2013 volume 2 (issue 2) by Journal of Education in Black Sea Region

Semi-Annual International Peer-Reviewed Academic Journal ISSN 2298-0172

Journal of Education

Volume 2 Issue 2

Tbilisi 2013 1

UDC (უაკ)378( 479.22)(063)+811.111+821.111+37.016:811.111+37.016:821.111 I – 69

Journal of Education Volume:2

Number: 2

2013

ISSN 2298-0172

Contents Types of antique dream in Anna Karenina .......................................................................................................... 5-7 Nino DEVIDZE, Eka DEVIDZE The role of EFL reading skills at an international university and the higher cognitive activities in the process of reading for academic purposes ............................................................................... 9-22 Natela DOGHONADZE Two approaches to psychometric process: Classical test theory and item response theory .......................... 23-30 Mehtap ERGUVEN Proverbs about children in English, Georgian and Turkish culture ................................................................... 31-35 Halis GÖZPINAR The efficiency of reading in content-based topics vs. reading in variety of topics .......................................... 37-44 M. Numan KANAR The way to make students to “own” their coursebook by retouching the flexible syllabus ................................ 45-55 M. Numan KANAR U.S. secondary school graduates of different nationalities and their vision of multicultural education ................................................................................................................................ 57-64 Irma MESIRIDZE The history and nature of immersion programs in American context .............................................................. 65-73 Ekaterine PIPIA Publication and translation side by side: Translation strategies of medical researchers for publishing articles .............................................................. 75-76 Nematullah SHOMOOSSI, Azam SHOMOOSSI Teacher talk in support of student language acquisition .................................................................................. 77-83 Mariam BANDZELADZE

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

Types of antique dream in Anna Karenina

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

Types of antique dream in Anna Karenina Nino DEVIDZE * Eka DEVIDZE **

Abstract The article deals with the analysis of dreams as a literary device in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Since antique literature, a dream as a literary device has passed its way of metamorphoses and has undergone different stages of development. There are many cases in post- antique literature that show some resemblance with the antique dream patterns. Among them is Lev Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, where some parallels of antique literary dream can be drawn, such as: a wish fulfillment dream, an allegory dream, a prophecy dream, a dream which is simultaneously dreamt by two different characters of the novel and has one and the same content. Besides, according to the article, the function of the dreams has also changed and it became oriented on expressing the main character’s inner world and psychology. Keywords: antique dream, study of dream, types of dream

Introduction Dream is an unusual combination of common experiences. There is something mysterious in a dream, which, from time immemorial, bears a great impression on people and awakes curiosity. Every aspect connected to the study of dreams has always been and will always be a subject of study. There are books still written about the explanation of dreams, their meaning, concept and phenomenon. Among them is very actual the so-called study of a literary dream. Analysis of literary works in antique literature has shown that all fundamental (basic) genres applied dream and it was worked up according to genre specifications. In the epic poetry, literary dream is one of the defining elements of epic system, adequate to the genre and the author (Homer, Virgil, Ovid and Rhodes). Dream as a literary device was boldly expressed in Greek drama: tragedy and comedy (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Seneca, and Aristophanes); antique prose suggested different stages of literary dream metamorphoses corresponding to the social context of different epochs (historians, geographers, philosophers, antique novel).

Dream as a Literary Device Since antique literature, a dream as a literary device has passed its way of metamorphoses and has undergone different stages of development. The Medieval literature is known by prophetic symbolic dreams. In the sixteenth century literary dreams were also prophetic, but with a sense of guilt. In the seventeenth century and in the epoch of Enlightenment dream as a literary device was rather declined, though it showed

its power in the nineteenth century, where the function of the dream was not only foreseeing the future, but it played an important role on psychological level. Since nineteenth century, in literature dream became more and more oriented on expressing main character’s psychology and inner world, it did not play any role in the development of the plot any more (it should be noted that, the main characteristic of literary dream in antique literature was to develop the action of the plot) and its content became rather complex than before. Dream as a literary device was also used in the works of Russian writers. Some parallels of antique literary dream can be found in Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. There are three dreams represented in the novel which somehow show their resemblance to the types of dreams in the works of Greek and Roman writers. For example: 1) A dream of Stepan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky — Stiva in Anna Karenina - A dream of Sossia in The Clouds by Aristophanes. 2) A dream of Anna Karenina - A dream of Penelope in Homer’s Iliad and a dream of Daphnis and Chloe in Daphnis and Chloe by Longus. 3) A dream of Anna Karenina - A dream of Dryas and Lamon in Daphnis and Chloe by Longus. The first dream which we meet in Lev Tolstoy’s Anna Kareneina is a dream of one of the main characters Stepan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky — Stiva . He recollects the dream in the following way: “Alabin was giving a dinner at Darmstadt; no, not at Darmstadt, but it was something American. Yes, but that Darmstadt was in America. Yes, Alabin was giving a dinner on glass tables, yes, and the tables sang ‘// mio Tesoro ‘ /

* Assistant Professor, Humanitarian Faculty, Department of Classical and Roman Philology, Tsereteli University, Kutaisi, Georgia E-mail: Ninaka.d@mail.ru ** Associate Professor, Faculty of Business Management, International Black Sea University, Tbilisi, Georgia E-mail: catrinade@inbox.ru

Nino DEVIDZE, Eka DEVIDZE Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 no, not ‘// mio tesoro,’ but something better; and some little water-bottles, they were women! “Said he, continuing his recollections (Tolstoy translated by Dole, 1914, p. 34-40). The dream of Stiva is allegorical. The main reason the dream within the story is not to continue the development of the plot of the novel. It does not have any influence over it, but it is rather interesting from another viewpoint: it is as joyful and full of movement as the character himself (singing and dancing tables, glasses and bottles - a kind of allegory which shows the real character of Stiva). The same happens with Stepan Arkadyevitch , he is a bohemian and leads the same life - full of adventure, women and amusement. Later, as we get to know Stepan Arkadyevitch closer and closer, we find out that the dream is a reflection of his soul and inner world. He really tries to be an attentive father and husband, but he never keeps in his mind that he has a wife and children. He has bachelor tastes, and it is in accordance with them that he shapes his life. The same happens to the main character in The Clouds by Aristophanes. With the help of dream Aristophanes tries to mark a frivolous and thoughtless nature of Srtepsiade, who (like Stepan Arkadyevitch) even in the dream does not forget about entertainment and relaxation. He dreams only about horses and pleasure of life and does not care about his debts (Aristophanes translated by Rogers, 1924, p.15-20). Stepan and Strephsiade are alike in some way - both characters see allegorical dreams, both think and do the same things; both dreams show the characters’ aspirations. The second dream in the novel is that of Anna Karenina. According to the classification of antique dream suggested by Oppenheim (Oppenheim, 1956, p. 17-18) Anna’s dream can be regarded as a wish fulfillment dream. Indeed, in dreams, when Anna had no control over her thoughts, her position presented itself to her in all its hideous nakedness and one dream haunted her almost every night: “She dreamed that both were her husbands at once, that both were lavishing caresses on her. Alexey Alexandrovitch was weeping, kissing her hands, and saying, “How happy we are now!” And Alexey Vronsky was there too, and he too was her husband. And she was marveling that it had once seemed impossible to her, was explaining to them, laughing, that this was ever so much simpler, and that now both of them were happy and contented. But this dream weighed on her like a nightmare, and she awoke from it in terror”. The dream expresses Anna’s inner world, her thoughts, emotions and experiences. The dream shows that subconsciously, somewhere in her heart Anna is satisfied that she has two husbands. In the company of two men (dream husbands) - Alexey Vronsky and Alexey Alexandrovitch she feels happy and free. In the dream Anna realizes that there is something unusual in this whole affair, but she is pleased by the fact and even does not care that her faith (Christianity) is against it. But, being awaken, she realizes there is evil in her dream that is why she is 6

troubled and terrified. The same happens in Anna’s real life. She leaves town and goes abroad with Vronsky so that she is not divorced with Aleksey Aleksandrovitch – though Anna has her own firm arguments for it. What connection does Anna’s dream have with the dream of Penelope and Daphnis and Chloe? The resemblance is only in the type - It is a wish fulfillment dream where all the characters dream of what they can never dream in reality. In the dreams their subconscious is revealed, their wishes satisfied, they are happy at least for several minutes. a) (Penelope dreams that her beloved husband returned home and they were again happy together (Homer translated by Jackson, 2008, p. 57-60). b) Daphnis and Chloe dream their amorous dreams (Longus translated by Reeve, 1982, p. .2,10). The most important thing concerning the dream in literature is that all the dreams express the characters’ hidden wishes and experiences. In dreams they totally reveal their inner world and think of those facts or do those things which they would have never done in their real lives. In the dreams, the characters are totally free, free of their duty, free of everything. The third dream is a prophecy dream of one and the same content which Anna and Vronsky simultaneously see. The same happens with Dryas and Lamon (Longus translated by Reeve, 1982), who see the same type (prophecy) dream simultaneously. The difference between those two dreams is in their nature – the first one is positive in meaning and the second one bears a bad omen- the dream makes a great impression over Vronsky, he is terrified and when he wakes up he is totally trembling with terror. He asks himself the following questions: “What was it? What? What was the dreadful thing I dreamed? … I think a little dirty man with a disheveled beard was stooping down doing something, and all of a sudden he began saying some strange words in French. Yes, there was nothing else in the dream” (Tolstoy translated by Dole, 1914,p. 18-22). Vronsky vividly recalled the peasant again and those incomprehensible French words the peasant had uttered, subconsciously he felt that there was some ill prophecy in the dream and a chill of horror ran down his spine. The same thing happens with Anna. She tells the dream to Vronsky: “I dreamed that I ran into my bedroom that I had to get something there and in the bedroom, in the corner, stood something. And that something turned round, and I saw it was a peasant with a disheveled beard, little, and dreadful looking. I wanted to run away, but he bent down over a sack, and was fumbling there with his hands. He was fumbling and kept talking quickly, quickly in French, you know: Il faut le battre, le fer, le brayer, le petrir.... And in my horror I tried to wake up, and woke up...but woke up in the dream. And I began asking myself what it meant. And Korney said to me: ‘In childbirth you’ll die, ma’am, you’ll die....’ And I woke up’(Tolstoy translated by Dole, 1914, p. 184-194). Anna is so terrified by the dream that she is quite

Types of antique dream in Anna Karenina

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 sure soon all will be over, and they shall all, all be at peace, and suffer no more. While speaking with Vronsky (and of course after that) she knew for certain that she would die and release herself and Vronsky. The reason of Anna’s behavior and thoughts were mostly conditioned by her dream. We can say that the use of dream as a literary device is a kind of prophecy that foreshadows Anna’s eventual death, the death, which may come not as a punishment but as the only option for the desperate woman. Nabokov concludes that just before her suicide Anna finally recognizes that, what the horrible man is doing over the iron is what her sinful life has done to her soul (Nabokov, 1981, p. 175). Thus, we can conclude that Anna’s dream is an allegory type of dream, which embodies Anna’s sinful life. The vision of dream never leaves her mind and will again remind itself, when in the station she meets a person from the dream (a peasant who resembles to her dream figure). From that very moment Anna decides to commit a suicide. The dream directly or indirectly made an influence over Anna. Psychologically it had its influence over the major character. From the very beginning she was subconsciously sure that sooner or later she would die and the dream only helped her in committing a suicide.

References: Dole, H.N. (translation). (1914). Lev Nikolaevitch Tolstoy. Anna Karenina.Thomas Y. Crowell &Company Jackson, J. (translation). (2008). The Iliad of Homer a Parsed, Books 1-24. Kindle Nabokov V.V.(1981). Fredson Bowers, “ Lectures on Russian Literature”. Moscow: Literary Criticism. Oppenheim L. (1956). The Interpretation of Dream in the Ancient Near East. Philadelphia:American Philosophical Society Reeve, Ed. M.D. (translation).(1982). Longus. Daphnis and Chloe. Leipzig: Teubner Rogers, B.B. (translation) (1924), Aristophanes. The Clouds

Conclusion Unlike the antique writers, the dreams in Tolstoy’s novel do not come from Gods, but they are a representation of the characters’ psychology and subconsciousness. Since antique times, dream as a literary device represented itself on different levels. In later literature it continues to fulfill the function of antique dream (a wish fulfillment dream, a character interpretation dream, a message from God dream, etc.). When the dream expresses the subconscious of the characters, it is often based on theoretical research of Freud, Jung and others. The function and the ways of interpreting of such dreams vary on different levels.

Nino DEVIDZE, Eka DEVIDZE Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

The role of EFL reading skills at an international university and the higher cognitive activities in the process of reading for academic purposes

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

The role of EFL reading skills at an international university and the higher cognitive activities in the process of reading for academic purposes Natela DOGHONADZE *

Abstract The level of students’ reading skills best forecast their academic achievement. It is especially important for students learning in English as a foreign language. Research shows that too often students’ skills are not adequate to the tasks that higher education poses in front of them. The research was held in 5 universities representing 5 countries (Azerbaijan, Iraq, Georgia, Finland, and Turkey) which are on different educational level, concerning the student motivation to read, quality of their reading skills and possible solutions. Keywords: reading skills, EAP, motivation, measures to improve skills’ level

Introduction In contemporary student-centered higher education, whatever students’ majors are, their reading (in the language of education) skills are crucial, as, while teaching is mostly done by oral intercourse, independent study in large majority of courses is mostly done via reading. Normally, university students are demanded to read heaps of textbooks, articles, etc. On the other hand, it is not a secret to anybody that reading is not terribly popular today among the young generation. They prefer video and audio materials which without any special effort can enter their brain (however, probably, without leaving a notable impact on it) to reading. They also prefer mechanically pushing all kinds of buttons and keys on their numerous digital gadgets to sitting with a book, either fiction or non-fiction. Of course this generalization does not concern all university students, but certainly a large enough group whose size varies from country to country. Not only the motivation of academic reading in English is not very high, but, as a quite natural consequence, the quality of reading skills in the native language too often isn’t high enough, either. Reardon, Valentino and Shores (2012, p.17) research has shown that American students perform modestly above average compared with those in other devel¬oped countries (and well above average among a larger set of countries). Moreover, there is no evidence that U.S. students lose ground relative to those in other countries during the middle school years. Thus, although literacy skills in the United States are lower than needed to meet the demands of modern society, the same is true in most other developed countries (based on PISA assessments). PISA evaluation programme defends two-dimen-sional 15 years-old student efficiency in read¬ing, first of which is the knowledge ac-

quisition techniques based on different text types and the second is the knowledge processing skills such as interpretation, comprehension and exploitation. In its evaluation, therefore, PISA exploits paragraph based continuous texts – narratives, articles, discus¬sions, and non-continuous texts such as lists, forms, graphics and diagrams. Reading literacy, according to PISA assessment (OECD, 2009a, p. 23), involves understanding, using, reflecting on and engaging with written texts, in order to achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and potential, and to participate in society. It goes without saying, that English as a foreign language reading skills of students doing their studies in English, are even worse, and so is the motivation. This constitutes a big problem for the quality of higher education , which is widely spread today. This is why I decided to study the problem in several countries and try to offer some possibilities of improvement of this situation.

Method A questionnaire survey in 5 countries, one university from each country (Azerbaijan, Iraq, Georgia, Finland, and Turkey; totally 5 universities), was used to assess freshman students’ academic reading skills in English not as part of English language teaching, but as part of learning skills that international universities’ students need for their studies in their majors. The choice of the countries, on the one hand, dealt, on the one hand with Western and more successful and developing and less successful. Totally 178 students participated in the survey on a volunteer basis, however 11 students’ questionnaires had to be dropped (which is a reason-

* Professor Doctor, Faculty of Education and Humanities, International Black Sea University E-mail: nateladoghonadze@ibsu.edu.ge

Natela DOGHONADZE Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 able number / percentage), due to improver (not corresponding to the instruction) filling them in, so only 167 questionnaire results are presented. I want express my gratitude to teachers (Venera Unal, Maia Samkanashvili, Mehmet Numan Kanar, Elvira Koran, Tamar Mikeladze, Ahmer Sherkan Tanriover) who helped me organize the survey and to the students who kindly agreed to participate in it. Some questions are in the multiple choice format, others are in Likert scale format, asking students to assess how much they agree with the given statement, in terms of a scale from 0 (totally disagree) to 5 (absolutely agree), some are in mixed format (multiple choice plus Likert scale). Find the questions below. 1. How much you did you use to read in your mother tongue (including educational materials) before you enrolled to an international university? a) Less than 10 pages per week b) 10-20 pages per week c) 21-50 pages per week d) 51-100 pages per week e) More than 100 pages per week 2. Rate your experience in reading academic (educational) texts, besides school textbooks, in mother tongue before you enrolled to an international university ( from 0 – none to 4 – often read scientific articles). 3. Rate your attitude to reading in mother tongue, from 0 (totally dislike) to 4 (very much like) 4. Rate your attitude to reading in English, from 0 (totally dislike) to 4 (very much like) 5. Rate your attitude to reading fiction, from 0 (totally dislike) to 4 (very much like) 6. Rate your attitude to reading non-fiction, including educational materials, from 0 (totally dislike) to 4 (very much like) 7. Assess your reading skills in English compared to your reading skills in your native tongue (from 0 – much worse to 4 – as good as). 8. When you read in English for academic (educational) purposes, rate your problems (from 0 – causes least problems to 4 – causes most problems; do not use the same ratings more than once): a) knowledge of English in general (vocabulary, grammar, reading skills) b) terminology c) formal / scientific style (“dry”, long and complex sentences, etc.) d) volume e) subject contents 9. What can help increase your motivation to read large volume of materials in English for your studies (Rate from the worst idea – 0 to the best idea – 4; ; do not use the same ratings more than once) a) Reading from the Internet and electronic books, instead of on-paper books b) Rewarding oneself for reading each reading batch (e.g., 50 pages) done c) Gradual increase of reading matter volume (e.g., not more than 20 pages per course in the first month of Freshman year, by the end of semester it may increase up to 100 pages) 10

d) More debates, problem solving activities in class, based on/following the read materials e) Feeling that the goal of what you have to read is not just to pass the exam, but to be successful in one’s profession 10. What can help you improve your academic reading skills? (Rate from the worst idea – 0 to the best idea – 4; ; do not use the same ratings more than once) a) More classes (hours) in academic reading (at Prep or in the Freshman year) b) More emphasis (explanations, tasks) on terminology, while teaching the subject matter c) Using in English classes not only scientific articles and textbooks, but also scientific-popular publications and mass-media d) While learning English (e.g., at a Prep program), reading more interesting texts, fulfilling more interesting activities (games, competitions) e) Increasing the professional background knowledge via reading up in the native tongue

Results The results are shown in the tables below (Table 1). Question 1 7 students (18 %) chose “a” option (read less than 10 pages per week in their native tongue), 3 students (8 %) – “b” (read 10-20 pages per week), 3 students (8%) – “c” (21- 50 pages), 10 students (27%) – “d” (51-100) and 15 students (39%) - “e” (more than a 100 pages). The result is generally not so bad, as the majority of students (66%) read more than 50 pages, but the need for university students is in more than 100 pages, which is only 39% student’s answer. Question 2 The answers to this question are more dramatic. 11 students (29%) have never read any academic text in mother tongue besides the school textbooks. Even some students who generally read enough have chosen the answer “0”, which means they are not academically oriented yet, which is a big problem. The average answer is 1.9, which means that students have read on average quite few academic texts in mother tongue. At university they deal with academic texts, but without having this experience even in mother tongue it is too difficult. Question 3 5 students (13%) don’t like at all reading in mother tongue. I would be rather surprised if they would like reading in a foreign language, as it is more difficult. The average answer is 2.9 which is not bad, also there are many answers “4”, which gives hope they will be high achievers in learning.

