly related to people’s Perceived Usefulness with the gamification Finally, the results show that the participants who have different ICT level intent to use gamification (H9)

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H4 PEOU >IU 0.236 Supported (p<0.05) H5 IU >AU 0.580 Supported (p<0.001)

H10 ICT_level >AU 0.437 Supported (p<0.001)

H8 PSE >PU 0.060 Not Supported H9 ICT_level >IU 0.150 Supported (p<0.05)

9. Implications and Limitations

This study has its limitations. The sample is not large enough to represent the population of Greece. The questionnaire only applied to someone who had completed all the sections of the course, so those who did not complete the course could not participate in the survey. Also, the sample is based on Greek users and may be different in other countries.

8. Recommendations

The proposed model could be applicable for the adoption of a broader range of digital tools in education such as m learning, social media and, OER platform etc. and may reveal additional useful information about the user’s acceptance in a various focus group, as students, teachers, lecturers, learners etc. Future research should explore practices for MOOCs design, game elements, implementation and evaluation with additional assumptions in socially different contexts and countries. Finally, this study could be a potential value for many previous and future works based on Technology Adoption Models studying the relationship between different factors and the Level of ICT skills

274 ©2020TheauthorsandIJLTER.ORG.Allrightsreserved in the e learning environment but only participants with advanced ICT level group in actual use (H10) Moreover, the Gamification Acceptance Model proved that provided strong evidence that fits in the Greek sample.

7. Conclusion In a rapidly evolving world, digital technologies are continuously growing, which means that it has a significant impact on the digital economy, productivity and innovation (Caena & Redecker, 2019). Thus, digital technologies have modified the value and role of learning and teaching. Learning requires, among other things, great variety and flexibility in the ways and processes of learning, which ICTs offer as they can, inter alia, adapted to everyone’s personal needs and cognitive needs (Ministry of Administrative Reconstruction, 2019). Both the Action Plan of the European Commission (January 2018) and the National Strategy of Greece aim, besides, at the digital readiness of educational organizations, the development of digital skills and the improvement of data analysis training (as cited Brolpito, 2018) emphasis on creating MOOC courses. The open education platforms and distance learning courses that offered in Greece through MOOCs are scarce according to a study by Panagiotarou & Stamatiou (2019). So, to provide good e learning practices through MOOC lessons, the author designed a standard MOOC lesson that contained a variety of different interactive activities, including gamification aimed at improving cybersecurity skills. Thus, the author measured the adoption of gamification through questionnaire and the results found that: Although there has been a positive impact on the acceptance of gamification in the e learning environment, there are significant differences in the actual use by participants with a different digital background. So, it might be reasonable to conclude that learners must acquire digital knowledge and skills to enable them to effectively use ICT applications in education, improving their knowledge, skills, competences and upgrading their qualifications.

Al Shabandar, R., Hussain, A. J., Liatsis, P., & Keight, R. (2018). Analyzing Learners Behavior in MOOCs: An Examination of Performance and Motivation Using a Data Driven Approach. IEEE Access, 6, 73669 73685. Baptista,doi:10.1109/access.2018.2876755G.,&Oliveira,T.(2017).Whyso

serious? Gamification impact the acceptance of mobile banking services. Internet Research. 27. 118 139. doi:10.1108/IntR 10 2015 0295. Bayerl, P. S., Davey, S., Lohrmann, P., & Saunders, J. (2019). Evaluating Serious Game Trainings. Security Informatics and Law Enforcement, 149 169. doi:10.1007/978 3 030 29926 2_9 Brolpito, A (2018) Digital Skills and Competence, and Digital and Online Learning (Rep.). Turin, Italy: European Training Foundation Bogdanova, D., & Snoeck, M. (2018). Using MOOC technology and formative assessment in a conceptual modelling course. Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems Companion Proceedings MODELS ’18. doi:10.1145/3270112.3270120

Brezavšček, A., Šparl, P., & Žnidaršič, A. (2014). Extended Technology Acceptance Model for SPSS Acceptance among Slovenian Students of Social Sciences. Organizacija,47(2), 116 127. doi: 10.2478/orga 2014 0009 Caena, F., & Redecker, C. (2019). Aligning teacher competence frameworks to 21st century challenges: The case for the European Digital Competence Framework for Educators (Digcompedu). European Journal of Education Carretero,doi:10.1111/ejed.12345S.,Vuorikari,R.,&

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Punie, Y. (2017). DigComp 2.1: The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens with eight proficiency levels and examples of use, EUR 28558 EN doi:10.2760/38842 Castaño Muñoz, J., Kalz, M., Kreijns, K., & Punie, Y. (2018). Who is taking MOOCs for teachers’ professional development on the use of ICT? A cross sectional study from Spain. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 27(5), 607 624. doi:10.1080/1475939x.2018.1528997

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Keywords: student perception; negative school climate; poor academic performance

The Effect of Student Perception of Negative School Climate on Poor Academic Performance of Students in Indonesia Wahyu Nanda Eka Saputra, Agus Supriyanto Universitas Ahmad Dahlan Yogyakarta, Indonesia Budi Astuti, Yulia Ayriza Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta Yogyakarta, Indonesia Sofwan Adiputra Universitas Muhammadiyah Pringsewu Lampung, Indonesia

Abstract. A conducive school climate is one of the conditions that students must have to display positive academic performance. However, juvenile delinquency often results in student perception of a negative school climate. The study reported in this paper investigated the effect of student perception of a negative school climate on their academic performance in Indonesia. This is ex post facto research in which the effect of student perception and examined retrospectively to establish causes, relationships, associations, and or their meanings. Data was collected using the perception of negative school climate scale (PNSCS) and academic performance scale (APS). The population of this study was 9,687,676 high school students in Indonesia. The study used cluster sampling in which about 1,263 students were sampled. During the sampling of the participants for this study, the division of region's namely Western Indonesia (East Java), Central Indonesia (West Nusa Tenggara), and Eastern Indonesia (North Maluku) were taken into account. Data were analyzed using simple linear regression. The results of the study showed that student perception of a negative school climate had an effect of 58.7% on their poor academic performance. The study recommended that schools in Indonesia should create a positive school climate to create optimal student development by creating a strong commitment to peaceful thinking for all school members

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Positive school culture is a condition desired by all school members. The occurrence of a positive school culture affects the emergence of a feeling of security and comfort for students to learn in school (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, Debnam, & Johnson, 2014). This encourages students to obtain maximum learning achievement, following student expectations (Berkowitz, Moore, Astor, & Benbenishty, 2017; Wang, Vaillancourt, Brittain, McDougall, Krygsman, Smith, & Hymel, 2014). Besides, a sense of security is also a necessity that needs to be fulfilled by humans to make self actualization to the fullest at school. (Abulof, 2017; Harrigan & Commons, 2015; Healy, 2016). School culture is created by involving all components of the school, ranging from students, school employees, teachers, and even the school environment (Musu Gillette et al., 2018). These components work together to create a positive school climate in supporting the convenience of students to actualize themselves at school. A positive school climate has been proven to reduce delinquency in schools (Sabia & Bass, 2017).

1. Introduction

The expectations of school residents for a positive school climate cannot yet be felt by every student in the school. This is evidenced by the emergence and contribution to a bad school climate, one of which is aggressive behavior carried out by students (Goldstein, Young, & Boyd, 2008). The high level of aggression that arises in a school gives rise to negative perceptions of the school climate. Bullying behavior also contributes to student negative perceptions of the school climate (Han, Zhang, & Zhang, 2017).

The high bullying behavior carried out by students will also encourage a poor perception of students in the school environment. The emergence of aggression and bullying behavior committed by students one of which is caused by the lack of self regulation of emotion owned by students (Alhadi, Saputra, Purwadi, Muyana, Supriyanto, & Fatmawati, 2019). Students' perception of the school environment influences their involvement in academic activities at school (Bradshaw et al., 2014; Mehta, Cornell, Fan, & Gregory, 2013; M. T. Wang & Holcombe, 2010). The decline in student achievement is also due to poor student academic performance at school (Yu, Chan, Cheng, Sung, & Hau, 2006). The academic performance of students in the class is shown by the activeness of students in discussions, giving arguments, conducting analysis, criticism, and suggestions. Student performance in class will affect student achievement in school. Previous research has been the basis of this research. Students who have a good perception of the school climate have an influence on students' sense of school belonging (Cemalcilar, 2010). Students' Sense of School Belonging is what can spur students to display maximum performance to obtain the desired academic Theperformance.resultsof other studies also concluded that students 'perceptions of school climate had an influence on students' academic achievement (Urick & Bowers, 2014). High academic achievement cannot be obtained without maximum academic performance (Yu, Chan, Cheng, Sung, & Hau, 2006).

2. Literature Review

The results of this study can be the basis of recommendations given to stakeholders in schools in an effort to provide support to students by facilitating a safe and comfortable environment in the learning process at school.

2.2. Perception of negative school climate

This research provides an overview of the parties concerned about the importance of students' security and comfort in learning activities, so as to facilitate students in realizing planned achievements. A student who feels safe and comfortable in learning at school, they will be optimal in displaying academic performance in school (Kutsyuruba, Klinger, & Hussain, 2015).

