Vol 5 no 1 may 2014

IJLTER.ORG

p-ISSN: 1694-2493 e-ISSN: 1694-2116

International Journal of Learning, Teaching And Educational Research

Vol.5 No.1

PUBLISHER London Consulting Ltd District of Flacq Republic of Mauritius www.ijlter.org

International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research

The International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research is an open-access journal which has been established for the disChief Editor Dr. Antonio Silva Sprock, Universidad Central de semination of state-of-the-art knowledge in the Venezuela, Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of field of education, learning and teaching. IJLTER welcomes research articles from academics, edEditorial Board ucators, teachers, trainers and other practitionProf. Cecilia Junio Sabio ers on all aspects of education to publish high Prof. Judith Serah K. Achoka quality peer-reviewed papers. Papers for publiProf. Mojeed Kolawole Akinsola Dr Jonathan Glazzard cation in the International Journal of Learning, Dr Marius Costel Esi Teaching and Educational Research are selected Dr Katarzyna Peoples through precise peer-review to ensure quality, Dr Christopher David Thompson originality, appropriateness, significance and Dr Arif Sikander readability. Authors are solicited to contribute Dr Jelena Zascerinska to this journal by submitting articles that illusDr Gabor Kiss trate research results, projects, original surveys Dr Trish Julie Rooney Dr Esteban Vázquez-Cano and case studies that describe significant adDr Barry Chametzky vances in the fields of education, training, eDr Giorgio Poletti learning, etc. Authors are invited to submit paDr Chi Man Tsui pers to this journal through the ONLINE submisDr Alexander Franco sion system. Submissions must be original and Dr Habil Beata Stachowiak should not have been published previously or Dr Afsaneh Sharif be under consideration for publication while Dr Ronel Callaghan Dr Haim Shaked being evaluated by IJLTER. Dr Edith Uzoma Umeh Dr Amel Thafer Alshehry Dr Gail Dianna Caruth Dr Menelaos Emmanouel Sarris Dr Anabelie Villa Valdez Dr Özcan Özyurt Assistant Professor Dr Selma Kara Associate Professor Dr Habila Elisha Zuya

VOLUME 5

NUMBER 1

May 2014

Table of Contents Facilitation across Cultures in the Online Classroom ........................................................................................................ 1 Karen L. Milheim Too Sweet to be True ............................................................................................................................................................ 12 Dr Claas Wegner and Stephanie Ohlberger Computer-aided Assessment Standardisation for Writing and Oral Presentation Assessments: Design, Development and Implementation..................................................................................................................................... 26 Dr Voyce Li Teacher Development: De facto Teacher Leaders for English Language Learners ..................................................... 35 Holly Hansen-Thomas Karen Dunlap, Pat J. Casey and Teresa Starrett Who am I? Where am I Going? And which Path should I Choose? Developing the Personal and Professional Identity of Student-Teachers ............................................................................................................................................... 71 Batia Riechman The Effect of PICTK and TPACK Knowledge on ICT Instructors’ Sense ofEmpowerment ...................................... 48 Noga Magen-Nagar and Orit Avidov-Ungar Study of Metadiscourse in ESP Articles: A Comparison of English Articles written by Iranian and English Native Speakers ................................................................................................................................................................................ 63 Atena Attarn Men who Teach and Leave: An Investigation into Factors that Push Men Out of the Classroom............................. 72 Dr Stephen Joseph and Dr W. Marc Jackman

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 5, No.1, pp. 1-11, May 2014

Facilitation across Cultures in the Online Classroom Karen L. Milheim Associate Director, Academic Skills Center Contributing Faculty, Riley College of Education and Leadership Walden University Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Abstract. The author explores how cultural differences manifest themselves in online course settings, including how instructors identify these differences and perceive their roles in the classroom with respect to facilitating across multiple cultures. The author also analyzes how instructors perceive the importance of culture in the classroom and how these perceptions affect facilitation strategies. Findings point to the significance of seeking out cultural differences early in a course and how instructor-student interactions allow for a deeper understanding of misunderstood issues or course content. The author describes key strategies that are essential to identifying and facilitating cultural awareness in the online classroom, as well as creating a safe space for discussion.

Keywords: online learning; cultural difference; online course facilitation; student-teacher interaction

1. Introduction One of the benefits of online learning is the opportunity it gives students to participate in a course or program of study regardless of where they reside. A broad search of online course and program offerings reveals that colleges and universities, both on-ground and online, are continuing to expand their recruitment efforts to reach international students beyond the United States (U.S.). The opportunity to earn a degree from a U.S.- based institution via distance is an appealing alternative for international students; the cost-benefit of not having to travel to an on-ground campus abroad is a good motivator for choosing online programs.

The continued influx of international students poses unique opportunities as well as challenges in online learning environments. Research continues to explore factors that can positively or negatively affect a student's experience including: language barriers and proficiency (Zhang & Kenny, 2010), course design and instruction (Minjuan et al., 2010; Zhang & Kenny, 2010), and cultural differences (Liu et al., 2010; Tu, 2001). Along these lines, one important area of study focuses on the student experience in online learning and how it relates to Š 2014 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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communication that occurs in the classroom, both collaboratively among students and individually between a student and the instructor (Anderson, 2008; Tu, 2001; Vatrapu & Suthers, 2007). For students from other cultures, in particular, communication plays a critical role in the overall learning experience.

Online course instructors must adapt course facilitation methods in light of cultural differences. Liu et al. (2010), for example, suggest that instructors "incorporate features that accommodate different cultural pedagogy" and "appreciate cultural differences" (p. 182). While this particular suggestion is certainly noteworthy and valid, more specific direction is warranted with respect to what types of changes should be made when working with international students as well as the specific facilitation and communication processes used across multiple cultures.

2. The Complexities of Online Instruction In an online course setting, the instructor plays a critical role in many aspects of a course, with the success of a course relying greatly on the quality of the instructor. In a survey of over 500 instructors, instructional designers, and college administrators, over 37 percent of participants identified teaching or technical competency as the most significant factor that affects the success of an online course (Kim & Bonk, 2006). An online instructor must be proficient in an extensive range of competencies in order to be effective in the classroom, including a high level of professionalism, the ability to socially facilitate, as well as an overall degree of technical competency (Bawane & Spector, 2009).

A critical aspect of an instructor's role in an online course is building a learning community among students. Anderson (2008) notes "experienced online learning teachers must make time at the commencement of the learning interactions to provide incentive and opportunity for students to share their understandings, their culture, and the unique aspects of themselves" (p. 48).

Building a learning community in an online course poses unique challenges that are not present in a traditional setting (Vesley et al., 2007). It is important for instructors to continually find ways to build a community with their students.

In an online course, instructors also must also engage students in other ways, such as discussion forums, rather than relying on face-to-face communication.

The balance of how to facilitate discussion boards, as well as when and how to lead discussions, can be a complex task (Mazzolini & Madison, 2007). In addition, as Vonderwell et al. (2007) note, assessment in online learning must "take into account assessment as a process as well as assessment as an outcome" (p. 323). They go on to say that it is important for assessment to be embedded in the course, via discussion boards, peer review, and other self-regulating activities. The complexities of the role of an online instructor are compounded by the need to recognize student differences within the classroom. Research indicates that the growing numbers of students from various cultures within the online classroom warrants further exploration of strategies that are effective when working with a global population (Yang et al., 2010).

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3. Multiculturalism and Online Learning An instructor's understanding a student's cultural background is important to online learning (Cercone, 2008; Lim, 2004; Rogers et al., 2007). In order to better define strategies for working with a multicultural student group, it is useful to investigate culture and how it manifests itself in an online course setting. To begin, it is helpful to explore the psychological underpinnings of how students learn in light of their cultural norms. Notable works related to learning and culture stem from the field of psychology and organizational learning (Hofstede, 1983; Hofstede, 1984) and recognize two types of culture -- individualistic and collectivistic.

Individualist culture [...] awards social status to personal accomplishments such as important discoveries, innovations, great artistic or humanitarian achievements and all actions that make an individual stand out. Collectivism, in contrast, emphasizes individuals in a larger group. It encourages conformity and discourages individuals from dissenting and standing out. (Gorodnichenko & Roland, 2011, p. 2) Western culture is typically identified as individualistic in nature, although there are subgroups within the U.S. that could be viewed as collectivist (Neuliep, 2012). Other individualistic countries include Germany, India, Lebanon, and New Zealand (Fischer et al., 2009). Asian cultures, including China and Korea are typically more collectivist in nature. These cultural dimensions play an important role in understanding students in higher education course settings and greatly affect how an individual learns (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). Using individualism and collectivism as a framework is important for understanding culture in online learning.

Tapaneset al. (2009) found that a student's culture heavily influenced their perceptions of an online course, with collectivist learners feeling as though the instructor did not consider culture when facilitating. When research frames a particular culture as either individual or collective, it gives a clearer indication of how a student will engage and communicate in the classroom. For example, Ku & Lohr (2007) note that Asian cultures have a much different learning style than their Western counterparts, with students from Asian cultures (more collectivistic in nature) taking the time to adjust to the course format, as well as the cultural (more individualistic) dimensions of a U.S.-based online course.

In a cross-comparison of student behaviour in online collaboration, Kim and Bonk (2002) found that Korean students were more socially driven, Finnish students more group focused, and U.S. students more action-oriented. In a similar manner, culture affects motivation in learning as well. Research shows, for example, that in an online course setting, there was a significant difference among student motivation when comparing Korean students and U.S. students, with Korean students tending to have less motivation and U.S. students enjoying

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the self-satisfaction of finishing assignments and reaching goals within the course (Lim, 2004).

In light of the complexity of the intersection of student cultures in online learning, all of the various aspects of the online classroom, including course facilitation, design, and delivery, have been focal points of recent research.

Researchers continue to examine new ways to facilitate discussion boards (Rovai, 2007), use technology to engage students (Hannon & D'Netto, 2007; Milheim, 2011), encourage collaboration (Milheim, 2011; Paloff & Pratt, 2010), and utilize adult learning theory to more effectively approach the course design process, overall (Cercone, 2008; Milheim, 2012) in light of individual student cultures.

4. Purpose of the Study Specific, tangible suggestions for online course instructors are needed with respect to facilitating with and among students from various cultural backgrounds in the online classroom. This study seeks to answer questions related to how faculty can most effectively work with students from various cultures in an online learning environment. Specifically, the questions guiding this research study are:  How can faculty identify potential cultural differences in an online course setting?  How do faculty perceive their roles in the online classroom with respect to attending to cultural difference among students?  What strategies do faculty use to effectively foster communication with and among students of various cultural backgrounds?  What is the perceived value of cultural difference in an online course, and how do these differences affect interpersonal dynamics?

By addressing these questions, this study sought to find applicable strategies that allow instructors of online courses to effectively facilitate across the various cultural differences present within their respective classrooms. Forty-one instructors of online courses completed a qualitative survey related to their teaching practice, responding to questions relevant to communication, culture, and course facilitation strategies in an online course setting. After an analysis of the survey responses, multiple themes emerged that shed light onto best practices and strategies for working with students from various cultural groups.

5. Research Procedures 5.1 Participant selection Upon receiving appropriate approvals from the sponsoring organization's Institutional Review Board (IRB), the study was initiated. Data collection in the form of a short-answer, written, web-based survey occurred from December 2012 through February 2013. A total number of 41 individuals (n=41) participated in the study. The target participants were faculty or instructors who had taught at least one, complete online course by the time the survey was taken. Participants self-selected to take a survey of seven open-ended questions via an online survey website. © 2014 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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Participants were recruited in three different ways: 1) self-selection via the sponsoring University participant pool; 2) direct e-mails from the primary researcher to friends and colleagues outside the sponsoring University who might have been interested and qualified to take the survey; and 3) a repeated, monthly posting in the sponsoring institution's newsletter with a direct link to the survey. Participants who were aware of the study were also invited to forward the invitation to participate to their colleagues, thus creating snowball sampling.

5.2 Data collection At the beginning of the survey, participants were given a brief introduction to the study. The survey questions focused on their role as an instructor in an online setting with respect to facilitating communication across cultures. Once data were collected, a qualitative survey analysis was conducted to determine the common themes among responses. To do this, a color-coding approach to identify key words, terms, or phrases was used. Another review of the survey responses that yielded noteworthy quotes or responses that were not aligned (or dramatically different from) the common themes was also carried out. All of the highlighted data were inserted into an electronic database for manual crosscomparison and further review and analysis.

6. Findings and Discussion 6.1 Identifying cultural difference Among nearly all of the participants there was a general acknowledgement that culture plays a critical role in the classroom. One individual stated that cultural difference "changes the landscape of our classes when we share." Along these lines, many agreed that it is difficult to identify cultural difference in an online setting since the online environment gives a sense of anonymity and masking of culture. This "masking" can have a significant impact on the communication that occurs in the classroom. As another participant noted "there is [...] racial cloaking that is very liberating for my faculty and students. The inability to stereotype people quickly makes online classrooms full of opportunity to make cultural assumptions that lead to conflict."

The anonymity offered in an online setting often makes recognizing cultural difference a bit of a guessing game. Faculty must rely on cues and written evidence to identify a student's cultural background. In fact, of the 41 participants, over half indicated that they seek written clues into a student's cultural background during the early weeks of a course. These clues are discovered through terminology, phrases, vocabulary and expressions.

In some cases, students self-identify that they are of a particular culture, or instructors embed activities into a course that allow students to provide examples of their culture. This makes the guessing game a bit easier, rather than relying on assumptions or clues. As an instructor of a nutrition course noted: "...students provide examples of how their family cultures and backgrounds have shaped their food habits and traditions. For example, Muslim students celebrate Ramadan once a year, and Jewish students celebrate Hanukah". Š 2014 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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Another participant stated: "I have had students in classes from the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, and Asia. Most of the time discussion of culture shows up in examples students use to make a point about a concept we are studying in class."

Despite written and recognizable cues, it is evident that instructors often correlate culture with certain characteristics. Throughout the survey responses, a common theme was the evidence that previous teaching experiences affected future assumptions related to culture, and, in some cases, correlate race with culture as well, with one participant stating that "[...] students of color (or ones I have reason to think are students of color) are very reticent about discussing issues regarding race in the classroom". Another stated"that most students in my classes who are international, or not from a more mainstream U.S. culture, tend to make efforts to blend and not set themselves apart from mainstream classroom culture".

In addition to identifying individual student cultures, participants noted the importance of being aware of differences among these cultures, and what that means to the learning community. Often, cultural differences can impact how students interact in a course. While most agree these differences contribute positively to the learning community, they can also impact interactions by creating assumptions. While most participants indicate that identifying culture is important, there were a few who felt it has no impact on the classroom, or do not make great efforts to recognize differences. One individual wrote: "I do my best to ignore the cultural differences among my students. I treat all students alike". Another stated: "Cultural differences do not influence the online classroom provided the learning objectives are met".

Overall, the survey of online instructors shows that identifying the cultural backgrounds of students is important in the classroom. Whether there are direct clues and indicators of culture, or a perceived assumption, instructors, overall, strive to acknowledge these differences when entering the classroom.

6.2 Perception of role Survey responses heavily indicate that instructors play a critical role in fostering communication across cultures in the classroom, particularly on discussion forums. Most of their roles in communication with and among students relate to monitoring the discussion boards, while promoting a safe learning environment.

Several noted the importance of "encouraging interaction among all student groups" and "creating a 'safe space' for students" in light of cultural difference.

Notably, fifteen of the 41 participants used the word "facilitate" or "facilitator" in their response to how they view their role in the classroom. This facilitation is done via tactics such as close management of discussion boards, correcting and assisting with grammar, being actively responsive, and promoting a respectful environment. The term "facilitator" is typically used in a positive manner; yet, two participants described more of a mediation approach by being a "peace keeper", "limiting inflammatory discussion posts", and "being an intermediary".

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In addition to monitoring discussions and encouraging interactions, a common theme among responses is the importance of their overall purpose to the classroom. While activities such as monitoring discussion boards and diffusing potential communication issues are important, instructors strive to encourage learning. To do this, many note the importance of urging students to express themselves and expand on their written ideas, while maintaining a mutual respect for others. One wrote: "It's my job to pique students' interests and challenge their thinking so they stretch a bit more and to provide them the materials they need to do this." Another noted: "[...] beyond encouraging communication, I find that you need to give students ideas or examples of how to keep the conversations going. [...] the natural tendency is for students to respond positively to one another but not to encourage further dialogue".

It is apparent that online course instructors view their roles overall as important to fostering communication among and with students in their courses with cultural differences affecting the way communication occurs in the classroom.

Online instructors must navigate cultural differences among students, and survey responses indicate that this can affect the way communication occurs during a course. A notable theme among responses was the need for sensitivity to other cultures, and the importance of proactive strategies for fostering communication. This includes adjusting office hours (to accommodate those who are not in the U.S.), limiting jargon or phrases that will most likely not be understood by ESL students, and setting standards for interaction. Proactively changing discussion posts or clarifying lessons has also assisted instructors as well. One notes: "In some situations, I have to reword a discussion posting or response so that is can be appropriately 'understood'". In some cases, others follow-up with phone calls to students if there is a clear miscommunication that needs to be clarified.

Sometimes conflict arises in the classroom as a result of cultural differences.

When this occurs, instructors must strategize on how to effectively handle the conflict. Two-thirds of participants cited examples of a time where culture caused conflict in the classroom, mostly on the discussion boards. It is interesting to note that cultural conflict did not necessarily surface as a result of one common theme (i.e. religion, language barrier, etc.), but there was stereotyping (of race or gender) where the instructor had to step in and diffuse the situation. One instructor wrote: When I taught many sections of the [Ethics] course, the assumptions of some triggered polar opposite reactions, from different values. I tried to first understand and respect each perspective where the point of view did not infringe on respecting others. When having to intervene with particularly dicey interchanges, I would sometimes ask to take them offline with me.

Religious difference may also cause potential misunderstanding, as one participant noted:

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conflict

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Assumptions about each other point to divergence in cultural norms and values. We have very religious students and very conservative students who are interacting with extremely liberal, sometimes well-intentioned but slightly bigoted individuals who have been very sheltered and who are not exposed to people who do not look like or think like them. Those intersections are ripe for conflict if not monitored and facilitated.

Despite the potential for conflict, instructors generally agree that cultural differences add value to the classroom.

6.3 Value of culture Thirty-nine participants indicated ways that culture is valuable in the classroom.

The most common reasons noted for its importance relate to the depth and richness of learning that occurs as a result with these shared experiences, mainly resulting on the discussion boards. As one participant noted: "different perspectives and backgrounds of students can make for interesting and lively discussions". Within the discussions, it is apparent that students (from an instructor's perspective) enjoy sharing their experiences and information about their culture, particularly as it relates to the course topic. One healthcare instructor wrote: "Expression by students of cultural expectations regarding societal and individual care issues often adds volumes to the discussion".

Another education instructor notes: "In my classes on learning theory the examples they share really add to it. For example those who have experienced colonial education in West Africa have poignant examples."

Culture also has positive influence on how students conduct themselves in a course. Several participants note how high standards of written communication encourage those with poor English skills to write better, and "be clear in their language use". Recognition of culture also promotes curiosity and "different ways of thinking and looking at the world". This is particularly apparent in fields such as family studies, where "the range of family structures and the wealth of experiences that students bring with them [...] becomes such a powerful illustration of all the ways that we experience family in our communities".

7.0 Conclusion and Recommendations There is no doubt that culture is an important aspect of the online learning community. How instructors recognize and conduct a course in light of cultural differences has shown to be a critical part of their roles. With the exception of two participants, all of the instructors who participated in this survey value their role, and proactively engage in various strategies to support cultural difference in the classroom. Survey results indicate there are several strategies, which can be helpful to instructors in their online courses. First and foremost is the importance of seeking out ways to determine a student's cultural background at the onset of a course. Sometimes an introductory posting provides good clues.

However, instructors should be proactive, and ask students to frame responses with specific examples from their own cultures. It is important to do this in light

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of an open, safe environment while keeping a close watch on potentially disruptive or narrow-minded discussion responses.

Along these lines, it is necessary to keep a "safe space" for students where they feel comfortable communicating. This may include reaching out to students who are not as expressive and probing into the reasons for their lack of participation.

It is also important for instructors to note general cultural differences (i.e. individualistic versus collectivistic cultures) that may provide some clues into how a student is conducting himself or herself in the classroom. Knowing these potential cultural influences can assist with managing the classroom more effectively.