The role of EFL reading skills at an international university and the higher cognitive activities in the process of reading for academic purposes

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 Table 1 Azeri studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; answers

Questions 1

Student 1

Natela DOGHONADZE Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 Table 2 Finnish studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; answers

Questions 1

Student

The role of EFL reading skills at an international university and the higher cognitive activities in the process of reading for academic purposes

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 Question 4 Unexpected enough, but only 2 students (5%) chose the answer “0”, which means that some students do not like reading in the native tongue, but like reading in English, however, it may be explained by popularity of English and Internet (where one can hardly read much in the Azeri language). The average points is 2.8, which is a bit lower than for reading in the native tongue and is a good enough result. However, to study in English this result is not good enough. Question 5 3 students (8%) answered “0” concerning their attitude to reading fiction (hopefully, not humanities students). The average result for attitude towards reading fiction is 2.9, which is normal. Question 6 3 students (8%) answered “0”, which is not good, but, luckily their percent is not high. The average attitude towards reading non-fiction is 2.4, which is problematic, considering how much they will need to read for education, and in the future for profession. Question 7 2 students (5%) view their English reading skills as much worse than their reading in mother tongue skills, 1 student (3%) gave an answer “1”, which is also very bad. Three students (8%) chose the answer “as good as” (“4”), 16 students (42%) – “almost as good as” (“3”) – these students will have no serious problems studying in English. The average point is 2.6 which is tolerable, but not so good. Question 8 The rating of difficulties is as follows: terminology – 2.4 volume – 2.3 knowledge of English in general -1.8 scientific style – 1.8 subject contents – 1.7 Judging be these answers we can conclude that language factors matter more than contents, the biggest problems being terminology and text volume, which, based on the previous answers was quite predictable. It is good that on average none of the problems is too acute. Question 9 The rating of motivating activities: More debates, problem solving activities in class – 2.6 Gradual increase of reading matter volume - 2 Feeling that the goal to be successful in one’s profession will be reached – 2 Rewarding oneself – 1.9 Reading from the Internet and electronic books, instead of on-paper books – 1.7 Students mostly hope that having more involving activities, gradually increasing the volume of the materials read and feeling of the professional usefulness

of what is being read can increase their motivation to read. Question 10 The rating of the measures for improvement of academic reading skills: reading more interesting texts, fulfilling more interesting activities – 2.8 using not only scientific articles and textbooks, but also scientific-popular publications and mass-media – 2.7 more emphasis on terminology – 2.1 increasing the professional background knowledge – 1.7 more classes in academic reading - 1.2 Students mostly hope that reading more interesting texts, fulfilling more interesting activities and using not only scientific articles and textbooks, but also scientific-popular publications and mass-media will help them increase their reading skills’ level. Table 2. Finnish students’ answers Question 1 4 students (11%) chose “a” option (less than 10 pages per week in their native tongue), 7 students (19%) – “b” (read 10-20 pages per week), 16 students (44%) – “c” (21- 50 pages). So students having a habit in mother tongue to read very little in in majority (totally 74%!), which proves that in a European country where education level is viewed as high, students also have lack of practice in reading, which inevitably brings about problems with quality of reading skills. 6 students (17% %) – “d” (51-100) and 3 students (8%) - “e” (more than a 100 pages). The result is generally quite unsatisfactory. However, quantity does not always mean quality, so let us see. Question 2 5 students (14%) have never read any academic text in mother tongue besides the school textbooks. The average answer is 1.5, which means that students have read on average quite few academic texts in mother tongue. At university they deal with academic texts, but without having this experience even in mother tongue it is too difficult. Question 2 5 students (14%) have never read any academic text in mother tongue besides the school textbooks. The average answer is 1.5, which means that students have read on average quite few academic texts in mother tongue. At university they deal with academic texts, but without having this experience even in mother tongue it is too difficult. Question 3 Surprisingly, compared to the previous answers, there are many enough students who say they really 13

Natela DOGHONADZE Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 Table 3 Georgian studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; answers

Questions 1

Student

The role of EFL reading skills at an international university and the higher cognitive activities in the process of reading for academic purposes

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 like reading in the mother tongue (18 students – 50%). The average answer is 3.2 which is quite good, which gives hope they will be high achievers in learning. Question 4 Only 1 student (%) chose the answer “0”, which means the majority to this or that degree like reading in English, may be explained by popularity of English and Internet. The average points is 2.3, which is really lower than for reading in the native tongue, which is not a very good result for studying in English. Question 5 The average result for attitude towards reading fiction is 2.8, which is normal. Question 6 The average attitude towards reading non-fiction is 2.4, which is problematic, considering how much they will need to read for education, and in the future for profession. It looks they are not quite ready to be undergraduate students yet. Question 7 9 students (25%) gave an answer “1” (reading skills in English are much worse than in mother tongue , which is bad. One student (3%) chose the answer “as good as” (“4”), 6 students (17%) – “almost as good as” (“3”) – these few students will have no serious problems studying in English. The average point is 2 which is not good. Question 8 The rating of difficulties is as follows: scientific style – 3.1 terminology – 2.8 volume – 1.8 knowledge of English in general - 1.8 subject contents – 0.7 Judging be these answers we can conclude that scientific style and terminology are a big problem, which was predictable based on previous answers. The problems is quite acute. Question 9 The rating of factors to improve motivation: Feeling that the goal of what you have to read is to be successful in one’s profession – 2.9 More debates, problem solving activities in class – 2.4 Rewarding oneself for reading each reading batch – 1.9 Gradual increase of reading matter volume - 1.8 Reading from the Internet and electronic books, instead of on-paper books – 1.1 More professional orientation of teaching and more active tasks are the factors that Finnish students mostly rely on in the increase of their motivation

Question10 Factors for improvement of academic reading skills Reading more interesting texts, fulfilling more interesting activities (games, competitions) – 2.9 Increasing the professional background knowledge – 2.3 Using scientific-popular publications and massmedia – 2.1 More emphasis (explanations, tasks) on terminology – 1.6 More classes (hours) in academic reading - 1.1 Finnish students believe that their reading skills can be improved mostly via providing more interesting texts and activities and increasing their professional knowledge. Table 3. Georgian students’ answers Question 1 5 students (14%) chose “a” option (less than 10 pages per week in their native tongue), 9 students ( 25%) – “b” (read 10-20 pages per week), 4 students (11%) – “c” (21- 50 pages), 10 students (28 %) – “d” (51-100) and 8 students (22%) - “e” (more than a 100 pages). The result is generally not so bad, as half of students (50%) read more than 50 pages, but the need for university students is in more than 100 pages, which is only 22% student’s answer. Question 2 5 students (14%) have never read any academic text in mother tongue besides the school textbooks. The average answer is 2.4, which means that students have read on average quite few academic texts in mother tongue, which is not very supporting for university studies. Question 3 There are no “o” answers, which is already good (there are no students who totally dislike reading in mother tongue). The average answer is 2.8, which is not bad, also there are many answers “4”, which gives hope they will be high achievers in learning. Question 4 Only 1 student (3%) chose the answer “0”. The average points is 2.2, which is lower than for reading in the native tongue (quite naturally) and is a tolerable result. However, to study in English this result should be significantly higher. Question 5 3 students (8%) answered “0” (hopefully, not humanities students), which is not too high. The average result for attitude towards reading fiction is 2.3, which is not brilliant.

Natela DOGHONADZE Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 Table 4 Iraqi studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; answers

Questions 1

Student

The role of EFL reading skills at an international university and the higher cognitive activities in the process of reading for academic purposes

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 Question 6 3 students (8%) answered “0”, which is not good, but, luckily their percent is not high. The average attitude towards reading non-fiction is 2.4, which is problematic, considering how much they will need to read for education, and in the future for profession. Question 7 1 student (3%) views his/her English reading skills as much worse than their reading in mother tongue skills, 8 students (22%) gave an answer “1”, which is very bad. Frankly speaking, it is surprising why they chose to study at an international university. 7 students (19%) chose the answer “as good as” (“4”), 9 students (25%) – “almost as good as” (“3”) – these students will have no serious problems studying in English. The average point is 2.3 which is not good. Question 8 The rating of difficulties is as follows: knowledge of English in general – 4.4 terminology – 3.1 volume- 1.6 scientific style – 1.3 subject contents – 1.2 Judging be these answers we can conclude that language factors matter more than contents, the biggest problems being knowledge of English in general and terminology, which, based on the previous answers was quite predictable. Students of an international university who think that their knowledge of English is inadequate for studies at an international university really made a strange choice of a type of the university. They will either have to fight a lot or will not be able to graduate. Question 9 The rating of motivating activities: Reading from the Internet and electronic books, instead of on-paper books – 2.8 More debates, problem solving activities in class – 2.0 Rewarding oneself – 1.9 Feeling that the goal to be successful in one’s profession will be reached – 1.7 Gradual increase of reading matter volume - 1.4 Students mostly hope that application of internet and more involving activities based on what they have read can increase their motivation to read. Question 10 The rating of the measures for improvement of academic reading skills: reading more interesting texts, fulfilling more interesting activities – 3.2 more emphasis on terminology – 2.6 using not only scientific articles and textbooks, but also scientific-popular publications and mass-media – 1.4 increasing the professional background knowl-

edge – 1.2 more classes in academic reading – 1.7 Students mostly hope that reading more interesting texts, fulfilling more interesting activities and having more emphasis on terminology will help them improve their reading skills. Table 4. Iraqi students’ answers Question 1 14 students (38%) chose “a” option (less than 10 pages per week in their native tongue), 8 students ( 22%) – “b” (read 10-20 pages per week), 8 students (22%) – “c” (21- 50 pages), 5 students (14 %) – “d” (51-100) and 2 students (9%) - “e” (more than a 100 pages). The result is quite poor, as the majority of students (77%) read very little; 14% of students read more than 50 pages, but the need for university students is in more than 100 pages, which is only 9% student’s answer. Question 2 6 students (16%) have never read any academic text in mother tongue besides the school textbooks. The average answer is 1.8, which means that students have read on average quite few academic texts in mother tongue, which is not very supporting for university studies. Question 3 There are no “o” answers (there are no students who totally dislike reading in mother tongue), which is already good. The average answer is 2.7 which is not bad, also there are some answers “4”, which gives hope they will be high achievers in learning. Question 4 Nobody chose the answer “0”, which means they knew where they were going to study. The average points is 2.8, which is even a bit higher than for reading in the native tongue (which is unexpected, but this may deal with their professional orientation) and is a tolerable result. However, to study in English this result should be significantly higher. Question 5 2 students (5%) answered “0” (hopefully, not humanities students), which is not too high. The average result for attitude towards reading fiction is 2.4, which is not brilliant. Question 6 1 student (3%) answered “0”, which is not good, but, luckily the percentage is not high. The average attitude towards reading non-fiction is 2.4, which is problematic, considering how much they will need to read for education, and in the future for profession.

Natela DOGHONADZE Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 Table 5 Turkish students’ answers

Questions 1

Student 1

Question 7

ranking means that the students will have to work very hard on their English, in order to be able to graduate.

Nobody views his/her English reading skills as much worse than their reading in mother tongue skills, Question 9 5 students (14%) gave an answer “1” (quite worse), The rating of motivating activities: so, the number of students whose reading in English Reading from the Internet and electronic books, skills are very poor is low. 3 students (8%) chose the instead of on-paper books – 2.7 answer 1“as good as” (“4”), which is very few, but many Question Feeling that the goal to be successful in one’s proenough students (16 students - 43%) chose “almost fession will be reached – 2.3 as good as” (“3”) – these students will have no serious 1 students ( 5%) chose “a” option (less than 10 pages per week inMore their native tongue), nobody chose debates, problem solving activities in class problems studying in English. The average point is – 1.9 “b”2.6, (read 10-20 pages per week), 4 students (20%) – “c” (2150 pages), 4 students ( 20%) – “d” (51which is not good enough. Rewarding – 1.4 100) and 10 students (50%) - “e” (more than a 100 pages). The result is quiteoneself good, as the majority of Question 8 Gradual increase of reading matter volume - 1.2 students (50%) read enough; % of students read between 51 and 100 pages. mostly hope that application of internet Students The rating of difficulties is as follows: and more professional orientation during classes can knowledge of English in general – 2.3 Question 2 increase their motivation to read. terminology – 2.0 volume – 2.1 Question 10 4 students (20%) have never read any academic text in mother tongue besides the school textbooks. scientific style – 2 ratingquite of the for improvement of The average is 1.3, average few measures academic texts in subjectanswer contents – 1.7which means that students have read onThe academic reading skills: Judging these answers we can conclude thatstudies. mother tongue,by which is not very supporting for university reading more interesting texts, fulfilling more interall difficulty factors are approximately equal by imesting activities – 2.5 portance, and none is really decisive. However, the Question 3 increasing the professional background knowlfact that knowledge of English in general is first in the 18

The role of EFL reading skills at an international university and the higher cognitive activities in the process of reading for academic purposes

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 edge – 2.2 more emphasis on terminology – 2.0 using not only scientific articles and textbooks, but also scientific-popular publications and mass-media – 2.1 more classes in academic reading – 1.2 No factor is too important, except “more classes in ESP reading”, which is the least popular answer, other factors are approximately of the same importance. Students mostly hope that reading more interesting texts and fulfilling more interesting activities will help them improve their reading skills.

Table 5. Turkish students’ answers Question 1 1 students ( 5%) chose “a” option (less than 10 pages per week in their native tongue), nobody chose “b” (read 10-20 pages per week), 4 students (20%) – “c” (21- 50 pages), 4 students ( 20%) – “d” (51-100) and 10 students (50%) - “e” (more than a 100 pages). The result is quite good, as the majority of students (50%) read enough; % of students read between 51 and 100 pages. Question 2 4 students (20%) have never read any academic text in mother tongue besides the school textbooks.

Table 6 Comparison of average results

Question/country

Azerbaijan

Finland

Georgia

Iraq

Turkey

Amount of reading in

51 – 100 p.

21-50 p.

51-100 p.

0-10

above 100

1.9

1.5

2.8

1.8

1.3

2.9

3.2

2.8

2.7

2.6

2.8

2.3

2.2

2.9

2.1

2.9

2.8

2.3

2.4

2.6

2.4

1.9

2.6

2.0

2.3

2.6

0.9

Terminology

Scientific

Knowledge

Terminology

style

of English

Subject

contents

Most popular measures to

improve the quality of

interesting

emphasis

reading skills

texts and

activities

terminology

Natela DOGHONADZE Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 The average answer is 1.3, which means that students have read on average quite few academic texts in mother tongue, which is not very supporting for university studies. Question 3 There are 2 “0” answers (10% students who totally dislike reading in mother tongue), which is already bad. The average answer is 2.6 which is not bad, also there are some answers “4”, which gives hope they will be high achievers in learning. Question 4 Fine students (25%) chose the answer “0”, which means they are not ready to study at an international university. The average points is 2.1, which is, naturally, lower than for reading in the native tongue and is a hardly tolerable result. To study in English this result should be significantly higher. Question 5 2 students (10%) answered “0” (hopefully, not humanities students), which is not good, luckily the percentage is not high . The average result for attitude towards reading fiction is 2.6, which is not brilliant. Question 6 2 students (10%) answered “0”, which is not good, but, luckily the percentage is not high. The average attitude towards reading non-fiction is 1.9 , which is problematic, considering how much they will need to read for education, and in the future for profession. Question 7 3 students (15%) view his/her English reading skills as much worse than their reading in mother tongue skills, 7 students (35%) gave an answer “1” (quite worse), so, the number of students whose reading in English skills are high (50%). Nobody chose the answer “as good as” (“4”), but a reasonable number of students (5 students - 25%) chose “almost as good as” (“3”) – these students will have no serious problems studying in English. The average point is 0.9, which is very problematic. Question 8 The rating of difficulties is as follows: terminology – 3.2 knowledge of English in general – 2.9 scientific style – 2.0 volume – 1.3, which is hardly believable, taking into consideration their knowledge of English subject contents – 0.9 Question 9 The rating of motivating activities: Rewarding oneself – 2.5 Feeling that the goal to be successful in one’s profession will be reached – 2.1 20

Gradual increase of reading matter volume - 2.1 Reading from the Internet and electronic books, instead of on-paper books – 1.9 More debates, problem solving activities in class – 1.6 None of the activities seem too motivation to students, still rewarding oneself is the strongest. Question 10 The rating of the measures for improvement of academic reading skills: more emphasis on terminology – 2.9 increasing the professional background knowledge – 2.6 reading more interesting texts, fulfilling more interesting activities – 2.5 using not only scientific articles and textbooks, but also scientific-popular publications and mass-media – 1.5 more classes in academic reading – 0.8 “More classes in ESP reading” is the least popular answer, other factors are approximately of the same importance. Students especially emphasize teaching terminology. It is not a very realistic thing to do cross-national comparison based on self-assessment questionnaires, as some nations are more reserved praising themselves, others like to overestimate themselves, and individuals differ within a nation. However, to see rather a general tendency than a comparison of one nation to another, I made up a summarizing table. Table 6. Comparison of average results Discussion Though the questions 8-10 required to rate the answers in such a way that no rating was repeated (which was explained both in the questionnaire and orally by the teacher), all students from two universities did not get it right and had to re-answer the questions, also some answer-sheets had to be eliminated due to the same reason, proves that the students’ reading (and listening) skills are quite imperfect. Results from country to country do not differ dramatically, and are in one direction. Unfortunately, only individual students’ answers show that they are really prepared for studies at an international university. On average, the results are below the desired level. Students’ experience in reading The amount of reading in mother tongue is dissatisfactory overall, except Turkey. The majority of students in all countries do not have a satisfactory experience of reading academic texts, when they come to university (in Georgia the result is relatively good). Attitudes towards reading Attitudes towards reading (questions 3-6) are not bad, but they have to be higher, to provide quality education. Quality of reading skills The quality of English reading skills is, certainly,

The role of EFL reading skills at an international university and the higher cognitive activities in the process of reading for academic purposes

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 lower than in the native language, but reading skills, compared to listening, speaking, and writing are the most achievable for native-like level, this is why the results cannot be viewed as satisfactory. Difficulties Subject contents is unanimously named as the least problem of reading at university, which is good news, as its knowledge will help them understand what they read. There is no unity concerning the most important difficulty, however, they all seem of linguistic nature. Ways to improve It was quite surprising for me to find out that students did not very much hope that linking reading with Internet would motivate them more, however, Georgian and Iraqi student more often chose this answer than other answers (but still not as many as I forecasted). On the other hand, Longhurst (2003: 343), who teaches history at Carnegie Mellon University, discovered that “even technologically proficient students, though generally enthusiastic about the use of online materials in undergraduate courses, have deep reservations about reading assignments located on the web instead of paper”. Also, Spencer (2006) supports those findings with a survey of 254 graduate and undergraduate business students in British Columbia, Canada. He found that 92% of the students printed out the item when they worked concurrently with something else, 82% printed it out if it was long or complicated, 80% printed it out if they wanted to study from it, and 75% printed it when they wanted it to take notes. It looks that students still prefer to work with on-paper texts. Concerning the most popular measure to improve the quality of reading skills, the students are quite unanimous: texts and activities should become more interesting (Turkish students stress the role of terminology). Limitations of the study Of course, 20-38 students are not enough to represent a student body of a university, and 5 universities / countries (totally 167 questionnaires filled) cannot represent the world, but, on the one hand, as their views are unanimous enough, and on the other hand, coincide with the findings in the literature review, they are reliable enough. Certainly, a deeper study can yield more exact results.