A conducive school climate is an important component in schools. School Climate is a multidimensional construction that includes physical, social, and academic measures (Loukas, 2007). The physical dimension addresses the size of the school and the ratio of students to teachers. The social dimension discusses the quality of interpersonal relationships between students, teachers, and staff. While the academic dimension discusses the quality of the learning process and teacher expectations of student achievement.

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2.1. Academic performance

is also often associated with juvenile delinquency. The higher the delinquency, the lower the level of academic performance, this is because many violate school rules and commit acts of violence between students (Maguin & Loeber, 1996). The more violence that occurs in the school environment, this will produce a bad perception of the school environment (Stone & Han, 2005). Besides, the more violations of school rules, adversely affect their academic performance. Smoker students have poor academic performance in learning activities in schools (Robert et al., 2019). Academic performance in this study was measured based on three components, namely academic success, impulse control, and academic productivity (DuPaul, Rapport, & Perriello, 1990). Academic success includes things like achievement in several academic fields. Impulse control includes things such as avoiding careless work completion or starting to work carelessly. While academic productivity includes things such as completing tasks related to the academic field.

Academic performance is one component that every student wants to achieve. This can be seen from the performance of students in doing the tasks given in class and at home. Student performance is influenced by the motivation and self regulated learning of the students themselves (Pintrich & De Groot, 1990). This is supported by a variety of research results which state that learning motivation (Goodman et al., 2011; Kusurkar, Ten Cate, Vos, Westers, & Croiset, 2013; Wentzel, 2017) and self regulation(Andrew & Vialle, 1998) affect academic student Academicperformance.performance

Another opinion states that the school climate has four aspects, namely safety, teaching and learning, relationships, and environmental structural (Cohen, McCabe, Michelli, & Pickeral, 2009). The first aspect, safety which includes things like physical and socio emotional security. The second aspect, teaching, and learning about things like quality of learning, learning ethics, professional development in learning, and leadership in learning. The third aspect, relationships include things like respect for differences, collaboration with the school community, relationships with peers, teachers, and staff in the school.

Students' perceptions of the school climate have an impact on several aspects of human life. Research conducted has proven that students' perceptions of school climate have a socioemotional and academic adjustment impact on students living in China and America (Jia et al., 2009). Other studies have also shown that students' perceptions of school climate can be predictors of student discipline levels in schools (Gage et al., 2016). However, in this research, the identification of the effect of students' perceptions of the school climate on academic performance was carried out. In this study, the perception of the school climate is based on students' views of three aspects, namely collegial, intimate, and supportive (Miskel & Hoy, 2013).

3. Methods

3.1. Research design

3.2. Data collection

The collegial aspect is shown based on how students' perceptions of the dynamics of student activities in discussion forums in class, or the dynamics of academic activities involving peers. The intimate aspect is shown based on students' views in friendly relations with peers at school or the conditions of hostility that occur between peers. While the supportive aspect is shown based on students' perceptions of peer support when they have problems, or support from teachers when academic problems occur.

The type of research used throughout this study is ex post facto, researchers tried to take the effect of the dependent variable and examine it retrospectively to establish causes, relationships, associations, or their meanings (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007). This study aims to determine the effect of students' perceptions about the school climate on the academic performance of high school students in Indonesia. The independent variable (X) in this study is the perception of a negative school climate, while the dependent variable (Y) in this study is academic performance.

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While the fourth aspect, environmental structural includes things such as cleanliness, the comfort of the school environment, and curricular and extracurricular activities in schools.

Data collection was carried out for 3 months. Data was collected using the perception of negative school climate scale (PNSCS) and academic performance scale (APS). PNSCS consists of 29 statement items with a validity level in the range of 0.335 to 0.641 and has a reliability level of 0.814 in the high category. PNSCS was developed using three aspects, namely collegial, intimate, and

3.4. Research stages

The stages of this research include: (1) The preparation phase of the research is to carry out a coordination meeting with the team; (2) The stage of formulating the research objectives; (3) Stage of arranging research data collection instruments; (4) The feasibility test stage of the research instrument; (5) Test the validity and reliability of the instrument; (6) Stage of research implementation by spreading research instruments in three provinces in Indonesia, namely East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, and North Maluku; (7) stage of administering research data that has been collected; (8) Stage of research data analysis and concluding.

3.5. Analysis of research data

The analysis begins by testing the assumptions of normality and linearity. Based on the analysis of the assumption test, it was concluded that the data were normal and linear.

Table 1. Test for Assumption of Normality using the One Sample

Kolmogorov Smirnov Test Unstandardized Residual N 1263 Normal Parametersa,b Mean .0000000 DeviationStd. 5.82579845 Most Extreme Differences Absolute .058 Positive .052 Negative .058 Test Statistic .058 Asymp. Sig. (2 tailed) .054c

The data analysis technique used in this study is simple regression analysis. This technique is used to identify the effects of student perception of a negative school climate on poor academic performance of students in Indonesia. Before carrying out a simple regression test, it is necessary to test the assumptions first, namely the linearity and normality assumption test.

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3.3. Population and sample

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. supportive (Miskel & Hoy, 2013). Whereas APS consists of 19 statement items with a validity level in the range of 0.319 to 0.549 and has a reliability level of 0.814 in the high category. APS was developed using three components, namely academic success, impulse control, and academic productivity (DuPaul et al., 1990).

The populations in this study were 9,687,676 high school students in Indonesian schools. The sampling technique used in this study is cluster sampling. Sampling uses the consideration of western, central and eastern Indonesia. The western part of Indonesia is represented by the province of East Java. The central part of Indonesia is represented by NTB Province. Eastern Indonesia is represented by North Maluku province. So that the sample representing each region amounted to 1,263 students.

4. Results

284 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. The results of the analysis of the normality test, it is known that the significance value is asymp. sig. (2 tailed) (0.061) is greater than 0.05. Then the data is normally distributed. The normality test uses the Kolmogorov Smirnov test. Table 2. Linear Assumption Test Sum Squaresof df SquareMean F Sig. VAR00002 * VAR00001 GroupsBetween (Combined) 3332.964 63 52.904 1.580 .003 Linearity 650.820 1 650.820 19.435 .000 Deviation from Linearity 2682.144 62 43.260 1.292 .067 Within Groups 40150.044 1199 33.486 Total 43483.009 1262 Linearity test analysis results obtained data coefficient deviation from the linearity sig. > 0.05 or 0.054> 0.05, so it can be interpreted that there is a significant linear relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Table 3. Model Summary Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate 1 .766a .587 .586 4.83248 Based on table 3 it can be interpreted that the magnitude of the correlation value (R) of 0.766. The coefficient of determination is calculated by squaring the correlation coefficient. From these data, a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.587 was obtained which implies that the influence of the Perception of Negative School Climate on Poor Academic Performance was 58.7%, while the rest was influenced by other variables. Tabel 4. ANOVA Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. 1 Regression 36767.195 1 36767.195 1574.417 .000b Residual 25898.355 1109 23.353 Total 62665.550 1110 This regression model is proven to be used by looking at the results of the F calculated analysis. Based on table 4 shows that F arithmetic = 19,160 with a significance/probability level of 0,000 <0.05, then the regression model can be used to predict the variable Y. Table 5. Coefficients Model Unstandardized Coefficients StandardizedCoefficients T Sig.B Std. Error Beta 1 (Constant) 74.599 .667 111.853 .000 Iklim sekolah .472 .012 .766 39.679 .000

The results of other studies, in Mexico also showed that negative perceptions of the school climate had a significant effect on academic performance (Stone & Han, 2005). However, the research found that academic performance was not only predicted by students' perceptions of the school climate, but also by the level of perception of discrimination that occurred in students. In contrast to this research, which specifically identifies the effect of students' perceptions on the school climate on academic performance.

5.

The results of the study showed that the negative perception of the school climate had a significant effect on the academic performance of high school students in Indonesia. Empirically negative perceptions of the school climate contributed 58.7% to the emergence of poor student academic performance.

The influence of independent variables on the dependent variable can be known through t arithmetic. Based on table 5, it can be seen the value of t count = 1574,417 with a significance of 0,000 <0.05. The results of the analysis show that there is a significant influence between negative perceptions of the school climate on the academic performance of high school students in Indonesia. Discussion

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Other research conducted in Colombia also showed that the better students’ perceptions of school climate, the higher the level of students' prosocial behavior (Luengo Kanacri et al., 2017). However, this research identifies the effect of school climate on prosocial behavior, unlike this study which identifies the effect of school climate on academic performance. Prosocial behavior is a form of behavior that arises in social contact, while academic performance refers to academic behaviors that students show when learning in school. In creating a conducive school climate, it is necessary to pay attention to the characteristics of the school environment. The creation of appropriate school environment characteristics will have an impact on the emergence of a conducive school climate. The characteristics of the classroom environment are important to consider when schools have a goal of improving school climate (Koth, Bradshaw, & Leaf, 2008). School characteristics referred to include, school size, class size, teacher characteristics, and school concentration when experiencing psychological problems (Cotton, 1996; Koth, Bradshaw, & Leaf, 2008). School characteristics are predictors that violence and bullying do not appear in schools which have proven to be a contributing factor to poor academic performance in students (Konstantina & Pilios Dimitris, 2010).