Online course instructors should also proactively identify potential course design elements that may be confusing to some students. It is important to eliminate confusing language, clarify instructions, and review grading requirements and assignments to avoid confusion. Students from some cultures may not feel comfortable reaching out to the instructor or may be confused because they are an ESL student. Proactively attending to some of these potential issues will allow students to feel more comfortable and confident in the classroom.

Finally, it is important for instructors to realize the value of culture in a course.

While participants of this survey, for the most part, felt culture had a positive place in the classroom, it was evident by the survey responses that there were varying levels of its perceived importance. Those working in healthcare and education seemed to find more ways to incorporate cultural difference into examples and discussion as compared to other participants. Those who are not currently incorporating these examples into their instruction should be encouraged to do so.

Overall, this study contributes to understanding how faculty perceive their roles with respect to facilitating student discussion across multiple cultures in an online course. The study identified various strategies used by instructors in light of a diverse, multicultural classroom environment. It also broadens the understanding of the role of culture in online learning and sheds light on how instructors can deal with similar issues within the classroom. Moving forward, future research should continue to explore if and how these strategies directly affect student learning. While instructors agree on many of the tools and methods to manage their classrooms, additional research should focus on the specific utilization of these strategies and their direct impact on the learning process in an online classroom.

References Anderson, T. (2008). Teaching in an online learning context, in T. Anderson (Ed.), Theory and Practice of Online Learning (2nd ed.), Athabasca University Press, Alberta, Canada, pp. 45-74.

Cercone, K. (2008). Characteristics of adult learners with implications for online learning design, AACE Journal, 16(2), 137-159.

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Fischer, R., & Mansell, A. (2009). Commitment across cultures: A meta-analytical approach, Journal of International Business Studies, 40, 1339-1358.

Gorodnichenko, Y., & Roland, G. (2011).Understanding the individualism-collectivism cleavage and its effects: Lessons from cultural psychology, Proceedings of XVIth Congress of the International Economic Association, Beijing, China.

Hannon, J., & D'Netto, B. (2007). Cultural diversity online: student engagement with learning technologies, International Journal of Educational Management, 21(5), 418432.

Hofstede, G. (1983). The cultural relativity of organizational practices and theories, Journal of International Business Studies, 14(2), 75-89.

Hofstede, G. (1984). Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.

Hofstede, G., & Hofstede, G. J. (2005).Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind, New York: McGraw Hill.

Kim, K. J., & Bonk, C. J. (2002). Cross cultural comparisons of online collaboration, Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 8(1), 0.

Kim, K..& Bonk, C. J. (2006). The future of online teaching and learning in higher education: The survey says, Educause Quarterly, 29(4), 22.

Ku, H. Y., & Lohr, L. L. (2003).A case study of Chinese student’s attitudes toward their first online learning experience, Educational Technology Research and Development, 51(3), 95-102.

Lim, D. H. (2004). Cross cultural differences in online learning motivation, Educational Media International, 41(2), 163-175.

Liu, X., Liu, S., Lee, S., & Magjuka, R.J. (2010). Cultural difference in online learning: International student perceptions, Educational Technology and Society, 13(3), 177188.

Mazzolini, M., & Maddison, S. (2007). When to jump in: The role of the instructor in online discussion forums, Computers & Education, 49(2), 193-213.

Milheim, K. L. (2011). The Role of adult education philosophy in facilitating the online classroom, Adult Learning, 22(2), 24-31.

Milheim, K. (2012). Toward a better experience: Examining student needs in the online classroom through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Model, MERLOT JOURNAL of Online Learning and Teaching, 8(2).

Minjuan, W., Jimenez, M., Rauen, A., & Dysinger, R. (2010). Understanding the support needs of international students in online learning, Open Education Research, 2(010).

Neuliep, J. W. (2012). Intercultural communication: A contextual approach (5th edition), Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005).Collaborating online: Learning together in community, San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.

Rogers, P.C., Graham, C.R., & Mayes, C.T. (2007). Cultural competence and instructional design: Exploration research into the delivery of instruction cross-culturally, Educational Technology Research Development, 55, 197-217.

Rovai, A. P. (2007). Facilitating online discussions effectively, The Internet and Higher Education, 10(1), 77-88.

Tapanes, M. A., Smith, G. G., & White, J. A. (2009). Cultural diversity in online learning: A study of the perceived effects of dissonance in levels of individualism/collectivism and tolerance of ambiguity, The Internet and Higher Education,12(1), 26-34.

Tu, C.H. (2001). How Chinese perceive social presence: An examination of interaction in online learning environment, Educational Media International, 3(1), 45-60.

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Vatrapu, R., & Suthers, D. (2007)."Culture and computers: a review of the concept of culture and implications for intercultural collaborative online learning", Intercultural Collaboration, pp. 260-275.

Vesely, P., Bloom, L., & Sherlock, J. (2007). Key elements of building online community: Comparing faculty and student perceptions, MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 3(3), 234-246.

Vonderwell, S., Liang, X., & Alderman, K. (2007).Asynchronous discussions and assessment in online learning, Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 39(3), 309.

Yang, D., Olesova, L., & Richardson, J. C. (2010).Impact of cultural differences on students' participation, communication, and learning in an online environment, Journal of Educational Computing Research, 43(2), 165-182.

Zhang, Z., & Kenny, R. (2010). Learning in an online distance education course: Experiences of three international students, The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 11(1), 17-36.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 5, No.1, pp. 12-25, May 2014

Too Sweet to be True Dr Claas Wegner and Stephanie Ohlberger Department for Didactics of Biology, Bielefeld University Bielefeld, Germany

Abstract. Dealing with biological topics in school can be challenging for both teachers and students despite a direct connection to their daily lives and existing pre-knowledge. This applies to carbohydrates, which can be treated in biology with regard to health education, making it possible to combine the conveyance of knowledge with the practical example of sugars and sweeteners. Carbohydrates are required for energy production by both animals and plants. Their general molecular construction, however, is similar. Sugars are also carbohydrates with the most important simple ones being Glucose and Fructose (monosaccharides). Due to their natural sweetness there are used in foods, but since obesity and diabetes have increased dramatically in the western countries, the discovery of synthetic sweeteners was a great success. When developing synthetic sweeteners, factors such as toxicity, stability and cost aside from taste have to be considered. This article aims at giving necessary, yet simple background knowledge needed for holding a thorough lesson or even teaching unit on the topic of carbohydrates as exemplified by sugars. It is rounded off by suggestions how to conduct the teaching with concrete experiments, for each of which a worksheet is provided at the end.

Keywords: teaching unit; experiments; synthetic sweeteners; chemistry; biology

1.

Background

This section will focus on the basics of carbohydrates and sugars before presenting specific examples of sweeteners that are commonly found in everyoneâ€&#x;s life.

1.1 Carbohydrates Carbohydrates play an important role in our lives at all levels (Gibbs, 1970, p.

164). Both plants and invertebrates rely on them for structural materials as plants reserve carbohydrate as starch and higher animals have something similar, namely glycogen. It supplies energy for muscular activity and is stored in the liver. Carbohydrates have twice as many hydrogen as oxygen atoms in their molecules, which is depicted in the general formula Cx (H2O)y,. The molecules also have the property to form rings which can be extended to build

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other sugars. Most importantly, we have pentoses with five carbon atoms and hexoses with six carbon atoms. (Gibbs, 1970, p. 164).

Monosaccharides are carbohydrates that cannot be broken down in simpler sugars. Examples for monosaccharides would be ribose or xylose for the group of pentoses and glucose, mannose and galactose for the hexoses. Disaccharides, accordingly, give two molecules of monosaccharides when hydrolysed; examples are sucrose, maltose and lactose. Raffinose is a trisaccharid, thus consisting of three monosaccharides. Every carbohydrate of more than three molecules of monosaccharides is called a polysaccharide, such as cellulose for instance. (Gibbs, 1970, p. 164).

Fructose is the sweetest of the hexoses and found along glucose in honey. The hydrolysis of cane sugar yields glucose and fructose (Gibbs, 1970, p. 165), whereas glucose is only manufactured by hydrolysis of starch (ibid., p. 166).

Sucrose, the most common disaccharide (Bruice, 2010, p. 963), is ordinary sugar (also called table sugar) and exists solely in one form as opposed to glucose, for example, which can be present as either α- or β- modifications (Gibbs, 1970, p.

168). Since sucrose crystallizes out of solution extremely well, it was discovered quite early in A.D. 640 (ibid., p. 169). This kind of sugar is obtained from sugar beets and sugar cane, with the annual worldwide production amounting to 90 million tons (Bruice, 2010, p. 963).

The glucose stores in plants and animals, starch and glycogen respectively, are “polycondensation products of α-glucose with 1,4-linkages” (Gibbs, 1970, p.

169); the amylose-part of starch (about 20%) consists of linear molecules while the amylopectin-fraction (about 80%) of starch is made up of branched molecules, just like glycogen (ibid.). Starch is a major component of flour, potatoes, rice, beans, corn and peas (Bruice, 2010, p. 964). The mixture of amylose and amylopectin makes it a product of two different polysaccharides (ibid.). As living cells oxidize glucose “in the first of a series of processes that provide them with energy” (Bruice, 2010, p. 965), glycogen is the result of converting excess glucose in that kind of polymer in order to store it. Plants basically do the same, but convert the excess glucose to starch (ibid.).

1.2 Taste The human taste sensory system makes for a great deal of quality in our lives (Saulo, 2005, p. 1). Already infants favour sweetness when they get to choose from all the basic tastes and this preference remains throughout the whole life, which is why “sweet foods are by far the most popular treats” (ibid.).

“For a molecule to taste sweet, it must bind to a receptor on a taste bud cell of the tongue” (Bruice, 2010, p. 970). This then causes nerve impulses and the perception of sweetness (ibid.). Every synthetic sweetener has an individual structure, which shows that the “sensation of sweetness is not induced by a single molecular shape” (Bruice, 2010, p. 972). Additionally, the sensation is a result of a complex cascade whose individual events have not been entirely understood yet (Portmann & Kilcast, 1996, p. 291).

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The sensation of taste relies on chemoreceptors, which bring about neural signals once they bind to particular chemicals in the environment (Sherwood, 2005, p. 175). Next to taste (gustation), also smell (olfaction) influences the flow of digestive juices and a person‟s appetite greatly (ibid.). Actually, these two “chemical senses provide a „quality control‟ checkpoint for substances available for ingestion” (ibid.).

Coming to the mechanism of tasting, the chemoreceptors are packages in taste buds (see Figure 1), of which there are 10,000 in the oral cavity and the throat in total; most of them, however, are placed on the upper surface of the tongue (Sherwood, 2005, p. 175). A taste bud is made up of about 50 taste receptor cells, which are accompanied by supporting cells (ibid.). Taste receptor cells “are modified epithelial cells with many surface folds (microvilli)” (ibid., p. 177), so that there is an increased surface area available to oral contents (Sherwood, 2005, p. 177). The plasma membrane of the microvilli contains receptor binding sites for certain chemical molecules, which, after all, only react to chemicals in solution, so either liquids or solids dissolved in saliva (ibid.). In order to allow for contact between fluids and the receptor cells, every taste bud has a small opening, called taste pore (ibid.). Due to permanent contact to the environment, taste receptors only live for about 10 days (ibid.).

Figure 1: Sketch of a taste bud (based on Sherwood, 2005, p. 171).

The taste sensation is brought about by a taste-provoking chemical, the tastant, which produces a receptor potential as soon as it is bound (Sherwood, 2005, p.

177). This, in turn, initiates action potentials in afferent nerve fibres that lead to the brain stem and the thalamus, before it reaches the cortical gustatory area in the parietal lobe (ibid.). Taste signals are also sent to the hypothalamus and the limbic system in order to evoke affective dimensions such as „pleasant‟ or „unpleasant‟ taste and to process behavioural associations (ibid.). Even though taste buds are able to discriminate among thousands of different taste sensations, they are actually all just combinations of the four primary tastes © 2014 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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salty, sour, sweet and bitter (Sherwood, 2005, p. 177). A salty taste is provoked by chemical salts like NaCl (ibid.). Sour, on the other hand, is caused by acids, such as citric acid (ibid.). Sweetness is induced by the special configuration of glucose (Sherwood, 2005, p. 177). Besides glucose, other organic molecules with a similar structure (e.g. sweeteners) can interact with those particular receptor binding sites (ibid.). A bitter taste is made for by numerous chemical groups, for example, alkaloids or poisonous substances, which functions as a protection mechanism (ibid.). The ability to distinguish between different tastes is based on the receptor cells‟ response of varying degrees to all four primary tastes (ibid.).

Recently, a fifth modality of taste has come to be known as “umami”, which resembles a “meaty, mouth-filling taste of L-amino acids such as glutamate” (Pocock et al., 2013, p. 226). As they are especially responsive to a particular taste, subtle differences in stimulation patterns of the taste buds result in a distinct taste (Sherwood, 2005, p. 177).

1.3 Sweeteners Sugars differ in their degree of sweetness, as glucose is set to be 1.00; compared to that, sucrose has a sweetness degree of 1.45 and fructose the highest one with 1.65 (Bruice, 2010, p. 970). When it comes to developing synthetic sweeteners, there are also factors such as toxicity, stability and cost aside from taste (ibid., p.

971). In order to be acknowledged as an alternative sweetener, the substance has to share the taste quality of sucrose. “This implies […] a clean sweet taste, with a quick onset and a minimum persistence” (Portmann & Kilcast, 1996, p. 291).

Among sweeteners, it is important to differentiate between nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners, with the former ones providing energy and the latter ones only providing little to no energy (Shwide-Slavin et al., 2012, p. 104). A feature of non-nutritive sweeteners is their high degree of sweetness, which can be a several hundred to several thousand times as much as sucrose (ibid.). Even though they are incredibly sweet, they do not really provide any calories as they are used in such small doses (ibid.).

Saccharin was the first sweetener to be discovered and is 300 times sweeter than glucose. It carries only little caloric value, which is why it has come to be recognized as a substitute for sucrose. Due to its characteristics, it might help prevent western-world problems that are caused by the overconsumption of sugar like obesity, heart diseases and dental decay. It has also proven useful to people with diabetes (Bruice, 2010, p. 971). Being the only non-caloric sweetener to be prepared from sucrose, saccharin is also special since it was the first sweetener to be found a century ago (Saulo, 2005, p. 5). Constantin Fahlberg produced the sweetener in 1885, which made the “sweet taste affordable to poor people” (Ahmed et al., 2010, p. 377). As a result of the commercial success of synthetic sweeteners, sugar and sweetener industries try to prevail (ibid.).

Saccharin was a great advantage during the two world wars, when sugar supply in Europe was short (Saulo, 2005, p. 5). Due to recent development and progress in food industry, blends of saccharin with other sweeteners are commonly found to compensate for weaknesses of individual sweeteners (Mukherjee & Sarkar, 2011, p. 407).

© 2014 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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Polysols are also known as “sugar alcohols” and have a reduced amount of caloric value (Saulo, 2005, p. 1). In order to achieve the appropriate degree of sweetness, it is sometimes combined with other sweeteners and is commonly found in sugar free cookies and candies, baking goods, toothpastes and pharmaceuticals (ibid.). Even though they are available from fruits and beverages, they are made commercially “from other carbohydrates, such as starch, sucrose, and glucose” (ibid., p. 2). Due to their incomplete absorption by the small intestine into the bloodstream, polysols have only minor effects on blood glucose levels as compared to sucrose or glucose (ibid.). Metabolisation to energy happens with little or no production of insulin (ibid.).

Another sweetener is Tagatose, a white, crystalline powder prepared from lactose, which is “especially suitable as a flavour enhancer at low doses” (Saulo, 2005, p. 2). Another advantage of this sweetener is its reduced taste of bitterness, whereas sweetness spreads rapidly (ibid.). Tagatose is mostly used in chewing gums and mints, and also provides creaminess in dairy products (ibid.).

Trehalose, which can normally be found in honey, mushrooms, and shrimps, and is even produced by the body, is half as sweet as sucrose (Saulo, 2005, p. 3).

It “provides sustained energy, and elicits a very low insulin response” (ibid.).

The disaccharide consisting of two glucose molecules is, for example, used in fruit juices, nutrition bars and dehydrated fruits and vegetables (Saulo, 2005, p.

3). A very intense sweetener with 200 times the degree of sucrose is acesulfame potassium, also referred to as “Ace-K” (Saulo, 2005, p. 3). It provides no lingering aftertaste and is used in baking and dairy products, and also in alcoholic beverages (ibid.).

About the same level of sweetness is contained in Aspartame, a nutritive sweetener (ibid., p. 4). Broad usage implies enhancing fruit and citrus flavours (ibid.). It probably was the most prominent sweetener for the past two decades and facilitated the enormous growth of the low- and reduced-calorie market (ibid.). Proven to be helpful for diabetic patients, it is also valuable with regard to weight control (ibid.).

Neotame has the property of being nearly 8,000 times as sweet as sucrose and “is used in many cooking and baking applications” (Saulo, 2005, p. 4). Sucralose maintains exact sugar-like taste, despite being 600 times as sweet as table sugar (Saulo, 2005, p. 5). Due to its favourable features being preserved even after long storage and heating, it acts more and more as a replacement for sugar in several products (ibid.). True for any low-calorie sweetener presented so far is that they pass “quickly through the body relatively unchanged and [are] not converted to energy” (Saulo, 2005, p. 5). They are neither recognized as a sugar or a carbohydrate by the body (ibid.).

2.

Teaching Unit

The suggested teaching activities should be seen as a tool box from which you might pick the appropriate components suitable for your class and background, but not necessarily as a complete and all-embracing teaching unit ready for © 2014 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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application. In order to introduce the topic “sugars and sweeteners”, a “sugar exhibition” can be done to show the huge quantity of products that are used to sweeten foods. Depending on the age of the class, it has to be focused on the nutritional value of different carbohydrates, always with the aim of staying sensitive about this topic since you might have obese or even anorexic students to teach.

If you want to go further into human physiology, it would be advisable to draw the connection of sugar consumption and the increase or decrease of the blood sugar level. Diabetes is a good, reality-related topic for that purpose. The students should be willing to engage in further research as they might be directly or indirectly affected.

Especially with younger students it is your duty to inform them about the relation of sugar consumption and state of health, as health education constitutes a big part of the biology lessons particularly in primary schools. This might include practicing reading ingredient lists on the product packaging and trying to determine which and how much sugar the food actually contains.

In case this topic is to be taught in year eight to ten, the students could first be occupied with extracting general information from the background information text of this article. Of course, it has to be modified before giving it to the students. Instead of taking notes, however, they should be able to present the essential facts in a diagram, which highlights common properties and the hierarchy or order plus relationships between carbohydrates in general, and then doing the same for sugars and sweeteners.

Since there are many opportunities how to put together this teaching unit, it might also provide a good basis for a project day centred around the topic of nutrition, diet and health. This will be especially suitable if otherwise not enough lessons for conducting at least some of the fascinating experiments and at the same time giving sufficient background information can be provided. The suggestions presented in this article show an interest in easy experiments for students where they get more insight into chemical working and the relationship between everyday life and chemistry as such. As the experiments are not interconnected, you can use the method of market place learning, provided there is adequate support by teachers or other instructed people. In the following, a short overview of the supplied worksheets (see Appendix) is given; they also contain explanations and solutions to some steps (printed in blue italics), which should be of help for the teacher, but of course needs restructuring of the worksheet as such once it should be given to the students.

2.1 Worksheet 1 This first experiment deals with the detection of glucose and fructose with the help of two different reagents. It is important that the students know how to work with chemical substances and instruments already; also, safety goggles have to be used. As the background of the experiment is rather advanced, it is more suitable for secondary school students who have had some chemistry lessons before and are able to follow the content. Since the students have to © 2014 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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work precisely and notice a colour change, make sure that all of them know what to expect and how to achieve it; otherwise, the experiment would have to be repeated all over again. As a slight extension you can have the students bring actual food and let them detect the sugar in them in a way that relates to the usage of Fehlingâ€&#x;s solution as done before (second experiment on worksheet 1).

This will be especially interesting for them as it suggests a practical application of a chemical technique.

2.2 Worksheet 2 In order to show the students how exactly sugar is obtained, this experiments focuses on the extraction of sugar from sugar beets. Probably the students did not even make the connection between those two products, which would result in all the more a great introduction as you can use the studentâ€&#x;s fascination and surprise. Once you prepared all the materials necessary, the experiment will take approximately 30 minutes. However, you have to consider another one to two days until you can really see sugar crystals. Still, it is a nice introductory experiment, particularly since there are no dangerous reagents or the like in use, the setup rather reminds you of working in a kitchen. This will be very helpful to get the students accustomed to working scientifically, which should at all times be related to writing or filling in a test protocol.