Conclusions The questionnaire results showed that, though some individual and from country to country difference can be found, the general picture is quite similar in all the universities participating in the research, whether it represents an educationally more or less successful country: • students have to read more, both in the native tongue and in English, both fiction and non-fiction • the attitude towards reading is not bad, but not good enough to provide efficient studies,

• the quality of reading skills is hardly satisfactory, • among difficulties especially often are named the level of English skills in general, knowledge of terminology, and the specific features of scientific style, • however, there are possible ways to improve, which we recommend to take into consideration, such as linking reading with internet, choosing more interesting reading matter and applying more engaging reading activities, more often and effectively dealing with terminology.

References Burchfield, C. M., & Sappington, J. (2000). Complance with required reading assignments. Teaching of Psychology, 27(1): 58-60 Clump, M. A., & Doll, J. (2007). Do the low levels of reading course material continue? An examination in a forensic psychology graduate program. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 34(4): 242-246 Grabe, W. (2004). Research on teaching reading. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24: 44-69. Grabe, W. (2009). Reading in a second language. New York: Cambridge University Press Grabe, W., & Stoller, F. (2002). The nature of reading abilities. In W. Grabe & F. Stoller (Eds.), Teaching and Researching Reading. London, UK: Pearson: 9-39 Hellekjær, G.O. (2009). Academic English reading proficiency at the university level: A Norwegian case study. Reading in a Foreign Language, 21,2: 198-222 Hobson, E. H. (2004). Getting Students to Read: Fourteen Tips. IDEA Paper No. 44, Manhattan, KS: Kansas State University, Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, KS: Kansas State University, Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for Academic Purposes: A Guide and Resource Book for Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Longhurst, J. (2003). World history on the World Wide Web: A student satisfaction survey and a blinding flash of the obvious. The History Teacher, 36(3): 343- 357 National Endowment for the Arts. (2004). Reading at risk: A survey of literary reading in America (Research Report No. 46). Retrieved September 20, 2013 from http://www.arts.gov/research/ReadingAtRisk.pdf 21

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

OECD (2009 a). PISA 2009 Assessment Framework: Key competencies in reading, mathematics and science. Retrieved November 8, 2013 from http://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/44455820.pdf OECD (2000b). PISA 2009: Key findings. Retrieved November 8, 2012 from http://www.oecd.org/pisa/46643496.pdf Reardon,S.F., Valentino, R.A. and Shores, K.A. (2012). Patterns of literacy among U.S. students. The Future of Children, Vol. 22, NO. 2 , p. 17- 37 van den Broek, P., Lorch, R. F., Linderholm, T., & Gustafson, M. (2001). The effects of readersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; goals on inference generation and memory for texts. Memory & Cognition, 29: 1081-1087 Spencer, C. (2006). Research on learnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; preferences for reading from a printed text or from a computer screen. Journal of Distance Education, 21(1): 33-50

Two approaches to psychometric process: Classical test theory and item response theory

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

Two approaches to psychometric process: Classical test theory and item response theory Mehtap ERGUVEN*

Abstract In the development of Measurement Theory, there are two main statistical approaches to describe characteristics of an individual and to analyze abilities and latent attributes of a subject which are Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT). This study provides information about the essential properties of both theories, determines psychometric process of measurement with details, compares models of theories and obviously expresses the advantages and disadvantages of both theories. The earliest theory of measurement, CTT, and the enhanced application of this theory, IRT models are examined from the common and different points of view. This article emphasizes the importance of the constructing, measuring, evaluating and correctly interpreting the educational measurement process. Keywords: Measurement theory, classical test theory, item response theory, psychometrics, educational measurement

Introduction Various characteristics of a person are probed and measured periodically through various educational, psychological and measurement tools, including early childhood developmental tests, various aptitude and achievement tests, intelligence tests, behavioral rating scales, etc. (Suen, 1990). Because the roles of the exemplified tests are so important in the social life, constructing, designing and evaluating educational and psychological tests becomes essential. A good test model might specify the precise relationships among test items and ability

Figure 1 The psychometric process, (Suen, 1990, p.6).

scores so that careful test design work can be done to produce the desired test score distributions and errors of the size that can be tolerated (Hambleton and Jones, 1993). Psychometricians are concerned with the design and development of the tests, the procedures of testing, instruments for measuring data, and the methodology to understand and evaluate the results. The first psychometric instruments were designed to measure the concept of intelligence. Samejima (1997) defines the main objective of psychometrics as mathematical modeling of human behavior. Identifying cognitive abilities of a test-taker and representing them as a reliable numerical score is the main purpose of educational and psychological measurement. This score is accessible by means of psychometric process. The first step is constructing the exam questions, determining the observed score from that examination, using this observed score to obtain a true score is the third step in this process (Figure 1). If the reliability is high enough, the observed score can be considered as deputy of the true score. Consistency of measurement depends on the reliability of constructed examination. A reliable test, across various conditions and situations, including different evaluators and testing environments, gives approximately the same results. Validity describes how well one can legitimately trust the results of a test as interpreted for a speciďŹ c purpose. Despite the enhancements in technology and measurement theory, the requirements for validation have not changed and validation is not optional in measurement. According to APA standards (AERA, APA, & NCME, 1999, p. 9), â&#x20AC;&#x153;validity refers to the degree to

* Ph.D. Student, Faculty of Computer Technologies and Engineering, International Black Sea University, Tbilisi, Georgia E-mail: merguven@ibsu.edu.ge.

Mehtap ERGUVEN Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 which evidence and theory support the interpretations of test scores entailed by purposed use of tests. Validity is, therefore, the most fundamental consideration in developing and evaluating tests”. The term construct refers to the concept, attribute, or variable that is the target of measurement as shown in figure1 at the last step of psychometric process. Most targets of a measurement in psychological assessment, regardless of their level of specificity, are constructs in that they are theoretically defined attributes or dimensions of people. Construct can be determined as instrument’s (examination’s) intended purpose, the process for developing and selecting items (the individual questions, prompts, or cases comprising the instrument) or the wording of individual items and qualifications of item writers and reviewers (Haynes, Richard, and Kubany, 1995). Validity is a property of inferences, not instruments; therefore validity must be established for each intended interpretation (Cook, D.A.; Beckman,T.J., 2006). Unfortunately, instrument’s scores reﬂect the underlying construct sometimes accurately or less accurately but never perfectly. The purpose of a measurement is representing individual’s properties using valid and adequate theoretical models with respect to reliability and after administration of a test, interpreting the obtained outputs in a scientific manner. One of the most striking and challenging phenomena in the Social Sciences is the unreliability of its measurements: Measuring the same attribute twice often yields two different results (Steyer, 1999). Science is based on the adequacy of its measurement. Poor measures provide a weak foundation for research (Foster and Cone, 1995). A basic distinction in science may be made between theoretical constructs and observed measures thought to represent these constructs (Revelle, 2013). Often the target of the measurement and the result of this process do not fit each other. The accuracy of the obtained information is related to the capacity and modernity of the applied techniques. A relationship between theory which is used for construction and implementation of a test, and measurement and evaluation of a test is critical to provide realistic and adequate information about a subject. A test can be studied from different angles and the items in the test can be evaluated according to different theories. There are several theories to analyze and manipulate in whole psychometric process. Two such theories will be discussed in this study. The main characteristics of these theories, relations between them, and basic properties of theories with their advantages and disadvantages and differences among them are discussed and represented in the next sections of the article.

Classical Test Theory According to Bejar (1983), random sampling theory and item response theory are two major psychometric 24

theories for the study of measurement procedures. In random sampling theory, there are two approaches, the classical theory approach and the generalizability theory approach. A CTT (also known as classical true score theory) is a simple model that describes how errors of measurement can influence observed scores (Marcoulides, 1999). Classical test theory (Gulliksen, 1950) is the earliest theory of measurement. For a long time psychometric characteristics of personality measures have been examined using CTT assumptions. The major target of this theory is estimating the reliability of the observed scores of a test. If the test is applied on a particular sample of items, at that particular time, in the reliable conditions, this exam gives an observed score of the examinee. Under all possible conditions at various times, using all possible similar items, the mean of all these observed scores would be the most unbiased estimate of the subject’s ability. Thus, mean is defined as the true score. In any single administration of a test, the observed score is most likely different from the true score (Suen, 1990). This difference is called random error score. In the framework of CTT each measurement (test score) is considered being a value of a random variable X consisting of two components: a true score and an error score (Steyer, 1999). This relationship is represented in below formula: X=T+E Because the true score is not easily observable, instead, the true score must be estimated from the individual’s responses on a set of test items. In CTT, the observed score is assumed to be measured with error. However, in developing measures, the goal of CTT is to minimize this error (McBridge, 2001) . In that case, importance of a reliability of a test and calculating the reliability coefficient increases. if we know reliability coefficient, we can estimate the error variance. The square root of error variance is determined as standard error of measurement (SEM) and helps to define the confidence interval to have a more realistic estimation of the true score. Reliability is considered an attribute of the test data and not the assessment itself in CTT. In fact, APA standards (AERA, APA, & NCME, 1999) state that when reliability is reported, it must be accompanied by a description of the methods used to calculate the coefficient, the nature of the sample used in the calculations, and conditions under which the data were collected. However, reliability estimates calculated through these procedures are sample dependent and, as a result, have a number of practical limitations when building or evaluating technology-enhanced assessments (Scott and Mead, 2011). The alpha formula is one of several analyses that may be used to gauge the reliability (i.e., accuracy) of psychological and educational measurements. This formula was designed to be applied to a two-way table of data where rows represent persons (p) and columns represent scores assigned to the person under two or more conditions (i). Because the analysis ex-

Two approaches to psychometric process: Classical test theory and item response theory

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 amines the consistency of scores from one condition to another, procedures like alpha are known as internal consistency analyses (Cronbach and Shavelson, 2004). The reliability was computed with coefficient alpha, defined as:

where n is number of items in the test, Ď&#x192; 2 is the varii ance on item i and Ď&#x192; 2 is the variance on the overall x

test result (Wiberg, 2004). Cronbachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Îą can be shown to provide a lower bound for reliability under rather mild assumptions. Thus, the reliability of test scores in a population is always higher than the value of Cronbachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Îą in that population. A value of 0.7-0.8 is an acceptable value for Cronbachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Îą; values substantially lower indicate an unreliable scale. There are two indices in CTT, â&#x20AC;&#x153;pâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;râ&#x20AC;?. The proportion of examinees passing an item is called difficulty index p, actually, high values of p indicates an easy item. The ability of an item to discriminate between higher ability examinees and lower ability examinees is known as item discrimination â&#x20AC;&#x153;râ&#x20AC;?, which is often expressed statistically as the Pearson productmoment correlation coefficient between the scores on the item (e.g., 0 and 1 on an item scored right-wrong) and the scores on the total test. If an item is dichotomously scored, this estimate is often computed as a point-biserial correlation coefficient (Fan, 1998). The formula of point biserial correlation

(rpbi ) is defined

by:

where, Mp = whole-test mean for students answering item correctly (i.e., those coded as 1s), Mq = whole-test mean for students answering item incorrectly (i.e., those coded as 0s), St = standard deviation for whole test, p = proportion of students answering correctly (i.e., those coded as 1s), q = proportion of students answering incorrectly (i.e., those coded as 0s) (Brown, 2001). Point biserial correlation (r_pbi) ranges from -1 to +1. A high point-biserial coefficient means that students selecting the correct response are students with higher total scores, and students selecting incorrect responses to an item are associated with lower total scores. According to the value of r_pbi, item can discriminate between low-ability and high-ability examinees. Very low or negative point-biserial coefficients

help to identify defective items.

Item Response Theory and its Models Item Response Theory (IRT) is used in a number of disciplines including sociology, political science, psychology, human development, business, and communications, as well as in education where it began as method for the analysis of educational tests (Templin, 2012). CTT was originally the leading framework for analyzing and developing standardized tests. Since the beginning of the 1970â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s IRT has more or less replaced the role CTT had and is now the major theoretical framework used in this scientific field (Wiberg, 2004). IRT allows the user to specify a mathematical function to model the relationship between a latent trait, Î¸, and the probability that an examinee with a given Î¸ will correctly answer a test item. Until the 1980s, IRT research focused largely on the estimation of model parameters, the assessment of model-data ďŹ t, and the application of these models to a range of testing problems using dichotomously scored (yes/ no,1or 0) multiple-choice items. Research on performance assessments, polytomous response formats, and multidimensional traits began in earnest, as did work on computerized adaptive testing. An outcome of this expanded focus was a host of new IRT models that allowed researchers to tackle complex problems, not only in achievement testing, but also in areas such as attitude, personality, cognitive, and developmental assessment (Gierl and Bisanz, 2001). The ďŹ rst consideration when choosing the right model involves the number of item response categories. For dichotomous items, the 1, 2, and 3 parameter logistic models are most common (1PL, 2PL, 3PL), and models including an upper asymptote parameter (e.g., 4PL) are also possible. For polytomous items, variations of the Partial Credit Model, Rating Scale Model, Generalized Partial Credit Model, and Graded Response Model are available for ordered responses, and the Nominal Model is appropriate for items with a non-speciďŹ ed response order. The second important consideration when choosing the right model is whether the item discrimination parameters, or slopes, should be free to vary across items, or whether a model from the Rasch (Rasch, 1960) family is more appropriate (Edelen and Reeve, 2007). The IRT model (1PL, 2PL, 3PL) can be defined using the 3PL model formula:

đ?&#x2018;ˇđ?&#x2018;ˇđ?&#x2018;ˇđ?&#x2018;ˇđ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160; (đ?&#x153;˝đ?&#x153;˝đ?&#x153;˝đ?&#x153;˝) = đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160; + (đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;? â&#x2C6;&#x2019; đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160; )

đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160; = đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?, đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?, â&#x20AC;Ś , đ?&#x2019;?đ?&#x2019;?đ?&#x2019;?đ?&#x2019;?,

đ?&#x2019;&#x2020;đ?&#x2019;&#x2020;đ?&#x2019;&#x2020;đ?&#x2019;&#x2020;đ?&#x2019;&#x201A;đ?&#x2019;&#x201A;đ?&#x2019;&#x201A;đ?&#x2019;&#x201A;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;(đ?&#x153;˝đ?&#x153;˝đ?&#x153;˝đ?&#x153;˝â&#x2C6;&#x2019;đ?&#x2019;&#x192;đ?&#x2019;&#x192;đ?&#x2019;&#x192;đ?&#x2019;&#x192;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160; ) (đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;? â&#x2C6;&#x2019; đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160; ) thatđ?&#x2019;&#x201A;đ?&#x2019;&#x201A;đ?&#x2019;&#x201A;đ?&#x2019;&#x201A; a(đ?&#x153;˝đ?&#x153;˝đ?&#x153;˝đ?&#x153;˝â&#x2C6;&#x2019;đ?&#x2019;&#x192;đ?&#x2019;&#x192;đ?&#x2019;&#x192;đ?&#x2019;&#x192; given đ?&#x2018;ˇđ?&#x2018;ˇđ?&#x2018;ˇđ?&#x2018;ˇđ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160; (đ?&#x153;˝đ?&#x153;˝đ?&#x153;˝đ?&#x153;˝) =is đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;đ?&#x2019;&#x201E;the , test-taker đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160; = đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?, đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?, â&#x20AC;Ś , đ?&#x2019;?đ?&#x2019;?đ?&#x2019;?đ?&#x2019;?, đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160; + probability đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160; ) đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;?đ?&#x;? + đ?&#x2019;&#x2020;đ?&#x2019;&#x2020;đ?&#x2019;&#x2020;đ?&#x2019;&#x2020; đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160;đ?&#x2019;&#x160; with ability Î¸ answer a random item correctly, ai is the where

Mehtap ERGUVEN Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 item discrimination, bi is the item difficulty and ci is the pseudo guessing parameter (Hambleton, Swaminathan, and Rogers, 1991). The 2PL model is obtained when c = 0. The 1PL model is obtained if c = 0 and a = 1 (Wiberg, 2004) or constant. Items should be selected at any point in the testing process to provide maximum information about an examinee’s ability. In this application, a model is needed that places persons and items on a common scale (this is done with item response theory models) (Hambleton and Jones, 1993). In IRT, higher levels of information are produced when items have higher discrimination “a” parameters, and smaller lower-asymptote “c” parameters (Harvey & Hammer, 1999). A “b” parameter defines how easy or how difficult is an item and an “a” parameter determines how effectively this item can discriminate between highly proficient students and less-proficient students. The guessing parameter “c” determines how likely the examinees are to obtain the correct answer by guessing (Yu, 2013).

examinee with θ ability, (Eθ) and his/her responses to different items (i1, i2, i3, i4) are represented within two situations: dependent and independent. In figure 3, in response to a question, the examinee has no chance to reply any item with the help of another item. Items are independent and they do not contain any hint among each other.