Based on these studies about the effect of student perception of negative school climate on poor academic performance of students in Indonesia, it can be understood that the higher the students' negative perceptions of the school climate, the lower the academic performance that appears. The results of this study are consistent with research conducted in the Ney York United States involving blacks and whites. The study concluded that students' perceptions of organizations in schools had a significant impact on academic performance (Kronick, 1972). However, this research focuses more on identifying organizational climate that influences academic performance, not on perceptions of the school climate in general.

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Bullying is also a factor in developing students' negative perceptions of the school climate (Han, Zhang, & Zhang, 2017; Klein, Cornell, & Konold, 2012).

Students' negative perceptions of the school climate do not occur by themselves but are caused by various factors, one of which is juvenile delinquency (Booth, Farrell, & Varano, 2008). Delinquency in adolescence is increasingly complex and various forms, ranging from the use of alcoholic beverages, smoking in schools, acts of violence, even murder. These forms of juvenile delinquency give rise to negative perceptions of the school climate in other students and lead to the absence of maximum academic performance because they feel threatened by a bad environment.

Bullying cases that occur in a school have an impact on psychological security in students (Dollard, Dormann, Tuckey, & Escartín, 2017; Kwan, Tuckey, & Dollard, 2016; Nguyen, Teo, Grover, & Nguyen, 2017). The low feeling of security has an impact on student involvement in learning activities in schools (Mehta, Cornell, Fan, & Gregory, 2013).

Several studies have also concluded that students' perceptions of school climate have an influence on student well being (Aldridge, Fraser, Fozdar, Ala’i, Earnest, & Afari, 2016; (Kutsyuruba, Klinger, & Hussain, 2015). Students who have a good perception of the school climate in which they study will encourage the emergence of a sense of security and comfort for learning. Well being has a correlation with academic achievement (Berger, Alcalay, Torretti, & Milicic, 2011; Padhy, Rana, & Mishra, 2011).

The number of aggressive behavior and peer violence is one of the reasons for the development of students' negative perceptions of the school climate (Espelage, Low, & Jimerson, 2014; Steffgen, Recchia, & Viechtbauer, 2013; Wilson, 2004). Aggression and violence among peers that appear affect the good or bad perception of students of the school climate. The high level of aggression and violent behavior is done by students will reduce the feeling of security and comfort of students when studying in school, thus impacting the poor school climate Goldstein, Young, & Boyd, 2008). In fact, in the perspective of humanistic theory, security and comfort are one of the needs that must be met by humans (Pascual Leone, Paivio, & Harrington, 2016; Winston, 2016).

Teachers, students, and school residents as a whole have a big role in building a conducive school climate, so students feel safe and comfortable in school learning activities (Cohen, McCabe, Michelli, & Pickeral, 2009; Mitchell, Bradshaw, & Leaf, 2010). Moreover, in these 21st century teachers are required to display behaviors, styles, and attitudes that have an impact on student academic performance. Behaviors, styles, and attitudes displayed by teachers such as clothing, academic qualifications, communication style in teaching, guidance style, discipline, and teacher motivation have a significant impact on students' academic performance (Dimkpa, 2015).

The low subjective well being has an impact on the low self actualization of students in learning (Vittersø, 2004). Students have different perceptions about the condition of the school environment in which they conduct the learning process. The many phenomena of violence that occur in the school environment,

References Abulof, U. (2017). Introduction: Why we need Maslow in the twenty first Century. Society, 54(6), 508 509. doi:10.1007/s12115 017 0198 6 Aldridge, J. M., Fraser, B. J., Fozdar, F., Ala’i, K., Earnest, J., & Afari, E. (2016). Students’ perceptions of school climate as determinants of wellbeing, resilience and identity. Improving Schools, 19(1), 5 26. doi:10.1177/1365480215612616 Alhadi, S., Saputra, W. N. E., Purwadi, P., Muyana, S., Supriyanto, A., & Fatmawati, D. (2019). Self Regulation of Emotion in Students in Yogyakarta Indonesia: Gender

performance influences student academic achievement (Clifford & Cleary, 1972). When a student's academic performance is high, student achievement at school will be good. There is a difference between academic achievement and academic achievement. Academic performance is the result achieved by someone as a success while attending education in an educational institution (O’Connor & Paunonen, 2007). While academic achievement is a change in behavioral skills or abilities that can be increased for some time and is not caused by the growth process, but there is a learning situation (Zimmerman & Schunk, 2012). Teachers are expected to be creative and innovative in creating a school climate that can encourage students to bring up maximum academic performance (Marks & Louis, 1997; Taylor, 2010).

will also encourage the development of bad perceptions of the school Studentsenvironment.who have high self actualization at school, are those who have a good perception of the school climate. Therefore, teachers, school counselors, and stakeholders need to provide encouragement to students to build and create a conducive school climate, because this can facilitate the emergence of optimal academic performance in students. Students need to develop peaceful thinking at school (Saputra, Supriyanto, Astuti, Ayriza, Adiputra, Costa, & Ediyanto, Academic2020).

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6. Conclusion and Recommendations

Poor academic performance is influenced by many factors, one of which is a negative perception of the school climate. More specifically, negative perceptions of the school climate contributed 58.7% to the poor academic performance of students in Indonesia. Students who have a negative perception of the school climate, then they feel insecure and uncomfortable for self actualization in school. So this has an impact on poor academic performance. The limitation of this study is that no other factors that influence academic performance were identified, apart from students' perceptions of the school climate. This study also has not proposed an operational model of peaceful school climate development, which has an impact on improving student academic performance. Future studies are recommended to conduct research and development on educational models that promote the development of a peaceful mind so that the school climate can be built conducive. This study also recommends the stakeholders in the school to make good management in the school, so that the school climate can be built conducive and can affect the improvement of student academic performance.

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The study employed a casestudyresearch design, comprising two young children in one preschool centre. Data collection included observation, dialoguewiththechildren, andananalysisofvariouscreationsandusage of representation that shed light into both children’s capacity in utilizing different representation forms and performing translations. The findings unveiled the children’s capability in using a variety of representation forms, and performing translations within, and between different representation forms (with prompting). This study discusses the importance of facilitating the early development of young children’s use of multiple representations and performing translations to support their deep comprehension of the concept of addition.

Introduction Representation is vital in mathematics classrooms of all grade levels, in both teaching and learning. Mathematics teachers worldwide introduce a variety of representation forms during instruction, which may include concrete materials, visual images, i.e. pictures and photographs, written, and spoken symbols (Bakar & Karim, 2019; Elia, Gagatsis & Demetriou, 2007; Rosli, Goldsby & Capraro, 2015).

Keywords: addition; multiple representations; problem solving; understanding; young children

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Meanwhile, students create different representation forms to help them access ideas in mathematics, present their thinking, and find solutions. Past researches

*

Abstract. An important objective in mathematics education is to ensure learners’ comprehension of the subject through effective teaching and learning, as emphasized by many countries worldwide, such as the United States, Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia in terms of the organization of mathematics and its curriculum documents. This paper explores young children’s (6 years old) use of multiple representations in understanding the concept of addition during problem solving activities.

Use of Multiple Representations in Understanding Addition: The Case of Pre school Children

Kamariah Abu Bakar*, Suziyani Mohamed, Faridah Yunus and Aidah Abdul Karim Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Bangi, Selangor

Corresponding author: Kamariah Abu Bakar, Email: kamariah_abubakar@ukm.edu.my

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The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. have given emphasis to the benefits of using multiple representations (e.g. real world situations, pictures, photographs, physical, verbal, and written symbols) for both the teaching and learning of mathematics, to ease the communication of mathematical ideas and thinking, to help understand concepts in mathematics, and to aid in problem solving activities (Ahmad, Tarmizi & Nawawi, 2010; Ayub, Ghazali & Othman, 2013; Bakar & Karim, 2019; Elia et al., 2007; Rosli, Goldsby & Capraro, 2015). Despite the advantages of using multiple representations, as have been reported in previous studies, little is explored about young children’s mathematical understanding, especially pertaining to the concept of addition. Additionally, little is known about young children’s capability in performing translations within, and between different representation forms.

Research Background Mathematics researchers emphasized the prominence of students’ conceptual understanding in mathematics classrooms (Hiebert, 1997; NCTM, 2000). Teachers worldwide have employed various teaching practices including utilizing realistic mathematical education, multiple representation usage and integrating various technology devices in mathematics classrooms to enhance students’ mathematical understanding (e.g. Bautista, Habib, Eng Bull, 2019; Kaur, Koval & Chaney, 2017; Papadakis, Kalogiannakis & Zaranis 2017; Ulusoy & Incikabi, 2019) However, it is quite difficult to gauge how students gain conceptual understanding since this is not observable in a straightforward manner. Still, students’ understanding could be inferred through various representations that they would produce during learning sessions. When students produce a variety of representations to solve tasks in hand, they simultaneously structure their ideas (Francis & Tom, 2001). Representation refers to any configuration of signs, characters, or objects, which can also symbolize something else (Goldin, 1998). For example, photographs can represent events, numbers can exemplify quantities, and words can signify numerals. Mathematics researchers worldwide have highlighted the importance of representation, indicating its contribution to students’ creation of mathematical thinking and ideas (Abdullah, Halim & Zakaria, 2014; Abdullah, Zakaria & Halim, 2012; Ainsworth, Bibby, & Wood, 2002; Pape & Tchoshanov, 2001; Yuanita, Zulnaidi, & Zakaria, 2018). Representation is acknowledged as a tool for thinking and obtaining insights (Diezmann & English, 2001). Comprehension and mathematical thinking can be communicated in many ways, such as in writing, in speech, in pictorial representations, and manipulative objects. Additionally, researchers have noted the high association between representation and comprehension, in which a student’s level of understanding is linked to the types of representation utilized by that particular student (Mokwebu, 2013)andhis/hercapability to employ various representation modes. The Lesh Translation Model (Lesh et al.,1987) featured five representation modes that support learners’ progress with mathematical concepts, namely:

1) real world situations; comprising authentic real life events; 2) manipulatives; denoting any concrete object that can be pointed to, touched, and moved; 3) pictures or diagrams; referring to imageries of mathematical ideas found anywhere, such as in textbooks and photographs; may also include children’s self generated drawings and photographs captured by them;

According to Suh, Johnston, Jamieson, and Mills (2008), the term “representational fluency” can be described as understanding intricately the capability to exemplify any mathematical thinking and idea in various forms, including the ability to make connections between various representations. The ability to utilize multiple representations and the capability to translate representational models have been proven to affect students’ capabilities in developing mathematical ideas and thinking (Chigeza, 2013; Goldin & Shteingold, 2001), as well as solving mathematics problems (Gagatsis & Shiakalli, Often2004).