2.3 Worksheet 3 The distinction of sugars and artificial sweeteners is of concern in this experiment. It joins together all the background knowledge given earlier in this article. As suggested above, detailed study of that topic is not very fruitful until approximately class ten. But once features of carbohydrates and sweeteners plus their similarities and differences are clear and glucose or fructose have already been detected in foods, this experiment will still take them a step further as the chemical differences are also revealed in reality. But exactly this is why the necessary background has to be established first; otherwise the conduction and explanation of the experiment will be far too difficult. Due to the materials used, the wearing of safety goggles is prescribed.

2.4 Worksheet 4 This experiment is really fun and probably most suitable for primary school children up to class six. It does not really take much time, but depends of course on the students and how they work. Talking about different taste zones of the tongue is quite interesting since you taste different aromas only on certain areas of the tongue, but actually a very broad taste sensation is achieved. In order to make the students name and find different taste areas on the tongue, you have to provide suitable liquids that preferably have only one taste and not a mixture of several. As a means of recording their findings, the students should highlight the region of a particular taste on the tongue-map on the worksheet. In the anchoring phase you could make them combine all of them by drawing one big image and denoting the different tastes in various colours. Even if you do this experiment with older students, they will enjoy this activity as an introduction to the topic; you could then deepen their understanding of the issue by working on chemical processes happening during ingestion. Š 2014 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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3.

Conclusion

The topic of synthetic sweeteners relates to everyone‟s life and is therefore particularly well suited to be treated in a teaching context. It is a great chance to sensitise pupils with regards to their diet and it will be fun for them to learn about a serious issue with the help of experiments. Due to the variety of worksheets provided in this article, teachers can use them as a whole or modify sections of them and create their own teaching unit about sweeteners taking into consideration the essential background knowledge which is presented at the beginning.

References Agnes-Pockels-Labor, TU Braunschweig (2010). Zuckernachweis. Retrieved from http://www.agnespockelslabor.de/download/nahrung/zuckernachweis.pdf Ahmed, J., Preissner, S., Dunkel, M., Worth, C. L., Eckert, A. & Preissner, R. (2010).

SuperSweet—a resource on natural and artificial sweetening agents. Nucleic Acids Research. 39. 377-382. doi:10.1093/nar/gkq917 Blume, R. (1994). Chemie für Gymnasien. Organische Chemie Themenheft 3. Berlin: Cornelsen Verlag.

Bruice, P. Y. (2010). Organic Chemistry. 6th edition. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

Gibbs, F. W. (1970). Organic Chemistry Today. Baltimore: Penguin Books.

Mukherjee, M. & Sarkar, A. (2011). Sugar Content in Artificial Sweetener. Advances in Applied Science Research. 2(4). 407-409.

Pocock, G., Richards, C. D. & Richards, D. (2013). Human Physiology. 4th edition.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Portmann, M.-O. & Kilcast, D. (1996). Psychophysical characterization of new sweeteners of commercial importance for the EC food industry. Food Chemistry. 56(3). 291302.

Saulo, A. A. (2005). Sugars and Sweeteners in Foods. Food Safety and Technology.

Retrieved from http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/12259/FST16.pdf?sequence=1 Sherwood, L. (2005). Fundamentals of Physiology: A Human Perspective. 3rd Edition.

Belmont: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Shwide-Slavin, C. , Swift, C. & Ross, T. (2012). Nonnutritive Sweeteners: Where Are We Today? Diabetes Spectrum. 25(2). 104-110.

© 2014 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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Appendix: Worksheets Worksheet 1: Detection of Glucose and Fructose Experiment: ~ 15 min Safety note: Due to the strong basicity of the detection reagents which will be heated together with the sample in a water quench, you have to wear safety goggles (risk of splashing)!

Materials: 5 test tubes, droppers, water quench, Bunsen burner, glucose, fructose, distilled water, Fehling‟s solution, Benedict‟s reagent Conduction: a) Detection of Glucose and Fructose with Fehling‟s solution A spatula‟s tip of fructose and glucose are to be resolved in 1 ml distilled water each. Add 1 ml Fehling‟s solution drop by drop to each solution. After that, both solutions are carefully heated in a water quench until a change of colour occurs. b) Detection of Glucose and Fructose with Benedict‟s reagent Prepare a glucose- and fructose-solution like you did in Experiment a). Then, mix both solutions with each 1ml Benedict‟s reagent dropwise and heat carefully in the water quench until a distinct change of colour is detectable.

Observation: What did you see?

A brick-red precipitate is formed in all the test tubes after heating.

Analysis: The reducing effect of the aldehyde (glucose) and the hydroxyl groups of an adjacent carbonyl group (fructose) cause the reduction of the complex-bound copper(II)-ions to red copper(I) oxide in Fehling’s solution and Benedict’s reagent.

(Blume, 1994, p. 32)

Experiment: In order to check which kinds of foods contain sugar, you will dissolve different foods in water and add Fehling‟s solution.

Safety note: Due to the strong basicity of the detection reagents which will be heated together with the sample in a water quench, you have to wear safety goggles (risk of splashing)!

Materials: 8 test tubes, droppers, water quench, Bunsen burner, 2 beakers, Fehling‟s solution Conduction: Try to dissolve the following foods in different test tubes: © 2014 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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- A tip of a spatula of honey in 2-3 cm water (in a test tube) - A little piece of a dextrose tablet in 2-3 cm water.

- Put a sweetener tablet into the test tube and add some water.

-In another beaker, dissolve candy in water and pour about 2-3 cm of the solution into the test tube.

- Put some jam in a test tube and add water.

- Dissolve some ketchup in water (in a beaker) and filtrate the solution through a pleated filter before pouring 2-3 cm of the solution into a test tube.

- Dissolve biscuit crumbs in water.

- Dissolve salt in water.

While mixing the solutions, you should not forget to label the test tubes! Before adding a good splash of Fehlingâ€&#x;s solution to all of the test tubes, shake them gently to ensure dissolution. Then put them into the water quench one by one, heat carefully and observe attentively.

Observation: Observe what happens to every solution in the test tubes and note down your findings in the table beneath.

Food sample Honey

Observation

Dextrose tablet

Sweetener tablet

Candy

Jam

Ketchup

Biscuit

Salt

(Agnes-Pockels-Labor, TU Braunschweig, 2010) Š 2014 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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Worksheet 2: Extraction of sugar from sugar beets Experiment: ~30 min Materials: beaker (500 ml), beaker (200 ml), knife, grater, glass blender, sieve, test tubes, filter-device, water quench, Bunsen burner, tripod Sugar beet, activated carbon, water Conduction: Peel the sugar beet and chop it with the grater. Make it boil in a 200ml-beaker and let the beet slices dry out for 5 minutes in boiling water. After that, divide the beet slices from the juice with a sieve. The juice has to be condensed to syrup under constant stirring in a smaller beaker.

Dilute a sample of the syrup with water in a test tube, then shake it out with activated carbon and filter it in another test tube. The filtrate is again condensed in the water quench and eventually air dried. After 1-2 days the purified, white sugar crystallises.

Analysis: The sugar that is contained in the beets is extracted with water and the beet slices are detached with a sieve. The contaminations are adsorbed by the activated carbon and sugar (saccharose) remains in a crystallized form due to the evaporation of water.

(Blume, 1994, p. 33)

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Worksheet 3: Distinguishing between sugars and sweeteners Experiment: ~ 30 min Safety note: In some parts of the experiment, Fehling‟s solution, potassium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid are heated. It is absolutely necessary to wear safety glasses (risk of splashing!).

Materials: test tubes, droppers, water quench, tripod, Bunsen burner Glucose, saccharin, Fehling‟s solution, cerammonium-nitrate, potassium hydroxide, concentrated hydrochloric acid, indicator paper, distilled water Conduction: With a tip of a spatula of each (Glucose, Sorbit and Saccharin) conduct the following three experiments: a) Dilute the samples in test tubes in 1 ml distilled water. After that, mix them dropwise with 1 ml Fehling‟s solution each. Carefully heat the test tubes in a water quench for about 5 minutes and observe. b) Dilute the samples in test tubes in 1 ml distilled water. Mix the solutions with cerammonium-nitrate-reagent abundantly. c) Add to the samples in test tubes 1-2 potassium hydroxide- platelets. Heat the tubes with a Bunsen burner. During heating place indicator paper at the testing tube mouth. The molten baths are resolved and filtered in distilled water, once they are cooled off. Add a few drops concentrated hydrochlorid acid to the filtrates and heat gently. After that, check the smell by fanning with the hand.

Observation: Fill in the table with your findings!

Fehling’s solution Cerammoniumnitrate reagent Indicator paper (Addition KOH) Smell (Addition HCl)

Glucose Red colouring

Sorbit No colouring

Saccharin No colouring

Red colouring

Red colouring

No colouring

neutral

neutral

alcaline

No smell

No smell

Strong smell

Analysis: Glucose is an aldehyde, and in combination with Fehling’s solution red copper(I)-oxide will be formed. The hydroxyl-molecule of glucose reacts with cerammonium-nitrate, which is commonly used for detecting alcohols.

Sorbit is a sweetener and very similar to a glucose-molecule, but instead of the glucose’s aldehyde-group Sorbit has another hydroxyl-group. There is no reaction when adding Fehling’s solution, but since it is a hexavalent alcohol, it reacts with cerammoniumnitrate.

Saccharin does not bear any similarity with glucose or Sorbit. It is made of an aromatic ring, and the NH- and SO2-groups can be detected via potassium hydroxide and © 2014 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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hydrochloric acid. The NH-group reacts with potassium hydroxide to form ammonia (NH3). When this gas is dissolved in water, it is an alkaline solution and can be detected with indicator paper.

NH3 + H2O  NH4+ + OH – If you acidify the watery solution of the alkaline molten bath, the SO 2-group of the already split saccharin-molecule is released as SO2-gas, which has a very strong smell.

(Blume, 1994, p. 32)

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Worksheet 4: Testing the taste zones on our tongue Experiment: In this experiment we want to find out which different tastes you can perceive and how they relate to the position of the taste on the tongue.

Conduction: Dab a liquid with cotton sticks onto the marked spots of the tongue.

Put a cross where taste was sensed.

Important: Rinse out the mouth thoroughly with water after every flavour.

Observation:

Analysis: Draw a map of the tongue showing the different taste zones.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 26-34, May 2014

Computer-aided Assessment Standardisation for Writing and Oral Presentation Assessments: Design, Development and Implementation Dr Voyce Li The English Language Centre The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong

Abstract. Computer-aided assessment (CAA) has been widely applied to summative assessments in English language teaching and learning.

However, its usage is limited to computer-marked exercises, e.g. multiple choice questions or short answers. Assessments on essay writing or oral presentation are still lacking without human intervention. In addition, computer-aided tools for assessment benchmarking have been commonly neglected. This should be of concern to IT specialists when facilitating language assessment through technology. An online English language assessment standardisation platform (ELCAS) was introduced to reduce discrepancies among raters.

The platform was further developed, and adopted by the English Language Centre, Hong Kong Polytechnic University for several years, and the project team won a Faculty Award in 2009 for its outstanding performance in developing this online assessment benchmarking tool to assist teachers in achieving consistency and inter-rater reliability in grading assessed assignments. The primary contribution of this paper is to share the ideas and design of the platform, experience of its development, and the problems encountered during implementation which are of interest for CAA standardisation.

Keywords: computer-aided assessment standardisation; ROLE- and CASE-based concepts; writing and oral presentation assessments; holistic and component grading

Introduction In the past, when the English Language Centre (ELC) taught a very limited variety of subjects the rater training was done in pre-assignment and pre-course meetings. The ELC provided a website with some student scripts corresponding to various grades as references for script markers. The activity of benchmarking was done offline. However, in view of the substantial increase in number of English subjects offered to host departments and the consequential diversification of assessment needs and criteria, it had become logistically Š 2014 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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impossible in terms of scheduling a large number of standardisation meetings. A better system was needed, in which teachers could be trained individually and asynchronously to rate scripts to an agreed standardised grade; therefore the ELC undertook a funded project to upgrade the pre-existing online assessment benchmarking tool to cater for the increasing complexity in achieving consistency and reliability in grading assessed assignments by developing a rater training functionality.

The Ideas for a Development of the System The initial user requirements were to 1) expand the pre-existing system to cater for more subjects and 2) add a rater training functionality to achieve assessment standardisation for holistic and component grading. The project team looked for suitable open source content management software for further development but failed. Possibly, as Web 2.0 was attractive to educators, this was where software developers focused their attention. Therefore, computer-aided tools for assessment benchmarking were neglected. Since it was difficult to find a suitable kit for such development, the team eventually decided to build the product inhouse.

Simple-and-flexible (SNF) is the key concept of the design for the platform. The merit ideas are the adoption of ROLE- (Sandhu, Coyne, Feinstein & Youman, 1996) and CASE-based (Aamodt & Plaza, 1994) approaches. The ROLE safeguards different levels of tasks to authorised users; the CASE defines different situations to respond to the need of users. The system reacts with the users based on the status returned by either the ROLE or CASE or both. These two approaches maximise the flexibility for the change of user requirements. In addition, same categories of data based on their own criteria were put into an array with delimiters together with the record in order to 1) simplify the data structure, 2) ease the change of criteria, and 3) reduce the access time to the database.

The Task Flow for Subject Leaders and Markers There are two main tasks for subject leaders and one for markers (Table 1). The task flow first starts with a subject leader creating an assessment entry.

Secondly, markers grade the scripts selected by the subject leader of an assessment. Lastly, the subject leader finalise the grades among all markers.

Six steps for creating assessment entry were identified in the first row of table 1 at the column of ‘Tasks of Subject Leaders’. In step 1, options for essential assessment details are provided for subject leaders to select in order to avoid human errors (e.g. typos). For assessment type (writing, individual or group presentation/discussion), a selection menu for number of speakers will then appear when group presentation/discussion is selected. For marking mode (holistic or component), the assessment criteria and a selection menu corresponding to the weightings of each criterion appears when component marking is selected (Fig. 1). © 2014 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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Table 1: Task flow of subject leaders and markers

Tasks of Subject Leaders To create assessment entry, 1. select i. subject ii. assignment number iii. assessment type iv. number of reused scripts v. marking mode vi. markers 2. confirm details 3. select an existing task sheet / upload a new task sheet to an existing task category / upload new task sheet to a new task category 4. select old scripts (optional) 5. upload new scripts 6.

DONE To add more markers and/or scripts (optional)

Tasks of Markers To do nothing

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

1.

2.

3.

4.

To finalise grade, (i & ii as markers) review the grades submitted by the markers (iii - viii as markers) click ‘Submit’ once all the scripts have been finalised.

To grade and/or comment, click on a script to grade read the essay or listen/watch the audio or video file select a grade/component grades for holistic/component marking accept or override the overall grade computed with component grades give comments if needed save the input and click next script to grade save intermit input if needed click on the scripts whenever for changes click ‘Submit’ once all the scripts have been graded.

To do nothing

Check the discrepancies

© 2014 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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Step 2 lets subject leaders check what they have selected in step 1 from a tidy web form. Subject leaders are allowed either to click ‘Confirm’ to go to the next step or make changes by clicking ‘Edit’ to go back to step 1.

Figure 1: The interface for creating a new assessment entry

In step 3, three cases and the corresponding actions were defined. Case 1: the assessment task paper already exists in the repository – provide selection menu for choosing, and also the selected task paper is able to be viewed to avoid any mistake. Case 2: the task sheet is new to an existing task category – provide an upload function to upload the new task sheet onto a particular task category.

Case 3: the task category is brand new – provide a textbox to add a new task category, and then allow a new task sheet to be uploaded onto that task category.

Step 4 can be skipped if the default value (pre-set ‘0’) for number of reused scripts is not changed in step 1. Number of selection menu for the reused scripts will appear corresponding to the number of reused scripts selected in step 1. The selected reused scripts are able to be viewed to avoid any mistake.

Step 5 lets subject leaders upload five students’ essays (doc or pdf) or presentations (wma or wmv) at most in one assessment if no reused script(s) is/are selected in step 4. If some scripts have been chosen in step 4, the number of upload will be reduced to 6 scripts at most in an assessment. For group discussion, only one audio or video file is allowed. The maximum file size for each upload is limited to 120MB. Step 6, the last step is to indicate the assessment has been successfully created.

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After the assessment has been created, the set of assessment files including the task sheet and student scripts will be pre-loaded on the first page for the markers selected in step 1 when they log into the system to facilitate their grading. Since markers might change their mind after some scripts have been marked, the system allows changes before submission, and also allows an incomplete assessment to be saved whenever the markers need a pause.

The interface for subject leaders to finalise grades is similar to that for markers except subject leaders can see all grades from markers for each script of the assessment on a table to facilitate the process of standardisation. After the grades have been finalised by the subject leaders, markers are then able to see the finalised grades, and the grades given by other team members anonymously. It is important in the rater training to allow raters to learn the discrepancies without pressure. All the finalised scripts will be indexed for further benchmarking after the current semester.

The Three Phases of Development Performance, Cost, Time and Scope (PCTS) are the constraints of project management that have mutual influence (Lewis, 2005). Since the Cost was fixed and limited, the scope for the phase I development was scaled down to the minimum in order to maintain performance under time pressure.

1.

Phase I – Guinea Pig In the academic year of 2007-08, the system only supported two tasks: grading from markers and finalisation from subject leaders. The system allowed markers to grade and give comments on a set of selected scripts of student writing. After all markers had finished their grading, the subject leader finalised the grades for the same set of student scripts, and then notified markers about the discrepancies if there were any. All the pre-standardisation work was done offline. The preparation work included collecting task papers and student scripts (scanned into pdf format if the original files were not electronic), and then uploaded onto the server manually. Once the corresponding files were ready on the server, an assessment standardisation entry was created at the backend. The system was rough and non-expandable at that moment.

2.

Phase II – On the Track In the second year, the project ran out of money; however, more requests came after a review. We were requested to 1) allow subject leaders to create assessment standardisation entries and upload the task papers and student scripts whenever they needed, 2) support assessment standardisation on oral presentation (recorded as videos or audios) for individuals (1-to-1: one task paper mapped to one student recording with grades and comments) and group discussions (1-to-many: one task paper mapped to more than one student recording with grades and comments), 3) enhance component marking to support various sets of assessment criteria for different subjects, and also subjects can have different assessment criteria in different semesters, 4) support three at most out of the same set of finalised student scripts along with some Š 2014 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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new student scripts to be used for new exercises of standardisation, and 5) build an archive with the finalised scripts for reference purpose.

Upon receiving new user requirements, the original system became inadequate it lacked flexibility for absorbing changes. The team, therefore, gave up the old system and re-built it with new ideas. The ideas of ROLE- and CASE-based were brought in. The design of the system started at the point with a database structure. This time, the constraint of Cost was eliminated – it was absorbed by regular working hours. We were given a more flexible time for expanding the scope. The final platform adopted ASP.NET with C# programming language (object oriented), and built on the top of Windows OS. 3.

Phase III – Refining All old benchmark scripts were indexed and archived as references for markers.

The scripts can be accessed on the same platform by searching by semesters and/or subjects. In addition, the top ten markers with the least discrepancies were listed by semesters as an achievement of rater performance. Interestingly, forgetting of passwords was found to be a common phenomenon in each semester. Instead of resetting password ad hoc by requests, a function to retrieve passwords by the users themselves was introduced.

Implementation Issues The trial run took place in 2007. After a re-construction, the platform was officially launched in 2008. Up to now, over ten thousands assessment records are kept from the database. Implementation is always a stage of the emergence of unexpected issues. The issues were identified either by observation or reported by users (the teachers), and solved immediately (for critical or minor changes) or during semester break (for non-critical or major amendments).

However, there are still some issues that cannot be solved without human intelligence.  Request of changes after submission The top issue is ‘request of changes after submission’. In order to maintain data integrity, changes are not allowed after a process is confirmed to be completed.

For example, after an assessment entry is created. Some markers may start their grading based on the set of task paper and scripts selected by the subject leader.

In this stage, any changes of the task paper and/or the selected scripts could possibly affect the validity of the grades, which have already been given to some scripts. To improve the system, deletion and amendment of the corresponding files are still restricted before a cascading data checking done by a human.

However, subject leaders are allowed to add more markers (no limit) and/or scripts (totally 6, it is 5 initially at most in one assessment) even the assessment has been created. As the same token for grades finalisation, after markers have submitted the grades for an assessment, and if the subject leader has already started to standardise the grades, markers are not allowed making any changes to the grades and/or comments in the assessment.