Figure3: Illustration of independent items and subject.

In figure 4, test-taker answers item 1 and item 4 with his/her knowledge and ability, but item1 contains information to solve question 3 and item 4 gives clues to answer item 2. Therefore, such questions should be eliminated, since they violate the local independence assumption of IRT. Such questions are not adequate to estimate an examinee’s ability accurately.

Figure 2: ICCs of low and high discrimination (Low discrimination in the red curve, high discrimination in the green curve).

IRT Assumptions Before using IRT models in psychometric process, two basic assumptions must be met. These are unidimensionality and local independency. The assumption of unidimensionality means that only one trait or ability is measured by the items. Local independency and unidimensionality are similar, but not equivalent, concepts. When the assumption of unidimensionality is met, so is the assumption of local independence. However, the assumption of local independence can be met without unidimensional data as long as all aspects that affect the test results are taken into account (McBridge, 2001). In the local independency assumption, responses for different items are not related. An item does not provide any clue to answer another item correctly. If local dependence does exist, a large correlation between two or more items can essentially affect the latent trait and it causes lack of validity. In the following two figures, relations between the 26

Figure 4: Illustration of dependent items and examinee

The third assumption of IRT is Item Characteristic Curve (ICC). The monotonically increasing item characteristic function specifies that the examinees with higher scores on the traits have higher expected probabilities for answering the item correctly than the examinees with lower scores on the traits. In the onetrait or one-dimensional model, the item characteristic function is called item characteristic curve (ICC) and it provides the probability of examinees answering an item correctly for examinees at different points on the ability scale. In addition it is common to assume that, ICCs are described by one, two, or three parameters (Hambleton, 1982) .

Two approaches to psychometric process: Classical test theory and item response theory

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

Figure 5: Three item characteristic curves, with the same difficulty but different discrimination parameters.

Comparison of CTT and IRT Models, Advantages and Disadvantages: Benefits obtainable through the application of classical test models to measurement problems include: 1. Smaller sample sizes required for analyses (a particularly valuable advantage for field testing), 2. Simpler mathematical analyses compared to item response theory, 3. Model parameter estimation, which is conceptually straightforward, and 4. Analyses, which do not require strict goodnessof-fit studies to ensure a good fit of model to the test data (Hambleton and Jones, 1993). Beside these properties, CTT has several limitations. • The most challenging critique of many applications of CTT is that they are based on rather arbitrarily defined test score variables. If these test score variables are not well chosen, any model based on them is not well-founded, either. In most applications, the decision how to define the test score variables “Yi” on which models of CTT are built is arbitrary to some degree. It should be noted, however, that arbitrariness in the choice of the test score variables cannot be avoided altogether. Even if models are based on the item level, such as in IRT models, one may ask “Why these items and not others”? Whether or not a good choice has been made, will only prove in model tests and in validation studies. This is true for models of CTT as well as for models of alternative theories of psychometric tests (Steyer, 1999). • Another limitation of classical test theory is that scores obtained by CTT applications are entirely test dependent and unfortunately p and r statistics are dependent on the examinee sample from which they are obtained. Among the greatest advantages of the IRT over the CTT are: the possibility of comparing between the latent traits of individuals of different populations when they are submitted to tests or questionnaires that have certain common items; it also allows for the comparison of individuals of the same population submitted to totally different tests; this is possible because the IRT has the items as its central elements, not the tests or the questionnaire as a whole; it allows

for a better analysis of each item that makes up the measure (Araujo, Andrade, and Borlotti, 2009). • IRT models based on an explicit measurement models. A major limitation of traditional assessment frameworks is the assumption that measurement precision is constant across the entire trait range. IRT models, however, explicitly recognize that measurement precision may not be constant for all people (Fraley, Waller, and Brennan, 2000. • Classical test models are often referred to as “weak models” because the assumptions of these models are fairly easily met by test data. (Though, it must be mentioned that not all models within a classical test theoretic framework are “weak.” Models such as the binomial test model, which are based upon a fairly restrictive assumption about the distribution of error scores, are considered “strong models.”) Item response models are referred to as strong models too (Hambleton and Jones, 1993). • IRT and the CTT person parameters are highly comparable and also item difficulties and item discriminations are very comparable. This comparability is defined by Courville (2005), Fan (1998) and MacDonald and Paunonen (2002). • Accordingly, within the CTT framework, the question of model validity is almost never addressed (Progar and Sočan, 2008). • The combination of Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) and IRT provides several advantages. Item banks contain information on the wording of each item, the concept it measures, and its measurement characteristics according to a measurement model. Most CAT-based assessments utilize a set of statistical models building on IRT to select items and to score the responses. By selecting the most appropriate items for each person, assessment precision are optimized for a given test length and irrelevant items can be avoided. Assessment precision can be adapted to the needs of the specific application. For example, for a diagnostic purpose precision should be high for scores close to diagnostic cut-points, or test precision could be set high over all the score range for the purposes of follow-up of individuals. At the end of the assessment, the respondent can be given a score immediately, along the guidelines on how to interpret the score (Bjorner, Kosinski and Ware, 2004).

Main Differences between CTT and IRT Models In this chapter fundamental differences of both theories are described. These basic distinctive attributes are presented in Table 1. At the item level, the CTT model is relatively simple. CTT does not invoke a complex theoretical model to relate an examinee’s ability to success on a particular item. Instead, CTT collectively considers a pool of examinees and empirically examines their success rate on an item (assuming it is dichotomously scored) (Fan, 1998). 27

Mehtap ERGUVEN Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 Table 1. Main Difference between CTT and IRT Models, source: (Hambleton, R.K.; Jones, R.W., 1993)

Lord and Novick (1968) made the important obserination power of any item; they have been generally vation that examinee observed scores and true scores recognized as sample dependent. are not synonymous with ability scores. The main idea IRT models consist of invariance of ability and item is that examinees come to a test administration with parameters. Examinee trait (ability) level estimates do ability levels or scores in relation to the construct benot depend on which items are administered, and in ing measured by the test. These ability scores (in IRT) turn, item parameters do not depend on the group of are test-independent. However, examinee test scores examinees. and corresponding true scores will always depend on Whereas in CTT a single number (e.g., the internalthe selection assessment tasks from the domain of consistency reliability coefficient, or the SEM based assessment tasks over which their ability scores are on that reliability) would be used to quantify the measdefined. Examinees will have lower true scores on difurement-precision of a test, a continuous function is ficult tests and higher true scores on easier tests, but required in IRT to convey comparable data, given that their ability scores remain constant over any tests that the IRT a test need not theoretical be assumedmodel to At the item level, the CTT model is relatively simple.inCTT doesapproach, not invoke a complex might be built to measure the construct (Hambleton possess a constant degree of measurement-precision 1993). ability to success on a particular item. acrossInstead, the entire possible range of scores (Harvey to relateand anJones, examinee’s CTT collectively considers a pool of Classical test theory can be defined as “test and Hammer, 1999). examinees andwhereas empirically examines their rate on an item (assuming it is dichotomously scored) (Fan, based,” IRT can be defined as success “item based”. CTT and its models are not really adequate for Conclusion 1998). modeling answers to individual items in a questionLord and Novick (1968) made important that examinee scoresstate and of true scores naire. This purpose is morethe adequately metobservation by models Multiple raters, observed the psychological testtaker, are of item response theory (IRT) which specify how the environmental factors or test itself affect examinees’ not synonymous ability scores. The main ideaofisanthat examinees come to a test administration with ability probability with of answering in a specific category scores in each implementation of instrument. Somedepends on the attribute to be measured, on times, each testThese administration gives different levels oritem scores in relation to the construct beingi.e., measured by the test. ability scores (in IRT)results are testthe value of a latent variable (Steyer, 1999). about the same person. The only valid and reliable independent. However,distinction examinee test scores corresponding true scores will are always depend on An important between IRT and and CTT is constructions of examinations for interpreting the the that IRT deﬁnes a scale for the underlying latent variareal aspect of the ability of individual. selection tasks from tasks over which their ability scores are defined. bleassessment that is being measured by athe setdomain of items, of andassessment items As it has been mentioned before, the main purare calibrated respect this same scale. This is andpose of the psychometric usage differExaminees will havewith lower true to scores on difficult tests higher true scores onprocess easier and tests, but of their ability why IRT is said to have a ‘‘built-in’’ linking mechanism ent measurement theories is to determine maximum scores (Edelen remain and constant any tests that might be built information to measure theanconstruct Jones, Reeve,over 2007). about individual.(Hambleton This valuable and informaIn particular, the focus on estimating an ICC for tion is accessible by different methods, if valid, theo1993). each item provides an integrative, holistic view of the retic mathematical background of implementation is performance each item is not readily available used and IRT a reliable atmosphere is satisfied. Both CTT Classical testoftheory can that be defined as "test based," whereas can be defined as "item based". when using CTT-based methods to develop or examand IRT are scientific methods which have a pioneer CTT answers to individual itemsand in apsychometric questionnaire. ine aand test.its models are not really adequate for modeling role in educational measurement (CTT) can measure the difficulty level and discrimprocess. Essential rules of these arehow dis- the This purpose is more adequately met by models of item response theory (IRT) whichtheories specify 28

Two approaches to psychometric process: Classical test theory and item response theory

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 cussed and presented in this study. CTT has served the measurement community for most of this century and IRT has witnessed an exponential growth in recent decades (Fan, 1998). Therefore, focus of the study is representing the main principles of these theories, and determining their effects on the educational measurement process. In the comparison of theories it is determined that IRT models are more informative than CTT models if samples are big enough to allow their application, if the items obey the laws defining the models, and if detailed information about the items (and even about the categories of polytomous items, such as in rating scales) is sought (Steyer, 1999). Besides depicting the simplicity of the CTT model from multiple points of view, various limitations of the model are determined. Fundamental assumptions of CTT and IRT, and differences among them are illustrated. These differences are detailed in item, person and ability level. In the implementation of computerized adaptive testing and questionnaires, adequacy and ascendency of IRT models are underlined.

References AERA, APA, & NCME (1999). Standards for educational and psychological testing. Washington, D.C. Araujo,E.P., Andrade, D.F., and Bortolotti, S. (2009, August 24). Item Response Theory. Brazil. 1000-1008 Bejar, I. (1983). Subject matter expertsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; assessment of item statistics. Applied Psychological Measurement, 7, 303-310 Bjorner, J.B.; Kosinski, M.; Ware, J.E. (2004). Computerized Adaptive Testing and Item Banking Brown, J. (2001). Statistics Corner: Questions and Answers About Language Testing Statistics: Point--Biserial Correlation Coefficients. Shiken: JLT Testing & Evlution SIG Newsletter, 5(3), 13-17 Cook, D.A.; Beckman,T.J. (2006). Current Concepts in Validity and Reliability for Psychometric Instruments: Theory and Application. The American Journal of Medicine, 119(2), 166.e7-166.e16 Courville, T. G. (2005). An empirical comparison of item response theory and classical test theory item /person statistics. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M University. Retrieved November 5, 2007 from http://txspace.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/ 1969.1/1064/etd-tamu-2004B-EPSY-Courville2.pdf?sequence=1.

Cronbach, L.J.; Shavelson, R.J. (2004). My Current Thoughts on Coefficient Alpha and Successor Procedures. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 64(3), 391-418 Edelen, M.O; Reeve, B.B. (2007). Applying item response theory (IRT) modeling to questionnaire development, evaluation, and reďŹ nement. Quality of Life Research, 16, 5-18 Fan, X. (1998). Item response theory and classical test theory: an empirical comparison of their item/person statistics. Educational and Psychological Measurement. June 1998 v58, n3, 357-374 Foster S.L.; Cone J.D. (1995). Validity issues in clinical assessment. Psychol. Psychological Assessment, 248-260 Fraley, R.C.; Waller, N.G; Brennan, K.A.. (2000). An Item Response Theory Analysis of Self-Report Measures of Adult Attachment. Personality and Social Psychology, 78(2), 350-365 Gierl, M. J; Bisanz, J. (2001, December). Item Response Theory for Psychologists-Book Review. Applied Psychological Measurement, 25(4), 405-408 Gulliksen, H. (1950). Theory of mental tests. Wiley, New York Hambleton, R. (1982). Item Response Theory, The Three Parameter Logistic Model. CSE, National Institute of Education, California Hambleton, R.K., Swaminathan, H. and Rogers, H.J. (1991). Fundamentals of Items Response Theory. Newbury: Sage Hambleton, R.K; Jones, R.W. (1993). Comparison of Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory and Their Applications to Test Development. Items, 253-262. Harvey, R., & Hammer, A. (1999). Item Response Theory. The Counseling Psychologist, 27(3), 353-383 Haynes, S.N; Richard, D.C.S; Kubany, E.S. (1995). Content Validity in Psychological Assessment: A Functional Approach to Concepts and Methods. Psychological Assessment, 7(3), 238-247 Lord, F. M., Novick, M. R. (1968). Statistical theories of mental test scores. Reading, MA: AddisonWesley MacDonald, P., & Paunonen, S. V. (2002). A Monte Carlo comparison of item and person parameters based on item response theory versus classical 29

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test theory. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 62, 921–943 Marcoulides, G. (1999). Generalizability Theory: Picking up Where the Rasch IRT Model Leaves off? In S. Embretson, & S. Hershberger, The New Rules of Measurement: What Every Psychologist and Educator Should Know. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc., 129-130 McBridge, N. (2001, May). An Item Response Theory Analysis of the Scales from the International Personality Item Pool and the Neo Personality Inventory. Virginia, USA Progar, Š.; Sočan, G. (2008). An empirical comparison of Item Response Theory and Classical Test Theory. Horizons of Psychology, 17(3), 5-24 Rasch, G. (1960). Probabalistic Models for Some Intelligence and Attainment Tests. Copenhagen Danmarks paedagogiske institut, Denmark Revelle, W. (2013). Personality Project. Retrieved October 2013, from http://personality-project.org/ revelle/syllabi/405.old.syllabus.html Samejima, F. (1997). Departure from normal assumptions: a promise for future psychometrics with substantive mathematical modeling. Psychometrika, 62, 4,471-493 Scott, J.S.; Mead, A.D. (2011). Foundations for Measurement. In N. Tippins, & S. Adler, Technology-Enhanced Assessment of Talent (1st ed.). CA, USA: Jossey-Bass,Wiley, 21-66 Steyer, R. (1999). Steyer, R. Classical (Psychometric) Test Theory. Jena, Germany Suen, H. K. (1990). Principles of Test Theories. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Templin, J. (2012, July 9-13). Item Response Theory. Colorado, Georgia, USA Wiberg, M. (2004). Classical Test Theory vs.Item Response Theory; An Evaluation of the Test in the Swedish Driving-Lcience Test. Sweden Yu, C. (2013, August). A Simple Guide to the Item Response Theory (IRT) and Rasch Modeling. Retrieved December 18, 2013 from http://www.creative-wisdom.com

Proverbs about children in English, Georgian and Turkish culture

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

Proverbs about children in English, Georgian and Turkish culture Halis GÖZPINAR *

Abstract Proverbs are combination of “universal” and “national-cultural” factors, which are interwoven. The proverbs are common to all communities and though each culture has its own set of proverbs, the same wisdom can usually be recognised in a different culture. There are a number of proverbs in each culture dealing with children and their upbringing according to their own cultures. This means that the well-being of children and their education is very important for the society. The study of the proverbs related to children in three different cultures (English, Georgian, and Turkish) has revealed the importance that these cultures give to upbringing children. In our collection of the “children” proverbs and their complete English-language equivalences, we aim to help strangers to better understand the implicit as well as the explicit meanings of those three nations’ proverbs. In order to explore the paradigm of the proverbs related to children in English, Georgian and Turkish languages and cultures we conducted the research in several stages. Keywords: Children, proverb, Georgian, Turkish, English

Introduction There are a number of proverbs in each culture dealing with children and their upbringing in traditional cultures. This means that the welfare of children and their education is very important for the society. In addition to this, children are valued as the bulk of the concept of the family. The study of the proverbs related to children in three cultures (English, Georgian, and Turkish) has revealed similar approaches to the issue. If Georgia and Turkey are neighboring countries and it is only natural to compare their proverbs, England both geographically and culturally differs a lot with both. However, what permits us to compare their proverbs is the concept of archetype introduced by the Swiss psychologist Karl Yung. “Archetype” is derived from the Greek words “archos” meaning “first,” and “typos”, meaning “a mark.” Thus in a very literal sense, an archetype is the “first mark” and therefore most dictionaries define it to mean “an original pattern or model, a prototype.” Jung explained archetypes as the images, patterns or symbols that are contained in the collective unconscious. Archetypes may be thought of as blueprints, deeply imbedded within the psyche of the individual, and responsible for the foundationsof human behavior, and perhaps genetically inherited over many generations of human existence (Moore & Gillette, 1990). Archetypes are the “content of the collective unconscious” (Jung, 1972, p. 4). In order to explore the paradigm of the proverbs related to children in English, Georgian and Turkish languages and cultures we conducted the research in several stages: 1. We identified relevant proverbs in the corpuses of these languages. In this process we revealed several points: a) The definition of the proverb, “The proverb

is a verbal form well-known to the language community, which laconically (within the boundaries of a sentence) metaphorically expresses a deep, well-known, archetypal knowledge accumulated by the nation and mankind in the process of exploring the universe and reality” ( Rusieshvili, 2005). b) Secondly, we identified the proverbs by means of presence in their structure of relevant lexemes: son, daughter, mother, father, child and their equivalents in all above mentioned languages. 2) We analysed the proverb data revealing the pragma-semantic model of the proverb suggested by Rusieshvili (Rusieshvili, 1998; Rusieshvili, 2005). According to this theory, the semantic model of a proverb consists of three interdependent layers - explicit, implicit and presuppositional - each of them has its own status, function and plays a definite role in the creation of a general meaning of a proverb: The direct meaning of a proverb metaphor is realised on the explicit level, they coincide with each other both by the form and the contents, fully and clearly expressed, leaving nothing implied. Its figurative meaning - on the implicit level, implied or expressed indirectly, they are semantically similar, but the basic word or other components are changed. The presuppositional level, completely different, but the perfect equivalent can be found, the proverb actualises the part of the linguistic model of the world connected with the extralinguistic knowledge expressed in a proverb. In the proverbs below, understanding the explicit and implicit markers in the interpretation is not so much important because markers help us disambiguate the intended meanings.