4) spoken symbols; including formal spoken mathematical language/jargon and everyday language to clarify thinking, to respond to questions, and to 5)explain;written symbols; encompassing both mathematical symbols and the written words associated with them.

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times, a mathematics problem may require students to employ more than one representation form. Hence, it is beneficial that students are capable of utilizing multiple representations, together with the capacity to perform translation within, and between different representation forms, so that problems could be solved effectively (Lesh et al., 1987). Additionally, researchers highlighted the positive link between the use of multiple representations and translation ability, as both influence children’s performance in problem solving (Gagatsis & Shiakalli, 2004; Lesh et al., 1987). To enable translation, learners should be able to connect one representation of a concept to another. They can begin with a representation that is most meaningful to them (e.g. concrete materials) and later switch to using others (e.g. symbols) to develop mathematical ideas. By performing more translations, more connections are achieved, that will subsequently form a “network of representations”. The quality and quantity of linking different modes of representation will assist problem solving processes. Hence, it is vital that teachers support students’ capacities of switching between, and within different representation forms. Teachers should help students in exploring the use of multiple representations, and guide them in translating within, and between representations (Ballard, 2000). Furthermore, teachers should provide students with tasks that necessitate the usage of multiple representations, as such activities may afford students with frequent transitioning among different representations. The facility to do so contributes to the depth of students’ comprehension and retention of mathematical concepts (Lesh et al., Educators1987). are concerned with the struggles encountered by preschool children in understanding the concept of addition; a more upsetting situation is that these children continue to experience difficulties in performing addition operations in the following year at primary school, i.e. in Year One (Tyng, Zaman, & Ahmad, 2011). Hence, it is important to investigate whether using multiple representation and performing translation can help facilitate comprehension in the basic concept of addition in similar ways that older students understand other topics in mathematics.

1. How do young children use different forms of representation to exemplify the concept of addition?

This study aims to explore children’s usage of multiple representations during their attempt to solve problems with addition. Furthermore, this study investigates children’s capacity in performing translation within, and between different representations. Specifically, this research addresses the following research questions:

This study was conducted in a preschool center in Melaka, Malaysia. A focus group consisting of six children (aged six years old) from the same classroom was selected as this study’s participants. Only six children were observed throughout the study, while the rest continued their lesson with the classroom teacher. These children who were selected as participants for this study were representative of different levels of mathematical achievement within the whole classroom. The selection of the children was in consultation with the teacher. However, for this particular paper, only the case of two children is presented as other children of the same range (the highest and lowest range) were observed to provide similar data. Aimy was selected as being representative of students from the low range while Norman from the high range. As this study was administered during the first term of school, the mathematics lessons and tasks at the time pertained to numbersand counting. Forthe first twomonths,the children had been introduced to numbers and had experienced counting various objects in their surroundings. They had not yet been introduced to the basics of mathematics operation. For this study, the researcher played dual roles as a researcher, and as a teacher to these children, by introducing the concept of addition through modeled situations, which required addition using concrete materials. This study is based on the constructivist theory of learning, which emphasizes student centered learning by providing students with the opportunity to explore and experience a wide range of representations. Beginning with exploring addition using concrete materials, the researcher proceeded with the children’s exploration of other forms of representation, including drawings and writtensymbols. Having had adequate exposure to addition processes and situations, the children were presented with the final problems, which required individual problem solving using any form of representation. The problems requested the children to find the total number of legs for a small number of animals. However, the problems were mixed level challenges, ranging from difficult to easy. Based on the pre test scores, Norman, who had scored the highest, was given a challenging problem involving three addends (i.e. Problem A: 2 tigers and a chicken), whereas Aimy, who had scored the lowest, was asked to solve a simple problem with only two addends (Problem B: 2 tigers).

2. In which ways, and to what extent do representations associate with children's understanding?

The Study

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Aimy chose to draw as a means to solve Problem B (i.e. the total number of legs for two tigers). She first represented the legs of the animals with simple lines (Figure 1), then pointed to them as she counted each line until she reached the

Methods Data collection consisted of observations, dialogues and conversations with the children, artifacts, field notes, and video recordings. The children's work including written symbols, drawings as well as constructions (using manipulatives)were photographedandsaved on acomputer. Theseartifacts were important evidence that supported classroom observations and conversations with the children. Video recordings of the children's engagement with the problem tasks enabled the children's verbal expressions and behaviors to be documented. The researcher had conversations/dialogues and asked the children several questions to get insights into what the children were doing and thinking.

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Next, these data were summarized and later organized in a table that displayed each child’s pre test score, representations, associated dialogues, and events, along with the children's behaviors that illustrated their thinking process. The table enabled a child’s representations to be cross checked against several data sources, yielding a rich information about each child's representations. Additionally, the table allowed the researcher to compare the children’s usage of representations and their associated thinking process.

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Findings and Discussion 1. How do young children use different forms of representation to exemplify the concept of addition?

The collection of the children's artifacts comprising of various data sources including observations, conversations and video recordings, helps determine the type, quantity and quality of representations employed by the children and their flexibility in using multiple representations and translation among different representation forms. The Lesh Translation Model (Lesh et al., 1987) was used as the analytical framework for the data analysis. Initially, conversations/dialogues with the children and observations were transcribed. Using the transcripts, artifacts, along with associated video recordings, the researcher coded the actions and verbalizations of the children into several categories: Manipulatives, Pictures, Verbal Symbols and Written Symbols. Additionally, video analysis of the children's attempting the tasks revealed the diverse methods of utilizing representations while attempting to complete the tasks. Conversations/dialogues with the children helped to clarify the representations that they had produced. Additionally, the children’s talk assisted in explaining the thinking process involved for solving the problems. Themes common to all children were evaluated through a cross analysis to understand the overall use of representations to facilitate understanding of mathematical concepts. Specifically, the researcher searched for common themes that were shared across children and differences unique to each child.

Findings

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After having found the solution to the problem successfully, Aimy was then prompted by the researcher to make a translation into another form of representation. As can be seen in Figure 2, she chose to manipulate the coins available in front of her. She grabbed one coin at a time, placed them one by one on the table until she reached four (i.e. four legs for the first tiger). She continued with the same action to represent the legs for the second tiger. Finally, she pointed to each coin and counted them all; then with a smile, she affirmed ‘8’ as the answer.

total number. Aimy demonstrated the counting action that she had performed earlier, indicating a dependence on herown creation of representation to solve the problem. Hence, Aimy’s drawing was fundamental to her problem solving strategy.

Figure 2: Aimy’s representations of the legs of 2 tigers using coins

Figure 1: Aimy’s drawings of the legs of 2 tigers

The researcher prompted Aimy again to make a translation into another representation form symbols. She remained silent for some time but proceeded to look at her previous construction (i.e. coins). She counted the coins in each group before writing the corresponding numeral (i.e. 4), and then referred to her group of coins again before writing the second addend (i.e. 4). Cautiously, she counted all her coins together and wrote the total number (i.e. 8). When trying to include the addition symbol (i.e. ‘+’ sign) into her number sentence (i.e. numerical expression/equation), she referred to the researcher and asked for assurance. Aimy successfully produced the correct number sentence (Figure 3). 4 + 4 = 8

Figure 3: Addition equation produced by Aimy As for Norman, in his attempt to find the sum for the legs of 2 tigers and a chicken (Problem A), Norman had written the numeral ‘4’ followed by ‘4’ (as in Figure 4a), but did not continue with the calculation as he realized the number sentence

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Figure 3: Norman’s attempts using numerals and symbols to find the sum for three addends

Figure 5: Norman’s use of pegs to represent the number of legs for each animal

Having noticed Norman’s struggle using symbols, the researcher offered him to utilize other representation forms. As he realized that the use of symbols had not been effective for the current problem, he switched to using concrete materials provided on the table. He chose three pictures with the face of each animal type and attached the relevant number of pegs to correspond to the number of legs for two tigers and a chicken (Figure 5). Interestingly, he succeeded to gain the total. Joyfully, he answered ‘ten’, despite not finished attaching all the pegs. The fact that he did not count the pegs (that he had attached to the pictures of the animals’ faces) but successfully figured out the total sum, suggests that he had applied the known double numbers (4+4=8) and added ‘two’ to reach ten.