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 File size is an issue Besides the issue of allow-or-not-allow-changes, preparing video or audio files for oral presentation assessments encountered far more difficulties than that for writing. Li’s (2010) findings show that lack of essential equipment and the complexity of recording process are the barriers of students for their submissions of oral presentation assessments, and the ratio of submissions in writing to recording is 7:2. We came across several problems while supporting assessments on individual or group presentation/discussion. First, the system received video files in extreme large size, meaning that all of these files had to be converted into a streaming format in a lower bit rate in order to save storage at the server side, and also shorten the start time of playing at the client side. File size is always an issue - the system was adjusted to limit each upload to a maximum of 120MB and to accept only .wma or .wmv file format.  Shared video mapped to multiple students’ records When assessing writing or individual presentation, one student script or video file is mapped to the grade(s) or comments to this particular student. When assessing group presentation/discussion, however, multiple upload of the same discussion video file for the number of students in the video becomes unpractical. To solve this problem, the program was amended to map one video file to multiple assessment records if it is an assessment for a group of students.

The markers were told to grade the students from left to right in the order of Student 1, Student 2 and so on. However, students were not fixed in one position in some video files. Eventually, students were labelled as Student 1, Student 2, … in the video files.  Multiple subject leaders mapped to one subject During the time when the platform was being developed, each subject was coordinated by one subject leader. Due to the new 334 curriculum, two subject leaders were assigned to co-coordinate one subject to share their workload.

Keeping abreast with the latest changes in pedagogy, the system was adjusted to support more than one subject leader in one assessment by the merit of the concept of ROLE-based.  Multiple assessment criteria with different weightings Under the demand of component grading, the set of assessment criteria with fixed weightings for academic writing, which had been used for some years, no longer fitted the assessment requirements of the subjects developed for the new curriculum. Therefore, the database and the program were revised to accommodate the data that was used to compute the final grades. In addition, an option of NA was added for individual criterion. This means irrelevant to the particular assessment and allows that criterion to be taken away from the set of assessment criteria.  Dual-mode marking mapped to one single assessment At the first launch of the platform, assessments were allowed to be marked either holistic or in components. Nevertheless, most of the assessments were marked holistically. It was requested that some scripts which had been given © 2014 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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holistic grades, could also be later marked using component grades. In accordance with the need of the users, the system was revised to allow holistic and component grading for different scripts in the same assessment (i.e. holistic for students A and B but component for student C). There has been a long discussion as to whether holistic or component assessment mode is better to address the issue of fair judgements and staff workload in the ELC. Finally, a policy was introduced to require all assessments to adopt component grading in 2012.

Conclusions and Future Study The project won a Faculty Award in 2009. Its prototype was modified in May 2010 for another project to support secondary school English teachers assessing students’ writing and reading skills during summers in 2010 and 2011 that were based on the criteria identified in the Curriculum and Assessment Guide issued by the Education Bureau. Finally, this project won a Faculty Award in 2011 and a President’s Award in 2012. To achieve such sustainable development, simple thinking (with wide vision) and flexible action (with deep consideration) are crucial. Based on the 6 years of experience in developing and implementing the platform of CAA Standardisation for assessing students’ writing, reading and oral presentation skills, I argue that the success or failure of the projects critically depend on the direction of design at the earliest stage. The processes are sensitive dependency on initial conditions according to the concept of Lorenz’s butterfly effect (Lorenz, 2000). A bad or undesired initial status even could make any rectification impossible.

Apart from the impact of design on the development process, the assessment mode used in assessing students’ writing and oral presentation skills is another issue affecting the quality of outcomes during the implementation. There are a number of options for different types of rating scales; however, little research has been conducted on how different rating scales affect rater performance (Barkaoui, 2007). In fact, Barkaoui’s findings indicate a higher inter-rater agreement with holistic scale than that with component scale. Also, in Schaefer’s (Schaefer, 2008) study, a six-component rating scale was used, where some raters tend to rate higher ability writers more harshly, but lower ability writers more leniently. The results indicate a potential rater bias in EFL writing assessment when component grading was adopted. Further studies on how different rating scales affect to rater performance are worthwhile.

References Aamodt, A. & Plaza, E. (1994). Case-Based Reasoning: Foundational Issues, Methodological Variations, and System Approaches. Artificial Intelligence Communications 7(1), 39-52.

Lewis, J.P. (2005). Project Planning, Scheduling & Control. 4E. McGraw Hill. ISBN 978-007-146037-8.

Barkaoui, K. (2007). Rating scale impact on EFL essay marking: A mixed-method study.

Assessing Wriitng, 12(2), 86-107.

Li, V. (2010). eSelf-assessment: A case study in English language learning (Hong Kong) for enhancing Writing and Oral Presentation Skills. Education Technology and © 2014 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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Computer (ICETC), 2010 2nd International Conference, 4, 371-375, 22-24 June 2010, Shanghai. ISBN: 978-1-4244-6367-1, DOI: 10.1109/ICETC.2010.5529662.

Lorenz, E. (2000). The Butterfuly Effect, in R. H. Abraham & Y. Ueda (Ed.), The Chaos Avant-garde: Memories of the Early Days of Chaos Theory, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., 91-94.

Sandhu, R., Coyne, E.J., Feinstein, H.L. & Youman, C.E. (1996). Role-Based Access Control Models. IEEE Computer, 29(2), 38–47.

Schaefer, E. (2008). Rater bias patterns in an EFL writing assessment. Language Testing, 25(4), 465-493.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 5, No.1, pp. 35-47, May 2014

Teacher Development: De facto Teacher Leaders for English Language Learners Holly Hansen-Thomas Karen Dunlap Texas Woman‘s University Denton, Texas, USA Pat J. Casey University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, Texas, USA Teresa Starrett Texas Woman‘s University Denton, Texas, USA Abstract. This qualitative study highlighted the redefinition of roles played by secondary-level, mainstream content-area teachers involved in an English as a Second Language (ESL) professional development (PD) program. The researchers examined how the practice of becoming an emerging leader in ESL, a new discipline for many teachers, was impacted by participation in an intensive 18 month ESL PD program. Specifically, this case study focused on the participants‘ ability to translate newly acquired multicultural competence, second language acquisition, and ESL teaching strategies into training sessions for their content-area colleagues. The reflective statements from teacher participants following the delivery of what is termed ‗turnaround training‘ revealed that the teachers experienced changes in professional self-concept both as teacher leaders and as advocates for English Language Learners (ELLs). This shift of teacher as leader benefits both teacher and student, according to Barth (2011) as teacher leaders experience less isolation, have more professional satisfaction for improving their schools and increased reflection about their practice. This work found that through PD, teachers‘ roles shifted from not just content expert but also to ELL expert and, indeed, advocate of ESL students.

Keywords: teachers; English Language Learners; professional development.

Introduction The current trend in the United States‘ secondary English as a Second Language (ESL) education is that of mainstreaming. As noted by Harper & deJong (2009), ―ELLs [English Language Learner(s)] are increasingly placed in mainstream

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classrooms for the entire school day‖ (p. 137) rather than spending a majority of their day situated in specially targeted ESL classrooms. For over a decade, authors have suggested that as the numbers of ELLs increase in the United States, more teachers will have ELLs in their classrooms and more teachers will be called on to meet the needs of ELLs (Duhon-Ross & Battle, 2001, as cited in Yoon, 2008). In many geographic areas, secondary educators who are typically trained and licensed to teach in specific subjects or content areas often find that every year they interact with a greater number of students who speak little or no English. Many teachers lack appropriate training to effectively teach specific academic content to students who are not fluent speakers of English (Ballantyne, Sanderman & Levy, 2008; Scalon & Lopez, 2012). As a result, ELLs are not getting the support needed in general education because many teachers do not have the skills (Yoon, 2008). This lack of support is evidenced by a persistent achievement gap – the difference between ELLs and native speakers of English (Callahan, 2005; Ballantyne, Sanderman & Levy, 2008). Thus, this study examined the effects of a professional development project that was aimed at ameliorating the aforementioned ESL professional development lacuna. As such, this study meets the call as set forth by Ballantyne, Sanderman, and Levy (2008, p. 10), ―Given the fact that the training of teachers lags behind the realities of the classroom, these misconceptions and feelings of unpreparedness are unsurprising. The recent increase in ELLs in U.S. classrooms has been rapid, and teacher education and professional development has not yet caught up with the demographic shift. There is a pressing need for education for teachers at all stages in their careers which aims to prepare or upgrade teachers‘ knowledge and skills in order to close the achievement gap between linguistic minority students and their native English speaking peers.‖ Responding to this call, this qualitative study highlights shifts in both thought processes and role definitions experienced by secondary-level, mainstream content-area teachers involved in an English as a Second Language (ESL) professional development (PD) program. The focus of this study was to examine how participation in an intensive eighteen month ESL professional development program promoted expertise in teaching ELLs, a new discipline for many teachers.

Specifically, this study focused on participants‘ experiences as they learned about teaching students with cultural and linguistic differences and became self-reported ESL experts. Further, as they translated their newly acquired knowledge of multicultural competence, second language acquisition, and ESL teaching strategies into training sessions for their content-area colleagues, what we call turnaround training, the teachers also became de facto teacher leaders on their campuses. As such, this study of the participants‘ development contributed to the emerging body of literature focused on the design of effective professional development for teachers of ELLs (see also Hansen-Thomas, Casey, & Grosso, 2012).

The Context of the Study The teachers who participated in this research were purposefully selected from a group of teachers who successfully completed a professional development

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(PD) program in ESL education. This program was funded by the U.S. Department of Education and served inservice teachers by preparing them to work with the ELLs in their urban secondary schools. Study findings were the result of data collected from focus group sessions conducted with 21 members of two PD cohorts.

The participants were secondary teachers in mainstream, content-area classrooms who had ELLs in their classes but did not consider themselves ESL specialists at the program‘s inception.

The program was a collaborative effort between a large, urban school district in Texas with a student population of more than 25% ELLs, and a medium-sized Texas public university. The project, funded by an Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) National Professional Development grant, served practicing teachers through two primary components. First, the teachers successfully completed a series of three semester-long ESL-related graduate classes designed to provide knowledge and enhance the pedagogical skills required to meet the needs of students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The classes, specifically developed for secondary school content area teachers, were (1) multicultural education, (2) second language acquisition, and (3) ESL strategies.

After completion of the 3 graduate courses, teachers were required to develop and present training sessions to their peers – referred to herein as turnaround training.

Program faculty provided guidance in the development and presentation of the turnaround training sessions.

The Professional Development Model The professional development program was based on three primary principles. First, the professional development courses were focused on the specific needs of the teachers who were already proficient teachers in their specific content area. Accordingly, the coursework and the turnaround training were tailored to meet the needs of the experienced teachers who were already familiar with the content subject and pedagogy for the general education classroom. While the teachers who participated in the program were experienced instructors of middle or high school subjects such as Algebra, Biology, or History; they were challenged to teach the increasing number of students who were not proficient English speakers.

Second, the model was developed for a long and sustained training period, which included three semesters of graduate coursework and presentation of training sessions for their colleagues. Ongoing reflective practice was incorporated into the professional development plan in order to guide participants in developing greater self-awareness and, thereby, to provoke change in their professional identity throughout the training sessions.

Third, each participant‘s learning experience culminated with turnaround training. The participant‘s presentation of the turnaround training was designed as independent practice and application of the knowledge and skills they had learned in the three semesters of coursework. This structured independent practice distinguished this model from many traditional models of PD because presentation of the turnaround training involved in-depth planning and required teachers to know the content, the context and their colleagues. Additionally, this model

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required teachers to fully engage in self-reflection and group conversations with their content area and campus peers.

The Purpose of the Study This study sought to describe the ways in which teachers changed as a result of the professional development program culminating in the presentation of turnaround training. The study was guided by two questions.  In what ways did teachers perceive a change in their (a) ability to teach ELLs, (b) professional role or (c) identity?  To what did they attribute the change(s)?

Conceptual Framework The idea of changing professional identity served as a complex conceptual foundation for this study. The study considered whether or not (or, rather for some, how) teachers perceived an identity shift resulting from leading turnaround training that was the culmination of the year and a half professional development project.

Research on teacher identity stated that it [identity] is not stagnant, that it is often shaped by "discourses, practices, and power relations." (Zembylas, 2003, p. 109).

Indeed, teacher identity was seen as developing through multiple "intersective practices" (Chappell, 1995, p. 4). Therefore, teacher identity is something that is personal, evolves over time and shaped by contextual influences. (Robertson, 2009).

Thus, this study used the idea of shifting professional identity as a lens to examine the participants‘ changes over time.

Characterized as a process and product of learning developed within particular situations, teacher identity may be impacted by meaningful membership in communities of practice (Wenger, 1998; Trent & Lim, 2010). Specifically, teacher identity development has been intrinsically linked to both professional practice and continued professional development (Wenger, 1998).

The professional, social or role identity of a teacher is a multifaceted one. It has been characterized by Zurcher (1983) as the amalgamation of characteristics, social roles and responsibilities as recognized by both the teacher her/himself and others. Indeed, the occupation of the particular societal role often forms the basic foundation of a teacher‘s self-image as it emerges and is significantly molded by interaction with others in specific social settings (Cohen, 2008; Gomez & White, 2010). Therefore, teachers‘ professional identity(ies) may shift when they are faced with reevaluating, renegotiating and/or re-configuring their personal identities.

Teacher identity also involves pedagogy, as it is integrally linked to the instructor‘s particular subject, department, and/or program. As a teacher interacts with students and other less experienced teachers, professional identity (and the plurality of it) often undergoes change and either the original is maintained or it is renegotiated (Simon, 1995). This may signify the identity of the teacher is undergoing transformation to that of a master/expert or model/mentor (Lawal, n.d.). Thus, it is not surprising that training in pedagogy, content, leadership, or otherwise will play a role in fomenting such identity shifts.

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Review of Related Literature Professional development of teachers is defined by Sparks and LoucksHorsley in the Journal of Staff Development (1989) as ―those processes that improve the job-related knowledge, skills, or attitudes of school employees‖ (p. 41). To be judged as effective, such practices must provide guidance for enhanced teaching performance that, in turn, supplies evidence of improved student learning and achievement outcomes. During the last 50 years, the path to that end has been anything but straight. Professional development must be relevant, needs-driven and ongoing.

Traditionally, characteristics of effective staff development have focused primarily on the introduction and/or enhancement of effective teaching practices (Berman & McLaughlin, 1978; Yarger, Howey, & Joyce, 1980). Stereotypically, PD has been thought of as attendance at workshop session(s) where an expert presents and controls the goals, objectives, and content presented as well as the scope and sequence of all instructional activities (Joyce & Showers, 1988). These limited sessions, while well intentioned and informative of new concepts, strategies, and instructional interventions, were not always perceived as successful. Indeed, there was not much empirical evidence to support that higher student performance could be directly linked to factors learned at a PD session (Guskey, 2002). Research documenting teachers‘ use of newly presented practices was often derailed due to inaccessibility, lack of legitimacy, or perceived inconsistent/incongruent of the findings themselves (Kennedy, 1997). Moreover, professional development participants rarely engaged in follow-up discussions or feedback sessions following actual attempts of practicing new strategies with students in genuine classroom settings (Loucks-Horsley, Harding, Arbuckle, Murray, Dubca, & Williams, 1987). In some instances, professional development was typically evaluated on whether or not participants enjoyed it (Guskey, 2002).

In the mid-1970s, one especially effective practice emerged when teachers were allowed to choose among differentiated training opportunities in which they were actively engaged as peer instructors and planners. By self-selecting goals and activities, teachers were more apt to buy-in to the instruction and achieve their personal learning goals (Lawrence, 1974). Sparks (1983), Wu (1987), and Wood and Kleine (1987) state this in their discussion of peer expert trainers. Indeed, Wu (1987) found that when teachers trained teachers, the professional development experience became enriched as participants reported they were more encouraged to (1) exchange ideas, (2) become engaged and interactive; and (3) receive more authentic and practical suggestions. Fullan (1982) reported the impact of such teacher-toteacher interaction resulted in an increased ability to ―converse about the meaning of change and transfer training techniques to the classroom‖ (p. 121).

Therefore, research indicates teachers need a more active role in their own professional development. Tom (1985) and Winters (1999) specifically suggested effective professional development included multiple opportunities for participation in collaborative processes that critically examined complex circumstances evolving in classrooms and schools. Otherwise, very little transfer of knowledge and skills was likely to occur.

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Professional Development and the ESL Student Population.

In a study conducted by Gándara, Maxwell-Jolly, and Driscoll (2005), California teachers stated they attended few professional development trainings that focused on the needs of English Language Learners (ELLs) and the quality of such trainings was marginal at best. Participants in the study suggested that training sessions were poorly planned and organized; trainers lacked English as a Second Language (ESL) experience; that the training was not new, applicable, or appropriate to their experience and position; and that there was a lack of practical, implementable knowledge nor any follow-up training (Gándara et al. 2005).

Teachers participating in this study also stated professional development focused on instructional strategies would have been helpful to them. One result was the unanimous consensus from participants that they wanted to (1) ―see collaboration as a central part of their professional development‖ and (2) ―to observe successful teachers, collaborate and plan with their colleagues…‖ in an effort to avoid the pitfalls of ―one-shot‖ professional development sessions (Gándara et al., 2005, p. 15).

Professional Development Trainer- of-Trainers Model During the late 1990s, the rapid growth in the number of limited English proficient (LEP) students in classrooms across the country resulted in an increased demand for professional development to address instructional issues associated with that unique student population (Harper & Platt, 1998). This trend continues to spiral upward (Newman, Samimy, & Romstedt, 2010). In order to meet the demand for coaching in areas such as linguistics, language acquisition, learning styles and strategies appropriate to the adaptation of materials and instruction, some districts have turned to the trainer-of-trainers PD distribution model. In this type of delivery, teams of classroom teachers attended workshops or sessions conducted by qualified/certified individuals to become familiar with new ESL strategies and instructional procedures. Following completion of a targeted amount of instruction, participating classroom teachers returned to their schools and trained their peers in the use of new techniques. Participants often received implementation guides that served as the reference resources the new trainers could utilize when they conducted professional learning sessions within their home schools/districts (Bernard & Walton, 2011).

Methods This qualitative study was guided by two questions. First, the study sought to determine in what ways teachers perceived a change in their (a) ability to teach ELLs, (b) professional role or (c) identity? Second, to what did they attribute the change(s)? The focus group was chosen as the data-gathering vehicle for this study due to both its inherent conversational style and multiple opportunities for direct participant/investigator interaction. A semi-structured questioning protocol was utilized to (a) ensure consistency in questions asked and topics covered across both cohort groups, and (b) permit interviewers to follow up on a topic if a respondent‘s answer needed clarification (Harrell & Bradley, 2009).

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Thus, the teachers were invited to participate in one of two 70-minute semistructured focus group interview sessions. Each interview provided opportunities for participants to explore and describe common on-the-job experiences (Carey, 1994; Patton, 2002) from a variety of perspectives (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007).

Participant responses were audio-recorded, transcribed, reviewed and coded for emerging patterns and themes (Wolcott, 2003; Lincoln & Guba, 2005).

The semi-structured, focus group design allowed participants to share their experiences. Sessions focused on specific themes related to the PD program and highlighted participants‘ experiences with turnaround training sessions that they had (1) previously conducted or (2) prepared and scheduled to present in the future. To focus teachers‘ responses on decision-making, experiences and reflections during and after the presentation of the turnaround training sessions, the focus groups employed guiding questions that enabled participants to freely engage in additional relevant topics while the researcher solicited elaboration or sought clarification (Kamberlis & Dimitriadis, 2005).

Participants Data for this investigation was derived from semi-structured focus groups interviews conducted following the conclusion of turnaround trainings; a required component of the 18-month long PD project. The PD project was a collaborative effort between a large urban school district in Texas that reported ELLs comprised over 25% of its student population and a medium-sized Texas public university.

The PD project served only secondary content teachers from the partner district by providing: (a) three graduate courses focused on following areas: ESL-focused graduate classes in Education in Culturally Diverse Environments; Second Language Acquisition (SLA); and ESL methods, and (b) professional guidance in the development and presentation of ‗turnaround training sessions‘ to peers also serving ELLs. Two cohort groups from the PD project were invited to participate in this study. A total of 20 school district content-area teachers from cohort 1, and 9 in cohort 2 of the PD project and were invited to participate in the focus groups. Of those who were invited to be in the focus groups, 11 took part in the first focus group, which took place in spring 2011, and 10 participated in the second focus group session which occurred seven months later, in early 2012.