* Lecturer, Turkish Philology Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Samtskhe-Javakheti State University, Akhaltsikhe, Georgia E-mail:halisgozpinar@gmail.com

Halis GÖZPINAR Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

Parents’ input is important in the process of raising a child 1. Dört göz bir evlat içindir. [Four eyes are for one child.] 2. deda naxe, mama naxe, Svili ise gamonaxe. Deda naxe, mama naxe, shvili ise gamonaxe. [Look at mother and father and decide about the child.] 3. samosels nawiburi gausinje da Svils dedmamao. Samosels nawiburi gausinje da shvils dedmamao. [When you buy clothes, look at the seams, when you look at the child, ask for her/his mother and father.] 4. Parents are patterns. All these proverbs express the same idea but in a different way. The Turkish proverb stresses the function of both parents in watching closely what the child is doing, whereas the Georgian one emphasises the fact that mother and father make the child and thus, they are responsible for them. All of the proverbs comprising this model are partial equivalents- they are similar on the explicit level of their pragma-semantic structure.

15. meZebris Svils dageSa ar undao. Medzebris shvils degesha ar undao. [The puppy of the setter does not need additional training.] 16. (Kavun) karpuz kökeninde büyür. [The water melon grows from its stem.] 17. Armut dibine düşer. [A pear will fall to its root.] 18. An apple does not fall far from the apple tree. In spite if the fact that the gender of the parent is not emphasised in these proverbs it is stil clear that these proverbs also claim that the directors and authors of the child’s life and values are their parents. Number (13)-(14) are full equivalents as they are similar on all of the levels of their semantic structure. Others can be classed to be partial equivalents.

Fathers groom the sons, while daughters are raised by their mothers In Turkish and Georgian cultures the boys are expected to spend a lot of time with their fathers while the girls are trained by their mothers. Consequently, a boy learns to deal with the duties of men in a house from his father and a daughter - from her mother.

5. kvici iyide, deda ikiTxe. kvici iyide, deda ikiTxe. [When you buy a foal, ask for its mother.] 6. Anasına bak kızını al, kenarına bak bezini al. [Look at the mother before marrying the daughter just as you examine the selvage before you buy the cloth.] 7. Yavru kuşun dilinden anası anlar. [Only its mother understands the young bird‘s song.] 8. Men are what their mothers made them. 9. Like hen, like chicken.

15. gogos nakeTi samxari, biWis namkali yanao. Gogos naketi samxari, bijis namkali khanao. [The girl should take care of the dinner, the boy, harvest the crop.] 16. Oğlan atadan öğrenir sofra kurmayı, kız anadan öğrenir biçki biçmeyi. [A son learns from his father how to provide for a table and a daughter learns from her mother how to cut out clothes.] 17. Like father like son, like mother like daughter

As it is seen, the importance of mother is given place in Georgian and Turkish proverbs. This semantic model comprises several subgroups of proverbs: The proverbs (4), (5) above stress the fact that mother is important in the life of a child as the child often resembles her in behavour. Number (6) reveals that only mother can fully understand the child and stresses the fact that mother looks after her children well. All of these proverbs are partial equivalents.

As it can be seen, these proverbs are partial equivalents. However, all of them stress the functions and duties of men (boys, sons) and women (girls, daughters) in the family, though they choose different things to single out as major functions. Clearly, the girls have to do cooking and seweing, whereas the boy‘s main duty is to harvest the crop (15) or/and provide food. The English proverb states only that daughters are like mothers and sons are like fathers.

10. kvici gvarze xtiso. Kvici gvarze xtiso .[The foal follows his father‘s behaviour.] 11. Svili Tu styua, mamac styua. Shvili tu styua, mamac styua. [ If the child is bad, the father is as well.] 12. xem gamoisxa xilio, rac mama isa Svilio. Khem gamoisxa khilio, rac mama isa shvilio. [The fruit ripes in the tree, the child is raised up by his/her father.] 13. Wise child is a father’s bliss. 14. One father is more than a hundred school masters.

Parents’ values and behaviours are crucial as the children tend to imitate their parents

This group of proverbs reveals one and the same idea: Father and children often resemble each other. All of these Georgian and English proverbs are partial quivalents.

18. Keçi nereye çıksa oğlağı da oraya çıkar. [Where the nanny goat climbs, so does her kid .] 19. Çocuğa, “Ne işliyorsun” demişler, “Büyüğün yaptığını işliyorum” demiş. [The child was asked: “What are you doing?” “Doing what adults do” said. ] 20. კვიცი გვარზე ხტისო (kvitsi gvarze xtiso) [The foal jumps as their parents ( father) do.] Because children learn from parents, they need to be careful for their children to be good models. Children learn by repetition so they behave in the way they see from their elders.

Proverbs about children in English, Georgian and Turkish culture

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

Children are the wealth of the family and parents are lucky to have children

In spite of the time and effort children require, still they are crucial to the family

In the following English, Georgian and Turkish proverbs, kids are seen as the wealth of their parents and it is claimed that they bring joy into the house and lead to the continuation of the family. So the parents are seen as lucky people. In the household, where there are children, it is always noisy and cheerful whereas a house without children is full of sadness.

32. Çocuklu ev pazar, çocuksuz ev mezar. [House with children is like a marketplace and a house without children is like a graveyard.] 33. Çocuk dolu eve şeytan pek az girer. [The evil rarely comes to the house which has children.] 34. Çocuk evin meyvesidir. [ A child is the fruit of a home ] 35. Evlatsız yurt, odunsuz ocağa benzer.[Çocuksuz baba meyvesiz ağaca benzer.] 36. Where children are not, heaven is not. 37. Children are the keys of paradise.

20. Çocuklu kadın kargalı çınar, civcivli tavuk. [A woman with children is like a plane tree with crows or a hen with chicks .] 21. Bal tatlı, çocuk baldan da tatlı. [The honey is sweet but the child is sweeter.] 22. Çocuksuz baba meyvesiz ağaca benzer. [Father without children is like a fruitless tree.] 23. Ağaç dalıyla gürler. [The tree roars with its branches.] 24. He that has no children knows not what is love 25. The best love is that of children. 26. Children are poor men‘s richness. 27. Happy is he that is happy in his children 28. uSvilo kaci jirkia. Ushvilo kaci jirkia. [A childless man is like a log.] These proverbs present one and the same idea from different points of view. (22) and (28) compare childless people to a tree and a log whereas (21) and (23) stresses the importance of having the children. Number (20) compares a mother to a hen with chicks or a tree with crows thus stressing the turbulent and noisy life mothers have while (23) stresses the fact that family is disturbed but proud of their children. Number (21) stresses the importance of children by emphasising the happiness they bring to the household. The English proverbs stress that parents’ happiness depends on the happiness of their children.

It is a great commitment and responsibility to raise good children and sometimes they make their parents’ life hard 29. bevri Svili Wiriao, cecxlic aris, vercxlic aris. Bevri shvili jiriao, cecxlic aris, vercxlic aris. [Having many children in the family is fire as well as silver] 30. Çok çocuk anayı şaşkın, babayı düşkün eder. [Many children make the mother confused and the father tired.] 31. Çoluk çoçuk sahibi oldukça gül de bulunur bülbül de bulunur. [After having a child, one finds a rose as well as the nightingale.] These proverbs stress the fact that it is difficult to raise a child. (29) and (30) emphasise the fact that children bring both good and bad (rose/nightingale; fire/silver) whereas the proverb number (31) states the fact that the children make their parents tired.

This semantic model emphasises the fact that children maybe causing problems but, however, they enliven the house (32), (34) and (35). As well as that, they keep the evil away (33). The English proverbs (36), (37) confirm that children are the keys to happiness (paradise, heaven).

It is difficult to raise a child properly The care and concern for the education of children in the cultures selected for the analysis is sometimes seen as hard work by the parents. In this case, they should be patient as in the proverbs 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 45, 46. Raising and taking care of a child is not an easy task, but the parents gladly put up with all the difficulties for the sake of their child. The proverbs number 41, 44 mean that children need to be fed and given food. 38. Çocuk büyütmek taş kemirmek. [Raising children is like gnawing at stones] 39. Çocuğun/Evladın var mı, derdin var / Çocuk isteyen belasını da istemesi gerek. [He who desires to have children must be willing to endure their difficulties.] 40. Her kimin evladı var, başından büyük derdi var. [If you have children you have trouble ] 41. Eşeğe ―Sıpan oldu demişler, ―Sırtımdan yükümü atacak değil ya, önümden yemimi alacak demiş. [They told the donkey : “you have had a foal, He said: He is not going to relieve some of the burden of my back, he will share some of my fodder ] 42. Evladın varsa bin derdin var, evladın yoksa bir derdin var. [If you have children you will have a thousand worries, if you have no children you will have one worry .] 43. At at oluncaya kadar sahibi mat olur. [Until the pony becomes the horse, the owner will be checkmated.] 44. Small birds must have meat/ Children must be fed. 45. Children are certain cares, but uncertain comforts. 46. erTi ymawvilis gazrdas erTi baTmani fetvis axeka sjobiao. Erti ymawvilis gazrdas erti batmani fetvis axeka sjobiao. [It is better to collect one 33

Halis GÖZPINAR Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 sack of barley rather than bring up one child.] As it can been seen, these proverbs are partial equivalents to one another, as they express one and the same idea, but employ different images. However, they are similar on their implicit levels.

One should not spoil the child by pampering him. Kids do not understand the difficulties of the life While educating their children, the parents should be careful not to spoil them, because fulfilling all of their wishes may make them lazy. Kids do not understand the difficulties of life, for them it is important that parents would provide them with everything necessary. Children must be grateful for the parents’ devotion and care. 47. bavSvs rom gaucineb, muSts giCvenebso. Bavshvs rom gaucineb, mushts gichvenebso. [If you smile at the child, he/she will show you a fist.] 48. maRla bavSvi avwie da TavSi Camkrao. Magla bavshvi avwie da tavshi chamkrao. [I held the child up and he hit me in my head.] 49. Svils ded-mama xazina hgoniao. Shvils ded-mama xazina hgoniao. [A child thinks his/her parents are his/ her mint/bank.] 50. ymawvili pataraa, guli ki didi aqvso. Ymawvili pataras, guli ki didi akvso. [The child is small but has a big heart.] 51. patara eSmakma didi eSmaki acdina. Patara eshmakma didi eshmaki acdina. [A small devil tempted (seduced) a big one.] 52. Çocuğu şımartma, başına çıkar. [ Do not spoil the child he will sit on the neck .] 53. Çocuk ekmeği dolapta bitiyor/yetişiyor sanır. [ A child thinks bread grows in the cupboard ] 54. Gönül çocuğa benzer gördüğünü durmayıp ister. [The heart is like a child, it hopes what it desires.] 55. Çocuk padişah bilmez. [Children don‘t know the king.] 56. Yavru kuşun ağzı büyük olur. [A young bird‘s mouth is big.] 57. It dalaşına, çocuk dövüşüne uyulmaz. [Never mind the dogs fighting and the children’s fighting as well.] 58. Children suck the mother when they are young, and the father when they are old. 59. Wife and children are bills of charges. 60. A growing youth has a wolf in his belly. 61. Boys will be boys. (Children may behave in an unruly manner.) As it is seen in the proverbs above, one of the most unpleasant things a parent can encounter on earth may be a demanding (49, 53, 54, 55, 56, 58, 59, 60) and spoiled child, because they do not understand the difficulties of life. So, they believe that they are entitled to whatever they want whenever they want it. If parents do not teach a child to be disciplined, s/he will grow up spoiled and then later it will be too difficult 34

or too late to educate her/him and make them understand anything as in the proverbs 47, 48, 52. The strict training given to children will help their self-control develop and be good people when they are adults. Number 61 means that children may behave in an unruly manner. But their emotions are sometimes more than adults as in the proverb number 50, 55.

A child should be groomed when he is young Everything has its own time and children can be taught everything in their childhood, they acquire new habits and changing old ones is difficult in adulthood. You can tell about a child at early age whether s/he is going to be a well-mannered person in the future. The following English, Turkish and Georgian proverbs stress that the early period of childhood is the best time to acquire habits and the way of living. 62. Ağaç yaş iken eğilir. [A twig is bent while it is green.] 63. sanam wkneli pataraa, manam unda moigrixos, gaizrdeba veRar mogrex. sanam wkneli pataraa, manam unda moigrixos gaizrdeba vegar mogrex. [The twig of the tree must be bent when it is green.] 64. ZaRli lekvobisas gamoizrdeba. Dzagli lekvobisas gamoizrdeba. [It is easier to raise the puppy than the dog.] 65. Raw leather will strecth. 66. İyi kuzu körpe iken belli olur. [A good lamb will be known when it is tender.] 67. Twist the wand while it is green. 68. As the twig is bent, so is the tree inclined. 69. Soft wax will take any impression. These proverbs are also equivalents. Obviously, (62),(63),(68),(69) are full equivalents because they coinside on the explicit level (images and niches selected to characterise the concept). In those proverbs, the metaphorical figure chosen is “twig” which is easy to bend while it is green. That is associated with early influences having a permanent effect. As in the meaning ‘a man may bend a wand while it is green and make it straight though it be never so crooked,’ gives the idea that ‘education forms the common mind at early ages’. But (64), (65),(66),(67) are considered partial equivalents because they coincide only on the implicit level of their structure, meaning that education given at early ages takes affect.

Conclusion The results of our research argue that Georgian and Turkish proverbs in “children” case reveal coincidence of culturally marked realia, which can be explained by the geographic situation of Georgia and Turkey, which conditioned their cultural relations. Moreover, It is argued that the cultural contacts between the peoples living in the region have permeated their folklore simmering down in proverbs.

Proverbs about children in English, Georgian and Turkish culture

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 However, we see similarity with Enlish proverbs as well, which cannot be explained by geographic situation, but by some universal archetypes that exist in people’s minds all over the world, even in cultures which have never had any direct contacts. As it has been revealed by the data, relations beyween children and parents in English, Georgian and Turkish proverbs are one of the most frequent ones on the list of proverbs concerning children. The idea that the child does best when s/he is raised by her/his parents is revealed in the proverbs and it is suggested that the child should grow and evolve in a similar environment to her/him, along with their parents. English, Turkish and Georgian proverbs agree that parents play a vital role in raising their children and are important in their children’s developments. Children must be controlled by parents, otherwise they will seek for love in other surroundings. As it is seen in English, Turkish and Georgian proverbs, there are many proverbs related to the training, importance of children and all three cultures under study give a great value and importance to the education of children. Children are also seen as the vital elements of the family’s happiness and are very important for the future. The study and comparison of the relevant equivalent proverbs in English, Turkish and Georgian cultures revealed that the people of these countries pay a great attention to the concept of the family and proper grooming of their children. They assign an important role to parents in the process of raising a good generation.

References: Aksoy, O. A. (1998): Dictionary of Proverbs and Idioms, Inkılap, Istanbul. Moore, R. and Gillette, D. K. (1990). Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the archetypes of the mature masculine. Harper San-Francisco, New York Norrick, N. (1985). How proverbs mean: Semantic studies in English proverbs. Berlin: Mouton, Rusieshvili, M. (2005). The Proverb, Tbilisi: Lomisi. Jung, C.G. (1972). Four Archetypes: Mother, rebirth, spirit, trickster. (Translated byR.F.C. Hull). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Yurtbasi, M.1993. A Dictionary of Turkish Proverbs, Ankara: Turkish Daily News, 1993.

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

The efficiency of reading in content-based topics vs. reading in variety of topics

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

The efficiency of reading in content-based topics vs. reading in variety of topics M. Numan KANAR *

Abstract The article studies the impact of the selection of reading materials on the quality of students’ reading skills. The role of reading skills is discussed. Then a quantitative study is presented in order to compare the efficiency of application of content-based reading to reading in variety of topics. Teacher-centered instruction of reading does not involve any selection on the students’ part. It is also textbook and syllabus driven. Students have no say in it, they just fulfill what they are told. In this article I call this approach content-based. Student-centered approach to reading should not simply take into consideration students’ needs, interests’ and knowledge background, but also make student an active learner: let him select topics of reading texts. This is what I call in this research variety of topics. The study was held at Ishik University, Iraq. It is concluded that the possibility for the students to select topics for their reading texts increases the level of reading skill development. The article should be interesting for both language (reading) teachers and language teaching researchers. Keywords: Reading, topic selection, content based teaching of reading, reading in variety of topics, book/teacher centered approach, student-centered approach

Introduction According to Krashen (1981), listening and reading are those valuable outputs, from which a person learns a language. As language is one of the main tools of education, mastering reading on an adequate for receiving education level, is essential not only for learning a language, but also for education. Most information can be internalized by the written words, and anyone who finds reading unnecessary or difficult is seriously weak in the civilized struggle for a place in the world. The ability to read English texts for students who want to increase their knowledge in their majors nowadays seems inevitable. This can be considered true, because most of the professional, technical and scientific literature today is published in English (Alderson, 1984). Textbooks and articles in English constitute about ninety per cent of all required reading matter in many colleges, in whatever language (native or foreign) the student is receiving the education (Jolliffe & Harl, 2008). Educators have suggested that reading contributes to various dimensions of personal development, such as aesthetic appreciation (Adler, 1940). Reading has also been assumed to be important for maintaining an informed citizenry and thereby helping to preserve democratic institutions (Williams, J. 1993). Researchers from diverse fields have reminded us that comprehension is always to some extent idiosyncratic (Williams, 1993), building on individuals’ responses to the pragmatics of the particular reading situation as well as their understanding of the “content” of the text (Anderson, Pichert, & Shirey, 1979). The knowledge and experience an individual brings to a reading task are critical factors in compre-

hension. In inferring the meaning from text, readers build their own elaborations; they “read” situational demands, review personal knowledge, and select what seems the most appropriate and useful for the task at hand. Practice-engagement theory assumes that individuals acquire literacy through their participation in various literacy practices, both in and outside of school, according to Reder (1994). Presumably, the development of particular skills depends, at least in part, on the kinds of literacy-relevant practices in which individuals engage. Developing literacy abilities results in specific outcomes for individuals (e.g., at the most basic level, the ability to comprehend written texts of varying kinds; at a more global level, the ability to participate in society because one is more informed about various issues). The question of how different reading practices contribute to various literacy outcomes for young adults has not generally been addressed in the research literature. Guthrie and Greaney (1991), however, contended that individuals who read to acquire knowledge, for example, will be more knowledgeable than those who do not read for this purpose. It might also be expected that adults who read many various print contents (e.g., books, newspapers, magazines, journals) - regardless of the particular purposes for reading - will demonstrate higher levels of literacy abilities than those who read in a narrower content area or do not read. In many countries, like Iraq, English is learned by a large number of students who will never have the opportunity of conversing with native speakers, but

* Ph.D. student, Faculty of Education and Humanities, International Black Sea University; Lecturer, Ishik University, Erbil, Iraq E-mail: nkanar@gmail.com

M. Numan KANAR Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 who will have the access to the literature and periodicals, or scientific and technical journals written in the language they are learning (Rivers, 1981). Because of this situation, reading skill is more important in this context than other skills. In fact, to become a specialist, it is not enough for undergraduate students to have reading skills in their first language, because technical reading skills can hardly be transferred from the native language to the target one - Arabic characters are used in students’ native language which are too different from the Latin alphabet, to say nothing about the direction (right to left) in which reading is done. So, besides the difficulties that other students are having while learning English (establishing letter-sound correspondence, recognition and comprehension of vocabulary and grammar, understanding between the lines, etc., this is an extra difficulty for Iraqi students while reading in English. Results of some studies support the view that reading in a language which is not the learner’s first language is a source of considerable difficulty (Alderson, 1984). Thus, it is obvious that reading skills in English are indispensible for university students majoring in various spheres, especially the technical ones. On the other hand, experience shows that students often are not motivated enough and do not demonstrate a professionally relevant level of reading skills.