2. In which ways, and to what extent do representations associate with children's understanding?

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. lacked the number of legs for the third animal. He then altered the numbers several times (see Figure 4b) by swapping between the numbers 2 and 4 (for the chicken’s legs). Note that the equation still lacked the third addend. Despite the struggles in solving the problem, he still insisted on using symbols. He then decided to write the double numbers (‘4+4’), but without presenting the sum for all the animals’ legs (Figure 4c). a) 4 + 4 b) 4 + 2 c) 4 + 4 =

A feature of the Lesh Translation Model is the movements within and between different modes of representation. Therefore, the findings are presented as ‘pathways’ for each child in the form of a diagram. The pathway of understanding for each child consists of (i) the movements within/between representation modes (using thin arrows); (ii) and prompts made by the researcher (P). The prompts by the researcher varied among the children; they included requesting the children to make translations, requesting them to explain mathematical ideas and thinking processes, and recommending them to overcome difficulties and troubles faced during problem solving.

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Aimy was given a simple problem involving two addends. As can be seen in Figure 6, Aimy began with creating drawings in her attempt to find the total number of legs. By manipulating her drawings, she successfully arrived at the total sum (as mentioned in the previous section:Figure 1). Noticing that Aimy had not attempted to check her answer using other forms of representation, the researcher prompted her to make a translation to another form of representation (i.e. concrete materials). By referring to her drawings carefully, Aimy managed to perform the translation between two different forms (i.e. from pictures to manipulatives using cubes). Despite using different representation forms, she manipulated the cubes similarly as she had manipulated her drawings (i.e. constructed the quantities, prior to counting them to obtain the total).

Drawings Manipulatives Written Symbols for movements between/within representation modes P Prompt by the researcher

Drawings Manipulatives PP P P

Figure 6: Aimy’s pathway of understanding

When prompted to make the translation into symbols, Aimy referred to her coins (Figure 2) and counted them one by one each time before writing the corresponding numeral for each addend and the total. Her reference to the coins and as a reflection of her actions on them, permitted her to notice the link between the actions she had performed on the coins and the symbols she was to write. Hence, the connection that she made between the two forms of representation facilitated her in producing the complete number sentence (i.e. ‘4+4=8’).

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Aimy’s Pathway of Understanding

Norman’s Pathway of Understanding Problem A which was given to Norman comprised of three animals (i.e. three addends). Hence, it required his understanding the addition of three sets or quantities. Figure 7 shows the pathway of Norman’s understanding.

Initially, Norman chose Written Symbols (Figure 7) but found it difficult to continue presenting the legs for the third animal using symbols. Noticing his struggle, the researcher prompted him to switch to using another form of representation. As can be seen in Figure 5, Norman chose to use manipulatives (i.e. pegs). While he was attaching the corresponding number of pegs to the animals’ pictures, he simultaneously verbalized ‘four and four’, suggesting that he spontaneously made the translation from manipulatives into Verbal Symbols

Discussion of Findings

P Symbols Manipulatives Verbal Symbols Symbols (in mind) Written Symbols for movements between/within representation modes

The Lesh Translation Model (i.e. within, and between representations) has enabled the diagramming of the children’s pathways in their mathematical actions as they were involved in the addition process while solving the posed problems. The discussion of the findings presented in this article, as the children’s pathways of understanding, is organized into two main themes: (i) the lack of spontaneity in using multiple representations; and (ii) the children’s struggles in performing translation into symbols.

Written

P Prompt by the researcher

Figure 7: Norman’s pathway of understanding

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The lack of spontaneity in using multiple representations

This study found that both children utilized multiple representations in attempting the addition problems, however, they did not automatically perform meaningful translations within, and between the representation forms. Despite the fact that they managed to select their own initial representation themselves (presumably their ‘preferred’ representation form), both children required encouragement and only began to use a different form of representation after being prompted by the researcher. Notwithstanding being offered to use multiple forms of representation, Aimy used only drawings to solve the given problem. This provided evidence for her lack of spontaneity in utilizing different forms of representation. Hence, although offered the freedom and opportunity to use a variety of representation forms, there was no guarantee that the children would profit from the opportunities presented to them. As Davis (1984) contended, students are capable of discovering mathematical relationships when given the opportunities to explore and experience mathematical situations and ideas.

At the same time, he might have depicted the quantities symbolically in his mind. Doing so permitted him to notice the addends as having the same quantities, so he instantly verbalized the double numbers ‘four and four, eight’. He then verbalized the total sum of ‘ten’, immediately. The act of performing translations had allowed Norman’s understanding to deepen; hence, it eased him to succeed in adding the three addends together. Equally important was that using multiple representations (i.e. concrete materials and symbols) had aided Norman to notice the properties of addition that in turn enabled him to arrive at the answer accurately and easily. He finally wrote his number sentence that contains the third addend.

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Nevertheless, the findings reported in this study proved that providing opportunities alone does not enable the automatic discovery of relationships among different representations. In fact, children require more than just encouragement; for instance, prompts from the teacher need to be flexible when using representation during mathematical tasks. As observed in this study, only after being requested by the researcher to make translations (i.e. into concrete and symbolic forms) that Aimy used concrete materials and wrote the addition equation. Children often feel satisfied after having arrived at a problem’s solution using a particular representation form. This may probably clarify their lack ofspontaneity in utilizing multiple forms of representation. As they successfully obtain an answer to a problem, they feel that it is no longerimportant to employ other forms of representation, even if they are unsure whether the answer is correct or not. In this study, both children offered their answers as soon as they found the sum, and did not attempt to use other forms of representation to check for the total previously obtained.

Struggles in Performing Translation into Symbols

This study exhibited that making a translation into symbols (mainly for the addition involving three addends) appears to have created a great challenge for most of the children in this study. One child found it troublesome to compose the addition equation completely. The child seemed to have struggled to include either the quantity of the third addend or the ‘+’ sign in the number sentences produced. This shows that children are able to achieve only partial translation (Ainsworth, Prain, & Tytler, 2011), by performing translation that contains only a portion of data from a stated problem. Although children may successfully arrive at the solutions and perform translations (e.g. concrete materials and drawings), they may find it difficult to write a complete and correct number sentence (Anghileri, 1995; Shiakalli & Gagatsis, 2006). This provides evidence that children are capable ofmaking translations for quantities ofobjects but not the relationship among objects. They are able to make translations for the quantities of objects into symbols because numerical symbols are understood more quickly by children than written arithmetic equations (Zhou, Wang, Wang & Wang, 2006). Furthermore, children’s capability to map between symbolic and non symbolic representation occurs at around the time they master the counting system (Lipton & Spelke, 2005). In addition, viewing addition as a unary operation (Baroody, Wilkins, & Tiilikainen, 2003) possibly offers an alternative explanation for the children’s understanding of addition that convinces them to construct incomplete number sentences and equations. Since children lack the experience, their understanding of addition probably commences with a set of objects (or numerals), to which another group of objects (or numerals) is added. Should the children have adequate experience with addition, specifically in operations with more than two addends, they might be able to recognize addition as binary operations and might be able to write complete and correct addition equations. As emphasized by Baroody et al. (2003), students initially view addition as a unary operation, before

Clearly, exploring children’s use of representation in problem solving is amongst the best means to stimulate their thinking processes. This owes to the fact that children’s use of representation in solving problems reflects numerous facets of their mathematical thinking. This permits teachers/researchers to infer the children’s progress in understanding mathematics, as revealed by the pathways that the children traverse while engaging in problem solving. Future study is recommended to research and document this approach from a "quantitative" point of view that includes a greater number of students as well as examining other interesting mathematics topics such as subtraction operation and spatial sense. Additionally, it is suggested that future research includes the examination of teachers’ use of multiple representations, as well as their fluency in performing translation within, and between representation forms during teaching/instruction.

Acknowledgment

Conclusion, Implication and Recommendations

Teachers’ practice in the classroom is essential in influencing how students can become flexible in using different representation forms and in performing fluid translations within, and between representations. Consequently, teachers’ relentless efforts may affect the extent and quality of mathematical understanding among students.

This research was supported by grants provided by the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (GG 2019 061) and (GG 2019 011).

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Using the Lesh’s Model to diagram children’s mathematical activity while they were solving posed problems revealed relationships between representation and depth of understanding. The different pathways diagrammed for each child illustrated the unique means in which a child progressed towards building understanding. The differences were mainly determined by each child’s preference for representational forms. The findings of this study showed that the depth of mathematical understanding imposes the integration of different representation forms and flexibility in utilizing those various forms. Thus, a deep mathematical understanding may be achieved by the children should each of them make meaningful relationships between and within representations Since(translations).children lack experience in solving problems, they depend heavily on encouragements and prompts by the ‘teacher’ prior to exploring and experiencing the use and benefits of other representation forms that differ from their preferred representation. This study’s implications for teachers highlight that instruction should consist of appropriate monitoring during problem solving practices. Most importantly, teachers should emphasize on the appreciation of the usage of multiple representations and empower children to select representations that are meaningful to them as a starting point of development.

The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. being able to perceive it as a binary operation. Therefore, providing richer situations and experience in addition is beneficial for a deeper understanding of addition.