Thus, interview data were collected from 21 participants (20 females, 1 male) who were members of two professional development (PD) cohorts. In terms of ethnicity, six participants were Black, one was Latina, two were Asian, and 12 were White. All study participants had completed the succession of three graduate courses and had begun or completed the ‗turnaround training‘ portion of the program. All participants were secondary teachers in mainstream content-area classrooms who did not initially perceive themselves to be ESL specialists. They were teachers of mathematics, science, English Language Arts (for native speakers of English), social studies or special education teachers. It should be noted, in this writing, the words participants, and teacher-trainers are interchangeable.

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Findings From the focus group transcriptions, two major themes emerged which indicated participants did perceive a change in their role and a shift in their professional identity as educators. First, participants reported both peers and campus administrators began to view them in a different light due to their increased knowledge and expertise in and about their new learned content, that is, ESL methods, strategies, and related content (such as second language acquisition theory and multiculturalism). The participants reported being seen and treated differently as a result of the new content knowledge and pedagogical skills they had acquired. Moreover, with the experience of presenting the ‗turnaround training,‘ the participants began to perceive themselves differently– now more as peer leaders.

Content and Pedagogy Expertise Effective leaders must be able to convey to their colleagues expertise in instruction.

One participant noted, ―I feel that through my successful implementation of strategies with my students I can model and provide examples of how to improve ELL instruction.‖ Still another shared, ―I have more strategies to use to get my students reading, writing and speaking. I use the many books from our (ESL Methods) strategies course.‖ As a result of the PD participation, a teacher noted, ―I feel much more confident discussing why I do certain strategies in the classroom. I have often heard that these kids ―can‘t‖ do things but now I know they can.‖ The comments made by these teachers seem to indicate that they have not only gained confidence, but also expertise in pedagogy.

Sharing with colleagues is an important part of being an expert, ―I am also seen as someone who is willing to share them because they have helped me and they have given me an excitement about teaching again.‖ Still another participant shared, ―This is what teachers ask for. One thing our teachers ask for is hands-on activities. I passed out handouts and I got more requests, can I get some more of this, can I get some more of that?‖ Still another teacher-trainer participant showed a focus on content expertise as evidenced by her comment, ―My students have become more successful with using visuals. They relate their visuals to the content, words and everything. So I teach them how to use those strategies and they know how to navigate my room. If someone, I mean, if you just walk into my classroom you may think it‘s—you may not understand but because I‘ve learned so much about visuals and I use them in my teaching, my students know how to navigate those visuals in order to perform for me.‖ This teacher demonstrated a genuine shift in her use of new strategies.

In addition, one teacher indicated she now feels more secure in her content, which has allowed her to focus on the unique needs of her learners. We see that in the following comment: ―Another reason my kids are successful is I know that they are learning…they‘re language learners but I meet them on the level that they are and once I see that they‘ve met that level, I take them up a higher notch. …so I‘m being—they are being successful because I‘m meeting them where they are. If I take them up [too fast arbitrarily] like what the state requires them, I‘m gonna lose them.‖ Thus, state-mandated requirements are an important measure, but teachers

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like this one indicate they can meet those criteria when they work to meet the special needs of the ELLs in their content classes.

Finally, a teacher-trainer explained her expertise in the areas of content knowledge and delivery by stating: ―A part of my agenda, because I‘m the language center team leader, …is sheltered instruction, differentiating instruction.

So we go around and share about what are we doing to differentiate instruction and we tried to use those strategies in every class so the students can become accomoyou know, accommodated to those strategies, so that they know how to use them in every content area. So that‘s one thing that helps; being able to use the same strategies within all the content areas.‖ It appears, through her and others‘ comments, that content and pedagogy learned made an impact on confidence, knowledge base, and the ability to apply appropriate methods to the appropriate situation. Because these important insights were recognized by both colleagues and leaders, the teachers‘ identities further expanded and shifted in multiple, positive ways.

Evidence of Identity Shift (as Experts and Leaders) Participants indicated an increase in confidence both within the classroom and in their practice in general. One participant noted that her students were more successful without outside intervention, suggesting growth in her classroom leadership. She stated, ―I am more independent now as an ESL teacher. This is not to say that I don‘t collaborate with other teachers. I just mean that I am more confident in my own ability to look to the current language acquisition research to drive my instruction, rather than the opinions of other teachers.‖ Another turnaround trainer noted, ―I have been able to show teachers that Jigsaw and Round Robin activities can work successfully in the classroom. I can show them that you can get all students speaking and writing.‖ Furthering this, one participant specifically stated, ―I am more confident now to try new things, read new things and share new things with my teachers and administrators.‖ The emergent leadership was evidenced in multiple ways. One teacher described what colleagues were asking ―From people coming to observe me, and looking at my classroom, they are asking me, ‗What are you doing?‘ You know. ‗Where did you learn this from?‘ So now I‘m being asked to do those short mini lessons in department meetings, I get, ‗Can you give training for the faculty?‘ So I have become a leader, or, uh, the go to teacher, the resource for ELLs.‖ This view of teacher leadership is supported by Katzenmeyer and Moller (2011) who define this as leading within and beyond the classroom, contributing to a community of teacher learners, and influencing others toward improving practice.

Additionally, participants noted their current campus administration had begun to recognize their new role as peer leaders. One participant explained a shift in the way peers perceived her role as colleagues were now seeing her as a leader. She stated, ―Well I—a lot of my colleagues came to the training that we did and they were like, ‗Why didn‘t you tell us you were presenting?‘ And so now they come to me for strategies, they always have but I think more so now because of this.‖

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Through this comment, the teacher acknowledged her newfound role as a recognized leader on her campus.

Participants began hearing validation of their new roles from colleagues and also began reflecting upon their experience and perceiving themselves in a different role. As one teacher turn around trainer stated, ―And I‘ve had people from the district bringing other people in, ‗Look here, this you know, look at what‘s going on in here.‘ and I‘m telling you I think I was an okay teacher before, but I know that this course has changed me for—to improve the learning and help me improve my teaching.‖ Barth (2011) discusses several areas in which teacher leadership is essential in creating a healthy school. Included were designing staff development and inservice programs and shaping the curriculum. Illustrating this point, another participant stated, ―I am now one of the teacher leaders, rather than a follower on my campus. Having led campus based training and book studies in language acquisition research and strategies; I feel that I can discuss issues regarding our students with confidence, because I have taught students various strategies in my own.‖ Consistently, the theme of teacher leadership emerged throughout the responses. This shows a shift in individual teachers‘ thinking about how they can facilitate professional development of peers and advocate for students.

Conclusion Overwhelmingly, participants reported a shift in their thinking about their roles as educators. Many found themselves becoming comfortable in the role of campus leader in a variety of ways. Through their voices, there emerged a palpable shift in their identities. Some teachers, as a result of their experience learning about ESL methods, content, and theory, revealed a tentative, or ‗de facto‘ leadership identity.

Others appeared to accept their shifting identities as ‗ESL experts‘ (in addition to that of science, math, social studies, or other discipline) with more gusto and confidence. Some teacher participants appeared to surprise themselves with the recognition they had gotten from their colleagues and peers as a result of their newfound knowledge. Many of these teacher leaders found that their expertise in the areas of ESL content knowledge and pedagogy increased both with students who were ELLs and their native English speaking peers. According to Barth (2011) teachers who extend themselves as teacher leaders experience less isolation, professional satisfaction for improving their schools, and new learning about schools, the process of change and increased reflection about their practice. These newfound ESL experts also began to advocate for the needs of their ELLs, working for the best interests of their students and promoting appropriate practices such as research-based strategy use, understanding the implications of standardized testing, and knowing and showing how best practices for ELLs can promote their success.

Gaining, and indeed disseminating this shared sense of responsibility can work to achieve a positive and equitable experience for ELLs in public schools (Fenner, 2013).

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Thus, it appeared that the participants in this program benefitted from the quantity, quality, time, and interactive nature of a tailored ESL PD program as called for by Gándara, et al. (2005). Moreover, the on the job training, as it were, allowed the teachers in the PD program to garner new knowledge while putting it into practice with ELLs in their daily lives as teachers. These characteristics are critical for successful learning. High quality PD programs must include these components, and when they are executed appropriately, participants may enjoy the benefits of knowledge development, recognition, success with students, and leadership.

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Fenner, D.S. (2013) Advocating for English learners: A guide for educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

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Gándara, P., Maxwell-Jolly, J., & Driscoll, A. (2005). Listening to teachers of English language learners: A survey of California teachers’ challenges, experiences, and professional development needs. Berkeley, CA.: Joint Publications. Retrieved from http://escholarshiporg/uc/item/6430628z Gomez, M. L., & White, E. (2009). Seeing one another as ―other‖. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(2010), 1015-1022.

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Hansen-Thomas, H., Casey, P. & Grosso, L. (2012). Multiplying the Effect of Professional Development: Teachers Training Teachers. TESOL Journal, 4(1)129-150. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tesj.2013.4.issue-1/issuetoc Harper, C. A., & de Jong, E. J. (2009). English language teacher expertise: The elephant in the room. Language and Education, 23(2), 127-151.

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Katzenmeyer, M. & Moller, G. (2011) Understanding teacher leadership. In E. Hilty (Ed.), Teacher leadership: The “new” foundations of teacher education. (5-21). New York: Lang Publishing.

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Continuing to learn: A guidebook for teacher development. Andover, MA.: Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast and Islands, and the National Staff Development Council.

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Sparks, D. & Loucks-Horsley, S. (1989). Five models of staff development for teachers.

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Tom, A. (1984). Inquiring into inquiry-oriented teacher education. Journal of Staff Development, 10(4), 40-57 Trent, J., & Lim, J. (2010). Teacher identity construction in school-university partnerships: Discourse and practice. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(2010), 1609-1618.

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Zembylas, M. (2003). Interrogating "teacher identity": Emotion, resistance, and selfformation. Educational Theory, 53(1), 107-127.

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Acknowledgments: The authors acknowledge the support of the Department of Education- Office of English Language Acquisition‘s National Professional Development Project (2007), and the teachers and their ELLs who participated in our PD program.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 5, No.1, pp. 48-62, May 2014

The Effect of PICTK and TPACK Knowledge on ICT Instructors’ Sense ofEmpowerment Noga Magen-Nagar Ministry of Education, Gordon College of Education Israel Orit Avidov-Ungar The Open University, Achva Academic College Israel

Abstract. The implementation of technology in the national Information and Communication Technology (ICT) program is supported by instructors who act according to the program‘s outputs. The current research has two goals: to examine the predictive variables of ICT instructors who instruct at the district level (henceforth: ―district ICT instructors‖) compared to ICT instructors who instruct at both the district andthe school levels(henceforth: ―district-school ICT instructors‖) and to examine the effect of Program Information Communication Technology Knowledge (PICTK) and Technology Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (TPACK) on the ICT instructors‘ sense of empowerment for facilitating the implementation of ICT in schools. One hundred and twenty-one ICT instructors participated in the research: 77 district ICT instructors (64%) and 44 district-school ICT instructors(36%). The research tool consisted of four self-report questionnaires. Path analysis was performed using structural equation analysis. The main results show that PICTK knowledge has a significant positive effect on TPACK knowledge among the district ICT instructors, whereas there was no change among the district-school ICT instructors.

The results indicate that PICTK and TPACK knowledge does not necessarily promote the pedagogical-ICT knowledge of the ICT instructor, but is critical for his or her sense of empowerment. It is therefore recommended to continue support for all ICT instructors, and to expand their personal knowledge about the evolving ICT program.

Keywords: PICTK knowledge; empowerment; ICT instructors.

TPACK

knowledge;sense

of

Introduction Empowerment is increasing the ability of the other to act (Conger & Kanungo, 1988; Maeroff, 1988; Muijs & Harris, 2003; Short & Rinehart, 1992). There are

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those who claim that empowerment is an ideology and a worldview, that it is a process and not a single event, and a person who lacks empowerment therefore does not actualise his or her professional potential (Sandy, 2010; White, 1992).

According to Blasé & Blase (1997), there are no people who absolutely lack empowerment or who have absolute empowerment. Empowerment is defined on a developmental spectrum, on which people can move between greater or lesser empowerment. Thus, empowerment is not an ―absolute threshold‖, but rather a dimension that changes over time with different intensities at different points of time (Zimmerman, 1990). During the empowerment process the person‘s belief in his or her ability to make decisions and solve problems are apparent, and this is therefore a process of personal development (Muijs & Harris, 2003). Empowerment of role holders, such as the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) instructor, is a deliberate process whose goal is to develop and enable members of the organisation to actualise their personal potential and growth, a process that enables actualisation of personal qualities, a sense of belonging and belief in self-efficacy and self-control (Datnow, Hubbard & Mehan, 2002).

Empowerment of role holders Empowerment in the education system is based on the belief that people have skills and ability, but need experience and opportunities in order to express them (Dembele & Schwille, 2006; Hargreaves, 2005). Role holders in education systems who are empowered, active and confident in their power will also act beyond their fields of responsibility, will initiate, and will contribute to the success of the school and the organisational environment in which they function and/or to their success as professionals (Blasé & Blase (1997; Irwin 1996). Role holders who are empowered have a higher sense of responsibility pertaining to their role and pertaining to the tasks which they must perform and the goals which they should achieve (Avidov-Ungar, Friedman & Olshtain, 2014). They are involved in choosing and developing curricula which best meet the needs of the system (White, 1992) and in their work they also influence students‘ achievements (Pollak, 2009; Reeves, 2009).

Short & Rhinhart (1992) list six measures that compose the construct of teachers‘ empowerment: decision-making, professional growth, status, self-efficacy, autonomy and impact. Maeroff (1988) claimed that the professional status of teachers and role holders in education systems can be improved by raising their self-image, adding pedagogical and academic knowledge to their existing knowledge and imparting possibilities for work at an equal level with the principal and with other teachers (Cribner, Truell, Hager & Srichai, 2001).

Efficacy develops when these role holders acquire self-knowledge and believe that they have the necessary skills for the desiredoutcomes. Thus, a sense of selfefficacy empowers the role holder in his or her doing and performance (Bandura, 1989). The empowerment process is one of the main factors which generate the process of change in education and enable its progress (Sandy, 2010). Empowerment of role holders, who are the spearhead of the leaders of change, is therefore an important resource which assists the educational

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organisation in coping with a changing reality (Avidov-Ungar & Shmir-Inbal, 2013; Kaniuka, 2012).

Change in education systems Models that describe effective implementation of processes of change indicate that the first critical stage in implementation of the change is the stage in which those involved in the implementation understand the need for this change (Cook, Holley & Andrew,2007; Shaw, 2005) and a sense of urgency is created among them that the change is essential for improving and advancing the organisational system (Hargreaves & Goodson, 2006). Even after understanding the need for the change, differences may exist between various interested parties: in their perception of the goals of the change, in their personal and organisational interests and in their attitudes towards the desired nature of the change (Fullan, 2006; Fullan, Bertani & Quinn, 2004; Klein & Sorra, 1996). In this context, ICT instructors are a major and critical link for the success of the change.

The National ICT Program is intended to create change and to convert the school into a teleprocessing organisation which optimally implements ICT (Ministry of Education, 2013a). The program was constructed based on a comprehensive approach founded on a logical intervention model of inputs, outputs and products, which creates a framework for planning, implementation and evaluation. A close connection between inputs, outputs and products demonstrates the logical basis of the intervention program‘s rationale (Sundra, Scherer, & Anderson, 2003). Inputs of the ICT program include the resources given to the schools, which are mainly instruction, equipment and routine maintenance. The nature of the instruction and its contents change according to progress in the program (Ministry of Education, 2013a).

The national ICT program in Israel, "adapting the education system in the 21st Century", has been operating since 2010, And comprise hundreds of elementary and secondary schools, representing about 40% of the schools in Israel. The purpose of the program is: implementing innovative pedagogy, while deliver 21st century skills, combined with information and communication technologies.

ICT program is holistic, and composed of five activities complement each other: a) Adapting curriculum for teaching - learning - assessment in the information era b) The development and supply of the teaching - learning - assessment digital available to teachers and learners. c) Professional development of teachers. d) Establishment of ICT infrastructure and maintenance logistics. e) Monitoring and evaluation of the components of the program.

Every school required products directed learning in an online environment, innovative teaching and managing ICT organization.

During the preparation stage for implementing the ICT program, designated ICT instructors were chosen, whose role is to lead and assist the schools in the implementation of ICT according to the perception and outputs of the program.

The ICT instructors‘ work is carried out at two levels: (1) At the school level, where the school ICT coordinator also serves as an ICT instructor who assists the

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school in introducing the technological change and guides the teachers towards successful implementation of the program‘s outputs; (2) At the district level, where a district ICT instructoris responsible for approximately five schools. The main role of this instructor is to guide the school principal and school ICT coordinator to realise all the outputs of the National ICT Program (Ministry of Education, 2013b). The instructor‘s work is perceived as a consistent and continuous intervention process which assists the teacher in his or her professional development, with improvement in the quality of teaching and in the learning achievements (Ministry of Education, 2013c). Choosing the teacher for the instruction role is therefore carried out via the appropriate pedagogical considerations. A teacher who was chosen to instruct teachers in ICT is a teacher with professional-pedagogical authority to instruct. The teacher is chosen due to having extensive and successful experience in the field and having Technology Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (Ministry of Education, 2013b), which is called TPACK, and is knowledge that characterises the teacher‘s ability to include technology in teaching in an educated manner (Koehler & Mishra, 2008).

The training and professional development of the ICT instructors constructpersonal knowledge which includes insights from four aspects of the ICT program in Israel: context, inputs, process and products. The knowledge framework is a more advanced logical intervention model, the Context, Input, Process, Product (CIPP) model which refers to the processes of implementation and change undergone by the schools. The instructors learn the ICT program, but more than that, they learn how to evaluate its components with reference to the school for which they are responsible. The context aspect refers to the preliminary planning and definition of the program and its justification. The inputs aspect refers to the structure of the program and to the strategic planning which includes timetables, manpower, resource utilisation, etc. The process aspect refers to implementation of the program and the quality of the process.

The products aspect refers to achievements in the context of the goals of the program and the effects of the program, in terms of effectiveness and sustainability (Stufflebeam, 2007). In the present study, this knowledge is called Program Information Communication Technology Knowledge (PICTK).

The research goals The research has two goals: to examine the predictive variables of ICT instructors who instruct at the district level (henceforth: ―district ICT instructors‖) compared to ICT instructors who instruct at both the district and the school levels (henceforth: ―district-school ICT instructors‖) and to examine the effect of PICTK knowledge and TPACK knowledge on ICT instructors‘ sense of empowerment for facilitating the implementation of ICT in the schools. Figure 1 presents the research model.

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Status Professional Growth

PICTK

TPACK

Empowerment

Impact ct Autonomy Effect Self-efficacy Decision-making

TPACK

TPK

PCK

TCK

CK

TK

PK

Figure 1: The proposed research model

The research hypotheses 1. District ICT instructors and district-school ICT instructors will perceive PICTK knowledge as influencing their sense of empowerment.

2. District ICT instructors and district-school ICT instructors will perceive PICTK knowledge as influencing their TPACK knowledge during their instruction.

3. District ICT instructors and district-school ICT instructorswill perceive their instructive TPACK knowledge as influencing their sense of empowerment.

Method Participants The participants included 121 ICT instructors who were appointed in 2012-2013 by the Ministry of Education in order to promote teaching in an ICT environment in schools that participated in the National ICT Program. Of these, 77 (64%) are ―district ICT instructors‖ and 44 (36%) are ―district-school ICT instructors‖. About half (47.9%) of theinstructors have ateachingseniority of 17 or more years and about half (52.1%) have a seniority of 4 to 16 years. The majority (64.5%) have an MA, about a third (28.9%) have a BA and a few (2.5%) have a Ph.D. Table 1 presents the distribution of seniority in instructing of the district ICT instructors and the district-school ICT instructors.