Problem Experts generally agree that there are three factors which are essential in the educational process: that is, the learners, the teacher, and the educational materials. In spite of the interdependency of these three factors, each can be considered independently of the others for research purposes. I concentrated my attention on the role of materials for reading for the quality of reading skills. Students are often dissatisfied with the materials they are offered for reading: they find them uninteresting, not motivating, too difficult and useless. In contemporary student-centered pedagogy this opinion should be taken into consideration, so we need to find out how to select reading texts for university students while teaching English to them.

Research question The present study was designed to answer the following questions regarding the selection of reading texts for young adults: How should we select reading texts for ESP students? Should all of them be content-based (related with the majors of the students) or may some represent a variety of topics, including non-ESP? And also should we permit students to make topic choice (student-centered teaching) or should the texts be chosen just according to textbook and/or teacher’s selection (book/teacher-centered approach)?

Method of Study I hypothesized that if I arrange the topics of the reading materials according to students’ interests, learners will become more involved in decision-making, and, correspondingly, more enthusiastic and will volunteer to learn. This kind of teaching reading is student-centered. I expected that due to this, students would demonstrate better reading comprehension and would be eager to read more. The study was conducted in the quantitative format. The purpose of this study was to investigate how well the students do in reading content-based texts selected in a textbook-author-centered way compared to a variety of topics (non-fiction & fiction, ESP and GE, students’ majors and a wider selection of technical texts) chosen in a student-centered way. The testing of reading skills before, while, and after the completion of the experiment was designed to measure the results. The experimental research was held in two different undergraduate groups majoring in Information Technologies at Ishik University in Arbil, Iraq. Correspondingly, content based reading for them included various topics dealing with their future professions. During the spring semester of 2012-2013 (19 Weeks, 3 hrs of reading classes per week) the reading materials in the control group (content-based, teacher-centered) were a collection of reading passages based on the syllabus (Advanced English). The textbook was Infotech English for Computer Users (Esteras, 2008). In the experimental group (variety of topics, student-centered) the texts were selected from various spheres taking into consideration students’ interests (some texts were selected from the textbook Deep into Meaning (Kanar & Bahar, 2010). Of course I realized that it was impossible to satisfy the needs of every student in the group, but the eventually selected texts were those who received most votes among the offered ones. In the first half of the semester, the control group was dealing with texts in their majors, while the experimental group – with a selection of texts, some of which were fiction and some – non-fiction (to make the transition from the school reading practices easier for the students), some - dealing with their majors, while others were not. In the second half of the semester, both groups were dealing with technical texts – the control group still had no choice and followed the book in their majors, while the experimental group was offered a list of EST (English for Science and Technology) topics, some of them directly related with their majors, while others – not. Below find the list of topics offered to students and chosen by them ( the ones with an “x” cross were chosen ) (Table 1). Ways of text presentation, types of activities, homework and assessment tasks were the same in both groups in order to achieve reliable results. 10 texts were studied in both groups in the classroom and

The efficiency of reading in content-based topics vs. reading in variety of topics

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 Table 1 The topics chosen by students to study in experimental group

Topics or Chapters introduced

Sphere/genre

Choice

Computer, popular Computers today

science

Computer, technical Input/Output devices

description Computer, technical

Storage devices

description

Computer, technical Basic software

description

Computer, popular Faces of the Internet

science Computer, popular

Creative software

science

Computer, popular Programming/Jobs in ICT

science Computer, popular

Computers tomorrow

science

Mystery of Migration

Biology, popular science

Nature versus Man

Nature, popular science

X X

Environment, popular Packaging and Environment

science

Doing away with a Legend

Traditional Literature

The Future: What will it be like

Science Fiction

Exploring Space

Popular science

Taj Mahal

Romance

The Story of Atlantis

Informational

Surrogate mothers

Biology, informational

Balloons and Drigibles

History of technologies

Temel on an Island

Humor

the results were assessed in the tests. To provide that texts in both groups were of the same difficulty level, we assessed them according to the software Lextutor, available for free on the internet (http://www.lextutor.ca/vp/eng/) To assess studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; reading skills, we made up a test which was divided into two sections. The first dealt with checking the comprehension level in general, while the second involved vocabulary questions. To provide test results reliability, the number of questions, their format and difficulty level in tests for both groups were same. Three out of four tests were held during official exam period to avoid extra stress for the students and, correspondingly, the negative impact on

X X X X

the results. Assessors were other than lecturers (and experimenter), so the experimenter had no influence on assessment results, which made them rather objective, not driven by the experiment goals.

Experiment participants Two undergraduate (freshman) groups majoring in Information Technologies at Ishik University in Arbil, Iraq participated in the experiment. Other details about participants are presented in my first article in this issue. Students participated in the experiment and were split into groups on a volunteer basis (beforehand it 39

M. Numan KANAR Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 was explained what kind of teaching reading would be provided in each group). Instead of the traditional for educational research random assignment of students to two groups to make them equal, we wanted all students to study the way they preferred – with or without topic choice. Theoretically, all students are more motivated to make the choice themselves, but in practice they often prefer to leave the responsibility to the teacher. In our study the students who chose the control group were motivated to study without making any choice concerning texts and their topics, just following the texts in their specialty that the book offered, but eventually the choice that the textbook offered did not make them very happy. However, as their reading skills were at the same – upper intermediate – level, the starting level of skills in both groups was practically the same, which made the results of two groups comparable. There were totally 46 students – 22 of them chose to be in the control group, while 24 – in the experimental. ( Tables 2 and 3 ) If we compare the pre-test results in tables 2 and 3, we can see that they are very close, by all central tendency parameters, which makes the two groups really comparable. As it is clear from Table 1, only three students in the control group from testing to testing increased during both following measurements, step by step, or maintained their grades. Three students did not show any improvement. Other students did, but only 8 of them – a significant enough improvement (10-12 points). Mean results in the control group eventually are increasing (except between the first and second testing), however, rather slowly and to a slight degree. Standard deviation is 9.27-10.61, which is a bit high, which means the group is not very homogeneous, and it is even getting less homogeneous in the process of teaching, some students demonstrating very good results (90-100), while others - rather poor results (5561) . Median, which is viewed as a more exact parameter than mean, is not really growing until the last stage. Modes (except the last test each represented only by 2 students) are so scattered that they do not permit to speak about any typical grade in the group. Not only the level of reading skills in the group is rather uneven, but also the results of each student from test to test are uneven. According to table 4, all students but one demonstrated improvement or maintenance of level during both following measurements, which shows that their reading skills have benefitted from the offered approach. We cannot say so about the control group students. Naturally, the mean is also growing during both measurements and so is the median. 20 students out of 24 demonstrate a significant growth in points (by 10-24 points). The mode in each test is represented by 3-4 students, which shows that the group is becoming more homogeneous, while the standard deviation (8.27-8.59) which is at acceptable level shows that the group is more homogeneous that the control group, and the difference between the high (90-10) and low 40

(67-72) achievers in the last two tests is not so dramatic. This proves that even weaker students were really progressing. Statistically, the whole group was doing much better than the control group. These results support our hypothesis that purely author/teacher-centered, content based teaching in our study proved to be less efficient for young adult students than the student-centered variety of topics approach. Graphically the results are presented below. ( Figure 1 )

Figure 1 Comparison of mean results of control and experimental groups

Limitations of the study The study was held with 46 students for one semester in one country and one university. Of course, it is not enough to make some overall conclusions. On the other hand, the results quite clearly indicate the tendency which supports our hypothesis.

Conclusions Thus, the students’ reading skills levels have significantly increased in the experimental group compared to minor increase in the control group. It supports our hypothesis – that student-centered selection of topics for reading materials enhances the development of reading skills of ESP students.

The efficiency of reading in content-based topics vs. reading in variety of topics

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 Table 2 Test results in the Control group

Student #/

Pre-test

Test 1

Test 2

Post-test

assessment

Stable

Change

growth or maintenance of level

-7

-2

+10

+12

-4

+10

+ 12

100

+10

Mean

71.95

71.77

74.18

78.13

+11 +8

+10

6.4

M. Numan KANAR Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

Student #/

Pre-test

Test 1

Test 2

Post-test

Stable

Change

assessment 20

growth or

100

22 1

75 63

78 65

93 55

80 70

Mean 2

71.95 78

71.77 74

74.18 85

78.13 71

6.4 -7

Standard 3

9.27 66

9.95 68

10.61 75

10.19 75

˅-

deviation 4

Median 5

75 64

71.50 53

75 70

82 74

7 +10

Mode(s) 6

63, 65, 72, 65 78

74 73

68, 76, 80, 68 85

70 70

+12

Student #/ 9 assessment

Pre-test 69

Test 1 76

Test 2 76

Post-test 80

Stable ˅ growth or

Total +11 change

maintenance

11 1

60 71

62 79

68 80

70 85

˅ ˅

+10 14

12 2

89 63

85 70

70 72

98 78

+9 16

13 3

78 69

74 70

76 72

74 75

-4 6

14 4

80 76

75 74

85 80

90 89

+10 13

15 5

61 61

56 75

68 75

64 78

+3 17

16 6

88 63

90 65

95 67

90 74

+2 10

17 7

63 72

65 73

60 76

70 88

+7 16

18 8

72 70

70 90

69 91

80 94

+8 24

19 9

79 65

83 68

80 80

91 82

+ 12 17

Table 3 Test results in the Experimental group

maintenance of level

+10

+5 +10 +7

-2

of level

9 10

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 79 84 83

The efficiency of reading in content-based topics vs. reading in variety of topics

100

Mean

71.46

77.21

80.92

85.33

13.87

Standard

8.59

8.65

8.90

8.27

Median

75.5

81.5

86.5

11.00

Mode(s)

deviation

M. Numan KANAR Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

References: Adler, M.J. (1940). How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting a Liberal Education. New York: Simon & Schuster Alderson, J.C. (1984). Reading in a foreign language: A reading problem or a language problem? In J.C. Alderson and A.H. Urquhart (Eds.), Reading in a Foreign Language. London: Longman, p. 1-24 Anderson, R.C., Pichert, J.W., & Shirey, L.L. (1979). Effects of the Reader’s Schema at Different Points in Time. Urbana: University of Illinois, Center for the Study of Reading Esteras, S.R. (2008). Infotech English for Computer Users. (4th ed.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Guthrie, J.T., & Greaney, V. (1991). Literacy acts. In R. Barr, M.L. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, & P.D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research: Vol. II, New York: Longman, p. 68-96 Jolliffe, D. A., & Harl, A. (2008). Studying the “Reading Transition” from high school to college: What are our students reading and why? College English, 70(6), p. 599-617 Kanar, M. N. and Bahar, M. (2010). Deep into Meaning (2nd edition). Guvender Publishing, Turkey Krashen, S.D. (1981). Second Language Acquisition and Second language Learning. Pergamon Press. University of Southern California Reder, S. (1994). Practice engagement theory: A sociocultural approach to literacy across languages and cultures. In B.M. Ferdman, R.M. Weber, & A.G. Ramirez (Eds.), Literacy Across Languages and Cultures. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, p. 23-74 Rivers, W.M. (1981). Teaching Foreign Language Skills. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press Williams, J. (1993). Comprehension of students with and without learning-disabilities - identification of narrative themes and idiosyncratic text representations. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85(4), p. 631-641

The way to make students to “own” their coursebook by retouching the flexible syllabus

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

The way to make students to “own” their coursebook by retouching the flexible syllabus M. Numan KANAR *

Abstract The article studies the level of undergraduate student motivation to read. It was hypothesized that if we create a syllabus that gives students a chance to choose topics from a list that contains more than the necessary amount to fulfill the need of the course, learners will become more involved in decision-making, more satisfied by the process of reading and, correspondingly, more motivated to read the materials chosen by them. The study was held at Ishik University, Iraq, with 46 undergraduate ESP students aged 17-19. It is concluded that the possibility for the students to select topics gives them a feeling of control over the learning process and thus increases their motivation. The article should be interesting for both language (reading) teachers and language teaching researchers. Keywords: Reading, motivation, satisfaction, attribution, controllability

Introduction Student motivation is one of the key factors of learning success. There are many theories explaining how motivation works. Among them are attribution theories – descriptions of how individuals’ explanations, justifications, and excuses influence their motivation and behavior. Attribution theories of motivation describe how the individual’s explanations, justifications, and excuses about self or others influence motivation. Bernard Weiner is one of the main educational psychologists responsible for relating attribution theory to formal education. According to Weiner (1992), most of the attributed causes for successes or failures can be characterized in terms of three dimensions: 1. locus (location of the cause: internal or external to the person, e.g., is the student responsible for success/failure or something/somebody else is?) 2. stability (whether the cause stays the same or can change), and 3. controllability (whether the person can control the cause, e.g., whether you are gifted or not cannot be changed, it is as it is). We can see that (at least) two of them deal with the student. Rhem (1995) also states that learners have intrinsic motivation that help them learn better if there is some level of choice and control. Recent L2 reading research has discussed potential association between motivation and L2 reading skills (e.g., Day and Bamford, 1998; Hitosugi and Day, 2004; Grabe, 2004). Yamashita (2004: 12) study suggests that “the performance in extensive reading” measured by the participants’ average numbers of pages read per week was related to “positive feelings towards reading” and “self-perception”. O’Brien, Millis and Cohen (2008) discuss that there are three fundamental learning principles and as the third one they point out that students should

be aware of where they are headed and they should check their progress according to learning objectives.

Problem, research question & hypothesis Quality of reading skills is important for academic studies, professional success and personal development. This is true especially for English since much professional, technical and scientific literature is published in English. Besides this, reading has become inevitable by the implementation of the internet and world wide web in any kind of communication. Thus, reading skills are essential for learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), especially for learners of English for Specific Purposes (ESP), for whom English is not their majors, but a tool in mastering their profession and continuous education in it. However, despite this specific need for the foreign language reading ability, it is the common experience that most students fail to learn to read adequately in the foreign language. Unfortunately, ESP student motivation in reading large volumes is often quite low, which is a serious obstacle on the way of improvement of reading skills. The present study was designed to answer the following question regarding selection of reading texts for young adults: Will student involvement is topic choice of the reading matter increase student satisfaction and, correspondingly, motivation? I hypothesized that if I create a syllabus that gives students a chance to choose topics from a list that contains more than the necessary amount to fulfill the need of the course, learners will become more involved in decision-making, more satisfied by the process of reading and, correspondingly, more motivated to read the materials chosen by them. This kind of

* Ph.D. student, Faculty of Education and Humanities, International Black Sea University; Lecturer, Ishik University, Erbil, Iraq E-mail: nkanar@gmail.com

M. Numan KANAR Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 teaching reading which puts the students into decision making process is student-centered. I expected that as a result of this, students would demonstrate better satisfaction level in their course.

Method of study The study was conducted in the quantitative format. The purpose of this study was to investigate how satisfied the students feel while dealing with already prepared (fixed) course book and while reading their “own” textbook with topics chosen in a student-centered way. A questionnaire about the satisfaction levels of the students during and after the completion of the research had to measure their satisfaction levels about the reading matter. Two undergraduate groups majoring in Information Technologies at Ishik University in Arbil, Iraq were chosen as control and experimental ones. During the spring semester of 2012-2013 (19 Weeks, 3 hrs of reading classes per week) the reading materials in the control group were a collection of reading passages based on the syllabus (Advanced English). The textbook was Infotech English for Computer Users (4th ed., 2008, Esteras, S.R. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). In the experimental group the texts were selected from various spheres taking into consideration students’ interests (some texts were selected from the textbook Deep into Meaning (2nd edition, Kanar, M. N. and Bahar, M., Guvender Publishing). Of course I realized that it was impossible to satisfy the needs of every student in the group, but the eventually selected texts were the “champions” among the offered ones. Ways of text presentation, types of activities, homework and assessment tasks were the same in both groups in order to receive reliable results. 10 texts were studied in both groups in the classroom and the results were assessed in the tests. To provide that texts in both groups were of the same difficulty level, we assessed them according to http:// www.lextutor.ca/vp/eng/ We used a questionnaire to find out student satisfaction in both the control and experimental groups, in the middle of and at the end of semester. The questionnaire was in Likert scale format: the students had to assess in a 5-grade system how much in agreement with their ideas were the statements below. 1 – I totally disagree 2 – I more disagree than agree 3 – I do not have a clear opinion 4 – I more agree than disagree 5 – I totally agree 1) I liked the texts under study. 1-2-3-4-5 2) The texts under study were dedicated to interesting, contemporary and useful topics. 1-2-3-4-5 3) The texts under study were comprehensible 1-2-3-4-5 4) I gained professionally useful knowledge from the texts under study 1-2-3-4-5 5) After studying the offered texts my knowl46

edge of vocabulary and terminology increased 1-2-34-5 6) After studying the offered texts I can read texts in my majors better 1-2-3-4-5 7) I believe that my reading skills have improved in the process of study 1-2-3-4-5

Participants As it has already been mentioned, two undergraduate (freshman) groups majoring in Information Technologies at Ishik University in Arbil, Iraq participated in the experiment. Some of them have taken the prep program in English, others were admitted to the university where the studies are in English, based on proficiency exam, as their reading skills were found satisfactory, however, they had almost no experience in reading professional texts, which was a big problem for their studies in majors. As I found out via interviews, although students realized they badly needed to improve their reading skills, especially concerning their majors, they were not very motivated due to the difficulties of the reading process which is time consuming and intellectually complicated. Students in both groups belonged to the same age group (17-19), gender and age composition in both groups was analogous, to make the comparison of results feasible.

Students participated in the experiment and were split into groups on a volunteer basis (beforehand they were explained what kind of teaching reading would be provided in each group). As we wanted the students to be motivated a particular type of reading selection, students decided which group they wanted to belong to. However, as their reading skills were at the same – upper intermediate – level, the starting level of skills in both groups was practically the same, which made the results of two groups comparable. There were totally 46 students – 22 of them chose to be in the control group, while 24 – in the experimental.