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References Abdullah, N., Halim, L., & Zakaria, E. (2014). VStops: A thinking strategy and visual representation approach in mathematical word problem solving toward enhancing STEM literacy. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 10(3), 165 174.

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304 ©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Goldin, G. (1998). Representational systems, learning, and problem solving in mathematics. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 17(2), 137 165. doi:10.1016/S0364 0213(99)80056 1 Goldin, G., & Shteingold, N. (2001). Systems of representations and the development of mathematical concepts. In A.A. Cuoco & F.R. Curcio (Eds.), The roles of representation in school mathematics (pp 1 23). Reston, VA: NCTM Hiebert, J. (1997). Making sense: Teaching and learning mathematics with understanding. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Kaur, D., Koval, A., & Chaney, H. (2017). Potential of using iPad as a supplement to teach math to students with learning disabilities. International Journal of Research in Education and Science, 3(1), 114 121. Lesh, R., Post, T., & Behr, M. (1987). Representations and translations among representations in mathematics learning and problem solving. In C. Janvier (Ed.), Problems of representation in the teaching and learning of mathematics (pp. 33 40). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Lipton, J. S., & Spelke, E. S. (2005). Preschool children's mapping of number words to nonsymbolic numerosities. Child Development, 76(5), 978 988. Mokwebu, D. J. (2013). An explorationof the growth inmathematical understanding of grade 10 learners. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10386/1110 NCTM. (2000). National Council ofTeachersofMathematics, Principlesand Standardsfor school mathematics. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Papadakis, S., Kalogiannakis, M., & Zaranis, N. (2017). Improving mathematics teaching in kindergarten with realistic mathematical education. Early Childhood Education Journal, 45(3), 369 378. Pape, S. J., & Tchoshanov, M. A. (2001). The role of representation (s) in developing mathematical understanding. Theory into Practice, 40(2), 118 127. Rosli, R., Goldsby, D., & Capraro, M. M. (2015). Using Manipulatives in Solving and Posing Mathematical Problems. Creative Education, 6(16), 1718. Shiakalli, M., & Gagatsis, A. (2006). Compartmentalization of representation in tasks related to addition and subtraction using the number line. In Novotná, J., Moraová, H., Krátká, M. & Stehlíková, N. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 30th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (pp. 105 112). Prague, Czech Republic: PME. Suh, J., Johnston, C., Jamieson, S., & Mills, M. (2008). Promoting decimal number sense and representational fluency. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, 14(1), 44 50. Tyng, K. S., Zaman, H. B., & Ahmad, A. (2011). Visual application in multi touch tabletop for mathematics learning: A preliminary study. Paper presented at the International Visual Informatics Conference (pp. 319 328), Springer, Berlin: Ulusoy,Heidelberg.F.,&Incikabi, L. (2019). Incorporating Representation Based Instruction into Mathematics Teaching: Engaging Middle Schoolers with Multiple Representations ofAdding Fractions. In Handbookof Research onPromoting Higher Order Skills and Global Competencies in Life and Work (pp. 311 336). IGI Global. Yuanita, P., Zulnaidi, H., & Zakaria, E. (2018). The effectiveness of Realistic Mathematics Education approach: The role of mathematical representation as mediator between mathematical belief and problem solving. PloS one, 13(9), e0204847. Zhou, X., Wang, Y., Wang, L., & Wang, B. (2006). Kindergarten children's representation and understanding of written number symbols. Early Child Development and Care, 176(1), 33 45. doi:10.1080/0300443042000302645

305 ©2020 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 305 317, February 2020 https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.2.19 “Glocal” Transnational Higher Education: A Case Study of a Finnish-Vietnamese Collaboration Kirsi Hasanen TampereFinUniversityland Abstract. This article presents a case study and an analysis of ofVietnameseshowstextsstudyinassumptionsdiscoursehigherlightatransnationalonandinstitutionaldirectionaltransnationalhighereducationprogramsfromtheperspectiveofamultiinterplaybetweenglobalprocessesandnationalandinterests.Usingjournalarticles,ministryreports,websitesdocumentsfromhighereducationinstitutions,theanalysisfocusesthenationalandlocalnegotiationofthetwofoldeddiscourseinhighereducation.Thepurposeofthispaperistoprovideninsightintothediscourseprevalentinthisfieldofresearchandshedonthesharedinterestsandconvergingaimsofthetransnationaleducationpartners.Inthisstudy,byapplyingapproachesofanalysis,textualdataareanalyzedtomakevisibletheonwhatis,canorwillbeunderstoodasgoodanddesirablethecontextoftransnationalhighereducation.Methodologically,thedrawsontheideaoftheintertextualityoftexts,emphasizingthatareconstructedinrelationtoothertexts.Accordingly,thearticlehowacaseoftransnationalhighereducationbetweenFinnishandhighereducationinstitutionscanbegatheredasanexamplethehybridglobal/localspaceoftransnationaleducation.

Keywords: transnational higher education; Finnish higher education; Vietnamesehighereducation;discourses; globalization 1. Introduction In the last few decades, globalization, in the form of worldwide markets, has been no stranger to the field of higher education. An integrated world economy, expanding the international labor market, increased academic mobility, as well as the growth of information technology and the knowledge economy have all prompted the internationalization of higher education. Simultaneously, there has been a decrease in public funding for higher education in many countries, thus creating a need to gather funds from alternative sources. The increasing pursuit of market opportunities within higher education has led to the increased cross border delivery of higher education, which has taken many forms. These forms vary from joint degree programs and the use of massive open online courses to

The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. international branch campuses and so called education hubs. (Bannier, 2016; Healey, 2015; Lo, 2017.)

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Accordingly, to map out the extant research and situate oneself within this field of research, a division must be made between the terms transnational higher education and cross border higher education. Also, both borderless education and offshore education have been used with similar meanings. Thus, in the literature, research on cross border higher education is concerned with issues relating to the provision, governance and quality assurance, while transnational higher education addresses questions relating to cultural differences as well as teaching and learning practices (Kosmützky & Putty, 2016). Despite the varying terms used in academic literature, transnational higher education refers to the organization of education in a manner in which students are located in a different country from the degree awarding institution. Therefore, instead of student mobility, the activity is based on the mobility of programs, institutions and teaching staff. This study follows the definition of transnational higher education provided by Knight (2016), in which the degree awarding institution, referred to as the home institution, is a Finnish public university operating under the national education system with regulatory frameworks for quality assurance. According to the Finnish University Act (558/2009, 9§) regarding transnational higher education, the programs must cover at least the costs incurring from it. Accordingly, transnational higher education is not to be delivered at the expense of the education provided locally, but it might be able to supplement reduced state funding for universities and faculties. The programs of transnational higher education in focus here have been designedandexecuted in cooperation with two different Vietnamese higher education institutions, referred to in this study as the host institutions. Following the General Agreement on Trade in Services by the World Trade Organisation, these programs combine program and staff mobility. The degree programs are provided to students in their home country by combining distance learning with contact teaching, offered locally by the awarding institution's staff.

This article addresses transnational higher education from the perspective of a multi directional interplay between global processes and national and institutional interests. Following a literature review on the prominent discourse concerning transnational higher education, the national and institutional contexts of a particular case of transnational higher education are analyzed. Using journal articles, ministry reports, websites and documents from national and higher education institutions, this article elucidates how parties trading on the symbolic capital of national higher education systems discursively negotiate and contextualize these activities. Building on the theory that discourses construct social practices andassignpositions tosocial agents andvice versa (Gergen, 2009), the article concludes with a discussion on enriching the discursive standpoint in research concerning transnational higher education research.

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2. The two-folded discourse: Cultural exchange and Westernisation “Many believe that modern information and communication technologies and the movement of people, ideas and culture across national boundaries are presenting new opportunities to promote one’s culture to other countries and furthering chances for fusion and hybridization of culture. This position rests on the assumption that such flow of culture across borders is not new at all; only the speed has been accelerated. Others, however, contend that these same forces are eroding national cultural identities and that instead of creating new forms of cultures through hybridization the forces are acting to homogenize cultures (in most cases, meaning westernization). Given that education has traditionally been seen as a vehicle of acculturation, these arguments are played out in terms of curriculum content, the language of instruction (English, increasingly) and the teaching/learning process of exported/imported programs. Both perspectives have strengths to their arguments” (Knight 2006, p. 56). In this excerpt, from Higher Education Crossing Borders: A Guide to the Implications of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) for Cross border Education, Knight (2006)summarises the two main views addressedin the scientific discussion relating to transnational higher education. Even though this guide was written more than a decade ago, based on a literary review of transnational higher education research, this binary appears to be continuous (also Wilkins & Juusola, 2018). Chou et al. (2016) have highlighted that the literature on the globalization of higher education is divided: It is depicted either as an opportunity or a crisis. While crossing national borders might present more opportunities and cultural exchanges in the field of higher education, transnational higher education can also be depicted as a form of “modern day colonialism” (Wilkins & Juusola, 2018) that contains market based claims of knowledge, where students become customers who shop for degrees in global higher education markets. Thus, highlighting the global context in which both home and host institutions operate, it is clear that the legitimization of their international activity is based on the needs of universities to respond to the requirements of today's societies: to provide global competencies for their students and prepare them for globalized working environments (Haigh, 2014). Moreover, transnational higher education can be characterized as offering solutions for highly populated countries, where the demand for higher education cannot be met solely by local institutions (Bannier, 2016). Simultaneously, there are adequate concerns that while developing countries aim to develop their higher education system, to effectively join the global game, home institutions are more interested in the profitability and less in the strategic advancement of a hosting nation's higher education system (Altbach & Knight, 2007; Healey, 2012; Healey & Michael, 2015). Mindful of the trade based nature of this activity; this perception implies that these objectives and agendas are mutually exclusive.