Table 1: Distribution of the seniority in instructing of district ICT instructors and district-school ICT instructors (%)

The group

District ICT instructors District-school ICT instructors

1-3 years 63.6 81.8

Teaching Seniority 4-5 6-10 11 or more years years years 10.4 6.5 18.2 4.5 2.3 9.1

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The research tool The research tool is a self-report questionnaire. The research hypotheses were tested using four questionnaires that were administered to the ICT instructors: 1. Empowerment questionnaire: The sense of empowerment was measured using a questionnaire developed by Short & Rinehart (1992). The questionnaire tests the perception of the responders regarding the extent of their empowerment on issues related to their work as instructors. The questionnaire contains 29 items that were adapted to the work of the instructors. It is constructed on a 5-level Likert scale. The sense of empowerment was measured according to six measures: 1. Decision-making – the choice of what and how to instruct, the partnership for making decisions on events in the field of instruction; 2. Role status – the sense of esteem and respect and the function in a professional environment; 3. Role autonomy – control over the agenda and the schedule; 4.

Sense of self-efficacy – the belief in the self and the feeling that I am leading others to growth, change and empowerment; 5. Professional growth – the knowledge, learning, involvement in the curricula and the partnership in processes of team development; 6. Impact – the opportunity to collaborate in a team, to teach others, to contribute of my knowledge and to influence teachers and principals. A high internal consistency was found for the six sub-scales.

Table 2 presents the measures of the questionnaire, the means, standard deviations and reliabilities.

Table 2: Measures of the empowerment questionnaire – means, standard deviations and reliabilities (N=121)

Questionnaire measures Decisionmaking

No. of items 6

Status

6

Autonomy

3

Self-efficacy

5

Professional growth

4

Impact

5

All empowerment questionnaire items

29

Example

M

SD

I am involved in decisions that are related to the instruction budget in the district/schools My colleagues treat me with respect I am able to plan my own schedule I believe that I am good at what I do The instruction work gives me an opportunity to continue to study and become more professional Colleagues at work end to listen to my advice

3.78

.55

Cronbach‘s alpha .64

4.44

.48

.72

4.32

.66

.74

4.59

.45

.75

4.24

.75

.77

4.29

.62

.80

4.26

.47

.93

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2. PICTK knowledge (Program Information Communication Technology Knowledge) questionnaire: This questionnaire was intended to test the knowledge of the ICT instructors on the National ICT Program. The questionnaire was constructed for the present study and included 10 statements on a 5-level Likert scale. The reliability of the questionnaire was =.86. An example of an item is: ―The ICT program is based on an ICT model of innovative technology‖.

3. Instructive TPACK knowledge (Technology Pedagogy and Content Knowledge) questionnaire: A TPACK questionnaire that was developed by Koehler & Mishra (2008) was adapted to the current study in order to test the instructive TPACK knowledge of the ICT instructors. The questionnaire was adapted to the field of instruction. We asked senior ICT instructors to go over the questionnaire and test the compatibility of the items to the field of instruction. The questionnaire was given to eight judges and their comments were taken into account when constructing the final version of the questionnaire. The questionnaire tests the extent to which technology is used in instruction on a 5-level Likert scale. The questionnaire contains seven measures: pedagogical knowledge, technological knowledge, content knowledge in the field of knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge in the field of knowledge, technological content knowledge in the field of knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge,technological pedagogical content knowledge. Table 3 presents the measures of the questionnaire and their means, standard deviations and reliabilities.

Table 3: Measures of the instructive TPACK knowledge – means, standard deviations and reliabilities (N=121)

Questionnaire measures Pedagogical knowledge (PK)

No. of items 3

Technological knowledge (TK)

4

Content knowledge (CK)

3

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) Technological content knowledge (TCK)

4

3

Example

M

SD

Cronbach’s alpha

I am able to use a variety of teaching styles when I instruct I am able to solve technical problems that are related to hardware I can decide for myself on the scope of the learned content in the fields of my instruction I am able to teach the teachers I instruct in an online environment I am able to create an online environment that enables the teachers I instruct to construct new

4.51

.49

.69

3.94

.68

.82

4.34

.52

.65

4.63

.47

.82

4.42

.56

.79

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Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPK) Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK)

4

All instructive TPACK knowledge questionnaire items

25

4

knowledge and skills I am able to conduct an online activity among the teachers I instruct I am able to use technology in order to successfully represent content which I instruct

4.36

.41

.91

4.18

.61

.74

4.33

.42

.92

4. Demographic questionnaire: The instructors answered a questionnaire on demographics, such as gender, age, role in the education system, academic education, seniority in teaching and seniority in instruction.

The research procedure At the beginning of the 2013 school year, the ICT instructors were asked to answer an online self-report questionnaire that was intended for the present study. Anonymity and confidentiality were ensured by including no identifying details in the questionnaire.

Results Path analysis with structural equation modeling using the AMOS 7.0 (Analysis of Moment Structures) software (Arbuckle, 2006) was performed in order to test the effect of PICTK knowledge on instructive TPACK knowledge and their effect on the sense of empowerment of the instructor. This software enables testing variables and relations between them simultaneously as well as improvement of the test by reference to the measurement model and the structural model. This analysis can therefore confirm or reject the theory on which the research is based.

The first step in structural equation modeling is evaluation of the measurement model, and it is performed by testing measures that indicate its fit to the model.

The four measures 2, RMSEA, NFI and CFI are used to test the model which best fits reality (Bentler & Bonett, 1980; Kline 2005). Table 4 presents the fit measures of the proposed research model.

Table 4: Fit measures of the proposed research model

Fit measures 2 2/df CFI

Recommended levels of fit n.s. at p<.05 <5 >.90

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Value of the measure 113.671, p<.05 1.29 .97

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NFI RMSEA

>.90 <.08

.90 .05

The results in Table 4 indicate a good fit of the proposed research model to the research data. The corrected loading coefficients (ď Ź) of the measurement model of the district ICT instructors and of the district-school ICT instructors are presented in Figure 2 and Figure 3.

.33**

.26

.51*

PICTK

.71

e3

e2

e1

.50

.47**

TPACK

Empowerment

.87

Decision-m.

e9

Status

e8

.64 Autonomy

e7

.99 .90 .85

.72 .66 .51 .70

.82

Self-efficacy

e6

.Profession-g

e5

.66 .94

TPACK

TPK

PCK

TCK

CK

TK

PK

e12

e13

e14

e15

e16

Impact e10

e11

e4

Figure 2: Path analysis for district ICT instructors

.52**

.01

.08

PICTK

.74

e3

e2

e1

.43

.36**

TPACK

Empowerment

.82

Decision-m.

e9

Status

e8

.77 Autonomy

e7

.86 .83 .69

TPACK

TPK

.37

PCK

.77 .44 .30 .99

TCK

CK

TK

e13

e14

e15

.77 Self-efficacy

e6

.88

e5

Profession-g

PK Impact

e10

e11

e12

e4

e16

Figure 3: Path analysis for district-school ICT instructors

The second step in structural equation modeling is evaluating the structural model which estimates the causal relations between two types of variables: exogenous variables which are the independent variables and are not affected by other variables in the model, and endogenous variables which are affected by

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other variables in the model. The exogenous variable in the present study is the observed variable PICTK. The endogenous variables are instructive TPACK and sense of empowerment. The variable instructive TPACK is a latent mediator variable that was measured by seven observed variables: PK, TK, CK, TCK, PCK, TPK and TPACK. The variable sense of empowerment is a dependent and latent variable that was measured by six observed variables: status, professional growth, impact, autonomy, self-efficacy and decision-making. Figure 2 presents the path analysis of the district ICT instructors and Figure 3 presents the path analysis of the district-school ICT instructors. Each figure presents the standardised effect coefficients (), the percent of explained variance (R2) and the standardised loading coefficients () of the observed variables.

Convergent validity – estimation of the loading coefficients of the observed variables Figures 2 and 3 indicate that most of the measures of the two latent variables (instructive TPACK knowledge and empowerment) are significant (p<.001) and well reflect all the theoretical concepts in the model, except for TK, among district-school ICT instructors. It can be seen that the standardised loading coefficients (λ) of the instructive TPACK knowledge range between .51 and .90 among district ICT instructors, where the measure of TPACK knowledge was the most valid (λ=.99). Among the district-school ICT instructors, the standardised loading coefficients (λ) of the instructive TPACK knowledge range between .30 and .99, where the PK (λ=.99) was the most valid. The standardised loading coefficients (λ) of the empowerment measures among the district ICT instructors range between .64 and .99, where self-efficacy (λ=.99) was obtained as the most valid, but not much more than the measure of impact (λ=.94). Among the district-school ICT instructors, the standardised loading coefficients (λ) of theempowerment measures range from .74 to .88, where the measure of impact (λ=.88) was the most valid.

The results of the goodness of the measurement model and estimation of the loading coefficients of the observed variables indicate that all of the concepts were measured in a valid manner, and therefore strengthen the theoretical basis that guided the choice of the different measures for the two groups.

Testing the structural model and confirmation of the research hypotheses Figures 2 and 3 demonstrate a similar picture of a high level of explained variance of empowerment among the district ICT instructors and the districtschool ICT instructors, which is explained by PICTK knowledge and instructive TPACK knowledge (50% and 43%, respectively). However, the PICTK knowledge explains about one third of the explained variance (26%) of the instructive TPACK knowledge among the district ICT instructors, whereas among the district-school ICT instructors PICTK knowledge does not explain the instructive TPACK knowledge (1%).

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When testing the first research hypothesis it can be seen that among the district ICT instructors, PICTK knowledge has a significant moderate positive effect on the empowerment level (=.33, p<.001) and among the district-school ICT instructors this effect is even stronger (=.52, p<.001). Thus, the greater the PICTK knowledge of the ICT instructor, the greater is his or her sense of empowerment and the hypothesis was confirmed.

When testing the second research hypothesis it can be seen that among district ICT instructors, PICTK knowledge has a significant positive effect on instructive TPACK knowledge (=.51, p<.001). Thus, the greater the PICTK knowledge of the district ICT instructor, the greater is his or her TPACK knowledge. However, PICTK knowledge has no effect on the TPACK knowledge among district-school ICT instructors (=.08. p>.05). Thus, the hypothesis was confirmed only among the district ICT instructors.

When testing the third research hypothesis it can be seen that among the district ICT instructors, instructive TPACK knowledge has a significant strong positive effect on the level of empowerment (=.47, p<.001). Among the district-school ICT instructors, this effect is moderate (=.36, p<.001). Thus, the greater the TPACK knowledge of the ICT instructor, the greater is his or her sense of empowerment and the hypothesis was confirmed.

Discussion and conclusions The concept of empowerment includes a range of meanings that pertain to the cultivation of the individual and strengthening him or her and his or her function in the personal and organisational environment in which he or she operates (Hemric, Eury & Shellman,2010). Thus, empowerment is a process that can be motivated by the individual, while the organisation can supply the climate, relations, resources and means for achieving better control of the individual over his or her environment (Pollack, 2009; Reeves, 2009).

Empowered individuals are individuals with high self-confidence, a high level of awareness of themselves and their environment, and high motivation for action and change. They are ―driven‖ by learning and innovation andare characterised by activity for realising goals which they defined for themselves within the space of their activity in their personal and professional world (Johnson & Short, 1988; Segedin, 2011).

The findings regarding the first research hypothesis indicate that ICT instructors perceive PICTK knowledge as affecting their sense of empowerment. PICTK knowledge has a significant moderate or higher positive effect on the sense of empowerment of both groups of ICT instructors. The individual as an empowered professional is a person who is active within his or her field of expertise, receives and gives expression to expertise even beyond his or her role, is active and contributes to the success of the organisation, is an active participant in decision-making, dares and takes risks and struggles for his or her promotion. It is therefore recommended to continue to cultivate the different ICT instructors and to expand their personal knowledge on the evolving ICT program, with the goal of having the ICT instructor use PICTK knowledge for

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understanding the processes of change which are taking place in the school, such that he or she will be able to formulate an instruction plan that will be adapted to the needs and goals of the institution, out of a sense of strong internal empowerment. The products of the empowerment are expressed in raising their status and strengthening the knowledge, abilities and professional skills of the role holders (Avidov-Ungar et al., 2014; Avidov-Ungar & Shmir-Inbal 2013; Lecos et al., 2000). Knowledge on the ICT program thus becomes empowering knowledge for the role holder.

The findings regarding the second research hypothesis indicate that the ICT instructors perceive PICTK knowledge as affecting their TPACK knowledge.PICTK knowledge has a significant positive effect on instructive TPACK knowledge only among district ICT instructors, whereas it has no effect among district-school ICT instructors. The findings indicate that knowledge on the ICT program, i.e. PICTK knowledge, does not necessarily promote the TPACK knowledge of the district-school ICT instructors, but has critical significance for their sense of empowerment. It is possible that these ICT instructors regard their instructive role from a focus of the practice of teaching, and less for promotion of the broad perception of the ICT program in the school context. On the other hand, it can be assumed that the district ICT instructors base their instruction work, which includes TPACK knowledge, on the knowledge they acquired regarding the ICT program, i.e. PICTK knowledge, and are able to connect between the actions of the types of knowledge. This viewpoint may cause a stronger sense of empowerment than among the districtschool ICT instructors.

Banathy (1992) claims that a comprehensive viewpoint is constructed based on the integration of concepts which are related, since it is then possible to find interrelations between the concepts and to organise them into a model. Role holders in education systems who are empowered have a higher sense of responsibility pertaining to their role and to the tasks which they must perform and the goals they must achieve. It is reasonable to assume that the district ICT instructors act out of a greater sense of responsibility in a broader field, which enables creating the connections between the information items on the PICTK programs and items of instructive TPACK knowledge and this enhances their sense of empowerment.

The findings regarding the third research hypothesis indicate that the ICT instructors perceive TPACK knowledge as affecting their sense of empowerment. Both groups of ICT instructors are empowered due to their instructive TPACK knowledge. Thus, they can plan the instruction content, teach the teachers teaching strategies in an ICT environment, adapt online teaching methods during instruction, etc. Role holders in education systems who are empowered, including ICT instructors who are active and confident in their power, will also act beyond their fields of responsibility, will initiate and will contribute to the success of the school and the organisational environment in which they operate and to their success as professionals (Irwin, 1996).

It can therefore be assumed that ICT instructors with instructive TPACK knowledge which is adapted to the teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; and the schoolsâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; needs are teachers @2014 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved

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with a high level of TPACK knowledge and have a broader viewpoint, which enables them to use this knowledge when instructing teachers. Thus it seems that they are successful in their work on the one hand, and are meaningful to the environment on the other hand. These findings strengthen the claim of AvidovUngar et al., (2014) that deep understanding of the demands of the role, accepting a broad role in the early stage of the career, understanding that experience is a significant resource, participating in a growth-promoting learning framework and regarding the school as an organisationalcomprehensive framework are factors that promote a higher sense of empowerment among role holders in education systems. The research findings renew the meaning of TPACK knowledge of ICT instructors. It is therefore important to learn the essence of instructive TPACK knowledge in the professional development of ICT instructors, which includes broad aspects composed of pedagogy, content of the different fields of knowledge and technology, such as the efficacy to instruct teachers towards educated use of technological means in different fields of knowledge or efficacy to create an online environment which enables the instructed persons to construct new knowledge and skills. It is possible that this will enable better results in the implementation of the ICT program in the school.

Furthermore, the present study illuminates three roles of the ICT instructor: the instructor as a technology leader, the instructor as a pedagogy leader and the instructor as a leader of change (Comber & Lawson, 1999; Lai & Pratt, 2004). The perception of the role of instructor thus affects his or her understanding of the role, influences his or her preferences, decisions on everyday dilemmas and the manner in which he or she performs the tasks derived from the demands of the role (Markham, 1998; Moursund, 1992). It was further found that when a sense of empowerment is added, which is expressed in a sense of efficacy and in the ability to influence the change in the organisational environment, performance of the role is carried out with maximal efficiency (Dembele & Schwille, 2006).

In future research it is recommended to expand the circle of participants and to test the differences between the groups that were tested in the present study and a group of school ICT instructors. It is further recommended to test additional factors, both personal and professional, that affect instructive TPACK knowledge and the sense of empowerment of ICT instructors among different role holders.

References Arbuckle, J. L. (2006). AMOS 7.0 user's guide. Chicago: SPSS. Avidov-Ungar, O., & Shmir-Inbal, T. (2013). Empowerment patterns of leaders in ICT and school strengths following the implementation of national ICT reform.

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Avidov-Ungar, O., Friedman, I, & Olshtain, E. (2014). Empowerment amongst teachers holding leadership positions.Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 20(3).1-17.

Bandura, A. (1989). Human agency in social cognitive theory. American Psychologist, 44, 1175-1184.

Banathy, B. (1992). A systems view of education: Concepts and principles for effective action.

Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Education Technology Publications.

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Bentler, P. M., & Bonett, D. G. (1980).Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures.Psychological Bulletin, 88, 588-606.

BlaseJ.,& Blase J. (1997). The micropolitical orientation of facilitative school principals and its effects on teachers‘ sense of empowerment. Journal of Educational Administration, 35(2), 138-164.

Comber C. A. & Lawson T. A. (1999). Superhighways technology: Personnel factors leading to successful integration of information and communications technology in schools and colleges. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 8(1), 41-53.

Conger, J. A., & Kanungo, R. N. (1988). The empowerment process: Integrating theory and practice. Academy of Management Review, 31(3), 471-482.

Cook, J., Holley, D., & Andrew, D. (2007). A stakeholder approach to implementing elearning in a university.British Journal of Educational Technology, 38(5), 784-794.

Cribner, J. P., Truell, A. D., Hager, D. R., & Srichai, S., (2001). An exploratory study of career and technical education teacher empowerment: Implications for school leaders. Journal of Career and Technical Education, 18(1), 46-57.

Datnow, A., Hubbard, L., & Mehan, H. (2002).Extending educational reform: From one school to many. London: Routledge Falmer.

Dembele, M., & Schwille, J. (2006). Can the global trend toward accountability be reconciled with ideals of teacher empowerment? Theory and practice in Guinea.

International Journal of Educational Research, 45(4-5), 302-314.

Fullan, M. (2006). The future of educational change: system thinkers in action. Journal of Educational Change, 7 (3), 113-122.

Fullan, M., Bertani, A., Quinn, J. (2004).New Lessons for Districtwide Reform.Educational Leadership – Leading in Tough Times, 61(7), 42-46.

Hargreaves, A. (2005). Educational change takes ages: Life, career and generational factor in teacher emotional responses to educational change. Teaching and teacher Education, 21, 267-983.

Hargreaves, A., & Goodson, I.(2006). Educational change over time?The sustainability and nonsustainability of three decades of secondary school change and continuity.Educational Administration Quarterly, 42(1), 3-41.

Hemric, M., Eury, A. D., & Shellman, D. (2010).Correlations between perceived teacher empowerment and perceived sense of teacher self-efficacy.Journal of Scholarship and Practice, 7(1), 37-50.

Irwin, J. W. (1996). Empowering ourselves and transforming schools: Educators making a difference. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Klein, K. J., & Sorra, J. S. (1996).The challenge of innovation implementation.The Academy of Management Review, 21(4), 1055-1080.

Johnson, P., & Short, P. (1988).Principal‘s leader power, teacher empowerment, teacher compliance and conflict.Educational Management & Administration, 26(2), 147-159.

Kaniuka, T. S. (2012). Toward an understanding of how teachers change during school reform: Considerations for educational leadership and school improvement.

Journal of Educational Change, 13(3), 327-346.

Kline, R. B. (Ed.) (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. New York: Guilford.

Koehler, M., & Mishra, P. (2008).Introducing TPCK.In AACTE committee on innovation and technology (Ed.), Handbook of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK). New York: Routledge.

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Lecos, M. A., Cassella, C., Evans, C., Leahy, C., Liess, E., & Lucas, T., (2000).Empowering Teacher Leadership in Professional Development Schools.Teaching and Change, 8 (1), 98-113.

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Maeroff, G .I. (1988).The empowerment of teachers: Overcoming the crisis of confidence. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Markham, S. K. (1998). A longitudinal examination of how champions influence others to support their projects. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 15, 490-504.

Ministry of Education (2013a).Adaptation of the education system to the 21st century.Science and Technology Administration, Ministry of Education.http://cms.education.gov.il/educationcms/units/madatech/ictined ucation. Accessed 1 September 2013 (Hebrew).

Ministry of Education (2013b).Circular number 3 for elementary schools in the second and third years, months April-June 2013.Adaptation of the education system to the 21st century.Science and Technology Administration, Ministry of Education.http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/MadaTech/ICTI nEducation/MismachimVenehalim/Hozerey_Agaf/Hozer_Agaf.htm. Accessed 1 September 2013 (Hebrew).