Findings and Discussion To analyze the data, SPSS 16.0 program was used. Tables 2-5 show student satisfaction (These tables involve the questions asked and students’ assessments out of 5 points about how much they agree with the statement, the average satisfaction point each student gave as well as the group as a whole did). The standard deviation for each student’s views is,

The way to make students to â&#x20AC;&#x153;ownâ&#x20AC;? their coursebook by retouching the flexible syllabus

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 Table 2 Student satisfaction level: Control group: stage 1

St. dev.

2,71

0,70

3,43

0,49

3,57

0,49

4,29

0,45

4,29

0,45

3,43

0,73

2,86

0,35

3,57

0,49

3,43

0,90

2,86

1,25

3,14

0,99

3,71

0,88

1. I liked the texts

terminology increased

5. My knowledge of vocabulary and

4. I gained professionally useful knowledge

3. The texts are comprehensible

question

2. The texts were dedicated to interesting, contemporary and useful topics.

7. My reading skills have improved

Average

6. I can read texts in my majors better

Student /

point

M. Numan KANAR Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

3 4

4 3

2 4

2,71 3,86

0,70 0,35

2 14

3 4

3 5

4 5

3 4

3,43 4,43

0,49

3 15

4 5

3 2

4 3

3,57 3,29

0,49 0,88

4 16

4 3

5 3

4 5

4 3

4 5

4 3

4,29 3,86

0,45 0,99

5 17

5 4

4 3

4,29 3,86

0,45 0,35

6 18

3 4

2 4

4 3

3,43 3,57

0,73 0,49

7 19

3 4

2 5

3 4

3 5

2,86 4,43

0,35 0,49

8 20

4 3

3 2

4 3

3,57 3,00

0,49 0,53

9 21

3 4

4 3

3 5

2 4

3,43 4,00

0,90 0,76

22 10

3 1

3 2

5 3

3,71 2,86

0,88 1,25

Av.11 point

1 3,32

3 3,59

3 3,68

4 3,45

3 3,73

4 3,95

4 3,50

3,14 3.61

0,99

St.12 dev.

5 0,97

4 0,89

4 1,06

2 0,78

4 0,62

3 0,77

4 0,66

3,71

0,88

1. I liked the texts

terminology increased

3 4

5. My knowledge of vocabulary and

2 4

4. I gained professionally useful knowledge

3 4

3. The texts are comprehensible

2 4

2. The texts were dedicated to interesting, contemporary and useful topics.

7. My reading skills have improved

St. dev.

1 13

question

Average

6. I can read texts in my majors better

Student /

point

The way to make students to “own” their coursebook by retouching the flexible syllabus

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 except one case, below 1, which, in a 5-points assessment system is relevant. The same can be said about the standard deviations for each question. Only 4 students’ answers are on average 4 and above, which means they are quite satisfied by teaching reading. None of the questions on average received a really high appraisal (the highest is 3.95). Standard deviations at stage 2 are lower than at stage one, which means that students come to more homogeneous views on the issues. 6 students answered 4 and above, which means they are rather satisfied, three of them were less satisfied on the first

stage. This shows a symbolic improvement of the situation. Average answers to all questions are still below 4. The highest standard deviation per student is 0.64, which means that students have approximately the same view on all questions. The highest standard deviation per question is 0.64, which means that the group has quite homogeneous attitude towards the questions. Seventeen students express satisfaction with teaching reading (4 points and above). Out of seven questions only one got an average a little below 4, which shows that all questions are answered rather

6. I can read texts in my majors better

7. My reading skills have improved

3,14

0,35

3,57

0,49

3,71

0,45

3,57

0,49

4,29

0,45

3,71

0,45

3,00

0,00

4,00

0,00

3,57

0,49

3,14

0,35

2,86

0,64

3,29

0,70

1. I liked the texts

question

5. My knowledge of vocabulary and terminology increased

4. I gained professionally useful knowledge

Student/

2. The texts were dedicated to interesting, contemporary and useful topics.

3. The texts are comprehensible

Table 3 Student satisfaction level: Control group: stage 2

Average point

St. dev.

49 13

4,29

0,45

M. Numan KANAR 4 4 4 Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 3

4,29

0,45

3,71

0,45

3,00

0,00 St. dev.

Average point 4,00

3,57

0,49

3,14

0,35

2,86

0,64

3 2

3 4

4 3

3 4

3,14 3,29

0,35 0,70

2 13

3 4

4 5

3 4

4 5

3,57 4,29

0,49 0,45

3 14

4 5

3 5

4 5

3 4

3,71 4,57

0,45 0,49

4 15

3 4

4 3

3,57

0,49

5 16

4 3

5 3

4 3

5 4

4,29 3,57

0,45 0,49

6 17

4 3

3,71 3,29

0,45

7 18

3 4

3,00 4,00

0,00

8 19

4 5

4,00 4,43

0,00 0,49

9 20

4 2

4 3

3,57 3,14

0,49 0,64

10 21

3 5

3 4

3 5

3,14 3,86

0,35 0,83

11 22

2 4

2 3

3 4

3 5

2,86 3,71

0,64 0,70

Av. 12 point

2 3,45

3 3,45

4 3,86

3 3,41

4 3,86

3 3,77

4 3,73

3,29 3.65

0,70

St.13 dev.

4 0,66

4 0,84

5 0,69

4 0,58

4 0,55

5 0,60

4 0,62

4,29

0,45

1 12

1. I liked the texts

8 question

2. The texts were dedicated to interesting, contemporary and useful topics. 3

Student/

4 3

3 3

14 4 5 5 5 positively. We can see that the highest standard deviation per 4 4 that students 4 student15 is 0.58, which means have3 approximately the same view on all questions (the standard deviation decreased a little). The highest standard deviation per question is 0.79, which means that the group has quite homogeneous attitude towards the questions (however, it a little increased compared to stage 1). Almost all (22) students express satisfac-

7. My reading skills have improved

6. I can read texts in my majors better

5. My knowledge of vocabulary and terminology increased

4. I gained professionally useful knowledge

3. The texts are comprehensible

3 4

3 3

0,00

5 4 4 4,57 0,49 tion with teaching reading (4 points and above, some of them even answer â&#x20AC;&#x153;5â&#x20AC;? for all questions). All ques4 only one 3 got an average 3 3,57 4, which 0,49 tions above shows that all questions are answered rather positively. The situation has improved both on per student and per question basis. Thus, we see a mediocre attitude towards the ways reading is taught, and practically no improvement of attitude in the control group (3.61 3.65), and

The way to make students to â&#x20AC;&#x153;ownâ&#x20AC;? their coursebook by retouching the flexible syllabus

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

6. I can read texts in my majors better

7. My reading skills have improved

4,29

0,45

4,29

0,45

3,86

0,35

3,86

0,35

4,00

0,53

3,00

0,00

4,29

0,45

4,71

0,45

4,14

0,64

3,86

0,35

4,29

0,45

3,29

0,45

4,43

0,49

4,57

0,49

4,29

0,45

4,14

0,35

3,57

0,49

4,29

0,45

1. I liked the texts

question

5. My knowledge of vocabulary and terminology increased

4. I gained professionally useful knowledge

Student/

2. The texts were dedicated to interesting, contemporary and useful topics.

3. The texts are comprehensible

Table 4 Student satisfaction level: Experimental group: stage 1

Average point

St. dev.

M. Numan KANAR

5. My knowledge of vocabulary and terminology increased

6. I can read texts in my majors better

7. My reading skills have improved

3 5

3 4

3,57 4,29

0,49 0,45

18 2

5 4

4 5

4,29

0,45

19 3

4 3

4,00 3,86

0,00 0,35

20 4

4 3

3 4

3,71 3,86

0,45 0,35

21 5

5 4

4 3

5 4

4,57 4,00

0,49 0,53

22 6

4 3

5 3

4,86 3,00

0,35 0,00

23 7

5 4

4,71 4,29

0,45

24 8

4 5

5 4

4,57 4,71

0,49 0,45

Av. 9 point

4,21 4

4,29 4

4,08 5

3,96 4

4,13 3

4,33 5

4,04 4

4.15 4,14

0,64

St.10 dev.

0,64 4

0,61 4

0,64 4

0,61 3

0,67 4

0,55 4

0,54 4

3,86

0,35

4,29

0,45

1. I liked the texts

question

17 1

3. The texts are comprehensible

Student/

2. The texts were dedicated to interesting, contemporary and useful topics.

4. I gained professionally useful knowledge

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

a very positive and improving in the process attitude towards the ways reading is taught in the experimental 12 3 3 3 3 group (4.15 4.43), which was predictable and which confirms our hypothesis. Graphically the results are presented 13 in Fig. 41 below. 5 5 4 14

Average point

St. dev.

4,14

0,35

Limitations of the study 4 4 3 3,29 0,45 The study was held with 46 students for one semester in one country and one university. Of course, it is not overall conclusions. 4 enough 5to make some 4 4,43 0,49On the other hand, the results quite clearly indicate the tendency which supports our hypothesis. 5 5 4 4,57 0,49

Conclusions

5 4 4 shown 4,29 0,45 Thus, our research has us that in the chosen sample student satisfaction (and, correspondingly, motivation) level has significantly increased in the experimental group compared to a minor increase in the control group. The higher satisfaction level in the experimental group supports our hypothesis â&#x20AC;&#x201C; that Figure student-centered selectionhave of topics for readingthe mateThe 1. highest standard deviation per student is 0.64, which means that students approximately

same view on all questions. The highest standard deviation per question is 0.64, which means that the 52 group has quite homogeneous attitude towards the questions. Seventeen students express satisfaction

The way to make students to â&#x20AC;&#x153;ownâ&#x20AC;? their coursebook by retouching the flexible syllabus

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

7. My reading skills have improved

6. I can read texts in my majors better

5. My knowledge of vocabulary and terminology increased

4. I gained professionally useful knowledge

3. The texts are comprehensible

question

1. I liked the texts

Student/

2. The texts were dedicated to interesting, contemporary and useful topics.

Table 5 Student satisfaction level: Experimental group: stage 2

Average point

St. dev.

4,71

0,49

4,57

0,53

3,71

0,49

4,00

0,58

4,29

0,49

3,57

0,53

4,57

0,53

4,86

0,38

5,00

0,00

4,00

0,58

4,57

0,53

4,00

0,58

4,86

0,38

5,00

0,00

4,29

0,49

4,57

0,53

M. Numan KANAR

7. My reading skills have improved

6. I can read texts in my majors better

5. My knowledge of vocabulary and terminology increased

4. I gained professionally useful knowledge

3. The texts are comprehensible

question

1. I liked the texts

Student/

2. The texts were dedicated to interesting, contemporary and useful topics.

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

Average point

St. dev.

1 17

4,71 4,14

0,49 0,38

2 18

4,57 4,29

0,53 0,49

19 3

4,29 3,71

0,49

20 4

4,00

0,58

21 5

4,00 4,29

0,58 0,49

22 6

5,00 3,57

0,00 0,53

23 7

5,00 4,57

0,00 0,53

24 8

5,00 4,86

0,00 0,38

Av. point 9

4,50 5

4,63 5

4,38 5

4,21 5

4,58 5

4,29 5

4,42 5

4.43 5,00

0,00

St. 10 dev.

0,72 4

0,49 5

0,71 4

0,59 3

0,50 4

0,55 4

0,58 4

4,00

0,58

4,57

0,53

4,00

0,58

4,86

0,38

5,00

0,00

11 4 5 4 5 rials enhances student satisfaction and motivation as this approach gives them a feeling of control over the 12process. 5Though the 4 research3 has a limited 4 learning scale and to make far-reaching conclusions further research is necessary, we may conclude that in general, 13 5 students 5 to make 5their choice 4 in the possibility for the reading matter should enhance both student satisfaction and motivation and eventually improve learning. 14 5 5 5 5

4,29

0,49

4,57

0,53

The way to make students to “own” their coursebook by retouching the flexible syllabus

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

References: Day, R. R. & Bamford, J. (1998). Extensive Reading in the Second Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Grabe, W. (2004). Research on teaching reading. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24, 44-699 Hitosugi, C. I. & Day, R. R. (2004). Extensive reading in Japanese. Reading in a Foreign Language, 16(1), 20-39 O’Brien J. G., Millis B. J., Cohen M. W., (2008). The Course Syllabus: A Learning-Centered Approach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Rhem, J. (1995). Deep/surface approaches to learning: An introduction. National Teaching and Learning Forum, 5 (1), 1–4 Weiner, B. (1992). Human Motivation: Metaphors, Theories and Research. Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA. Yamashita, J. (2004). Reading attitudes in L1 and L2, and their influence on L2 extensive reading. Reading in a Foreign Language, 16(1), 1-19

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

U.S. secondary school graduates of different nationalities and their vision of multicultural education

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

U.S. secondary school graduates of different nationalities and their vision of multicultural education Irma MESIRIDZE *

Abstract In this fast growing globalized world, there is great urgency to revise the education curriculum and question the appropriateness of developing future generations who should be able to recognize the complexities and differences of our world. Consequently, in the U.S. diverse society there is the urgent need to incorporate multicultural education in modern schooling. This article provides a comparative analysis of the responses of English and Spanish language speaking groups using survey that aimed to identify the attitudes of U.S. secondary school graduates of different nationalities towards the components characterizing multicultural education. Keywords: Multicultural education, academic achievements, PTA( Parent-Teacher Association), curriculum and Extracurricular activities

Introduction A great deal has been written on the subjects of educational expansion, change, and controversy. Historically, a major goal of the U.S. education system was the integration of all Americans into a national community. The review of events throughout the historical foundation of U.S. education gives the opportunity to avoid the repetition of the same mistakes that have already occurred in the process of creating a feasible and effective educational system. The history of American Education is filled with many events telling of some success and some failures of its development. Educators are currently dealing with increased cultural and linguistic diversity in schools. The need to reframe the national agenda to create progressive and inclusive classrooms for all students is critical (Frey, 1998). Nowadays education has become a big business in terms of money spent on training teachers, developing materials, and serving students. New issues are raised concerning the relationship of the school and the society. Advances in technology, economic depressions, huge waves of immigrants, demographic changes, conflicts over the meaning of democracy and the global village at large has led to demands for the re-evaluation of U.S. educational aims. In multiracial and multiethnic societies such as the United States, a controversial issue is the various ways in which race, ethnicity, and culture might influence student learning in formal educational settings. This concern derives from the fact that students’ scores of some racial and ethnic minority groups do not match the scores of European-American students or to those of students from other racial and ethnic minority groups (Morris, n.d.). The perception of minorities in America is still very

critical. Disbelieve in students’ abilities based on prejudice and misconception concerning their achievements places racial and minority group members on the lowest academic tracks. The ongoing discourse and practice of multicultural education is an attempt to abolish the possibilities of plurality through education (Hanley,n.d.). The aim of multicultural education is to reduce divisions in race, ethnicity, and class by helping all students attain the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need in order to become active citizens in a democratic society and participate in social change (Valdez, 1999). “Multicultural education relates to education and instruction designed for the cultures of several different races in an educational system. This approach to teaching and learning is based upon consensus building, respect, and fostering cultural pluralism within racial societies” (Wilson,n.d.). Spring (1995) suggests five characteristics that a school curriculum should incorporate in order to create a moral equitable society: First of all, the school curriculum should be openly antiracist and antidiscriminatory. Students should feel safe about discussing sexism, racism, and discrimination. In addition, the curriculum should include the history and cultural perspectives of a broad range of peoples. Students should be taught to identify and challenge racism in society. The second characteristic is that multicultural education should be considered to be a basic part of a student’s general education, which means that all students should study at least one foreign language and different cultural perspectives. Learning a foreign language normally includes culture-oriented topics and texts, as well as sensitivity towards culture. The

* Associate Professor, Faculty of Education and Humanities, International Black Sea University, Tbilisi, Georgia E-mail: imesiridze@ibsu.edu.ge

Irma MESIRIDZE Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 third characteristic should be that multiculturalism is included in all aspects of the curriculum and in the general life of school, including bulletin boards, lunch rooms, and assemblies. In addition, the fourth characteristic is that multicultural education should be important for all students. And, the fifth characteristic is that multicultural school curriculum should incorporate social justice. It is commonly accepted that education is not exclusively learnt by reading the text-books or listening to the teacher; students can learn an incredible amount from their peers and through extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities are essential for any student. That is why most American schools run active extracurricular programs. Such activities focus on increasing awareness and understanding of various cultures and ethnic and racial backgrounds. In addition, involvement in these activities may be an important step toward positive racial, ethnic, or sexualidentity development. Participation in any of extracurricular activities aims to develop students’ self-respect, self-esteem, and self -confidence which should encourage them to accomplish successfully their academic and social goals. Multicultural education should also aim to bridge the gap between the culture of the family and the culture of the school. To obtain higher student achievement in secondary schools. Wiles & Bondi (1989) suggest some variables, among which a high degree of parent involvement takes the essential place. The importance of parent involvement in education has become a major educational concern since the 1980s. School reformers have realized the significance of the family in school support and have tried to tip the scale back in favor of parent prerogatives and empowerment (Cooper, 1991). Parents have long been active in starting new schools, working on boards of education, and making key decisions as taxpayers on school budgets and expenditures. At the center of the reformers in the United States stands an enduring belief that education is primarily a concern of the family, and that the role of the state is to support, fund and develop that ability of families to select and acquire the kind of education they require (Cooper, 1991). School improvement research shows that parents are vital in supporting children’s education, in preparing children to live in modern society and in helping to support improvements in education. When parents support the school and help their children with school work at home, the children achieve higher grades, have more positive attitudes, and gain more from school (Henderson, 1987). Better schools have stronger parent support, and higher achieving children have parents who stand firmly behind the school’s mission and programs (Epstein, 1988; Henderson, 1987; Davies, 1988). The survey presented in my previous article, “The Attitudes of U.S. Secondary School Graduates Towards the Components Characterizing Multicultural 58

Education” (Mesiridze, 2012), aimed to record the attitudes of American secondary school graduates in regard to bilingual education, secondary school curriculum, PTA and community involvement in American secondary schools. The article deals with two major groups: English-speaking (38%) and Spanish-speaking (32%), participants representing at the same time the dominant and dominated cultures of the U.S. society. This fact led me to an idea to carry out a comparative analysis of their perception of specific issues in my survey and considered it important to outline their views in this article. 100 U.S. second¬ary school graduates from both urban and rural districts participated in the research. The majority of them graduated school within last five years. Comparative analysis of the responses provided by English and Spanish language speaking participants of the previous survey “The Attitudes of U.S. Secondary School Graduates Towards the Components Characterizing Multicultural Education” (Mesiridze, 2012). Questions that I thought worthy to be chosen for the comparison are the following: 1) To what extent did your multicultural school curriculum help you to integrate in the mainstream of U.S. society? (circle the appropriate number: the lowest is 1 and the highest is 10) 1- 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 2) Do ethnic minority students participate willingly and actively in extracurricular activities? Yes