Accordingly, despite the Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross border Higher Education issued by the Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2005, there is an ongoing discussion in the scientific

To this end, and according to Djerasimovic (2014), research concerning transnational higher education has adopted a rather imperialistic premise. The critique is targeted at the determinist view of transnational higher education, where Western views are forced on developing countries. Thus, the mediation of Western views and pedagogics without any negotiations or re contextualization can be seen as underrating the agency and cultural capital of the host country, its institutions and students. Additionally, Stella (2006) has highlighted that instead of looking for curriculum similarity in transnational higher education programs, the focus should be on curriculum comparability. Moreover, Waterval et al. (2017) have discussed the apparent lack of discussion on the definition of curriculum equivalence and who determines it. Consequently, Sidhu and Christie (2015, 302) suggest that transnational higher education takes place in hybrid global/local space as it is “shaped by specific, situated dynamics of global, national and local interests”. This analytical concept enables an understanding of global and local processes as being simultaneous and influential in a multi directional way. Accordingly, this study presents a higher education partnership between Finnish and Vietnamese higher education institutions as an example of a hybrid global/local space of transnational higher education (ibid.). The Finnish and Vietnamese national and institutional contexts are analyzed in light of prevalent discourse on transnational higher education. Particular attention is paid on the local negotiation of transnational higher education discourse emphasising both opportunities for cultural exchange as well as concerns about Westernisation. Thus, a view is adopted that transnational higher education is nationally and institutionally negotiated and re contextualized rather than merely being imposed. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to highlight the possible shared interests and converging aims among transnational higher education partners.

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3. Method and data

Drawing on the theory of social constructivism (Berger & Luckmann, 1984), this study relies on the understanding that while describing social reality, language is simultaneously re constructing it. Accordingly, as power works through language, discourses constitute social structures and practices and assign positions to social agents. Thus, while indicating the ideal ways of being and acting, discourses concurrently legitimatize the desired state of affairs (Wodak & Meyer, 2001). In this study, by applying approaches of discourse analysis, the textual data are analyzed to make visible the assumptions on what is, can or will

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literature related to the quality assurance of programs of transnational higher education (Kosmützky & Putty, 2016). The quality discussion stems from the critical intercultural perspective of the Westernisation of developing countries' higher education. Concretely, the prevailing issue in many studies has been related to the global standardization versus local adaption of the curriculum in transnationalhigher education programs (Shams& Huisman, 2012). For example, international branch campuses have been criticized for transferring curricula to culturally different locations in which they have been designed for and taught by teachers, who have not participated in their development (Lane, 2011; Lemke Westcott & Johnson, 2013).

After the Chinese, French and Soviet influences on Vietnamese higher education, there has been a growing interest in establishing transnational higher education collaborations in the last few decades, especially with the United States, Australia and some European countries. Historically, the educational system in Vietnam has been based on the government's centralized planning, particularly the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET). Despite being strongly controlled by MOET, it has undergone decentralization reforms to enhance the effectiveness and autonomy of its institutions. One element of these decentralization reforms has been the internationalization of higher education (Trines, 2017; Economica Vietnam, 2018, WENR, 2014; 2017). According to the research on the internationalization of Vietnamese higher education (Nha & Tu, 2015; Nguyen et al., 2015; Tuyet, 2014), it is perceived to

4. Results

Vietnamese higher education: Internationalization with traditional values

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The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. be understood as good and desirable in the context of transnational higher education. Methodologically, the study draws on the idea of the intertextuality of texts, emphasizing that texts are constructed in relation to other texts (Fairclough, 2003). Thus, taking a broad view on intertextuality, the present assumptions are analyzed from a certain perspective: “What is said in a text is said against the background of what is unsaid, but taken as given” (ibid, 40) to extract the discourses deployed in the data.

Transnational higher education programs organized and delivered by a Finnish publicuniversity andVietnamesehigher education institutions,andtheirnational and institutionalcontexts, form the casestudy forthis article. The analysis relating to transnational higher education discourse in Vietnam is based on eight scientific articles and five websites relating tothe internationalization of Vietnamese higher education. Thus, it is noteworthy that the secondary data, both from national and institutional levels, are produced in the context of the internationalization needs and requirements of both Finnish and Vietnamese higher education. The analysis weighs on the Finnish data. The data gathered from Finland consist of five ministry level reports and twelve institutional level documents, including the university strategy and action plan to implement the strategy. Also, the policy guidelines for international degree programs, including transnational higher education programs set by the university's teaching council, are included in the data. The faculty level data consist of project documents written by transnational higher education partners for various programs of international development cooperation for higher education, funded by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The faculty level data also consist ofeducation service agreements signed between the partners. In addition to the division of costs and conditions of sale for educational services, the service agreements include co produced curricula that combine courses from both institutions, teaching schedules, explanations of teaching procedures and regulations for the evaluation of studies. Memos from meetings with the partnering institutions and the home faculty's transnational higher education strategy are included in the data.

The discourse on the internationalization of higher education is not unfamiliar in the developing countries of the Asia Pacific region (Mok, 2018), such as Vietnam.

The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. offer solutions to various challenges, including narrowing the gap between Vietnam and other countries concerning science, technology and equipping students to perform better in international and multicultural working environments (also Economica Vietnam, 2018). Thus, there is a need to fill the shortage of skilled workers in the country, and stop the brain drain to other countries. Additionally, there is a need to develop more research oriented universities and increase the quality of teaching, the number of qualified teaching staff as well as staff and student mobility in higher education (Trines, 2017).

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While there is reported interest in learning from educational standards, curriculum management, and delivery and the teaching practices of developed countries (Tuyet, 2014), it is also recognized that Vietnamese higher education institutions often lack resources and infrastructure, and are inexperienced with the various human, financial and administrative aspects relating to internationalization (Nguyen et al., 2015). Moreover, power relations between developing and developed countries and the quality aspects relating to transnationalhigher education programs delivered in Vietnam are acknowledged and discussed. Furthermore, Western views of pedagogy are often gathered in opposition to the prevailing Confucian culture in Vietnam, emphasizing the teacher as the primary source of knowledge and exams as measures of that knowledge (Pham & Saltmarsh, 2013; Phan et al., 2016; Tran, 2013; Trung & Swierczek, Accordingly,2009).inaddition

It follows that while trying to attract more foreign education providers to Vietnam, the Communist Party also seeks to maintain control over foreign institutions. Given the size of the Vietnamese higher education system, transnational higher education still constitutes just a small fraction of all the higher education activity in the country (McNamara & Knight, 2015; Vietnam International Education Cooperation Department, 2018). Thus, based on the brief outlook on the internationalization of Vietnamese higher education, the national discourse appears somewhat similar to two folded discourse on transnational higher education. Vietnamese higher education institutions are depicted as

to MOET overseeing and approving the transnational higher education programs in Vietnam, thereisa recognizedconcern thatWestern methods of teaching, organising and managing education might not correspond sufficiently with local context and culture. According to the mission of a Vietnamese university that is part of this case study, they aim to “provide the best higher education and research environment with the highest standards of professionalism to our students, ensuring that our graduates will be fully capable of competing and adapting to the global economy” . At the same time, there is an emphasis on “taking pride and promoting the institution’s traditional values” (University of Economics HCMC, Consequently,2020)

for Vietnamese higher education to operate as an equal agent in the global higher education market, the conviction that transnational higher education programs should be provided in conjunction with foreign partners, in a manner ensuring the preservation of local perspectives and values, is noticeable from many different sources. Consequently, the Vietnam International Education Cooperation Department in MOET (2018) uses the term “joint training programs” when referring to transnational higher education programs.

engines for implementing changes and improving society, while at the same time there is a national requirement to preserve local views and traditional values against the possible impacts of extensive Westernisation.

The ministry's strategy has been criticized by Finnish scholars for being toovague (Schatz, 2016; Schatz et al., 2017) and for promoting export activities that are too foreign for higher education institutions (Cai et al., 2013). Simpson (2018) has criticized the deployment of high quality education and equality branding as a form of discursive construction that can be understood as ethnocentric because it fosters “othering” between nations. Thus, this kind of nation branding can be perceived as being based on an over simplistic image of education that ignores diversities and creates a hierarchy of nations (Schatz et al., 2017). Relating to aspects of quality and ethics, Finnish education exports are presented as being based on “sustainable development and mutual ethics” (Ministry of Education and Culture 2016, 2). Guidelines have been established by the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council to ensure quality control of Finnish transnational higher education programs (https://karvi.fi/en/higher education/). These guidelines are based on the recommendations for cross border higher education compiled by UNESCO and the Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development. Nevertheless, it remains unspecified by the ministry as to what is understood by sustainable development and mutual ethics in the context of Finnish transnational higher education. Consequently, it is noticeable that the national discourse on education exports in Finlandleansheavily on the nation brandofhigh quality education.Additionally, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs promotes education exports to Vietnam in the Cooperation between Finland and Vietnam 2016 2020 report (2017) by relying on the PISA brand of the country. What education would be exported, why and under what values is left for the Finnish higher education institutions to determine: apart from financial reasons, which mention “utilizing the brand to the fullest” (Ministry of Education and Culture 2013, 9), the reasons are not explicated in the reports.