Ministry of Education (2013c). Circular of the General Administration 2014/2 (b) 8.34.Education workers in instruction roles. http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/applications/mankal/arc/sd2bk8 _3_4.htm. Accessed 1 September 2013 (Hebrew) Moursund, D. (1992). The technology coordinator International Society for Technology in Education. Eugene, Oreon.

Muijs, D., & Harris, A. (2003).Teacher leadership-improvement through empowerment?An overview of the literature.Educational Management & Administration, 31(4), 437-448.

Pollak, C. J. (2009). Teacher empowerment and collaboration enhances student engagement.

Master of Science in Education, School of Education, Dominican University of California, San Rafael, CA. Reeves, D. B. (2009).Model teachers.Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 66(5), 85-86.

Sandy, L. D. (2010). Social capital, empowerment and educational change: A scenario of permeation of one-to-one technology in school. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. 26(4), 284-295.

Segedin, L. (2011). The role of teacher empowerment and teacher accountability in school-university partnerships and action research. Brock Education, 20(2), 43-64.

Shaw, G. (2005). Collaboration in Aid — ICT In Teacher Education: But What About Sustainability? In: S. Grag et al (Eds.), Open and Distance Education in Global Environment: Opportunities for collaboration, New Delhi: Viva Books Inc. Short, P. M., & Rinehart, J. S. (1992). School participant empowerment scale: Assessment of the level of participant empowerment in the school. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 54(2), 951-960.

Stufflebeam, D. L (2007). Cipp evaluation model checklist.http://www.wmich.edu/evalctr/archive_checklists/cippchecklist_ma r07.pdf. Accessed 21 February 2012 Sundra, D. L., Scherer, J., & Anderson, L. A. (2003). A guide to logic model development for CDC’s prevention research centre. Atlanta, GA: Prevention Research Centers Program Office, Centers for Disease Control. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/evaluation/guide/documents/ cdc-logic-modeldevelopment.pdf White, P. A. (1992). Teacher empowerment under ‗‗ideal‘‘ school-site autonomy.Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 14(1), 69-82.

Zimmerman, M. A. (1990). Taking aim on empowerment research: On the distinction between individual and psychological conceptions. American Journal of Community Psychology, 18, 169 -177.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research

Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 63-71, May 2014

Study of Metadiscourse in ESP Articles: A Comparison of English Articles written by Iranian and English Native Speakers Atena Attarn Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Mashhad, Iran Abstract. This study aims to examine the use of interactive and interactional metadiscursive features in ESP articles written by Iranian and English native speakers. The analysis is based on a corpus of 15 research articles from Persian-written and 15 from English-written in ESP field. The selected corpus was analyzed through the model suggested by Hyland (2005). Results of the study showed that both groups used interactive and interactional features in their articles. In both groups, writers used an interactive metadiscourse more than an interactional one. Moreover, there were significant differences on the particular occurrence of some categories in interactive and interactional features.

Keywords: Metadiscourse; ESP articles; Iranian writers; English writers

Introduction Hegemony of English language in the academic world of knowledge has attracted researchers to publish their valuable findings in English international databases (Flowerdew, 1999). Due to this tendency, there has been a great appeal of mastering the article writing genre to convey their findings as clear as possible.

Students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) find writing not only a significant but also more demanding task to master than oral skills (Marandi, 2002). Therefore, conscious awareness of the rules and conventions helps the researchers to communicate as effective as possible in academic discourse.

Consequently, various aspects of article writing were taken into consideration.

From organizational pattern aspect the idea of contrastive rhetoric was suggested (Kaplan, 1966). From lexico-grammatical and cross-linguistic/cultural perspective aspect features like tense choice, transitivity structures (Martinez, 2001) and citation practices (Hyland, 1999) accompanied by the use of metadiscursive elements were investigated.

Metadiscourse awareness helps the writer to imagine himself as a reader or a "self-reflective linguistic material referring to the evolving text and to the writer and imagined reader of that text" (Hyland & Tse, 2004; p. 156). In other words metadiscourse is "writing about the evolving text rather than referring to the Š 2014 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

64

subject matter” (Swales, 1990; p.188). The writer is thus motivated to explicitly organize his discourse, engage the reader and signals his attitude properly (Hyland, 1998).

Consequently, there is a need for ESL/EFL writers to learn organizing their text properly and guide their readers through it to avoid any probable misunderstanding. Therefore, the present study was motivated to uncover metadiscoursal patterns EFL articles written by Iranians both in English those written by native speakers of English. In fact, this study hopes to heighten Iranians’ awareness of English underlying organizational patterns.

Review of Related Literature Since the introduction of metadiscourse features, linguists has taken a deep look into existing social communication between writer and readers of a text rather than exclusive use of language for conveying meaning. The work of Zellig Harris was a starting point in this realm and the concept of metadiscourse was later developed by Hyland (cited in Vande Kopple, 2002). Consequently, various metadiscourse taxonomies including Crismore et al. (1993), Hyland's taxonomy (1998, 1999), Vande Kopple's revised taxonomy (2002), and Hyland's revised taxonomy (2004) have been designated to scrutinize different texts.

It is also worth mentioning that study of metadiscourse has not been exclusively limited to any special field. In fact, it has been investigated in the various fields of study and in different languages. Moreover, a large number of studies (Abdollahzadeh 2003; Crismore et al. 1993; Mauranen 1993) has shown that the rhetorical use of metadiscourse in writing may be cultural based which means metadiscourse usually vary from one language and culture to another ones.

Therefore, researchers have been likely to compare the use of metadiscourse in two or more languages in different genres and conduct comparative studies. In this regard, some cross-linguistic studies which compare the use of metadiscourse in English and Persian are reviewed briefly here.

The early work of Marandi (2000) addressed the introduction and discussion sections of 30 master's theses written after 1990 by Persian-speaking and English-speaking graduate students. Analysis of the first 1000 words in each section showed that textual metadisourse subtypes were used significantly more in the introductions but that interpersonal metadiscourse subtypes were used more in the discussion sections. In addition, the findings revealed that, of all groups, the native speakers of Persian used text/logical connectors the most while the native speakers of English used them the least.

Later in 2003, Abdollahzadeh focused on use of interpersonal metadiscourse. He studied discussion and conclusion sections of 65 articles (32 articles by native speakers of English and 33 by Iranian academics writing in English) published during the years 2000-2002 in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). The findings suggested a statistically significant difference between native and nonnative writers in their use of interpersonal metadiscourse. The Anglo-American writers used more certainty and attitude markers than the Iranian academics.

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Rahimpour (2006) investigated metadiscourse use in the discussion sections of 90 (British and US) English and Persian applied linguistics research articles. The study was conducted on three groups of 30: those articles written in English by Iranians as non-native speakers of English; those in Persian written by Iranians; and those written by native speakers of English. Application of Hyland's (2004) model suggested that writers of all three groups of applied linguistic discussion sections used all sub-types of metadiscourse. Transitions and hedges were the most frequently used subtypes. Native speakers of English used significantly more textual metadiscourse than the two groups of Iranian writers did.

Furthermore, textual metadiscourse was used significantly more than interpersonal metadiscourse by all groups.

In another study, 90 discussion sections of applied linguistics research articles were examined by Faghih and Rahimpour (2009). Adaptation of Hyland's (2004) model on three types of texts: English texts written by native speakers of English, English texts written by Iranians (as non-natives of English), and Persian texts written by Iranians showed that native speakers of English employed more interactional metadiscourse than Iranians did. Frame markers and code glosses were used more by Iranians (as both native speakers of Persian and non-native speakers of English) than native speakers of English. Comparing both groups of Iranians, they found that evidentials, code glosses, attitude markers, engagement markers, and self-mentions were used more when Iranians wrote in Persian. On the other hand, transitions, frame markers, endophoric markers, hedges, and boosters were used more when they wrote in English.

A more recent work of Firoozian Pooresfahani, Khajavy and Vahidnia (2012) on interactive and interactional metadiscoursal features of English articles in applied linguistics and engineering in the light of Hyland's (2005) model showed that writers in both groups used interactive and interactional features in their research articles. Engineering writers used more code glosses and endophoric markers, and less sequencers and topicalisers than applied linguistics writers.

There was a significant difference between the two groups in use of logical markers and evidential. Regarding interactional engineering writers used more hedges and self-mentions, and less attitude markers and boosters than applied linguistics writers.

In addition to these studies there are still a number of studies which focused on stance and engagement markers (Taki & Jafarpour, 2012), hedges and boosters (Jalilifar, 2011), and directives (Jalilifar & Mehrabi, 2014).

Due to the importance of a relatively new concept of metadiscourse, studies of metadiscourse have not received the attention they deserve (Crismore & Abdollahzadeh, 2010). Although a number of studies have examined metadiscouse in applied linguistic articles (As mentioned above) and social, political sciences and ELT books (for a review of such articles see Crismore & Abdollahzadeh, 2010), there is also a notable absence of specific studies on English for Specific Purpose (ESP) articles. Therefore, this study attempts to

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investigate the use of interactive and interactional metadiscoursal features in English ESP articles written by Persian speakers and those written by native speakers of English.

Method Corpus This study entails the total number of 30 articles which were published from 2000 to 2011 in the field of ESP. The reason that articles were chosen in this field was familiarity of the current author with the field and avoidance of probable misunderstandings. The articles were selected by means of random sampling which helped the researcher overcome the problem of idiosyncrasy of writers' styles. The articles were selected from famous and recently published journal issues. The researcher did her best to select the articles as diverse an array of subjects as possible to be able to increase the external validity of the results.

Later, the articles constituted 2 groups of 15 which were labeled as: A) English articles: These articles were written by native speakers of English.

B) Inter-language articles: It encompassed English articles written by native speakers of Persian.

Procedure Data collection took approximately two months to complete. The sample was formed by the random selection of 30 articles in the field of English for specific purposes. To provide a valid comparison, discussion sections of articles were analyzed. It is believed that the discussion is a section in which interactional metadiscourse markers (e.g., directives) are most likely to appear (Siami & Abdi, 2012). Another reason for the selection of discussion sections was the length of the articles and the fact that the introduction sections being much shorter than the discussions which may not provide enough data.

As Crismore et al. (1993) mentioned line density is an appropriate measure used in the study of metadiscourse studies and pointed that the 1000-word approach is the usual method. They further pointed out that the 1000 words could be taken from the beginning, the end or the middle of the discussion section.

Therefore, only the discussion sections of the articles were investigated for the types and amounts of metadiscourse.

To increase the reliability of the results, the chosen articles were double-checked and the consistency of rating or reliability increased after passing about one month from the first analysis (i.e. following a intra-rating procedure, rxy = 0.84).

For the purpose of this study, a recent metadiscourse classification formulated

by Hyland and Tse (2004) and Hyland (2005) was taken as the model (Table 1).

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Table 1: An interpersonal model of metadiscourse (Hyland and Tse, 2004: 169; Hyland, 2005: 49)

Category Interactive Transitions Frame markers Endophoric markers Evidentials Code glosses

Interactional Hedges Boosters

Function

Example

Help to guide the reader through the text express relations between main clauses discourse acts, sequences or stages information in other parts of the text information from other texts

in addition; but; thus; and finally; to conclude; my purpose is noted above; see figure; in section 2 according to X; Z states namely; e.g.; such as; in other words

propositional meaning Involve the reader in the text withhold commitment and open dialogue emphasize certainty and close dialogue

Attitude markers

expresses writers' attitude to proposition

Self mentions

explicit author(s)

Engagement markers

explicitly build relationship with reader

reference

Resources

Resources might; perhaps; possible; about in fact; definitely; it is clear that

unfortunately; I agree; surprisingly to I; we; my; me; our consider; note; you can see that

As metadiscourse is inherently a fuzzy and a functional category and that the metadiscursive expressions can be multifunctional and context dependent (Adel, 2006), both automatic searching procedures and manual analysis were done to avoid error.

Result and Discussion Comparison on interactive metadiscourse features in English ESP articles written by Persian and native English writers To find the differences in utilization of interactive metadiscourse categories, frequency of each category was counted and separately for both groups.

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Persian writers

English writers

588 558

42 Transition

69

63

105 24

39

24

Frame markersEndophoric markers Evidentials

33

Code glosses

Figure 1. Bar graph of interactive metadiscourse in ESP articles written by Persian and native English writers

As it can be seen in Figure 1, both groups enjoyed application of metadiscouse categories in their articles among which transition was used more and code glosses were used less than the other categories. A close look at frequencies showed that Iranian writers’ use of transition, evidential, and endophoric markers outweigh their English counterparts. Native English writers, however, used frame markers and code glosses more than Persian ones.

In total, Persian ESP writers applied more interactive metadiscourse categories than English ones, but the result of study showed that this difference was not significant. Therefore, in line with Firoozian Pooresfahani, Khajavy, and Vahidnia (2012), writers in both groups make explicit the relationship between two independent discourse units almost equally.

Based on Table 1, there was a statistically significant difference between two groups in use of Endophoric markers (x 2 =11.53, p<0.05). It implies that Persian writers guide their readers and provide enough information for them to avoid ambiguity. Moreover, the use of Endophoric markers which links the previously mentioned facts helps the readers not to be misled.

Table 2. Chi-square test for endophoric markers

Endophoric Observed N markers Articles by 63 Persian writers Articles by 24 English writers

Expected N

df

X2

Sig.

41

1

11.53

0.01

41

There was also a statistically significant difference between two groups in use of evidentials (Χ2=18.62, p<.005). Therefore, evidential are used more frequently by English authors than Persian writers. It shows that English authors use more support and justification for their argumentation (Noorian & Biria, 2010). This

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implies that authoritative proofs are backbone of articles by English writers which confirms the previous finding of Pishghadam and Attaran (2012).

Table 3. Chi-square test for evidentials

Evidentials

Observed N Articles by 105 Persian writers Articles by 39 English writers

Expected N 72

df

X2

Sig.

1

18.62

0.001

72

4.2. Comparison on interactional metadiscourse features in English ESP articles written by Persian and native English writers The frequency of interactional metadiscourse (Figure 2) disclosed interesting quantitative similarities and differences between the two sets of data.

150 100 50 0

Persian writers English writers

Figure 2. Bar graph of interactional metadiscourse in ESP articles written by Persian and native English writers

As it can be seen in Figure 2, interactional metadiscourse as well as interactive metadiscourse were observed in the writings of both groups. Persian writers mostly employed hedges in their articles, and did not enjoy using attitude markers and engagement ones. Regarding English writers, hedges and self mention categories were used more than other ones, respectively. Although English writers utilize attitude markers and engagement in their writing but the number was not noticeable.

Among various categories of interactional metadiscourse, results of chi-square test (Table 4) showed that there is a statistically significant difference between two groups in use of self-mentions (Χ2=18, p<.05). Based on this, English authors use self-mentions more than Persian authors. Self-mentions show self-references and self-citations. It suggests that English writers explicitly give reference to themselves more than Persian authors. This can be due to some cultural issues.

Iranian people tend to be indirect (Kaplan, 1966; Hofstede, 1991; Pishghadam &

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Attaran, in press), therefore, Iranian writers probably consider self mention as an inappropriate strategy while English writers felt more comfortable using selfmentions.

Table 4. Chi-square test for self mention

Self Observed N mention Articles by 18 Persian writers Articles by 54 English writers

Expected N

df

X2

Sig.

36

1

18

0.000

36

Conclusion This paper was an attempt to examine metadiscourse features in English ESP articles written by Iranian and native English writers. It also aimed to investigate the similarities and differences between the two sets of articles regarding the use of interactive and interactional metadiscourse categories and to compare these two groups in using these categories. The results revealed that both groups enjoy application of interactive as well as interactional metadiscourse categories; however, English writers outperform Persian authors in both groups numerically. Regarding interactive metadiscourse categories, the quantitative analysis of data revealed significantly statistical similarities (in the case of transition, frame markers, and code glosses) and differences (in the case of endophorica markers and evidential) between the ESP articles written by English and Iranian writers. With regard to interactional categories, there was no significant difference among categories of interactional metadisocurse except for self mention. Along with Mauranen's (1993) research self mention expressions were employed more frequently by the American writers as they tend to signaling of their personal presence in academic texts. Moreover, Crismore (1989) mentioned that the use of self mention brought about reader-writer solidarity which promotes comprehension. Manifestly, readers must keep in mind that a study such as the present one has its own restrictions. A lager samples is needed to be examined cautiously. Another associated limitation is the lack of comparison between experienced and inexperienced writers of English and Persian, making it impossible to show the significant interaction effect between language and culture.

References Abdollahzadeh, E. (2003). Interpersonal Metadiscourse in ELT Papers by Iranian and AngloAmerican Academic Writers. Paper presented at the International Conference on Multiculturalism in ELT Practice at Baskent University, Turkey.

Adel, A. (2006). Metadiscourse in L1 and L2 English. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Crismore, A., Markkanen, R., & Steffensen, M. S. (1993). Metadiscourse in persuasive writing: A study of texts written by American and Finnish university students. Written Communication, 10(1), 39-71.

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Crismore, A. (1989). Talking with readers: Metadiscourse as rhetorical act. New York: Peter Lang Publishers.

Crismore, A., & Abdollahzadeh, E. (2010). A review of recent metadiscourse studies: the Iranian context. NJES, 9(2), 195-219.

Faghih, E., & Rahimpour, S. (2009). Contrastive rhetoric of English and Persian written texts: Metadiscourse in applied linguistics research articles. Rice Working Papers in Linguistics, 1, 92-107.

Firoozian Pooresfahani, A., Khajavy, G. H., & Vahidnia, F. (2012). A contrastive study of metadiscourse elements in research articles written by Iranian applied linguistics and engineering writers in English. English Linguistics Research, 1(1), 88-96.

Flowerdew, J. (1999). Problems in writing for scholarly publication in English: The case of Hong Kong. Journal of Second Language Writing, 17, 243-364.

Hofstede, G. (1991). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. London: McGraw-Hill.

Hyland, K. (1998a). Hedging in scientific research articles. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Hyland, K. (1999). Academic attribution: Citation and the construction of disciplinary knowledge.

AppliedLinguistics, 20(3), 341–367.

Hyland, K. (2004). Disciplinary interactions: Metadiscourse in L2 postgraduate writing. Journal of Second Language writing, 13, 133-151.

Hyland, K. (2005). Metadiscourse: Exploring interaction in writing. Oxford: Continuum.

Hyland, K., Tse, P. (2004). Metadiscourse in academic writing: a reappraisal. Applied Linguistics.

25 (2), 156–177.

Jalilifar, A. (2011). World of attitudes in research article discussion sections: A cross-linguistic perspective. Journal of Technology & Education, 5(3), 177-186.

Jalilifar, A., & Mehrabi, K. (2013). A cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural study of directives in discussions and conclusions of research articles. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research 2(1), 27-44.

Kaplan, R. B. (1988). Contrastive rhetoric and second language learning: Notes toward theory of contrastive rhetoric. In A. C. Purves (Ed.), Writing Across Languages and Cultures (pp.

275-304). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publication.

Marandi, S. (2002) A contrastive EAP rhetoric: Metadiscourse in Persian vs. English (Doctrocal dissertation). Tehran University, Iran.

Martinez, I. (2001). Impersonality in the research article as revealed by analysis of contrastive structure. English for Specific Purposes, 20, 227–247.

Mauranen, A. (1993). Contrastive ESP rhetoric: Metatext in Finnish-English Economics texts.

English for Specific Purposes, 12, 3–22.

Noorian, M., & Biria, R. (2010). Interpersonal metadiscourse in persuasive journalism: A study of texts by American and Iranian EFL columnists. Journal of Modern Languages, 20, 6479.

Pishghadam, R., & Attaran, A. (2012). Rhetorical patterns of Argumentation in EFL journals of Persian and English. International Journal of Research Studies in Language Learning, 2(1), 81-90.

Pishghadam, R., & Attaran, A. (in press). A sociological look into speech act of swearing: A comparison of Persian and English languages. Studies in Language and Translation.

Rahimpour, S. (2006). Contrastive Rhetoric of English and Persian Texts; Metadiscourse in Applied Linguistics Research Articles. Unpublished Master‘s thesis, University of Mashad.

Siami, T., & Abdi, R. (2012). Metadiscourse strategies in Persian research articles: Implications for teaching writing English articles. Journal of English Language Teaching and Learning, 9, 165-176.

Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis. English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Taki,S., & Jafarpour, F. (2012). Engagement and stance in academic writing: A study of English and Persian research articles. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 3(1), 157-168.

Vande Kopple, W. J. (2002). Metadiscourse, discourse, and issues in composition and rhetoric. In F.Barton & C.Stygall (eds.), Discourse studies in composition. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 91-113.

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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 72-83, May 2014

Men who Teach and Leave: An Investigation into Factors that Push Men Out of the Classroom Dr Stephen Joseph and Dr W. Marc Jackman Centre for Education Programmes, The University of Trinidad and Tobago Valsayn Campus, Old Southern Main Road, Curepe, Trinidad and Tobago Abstract. Feminization of the Trinidad and Tobago teaching profession has been well known for decades with male teachers accounting for approximately one quarter of the teaching service. Several studies have highlighted the value of male teachers as role models for boys. Yet, men continue to exit the teaching service in quest of alternative forms of employment. This study investigated factors that push men out of the classroom in search of alternative forms of employment. Four hundred and fifty-three (453) participants were randomly selected from the northern and southern parts of Trinidad where they once taught.

Findings of the study revealed that while approximately 20% of the sample left the teaching service as a result of compulsory retirement, the majority left because of individual and contextual factors ranging from low salary and the desire to explore opportunities for upward mobility, to lack of parental and administrative support. Results of this study have implications for a more robust education policy formation aimed at attracting, recruiting, and retaining male teachers in the Trinidad and Tobago government primary and secondary school system.

Keywords: men; teach; leave; classroom; push factors

1.

Introduction

Like other territories, Trinidad and Tobago has experienced an acute shortage of male teachers in the school system for decades. Data from the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Education reveal that male teachers account for only twentysix percent (26%) of the thirteen thousand, three hundred and sixty-six (13, 366) teachers currently in the primary and secondary school system (Trinidad and Tobago, Ministry of Education [MOE], 2014). This situation is further exacerbated by the haemorrhaging of male teachers from the classroom and the concomitant hiring of female teachers to fill the gap. Indeed, the feminization of the teaching profession has been the concern of scholars as well as several governments and media practitioners worldwide (Drudy, 2008; Fischman, 2007; Albisetti, 1993; TrouvĂŠ-Finding, 2005). Writing some six years ago, Drudy (2008) reports that, women make up more than ninety percent (90%) of primary teachers in Brazil, Russian Federation, Italy, and Slovakia. A similar trend exists in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland where eighty percent (80%) of all primary school teachers are women. In Trinidad and Tobago, women

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account for seventy-eight percent (78%) of primary teachers and sixty-nine (69%) of secondary teachers in the school system (MOE, 2014).

1.1

Conceptualizations of Teacher Attrition

When viewed on a macro level, the problem of teacher attrition is significant because of its far reaching impact on the school system. Studies show that attrition rates for beginning teachers are higher than those of more experienced teachers (Liu, 2007). Some of these new teachers identify a number of factors that contribute to their decision to leave. These include factors such as poor working conditions, disruptive students, work overload, lack of acknowledgement and support, and negative school politics (Ewing & Smith, 2003; Kardos, Johnson, Reske, Kauffman & Lui, 2001).

Some novice teachers also complain about the lonely struggle to grapple with the complexities of classroom teaching and management (Cameron, 2007; Feiman-Nemser, 2001; McCormack & Thomas, 2003). Other researchers report that the most promising and gifted among the beginning teachers appear to be those that are likely leave the profession (Boyd, Grossman, Lankford, Loeb & Wyckoff, 2005; Smith & Ingersoll, 2004).

In attempting to provide explanations for teacher attrition, researchers have identified two broad conceptualizations. The first positions attrition as a problem related to individual and personal factors such as burnout, and family issues. The second conceptualization points to contextual factors of support, salary, professional development, collaboration, and other related factors (Schaefer et al., 2012). Studies show that the problem of burnout may occur more commonly in teaching due to the sense of isolation that the individual sometimes experiences in the profession (Schlichte, Yssel & Merbler, 2005; Yoo, 2011). Burnout also occurs when there is an absence of administrative support, role conflict, and unclear expectations (Schaefer et al., 2012).

The literature also identifies contextual factors as contributing to the flight of teachers from the classroom. Some of these factors include salary, lack of professional development opportunities, lack of collaboration, and student issues (Schaefer et al., 2012; Scherff, 2008; Elfers, Plecki & Knapp, 2006; Patterson, Roehrig & Luft, 2003). Although the discourse on teacher attrition has intensified in North America and Europe since the 1990s, very little has been written about male attrition in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean region.

This exploratory study aims to fill that gap as it extends the conversation to the Caribbean context. Perhaps the study will also inspire the formulation of an education policy regarding the attraction, recruitment, and retention of male teachers in the Trinidad and Tobago government education system.

2.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study was to investigate why men choose to leave the Trinidad and Tobago teaching profession in search of employment outside of the classroom. Three research questions set the parameters for this study:

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  

3.

What are the reasons for men leaving the teaching profession?

Does a relationship exist between the demographic and individual or contextual factors given for leaving the teaching profession?

Are there significant differences in the endorsement of personal or contextual attrition factors between northern(urban) and southern (rural) male teachers in Trinidad?

Methodology

3.1 Participants In a random sample, 453 participants were selected to participate in the study.

These men were former teachers in both primary and secondary schools located in the northern and southern parts of Trinidad.

3.2 Measures This study utilized a survey instrument with 17 items covering three objectives arising from the research questions outlined above. Using a 5-point Likert-type scale, respondents were required to express their opinions regarding both personal and contextual reasons for leaving the teaching profession. The following items related to personal factors:  I became tired of teaching young children  I got a better paying job  I wanted to explore better opportunities for upward mobility  I felt that I was over-qualified for the job  I was burnt out.

Survey items relating to contextual factors included:  I was tired of poor student behavior  There was too much testing  There was inadequate administrative support  My students performed poorly at examinations  My students complained about my teaching  There was little parental support.

The instrument was pilot-tested and feedback from that activity was used to improve the instrument before formally distributing the questionnaires to the research sample.

3.3 Procedure and Analyses As part of the survey, participants were asked their reasons for leaving the teaching service. Frequencies and descriptive statistics were conducted to provide information about the sample used in the study. Frequency tables were also developed for recording and tabulating demographic responses with the aid of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The demographic responses included questions related to teaching experience, qualifications, and level of teaching. Additionally, statistical procedures such as Spearman‟s rho correlations were used to explore relationships among demographic, personal and contextual factors in the study. In order to determine whether there were significant differences between urban and rural participants in terms of their endorsement of personal or contextual reasons for leaving the

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profession, Chi square tests of independence (with Yates Continuity Correction) were conducted.

4.

Results

Frequency analysis of the data revealed that participants in the study taught in schools in the north and south of Trinidad. This means that they could be classified mainly as teachers from urban (north) and rural (south) areas. As shown in Table 1 there were about 10% more male teachers from the rural region (n=248) than those from the urban area.

The participants were also fairly evenly distributed among primary and secondary school teachers. A breakdown of each sub-grouping had about a quarter of the sample except for lower secondary school that was less than 15% (n=63).

Additionally, the sample was categorized according to teaching experience. The majority of teachers, 42% (n=193), were identified as developing professionals while the novice and veterans were about equal with 27% (n=123) and 29% (n=133) respectively.

Data were also collected about the ex-teachers‟ qualifications. As shown in Table 1, the majority had Bachelor‟s degrees (45%) and one in five had Master‟s degrees; another 27% (n=123) possessed teacher training qualifications (teachers diplomas, diplomas in education and technicians diplomas) and others with lesser qualifications were about 10%.

Table 1. Demographic Data of Participants Demographic Geographic Location North (Urban) South (Rural) Total Level of Teaching Lower Primary (K- Std3) Upper Primary (Std 4&5) Lower Secondary (Forms 1 – 3) Upper Secondary (Forms 4 -6)

N (%) 205 (45.3) 248 (54.7) 453 (100) 115 (25.4) 125 (27.6) 63 (13.9) 139 (30.7)

Teaching Experience Novice (0-4yrs) Developing Professional (5-20 yrs) Veteran (>20 yrs)

123 (27.2) 193 (42.6) 133 (29.4)

Academic Qualifications Master‟s Degree Bachelor‟s Degree Teachers‟ Diploma Diploma in Education Technician‟s Diploma CXC/Advanced Level Certificate Other

92 (20.3) 205 (45.3) 97 (21.4) 13 (2.9) 13 (2.9) 27 (6.0) 5 (1.1)

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The continuous variables depicting reasons for leaving the teaching service were converted to discrete variables in order to conduct frequency counts and percentages of the reasons that teachers gave for leaving the profession. Each reason was converted to a discrete variable as either „Yes‟ or „No‟ as having been chosen or not chosen as a factor for leaving teaching. More specifically, participants who selected agree or strongly agree for any particular reason were identified, creating the discrete variables (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007). The demographic factors such as teaching experience (novice, developing professional and veteran), level of teaching (lower primary, upper primary, lower secondary and upper secondary), and qualifications (CXC: CSEC or CAPE, Teacher training certification, Bachelor‟s degrees and Masters degrees) were used to relate to the reasons in terms of Spearman‟s rho correlations.

In order to accurately account for the various reasons for leaving the teaching service, those who left because they had reached the retirement age were removed from the data set. This means that data for 81participants were excluded. The remaining participants, minus those with missing data, totaled about 353. Data for these 353 participants were subjected to frequency analyses to account for the reasons given for leaving the teaching service. From Table 2 below, it can be seen that just over one thousand responses were categorized as personal reasons for leaving the teaching service. This means that each of the 353 participants identified an average of 3 out of the 5 personal reasons seen in the Table 2 headings below as being responsible for their departure from the teaching service.

Additionally, it appears that the desire to explore opportunities for upward mobility and jobs offering better remuneration were the two prime reasons that accounted for almost 60% (n=591) of all the personal reasons given for leaving the profession. The third most advanced reason was “burn out” (16%) which was followed by being “over qualified‟ (14%), and least among the personal reasons given was being “tired of teaching (12.5%).”

Table 2. Personal Reasons for Leaving the Teaching Service Personal Reasons

Demographic Level of Teaching Lower Primary (K- Std. 3) Upper Primary (Std. 4&5)

Exploring Better Tired Upward paying job Teaching Mobility

Burn-out

Over Qualified

80/102

93/101

45/102

55/102

39/101

69/91

79/91

26/91

50/92

30/92

Lower Secondary (Forms 1 – 3)

39/54

44/55

18/55

20/55

16/54

Upper Secondary (Forms 4 -6)

88/106

99/106

40/105

39/104

58/106

Totals

276/353

315/353

129/353

164/353

143/353

The data also reveal that participants identified contextual reasons for leaving teaching. There were at least 6 contextual reasons: inadequate administrative

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77

support, little parental support, student complaints, poor student behaviour, poor student performance and too much testing. Similar to the personal reasons, participants‟ data were subjected to frequency analyses to account for the contextual reasons given for leaving the teaching service. Table 3 below shows that there were 763 responses. This means that each of the353 participants identified an average of 2 out of the 6 contextual reasons as factors responsible for their departure from the profession.

From the frequency analyses conducted, lack of parental support and inadequate administrative Support emerged as the two main reasons of all the contextual reasons given for leaving the profession. These two factors accounted for 60% (n=439) of the contextual reasons. The third most advanced reason was “poor student behaviour” with approximately 22%; too much testing was next with 13%, and least among the contextual reasons was “student complaints” (2.2%).

Table 3. Contextual Reasons for Leaving the Teaching Service Demographic Level of Teaching Lower Primary (K- Std3) Upper Primary (Std. 4&5) Lower Secondary (Forms 1 – 3) Upper Secondary (Forms 4-6) Totals

Inadequate Admin Support

Little Parental Support

Student Complaints

Poor Student Behaviour

Poor Student Performance

Too Much Testing

71/102

75/102

6/102

55/101

11/102

32/102

52/90

59/92

3/92

36/91

8/92

34/92

27/55

32/55

4/54

27/55

9/55

8/55

60/103

63/104

4/106

48/105

15/105

24/104

210/350

229/353

17/354

166/352

43/354

98/353

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In order to explore further relationships among the factors in the study (and answer research question 2 in the study), the data were subjected to Spearman‟s rho correlations since the variables were ordinal and categorical. Two such correlations were conducted with the personal and contextual factors separately.

The first Spearman‟s rho correlation sought to identify relations among demographic factors such as teaching experience, teacher qualifications and the level of teaching with the personal factors identified earlier (seeking better pay, exploring opportunities for upward mobility, being over-qualified, burn out or being tired of teaching).

The results of the first Spearman‟s rho correlation revealed that there were negative correlations between teaching experience and leaving the profession for better remuneration and upward mobility. This suggests that the less teaching experience (re: novice and developing professionals) an individual had, the more likely he would explore financial or upwardly mobile opportunities in greener pastures.

While participants‟ teaching qualifications were positively correlated to exiting the profession because of over-qualification, they were negatively correlated with responses relating to burn-out. This suggests that the higher the qualification above the basic requirement for the teaching post they occupied, the more likely they would leave. However, the more qualified they were, the less they would proffer being burnt-out as a reason for leaving.

Analysis of the data revealed that teaching level was also positively associated with leaving teaching due to over-qualification but negatively associated with being burnt-out. This means that teachers at the secondary level were most likely to leave because they felt over-qualified for the job, while those at the lower primary level school were inclined to leave the profession because of burn-out.

Table 4. Correlations among Demographic Factors and Personal Reasons for Leaving Teaching Better Paying Job Teaching Experience Qualifications Teaching Level Better Paying Job Exploring Upward Mobility Over-Qualified Tired of Teaching Burn-Out

-.175** .094 .037 ____

Exploring Upward Mobility -.121*

Over Qualified

Tired Teaching

-.075

-.056

.080

-.034 .003 .388** ____

.327** .121* .324** .167**

-.006 -.039 .077 .015

-.121* -.149** -.041 .001

____

.154** ____

.017 .351** ____

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

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BurnOut

79

The second Spearman‟s rho correlation was conducted using the same demographic factors and the six contextual reasons identified earlier. The correlations revealed that the less qualified participants were more likely to leave because of too much testing. The analysis also reveals that those teaching at lower levels were more likely to leave due to little parental support and too much testing. There were also many interrelations among the six contextual factors, since, as established before, most participants identified multiple contextual factors (see Table 5 for full details).

Table 5. Correlations Among Demographic Factors and Contextual Reasons for Leaving Teaching

Demographics Teach Experience Qualifications Teaching Level Poor Student Behaviour Inadequate admin Support Little Parental Support Student Complaints Too much Testing Poor Student Performance

Poor Student Behaviour .032 -.031 -.050 ____

Inadequate Admin Support -.051 .097 -.099 .322**

Little Parental Support -.033 .043 -.109* .345**

Student Complaints -.035 -.017 -.023 .186**

Too Much Testing .005 -.135* -.105* .328**

Poor Student Performance -.031 -.013 .057 .208**

____

.350**

.156**

.224**

.143**

____

.164**

.127*

.144**

____

.126*

.241**

____

.098 ____

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

In order to answer research question 3 of this study (Are there significant differences in the endorsement of personal or contextual attrition factors between northern (urban) and southern (rural) male teachers in Trinidad?), Chi square tests of independence (with Yates Continuity Correction) were conducted using the location demographic and each of the personal and contextual factors.

The results indicated significant findings for only two of the personal factors identified in the study. These factors were overqualified and burn-out. The results revealed that there was a significant association between location and overqualification, (1, n=359) = 4.01, p=.045, phi =.11 with more teachers in the rural region (45.4%) leaving due to over qualification than those in urban areas (34.5%). With respect to burn-out, the results revealed that there was a significant association between location and burn-out, (1, n=359) = 4.99, p=.025, phi =.12 with more teachers in the urban region (52.8%) leaving due to burn-out than those in rural areas (40.5%). These findings mirror those in the Spearman‟s rho correlations delineated above.

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5.

Discussion

This study sought to answer three main questions: (1) What are the reasons for men leaving the teaching profession? (2) Does a relationship exist between the demographic and individual or contextual factors given for leaving the teaching profession? (3) Are there significant differences in the endorsement of personal or contextual attrition factors between northern (urban) and southern (rural) male teachers in Trinidad?

5.1 Reasons for leaving teaching On a macro level, participants identified personal and contextual reasons for leaving the teaching service. However, more participants identified personal rather than contextual reasons for leaving. This mix of factors was also gleaned from researchers who identified factors that ranged from work overload to lack of acknowledgement and administrative support, to negative school politics (Ewing & Smith, 2003; Kardos, Johnson, Reske, Kauffman & Lui, 2001). It was also seen that the majority participants who left the profession were categorized as novices and developing professionals (approximately 70% n=316) compared with the veterans (30%). This is similar to findings by Lui (2007) who found that less experienced teachers show higher attrition rates than the more experienced ones.

As a development that departs from previous studies, this research revealed that most, if not all, participants submitted a combination of both personal and contextual reasons for leaving the teaching profession. While these findings might be gleaned from a range of previous papers, this work captures them in one study.

A closer examination of the reasons given reveals that economic and status factors were the most important push or pull factors in the study. Both were identified as personal factors in this study. Schaefer et. al. (2012) reported similar findings where attrition factors included salary and professional development issues.

In this study, those who identified burn-out and â&#x20AC;&#x17E;over-qualifiedâ&#x20AC;&#x; as attrition reasons were also a significant subset of those advancing personal reasons.

Schlichte, Yssel and Merber (2005) and Eflers, Plecki and Knapp (2006) conducted previous research which found that burn-out and a lack of professional development opportunities were critical attrition factors among male teachers as well.

The study also highlighted lack of parental and administrative support as two major contextual factors influencing male flight from the classroom. These findings confirm results of earlier studies where lack of administrative support also featured as an attrition factor (Schaefer, 2012). However, the lack of parental support as an attrition factor appears to be an extension of previous findings.

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Issues related to research questions two (2) and three (3) were explored simultaneously as they were more or less the same. The findings for both questions revealed that more than their counterparts in urban areas, male teachers in rural areas tended to leave the profession if they felt overqualified for the job. This is probably due to rural- urban migration where they sought better job prospects nearer to the capital or its environs. Analyses conducted for this question also revealed that urban teachers were more likely than their rural counterparts to leave due to burn-out. This probably suggests that the stress associated with working in inner city schools or those in greater proximity to the city has a telling effect on urban teachers. Conversely, it might suggest that greater support mechanisms for stress related issues are present in the rural rather than the urban educational environment. Nonetheless, these are critical issues for further research and exploration as well as institutional support and policy development.

Classroom and behaviour management as well as assessment issues also came to the fore in terms of other contextual matters that precipitated male teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x; decision to leave teaching. These findings are similar to the results of previous research where it was found that complexities in teaching and classroom management were attrition factors (Cameron, 2007; Feiman-Nemser, 2001; McCormack & Thomas, 2003).

Further investigation may be needed to examine the most and least important reasons among the personal and contextual factors for leaving the profession.

More light also needs to be shed on the areas of support that male teachers require from parents and administrators. There is need also for school administrators to carefully interrogate issues regarding male attrition in order to provide appropriate support at various levels of the school system.

6.

Concluding Comments

This research is important because it addresses the vexing problem of male attrition in the education system in Trinidad and Tobago and by extension the Caribbean region. The situation is compounded when viewed in relation to other social issues such as fatherless homes, the complexity of male identity development, crime, delinquency, and male underachievement in schools. This study has started the discourse in the right direction and should be seen as a catalyst for a more robust education policy formation aimed at attracting, recruiting, and retaining male teachers in the Trinidad and Tobago government primary and secondary school system.

Notwithstanding what has been advised by international researchers, as regional scholars, we propose contextual suggestions that may prove effective. Firstly, education policy makers in Trinidad and Tobago and the region need to find ways to maximize the use of male teachers in the profession who possess advanced academic qualifications. Findings of the study revealed that the desire to explore opportunities for upward mobility and jobs offering better remuneration were the two prime reasons that accounted for almost 60% (n=591) of all the personal reasons given for male flight from the classroom. If we are to retain the services of these male teachers, then some attempts must be

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made to categorize these individuals at higher teacher grades with appropriate and competitive remuneration packages.

School administrators also need to be trained to provide the kind of support that male teachers need to function effectively in the classroom. More training and professional development work must be done to equip teachers at all levels with modern classroom management strategies and behaviour management techniques to deal with the complexity of teaching and learning in the 21st century. Assessment strategies, especially those that employ ICT competencies, should be considered an indispensable part of the skill set of the modern teacher.

This has the potential to enhance the competencies of those who are inclined to leave because of the multi-testing nature of today‟s classroom and education systems.

We feel that given the present state of affairs, these and other suggestions from the teachers themselves will go a long way in finding meaningful solutions to the existing problem of male attrition in the Trinidad and Tobago education system.

7.

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