Finnish higher education: Expanding the nation’s education brand

Since 2010, the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture has adopted an ambitious stance in promoting Finnish education to become part of the global service economy. In the ministry’s reports, the term “education export” is used when referring to transnational higher education. The education export strategy (2010, further clarified in 2013) is built on the belief that the Finnish education system is one of the best in the world due to Finland’s high ranking PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) results. In 2016, the ministry published the Roadmap for Finnish Education Export for 2016 2019 (Ministry of Education andCulture 2016, 18),stating more cautiously that exporting education is a challenge that requires “new thinking” to turn Finnish education into a commodity that meets international demand. Thus, while implying that the Finnish educational outlook needs to be renewed, it also announces that future education exports will be viewed as “a normal activity” in Finnish higher education, indicating its current exceptionality.

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Moreover, as part of this discourse, Finnish higher education institutions are portrayed as future agents operating in global markets where they should engage with new thinking concerning higher education and welcome the thus far unfamiliar activity of transnational higher education as part of their “normal activities”, while simultaneously valuing sustainable development and mutual ethics.

Accordingly, it is suggested that by deploying Finland’s strong tradition of education, the nation should not miss the opportunity to expand its brand of higher education. Thus, expanding the brand discourse discloses the context in which the nation’s higher education is positioned as having much to offer.

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Finnish university: Transnational higher education as an ambiguously standard activity Following the prevalent discourse on the internationalization of higher education, the internationalization strategy for 2016 2020, set for a Finnish university engaged in transnational higher education activities, holds distinctly positive attributes and possibilities. Therefore, the need for internationalization is not questioned. According to the Teaching Council Policy Guidelines (2013) of this particular university, international degree programs, including transnational higher education programs, are “drawn up, evaluated and developed in the same manner as other degree programs”. Itis alsostatedthat in addition toprograms being interdisciplinary, research based, high quality and long term, they “need to be organized in cooperation with strategic partner universities” Moreover, and as seen in ministry level reports, the action plan to implement the university’s strategy requests that the university will “offer ethically and socially sustainable transnational education” . Despite being left unclarified, the emphasis on equivalence with local degree programs offered to Finnish students and the co production of transnational higher education programs suggests that the home institution recognizes the possibly unequal power relations in higher education markets and the importance of re contextualization of curricula with the partner institution.

To summarise, as the term “education export” is used as the main term to refer to transnational higher education at the ministry documents, education is presented as a national commodity to be introduced to global education markets. The discourse on high quality education circulates in ministry level documents.

When analyzing the faculty level documents, the notion of “we export what we know” is prevalent. Accordingly, the transnationalhigher education programs are offered in the faculty's research and teaching areas. Besides, there is a nation specific element present that is related to the good reputation of Finnish public administration. Education is offered to public officials working in Vietnam, drawing on the fact that the Finnishpublic administration system is rankedas one of the most efficient in the world; developing countries might find this ranking appealing. Therefore, in addition to the faculty’s aim to take part in higher education markets, it is stressed that the capabilities and resources of the home institution mix well with customer requirements, thus creating a compatible foundation for collaboration (Lönnqvist et al., 2018). Based on the service agreements, curricula and teaching schedules, the transnational higher education partnerships analyzed in this case study are built

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The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. on the co production and delivery of the curriculum. The provision of education is divided based on the expertise of the partner institutions. Thus, by incorporating local perspectives into Western curricula, there is a joint delivery of a “glocal” curriculum (Ramanau, 2016) taking place. According to the transnational higher education framework provided by Knight (2016, p. 39), this transnational higher education partnership would be situated between a “locally supported distance education program” and a “program with collaboration in design and delivery of curriculum and program” as the curriculum is co produced and co delivered, but the degree is awarded only by the home institution.

As the host institutions are interested in modernizing and internationalizing their curricula to attract students and meet the national requirements for internationalizing Vietnamese higher education institutions, the home faculty describes transnationalhighereducation, in the Education export strategy of2014, as a way in which to potentially “widen the impact of the faculty’s activities” and “offer staff new international teaching possibilities”. However, at the Finnish universities, international teaching experience has not been supported or valued when compared to international research activities and co operation. This is stated in the education export strategy of the Ministry of Education and Culture (2010) as a weakness in Finnish higher education. Consequently, from an institutional perspective, transnational higher education programs are presented as part of the university's conventional activities, as they follow the guidelines and regulations of national degree programs offered to Finnishstudents. Nevertheless, the thus farunestablished position andambiguity of transnational higher education become visible, as the terms describing transnational higher education are used interchangeably in the university and faculty level documents. Moreover, the indefinite references to ethically and

What is clear from the strategy documents and memos is the notion of institutional capacity building on both sides of the partnership. The possibility of research cooperation is recognized and mentioned by both parties but not emphasized. According to the transnational higher education spectrums defined by Healey and Michael (2015), from the home institution's perspective, this activity could be characterized as being teaching led (in opposition to research led) and based on special subjects to gain regional access. Nevertheless, even though most of the education has been provided by the degree awarding institution, there is a yet unspecified indication in the service agreements that as the partnership continues, the host institutions wouldbe interestedin takingmore responsibility for the curriculum delivery. Accordingly, it is noteworthy that the countries and higher education institutions in this study are in different phases of internationalization concerning higher education. While one is opening up, the other is exporting. Activities relating to transnational higher education are quite recent, so there is still a lot to be learned from curriculum design, management of transnational higher education programs, student guidance and supervision in this joint venture. Moreover, the present strategic directions at both national and institutional levels can alter depending on changing demand, national regulations and available resources in both countries. Despite remarks about capacity building and knowledge transfer, it has not been given much precedence thus far.

The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. socially sustainable transnational higher education and the emphasis on co operation, as a premise for partnership, highlights the Westernisation discourse somewhat acknowledged and reflected upon at the institutional level. Thus, the “glocal” curricula liberate home countries from the supposed Westernisation of curricula.

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The varying use of terms, ranging from “education export” to “joint training programs ” and to “transnational education” in the data indicates that there are local, national and institutional negotiations of the term used to describe transnational higher education. Accordingly, Finnish higher education can be depicted concurrently as an exported national commodity as well as a form of regular activity of local universities. Similarly, while there is a necessity for preservation and control, Vietnamese higher education is simultaneously aiming to partake in the global education market. To conclude, the national level discourse on transnational higher education in both countries draws from national traditions and history, brands and values of higher education. Moreover, it could be perceived that the discourse on the Westernisation of higher education with unequal power relations is recognized, even though it is not explicitly articulated. Consequently, the local negotiation and re contextualization of the global trends and discourses demonstrate how this case study can be depicted as one example of a hybrid global/local space of transnational higher education. While guided by national level interests and discourse, higher education institutions simultaneously possess power as the operating actors in this field. Consequently, a more nuanced and multi faceted view of imposed globalization and Westernisation could still be called for in transnational higher education research. As discourses display what is consideredlegitimate, valuable as well asunvalued, they also assign positions for transnational higher education partners and identifies social practices of note. Accordingly, the discussion among researchers and policymakers should also include an institutional level analysis of transnational higher education case studies. This study indicates that there is agency negotiated through and within the internationalization of higher education discourse at the national and institutional levels on both sides of transnational higher education partnerships. As a result of this analysis, a more versatile and distinctive view of this activity is presented.

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5. Conclusion

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317 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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Chief Editor Dr. Antonio Silva Sprock, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Editorial Board Dr. Fatima Zohra Belkhir Benmostefa Dr. Giorgio Poletti Dr. Chi Man Tsui Dr. Fitri Suraya Mohamad Dr. Hernando Lintag Berna Dr. Charanjit Kaur Swaran Singh Dr. Abu Bakar Dr. Eglantina Hysa Dr. Mo'en Salman Alnasraween Dr. Hermayawati Hermayawati Dr. Selma Kara Dr. Michael B. Cahapay Dr. Bunmi Isaiah Omodan Dr. Vassiliki Pliogou Dr. Meera Subramanian Dr. Muhammad Kristiawan Dr. Wahyu Widada Dr. Som Pal Baliyan Dr. Reem Khalid Abu Shawish Dr. Froilan Delute Mobo Dr. Mohamed Ali Elkot Dr. Anabelie Villa Valdez Mr. Teody Lester Verdeflor Panela International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research

Port RepublicLouisof www.ijlter.orgMauritius

The International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research is an open access journal which has been established for the dissemination of state-of-the-art knowledge in the field of education, learning and teaching. IJLTER welcomes research articles from academics, educators, teachers, trainers and other practitioners on all aspects of education to publish high quality peer reviewed papers. Papers for publication in the International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research are selected through precise peer review to ensure quality, originality, appropriateness, significance and readability. Authors are solicited to contribute to this journal by submitting articles that illustrate research results, projects, original surveys and case studies that describe significant advances in the fields of education, training, e learning, etc. Authors are invited to submit papers to this journal through the ONLINE submission system. Submissions must be original and should not have been published previously or be under consideration for publication while being evaluated by IJLTER.

PUBLISHER Society for Research and Knowledge Management

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