3) To what extent do PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) and school board participate to: (circle the appropriate number: the lowest is 1 and the highest is 10) a) choose text-books 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 b) develop curriculum 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 c) organize extra curriculum activities 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 d) influence the integration of ethnic minorities 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 4) What changes should be introduced into the school curriculum to help ethnic minority students to accomplish educational and social goals successfully? (tick one box only)

U.S. secondary school graduates of different nationalities and their vision of multicultural education

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 a) Academic subjects dealing with multiculturalism should be added Yes

b) PTA and community programs should be introduced Yes

Yes

d) Transitional bilingual education is necessary to be introduced at elementary levels Yes

c) New academic programs should be introduced

The participants of these different language groups will be introduced in the analysis as E.L. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; standing for English speaking group and S.L. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; standing for Spanish speaking group, respresented almost equally (38% and 32%, respectively). When posed with the first question mentioned above, the results of the responses show that for S.L. group the multicultural curriculum was more helpful than for E.L. group, though assessments of both groups on the numerical scale are positive. When posed with the first question mentioned above, the results of the responses show that for S.L. group the multicultural curriculum was more helpful than for E.L. group, though assessments of both groups on the numerical scale are positive. Figure 1.1.1. Question 1

The figure 1.1.2. reveals that 97.4% of E.L. group participants hold the notion that ethnic minority students participate willingly and actively in extracurricular activities. 71.9% of S.L participants share the same notion. Figure 1.1.2. Question 2

Irma MESIRIDZE Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 When the survey participants of these two groups were presented with the third question and the list of options for this question, the figures revealed that S.L. group respondents fully answered the questions, while 2 participants of E.L. group left the answers blank. The overall picture of the figures shows that their options of the issues presented in the questions is over the average with more or less differences in estimating them on the numerical scale. Figure 1.1.3. Question 3 (a)

Figure 1.1.3. shows that both group participants, totally 37.2% scaled the extent of PTA and school board participation in choosing text-books with number 7. In general 65.7% of S.L. group participants and 71% of E.L. participants chose high assesment of 6-10 points on the numerical scale. Figure 1.1.4. Question 3 (b)

According to Figure 1.1.4. it is vital that the extent of PTA and school board participation in curriculum development is over average with high assessments of 6-10 points on the numerical scale. Figure 1.1.5. shows that all participants evaluate the extent of PTA and school board participation in organizing extracurricular activities over average points. Though, if we judge according to the percentages, it is notable that the S.L. group participants are less satisfied with this issue which indicates that it is necessary to enhance PTA and school board participation in organizing extracurricular activities. According to Figure 1.1.6. the extent of PTA and school board participation in having influence on integration of ethnic minorities in the mainstream of U.S. society is assessed positively by choosing high assessment of 6-10 points on the numerical scale. To the forth question introduced at the beginning of comparison analysis the overall picture is the following. S.L group participants fully answered the questions. From E.L. group 2 respondents left the answers blank. The results revealed that the survey participants of both groups agree with the statements by giving high percentage to the positive answers.

U.S. secondary school graduates of different nationalities and their vision of multicultural education

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 Figure 1.1.5. Question 3 (c)

Figure 1.1.6. Question 3 (d)

Figure 1.1.7. Question 4 (a)

Irma MESIRIDZE Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 According to the results shown in Figure 1.1.7, It is possible to conclude that the treatment of multiculturalism in academic subjects is not sufficient in the given sample (among the respondents) and a number of academic subjects dealing with multiculturalism should be added to help ethic minority students to accomplish educational and social goals successfully. Figure 1.1.8. Question 4 (b)

The idea of introducing PTA and community programs to accomplish educational and social goals successfully was supported with S.L. group participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 71.9% positive answers, which proves that such programs are necessary to be implemented for ethnic minorities in schooling process. Figure 1.1.9. Question 4 (c)

The introduction of new academic programs is supported by 56.3% of S.L. group respondents and 55.3% of E.L. group participants, which I think may be dictated by ineffectiveness of those academic programs which were part of their secondary school curriculum. As Figure 1.1.10 reveals, S.L. respondents support transitional bilingual education at elementary levels with 65.6% of positive answers, which is not surprising as they encounter the problems at school because of language barrier. They think that this program will give them the equal opportunity to succeed in their studies. It is also worth mentioning that the majority of E.L. group participants also consider this program necessary for ethnic minority students to accomplish educational and social goals successfully.

Conclusion Multicultural education is a continuing process within the U.S. democratic, pluralistic society that never ends. Creating the democratic ideals that Myrdal (1944) called ``American Creed`` values â&#x20AC;&#x201C; values such as justice, equality, and freedom, are its major goals. They can never be totally achieved; however, citizens within a democratic society must continually work toward accomplishing them. 62

U.S. secondary school graduates of different nationalities and their vision of multicultural education

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 Figure 1.1.10. Question 4 (d)

Based on the results of comparative analyzes, it is evident that the need for new academic subjects and programs dealing with multiculturalism, PTA and community programs, extracurricular activities, and the introduction of bilingual education at elementary levels are of paramount importance. The PTA organization in the school should become more active to help students to overcome ethnic diversity problems at school. The necessity to enhance the PTA and school board participation in choosing text-books, developing curriculum, organizing extracurricular activities and increasing the influence on studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; integration into the mainstream of U.S. society is also vital. I agree that this is a complex process, but I also consider that a multicultural secondary education will serve as the grounds to the complex process of maintaining diversity and national unity in the democratic United States.

Irma MESIRIDZE Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

References Cooper, B.S. (1991). Parent Choice and School Involvement: Perspectives and Dilemmas in the United States and Great Britain. Educational Researcher,15. Davies, D. (1988). Low Income Parents and the School: A Research Report and a Plan for Action. Equity and Choice, 4, p. 51-57. Epstein, J. (1988). How do we Improve Programs for Parent Involvement? Educational Horizons, 66, p. 58-59. Frey, W. (1998). The Diversity Myth. Retrieved March 12, 2013 from: http://www.demographics.com/publications/ad98_ad/9806_ad/ad/980626.htm Hanley, M.S.(n.d.). The Scope of Multicultural Education. New Horizon for Learning. Retrieved Sep.10, 2009 from: http://www.newhorizons.org/strate gies/multicultural/hanley.htm Henderson, A.T. (1987). The evidence continues to grow: Parent involvement improves student achievement. Columbia, MD: National Committee for Citizens in Education. Morris, J.E. (n.d.). Ethnicity, Race and Culture. Retrieved Feb 15, 2013 from: http://education.stateuniver sity.com/pages/2346/Race-Ethnicity-Culture.html Mesiridze, I. (2012) The Attitudes of U.S. Secondary School Graduates Towards the Components characterizing Multicultural education. Scientific Journal of Education (Vol:1, iss.1), Tbilisi: International Black Sea University Myrdal, K.G. (1944). An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. New York: Harper & Brothers Spring J. (1995). The intersection of cultures: Multicultural education in the United States. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc. p. 24-25 Valdez, A. (1999). Learning in living color: Using literature to incorporate multicultural education into the primary curriculum. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Wilson, K. (n.d.). Multicultural Education. Critical Multicultural Pavilion. Retrieved Oct. 20, 2009 from: http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/ keith.html Wiles, J. & Bondi, J. (1989). Curriculum development: A guide to practice. (3rd ed.) Columbus, Ohio: Merrill; A Bell &Howell Information Company.

The history and nature of immersion programs in American context

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

The history and nature of immersion programs in American context Ekaterine PIPIA *

Abstract The presented paper tends to reveal the value of recently implemented dual language instruction for minority children in the United States of America and addresses the categorization of various theoretical models of dual language instruction. Americans have experienced a public attention to “language problems, which caused some radical changes in policies for educating language minority children and bilingual education programs. These policy shifts were caused by struggles over social dominance among cultural and ethnic groups within the larger society” (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). Searching for the sources about the topic showed that the effort to create a social and political atmosphere in which cultural and linguistic diversity are not only accepted but also truly valued is a difficult one. The ideology of cultural and linguistic assimilation and the relative power and status of speakers of different world languages among mainstream, immigrant, and minority populations have created conflicting social and political agendas that play themselves out in reform initiatives in public schools. Bilingualism and bilingual education in the United States became the subject of renewed controversy as schools felt the impact of increasing immigration to the United States. As recent attention and validation has been directed toward Foreign Language and the National Foreign Language Standards that call for communicative competence, many schools are turning to dual language education to strengthen second language proficiency among students in the United States. It results in creating immersion programs as a viable means of second language acquisition and effective schooling practices for language majority and minority students in the United States of America. Keywords: Dual Language Programs, Immersion, immigrants, majority and minority languages, elementary and secondary schools

Introduction As with many other complex concepts, dual language education that situates within an additive bilingual education framework does not have a clear-cut definition. Much like other models of bilingual education, dual language is also known as developmental bilingual education, bilingual immersion, double immersion, bilingual enrichment, and two-way immersion (Baker, 2001). Dual language education is defined as a longterm additive bilingual and bicultural program model that consistently uses two languages in one classroom. The first instructional steps are found in the nineteenth century, when non-English or dual language instruction was offered in more than a dozen states in a variety of languages including German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Polish, Italian, Czech, French and Spanish (Ovando & Colier, 1985). Formal schooling was locally administered by Native Americans only insofar as the U.S. government allowed. Where locally controlled education was permitted, Native American communities often provided dual language instruction. In this article , language majority students refer to speakers of English, since in the context of the United States English is the language used by the majority of the population, and language minority students refers to speakers whose first language is not English and who use their native language as the primary vehicle of communication. The terms “majority” and “minority”

are in no way intended to imply that one language is superior or inferior to any other language; rather, they are used in reference to the number of individuals using each language in the context of the United States. The majority of bilingual and dual language programs in the United States are offered in Spanish and English (Center for Applied Linguistics, 2002). Spanish is undoubtedly the language most commonly used in the United States after English. Although attention may, on occasion, be focused on Spanish-English dual language programs, the discussions are here for the most part applicable to programs that use other languages. Schools that use languages other than Spanish do, however, experience certain constraints that are not as apparent for Spanish language programs, such as a scarcity of certified bilingual teachers and shortages of instructional materials in the minority languages.

Historical Background of Immersion Programs In the United States, particularly in California bilingual education has become a debatable topic since the schools experienced the large influx of immigration wave. Conflicting social and political environment caused by cultural and linguistic assimilation in mainstream, immigrant, and minority populations play a vi-

* Associate Professor, Faculty of Education and Humanities, International Black Sea University, Tbilisi, Georgia E-mail: ekapipia@ibsu.edu.ge

Ekaterine PIPIA Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 tal role in reformation of public schools. California’s Proposition 227, which passed in 1998 with a 61% majority vote, is an adequate example of these social misbalances. As Los Angeles Times/CNN Exit Poll (1998) indicates: ‘Proposition 227 severely restricted bilingual education for the state’s 1.4 million students classified as limited English proficient (LEP), among which 82% are native speakers of Spanish. The law was rejected by Latino voters by a 2 to 1 margin almost the mirror image of support for the proposition among the majority of White voters who identified themselves as conservative’. Proposition 227 demanded the establishment of intensive English language instruction (“structured English immersion” (SEI), which covered only one year. The program was designed for limited English proficient students and the instruction was conducted in the primary language of those students. It is thoughtprovoking to stress out the requirements of Proposition 227 regarding language minority students, which was not consistently hinged on a theoretical model within the sound language teaching practices. On the contrary, it was based on the language implementation policy, which aimed to impose a de-contextualized procedural model of second language instruction in local school districts through legal mandate (Sahagun, 1999). Proposition 227 limited the existence of theoretical models of dual language instruction, including transitional bilingual education, dual immersion, and content-based foreign language instruction (Johnson & Swain, 1997). This tendency restricted the educational needs of a number of students and their learning opportunities through native language instruction in dual language classes. The students did not have a right to have an access to sound second language acquisition. In the reports of California Department of Education (1999), an essential piece of information can be cut out: Prior to passage of Proposition 227 only 29% of California’s language minority students received instruction in a language other than English through transitional bilingual education programs. Following Proposition 227, the number of students in bilingual programs enrolled through the parental waiver process dropped to 12%. Students whose parents did not choose to waive Proposition 227’s mandatory one year of intensive English before entering mainstream classrooms were enrolled in SEI programs. Nine percent of California’s teachers provide primary language instruction to English language learners in programs under parental waivers. The other 91% of teachers are legally prohibited by law from using students’ L1 as a medium of instruction in the classroom (p.54). instruction in the classroom (p.54). Different models of dual language instruction indicate a great importance for my article and I will assess the existing bilingual background of American schools addressing the growing interest and need for 66

creating positive cross-cultural environment among majority and minority students. Despite the attitudes of reductionism and power imbalances among ethnic communities in a divergent society, the paper appreciates the sound principles of second language acquisition and effective schooling practices for language minority students. In dual immersion program, which means the participation of both language majority and minority students in the same classroom, the issues connected to language status for different linguistic groups are important indicators of program outcomes. As Cummins (2000) writes: ‘The outcomes of dual language programs for language minority populations demonstrate that long-term persistent underachievement of language minority students cannot be ameliorated by addressing linguistic factors in the absence of conscientious efforts to also affect issues of status and power ‘(p. 178) These programs provide a minimum of six years of bilingual instruction in which students from the two language backgrounds are integrated in most or all of their content instruction. Both languages are separated for instruction and the use of minority language at least 50% of the instructional time and as much as 90% in the early grades. ESL students are exposed to the standards-based curriculum, which leads to full language proficiency and mastery of content. Twoway bilingual programs are inclusive and integrated education for all the students in contrast with the segregated, exclusive education offered in TBE or ESL pullout programs. Two-way programs are considered equitable educational programs that treat all students as equal members of the school community. They can also become educational reform tools as school become transformed by increases in the numbers of ESL students who bring the richness of linguistic and cultural diversity with them to school. As wholeschool reform tools, two-way program goals are to: a) promote native language literacy skills and balanced bilingualism; b) enrich with a quality program design for standards-based education; c) educate first-class students to achieve at the highest levels; d) do justice to the two languages and cultures based on a well-designed infrastructure and e) dispel the myth and mindset as an enrichment, rather than a remedial, bilingual program before and during program implementation. Recent research evidence points to two-way bilingual programs as beneficial in the reading achievement of ESL students (Cummins, 2001). The actual implementation of dual language education is different from school to school in the States. Students’ demographics, parental expectations and support, teacher beliefs and qualifications, and administrative leadership all contribute to shape the design and direction of a dual language program.

Two-Way Immersion Programs In today’s pedagogical world, two-way immersion programs are regarded as academically innovative step in education. In this model, monolingual English-speak-

The history and nature of immersion programs in American context

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 ing chil¬dren are engrossed in a second language together with limited English proficient children who are native speakers of the second language. English is introduced gradually until it comprises about 50 percent of the curriculum. The model is actually a combination of maintenance bilingual instruction for LEP (English proficient children) students and immersion instruction for monolingual English speakers. The strength of this approach is that it aims at addi¬tive bilingualism for all the students involved. The goals of a two-way immersion pro-gram are bilingualism and biliteracy for all students. According to Thomas and Collier (1997), the following factors are present in suc¬cessful two-way immersion programs: • Students participate for at least six years. • The ratio of speakers of each language is balanced. • Languages are carefully separated. • The minority language is emphasized in the early grades. • Instruction is excellent and emphasizes core academics. • Parents have a strong, positive relationship with the school. The history of two-way immersion model has commenced in San Diego, California, in 1975, and has been replicated almost in all states. Higgs (1991) regards River Glen Elementary School, in northern California, where ‘a linguistically heterogeneous group of kindergarten children starts school each year in a classroom where Spanish is used 90 percent of the time and English 10 percent of the time. By fifth grade, English and Spanish are each used 50 percent of the time in class. The program at River Glen was started as part of a mag¬net school desegregation program and has been extremely successful in attracting an ethnically diverse student population’ (p.35). Two-way immersion programs address an issue that has surfaced in research on traditional programs. In traditional programs, the teacher is the only native speaker in the classroom. Native-like language input is therefore somewhat limited, and stu¬dents in interaction with each other tend to develop what might be characterized as a classroom pidgin of the target language. Because two-way immersion classrooms mix students from both language groups, all students have many opportunities to interact with native speakers, which enhance their chances to develop native-like proficiency in their new language. The collected data has indicated that two-way immersion program is a suitable model for America’s diverse society. The model backs the use of primary language of language minority stu¬dents, and offers an enrichment program to English speakers. Results of longitudinal studies indicate that students in these programs ‘achieve high levels of bilingualism as well as high levels of academic competence in their subject areas’(Guido, 1995; Lindholm, 1994). Another important outcome of two-way immersion 1

programs is that students not only speak each other’s languages, they learn to appreciate and respect each other’s culture.

Total or Partial Immersion Political pressure in the United States to move away from primary language instruc¬tion has resulted in experimentation with English immersion programs, sometimes called structured immersion, for minority students. One important lon¬gitudinal study of English immersion indicates that it is less successful for minority language students than bilingual education with native language support (Ramirez, Pasta, Ramey, & Yuen, 1991). I would like to apply to the most prominent immersion programs implemented in American schools: total immersion and partial immersion. The primary distinction between these two models is the amount of time assigned to each language for instruction at each grade. (See Table 1.1) In the total immersion model, the amount of instruction in the minority language is initially greater than in the majority language, usually 80% to 90% of the time in the primary grades, with English instruction increasing by each level until students receive equal amounts of instruction in both language instructions by the intermediate grades. In the partial immersion model, on the other hand, the minority and majority languages are used equally for instruction in all levels. In addition, total immersion programs require most teachers’ proficiency in both languages, because the majority of the instruction is conducted in non-English language, while in the partial immersion model, monolingual English teachers can team-teach with bilingual teaching partners. According to Sugarman and Howard (2001) ‘42 percent of dual language schools listed in the Directory of Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Programs in the US1 (2001), implements total immersion models, while 33 percent of the schools implement a partial immersion model’ (p.136). The implementation of a partial or total immersion model becomes a controversial subject for the researchers. The reviewed literature has indicated that the total immersion proves to be more effective than partial immersion programs at higher levels of minority language proficiencies. But this does not mean that all American schools implement total immersion models in their curricular. It is widely acceptable that language instructional model involves knowledge about the linguistic educational background of the community, better understanding of students’ language proficiencies and the availability of qualified teachers. Choice of program often depends on school and community circumstances and attitudes. One critical factor that seems to influence the decision to implement a partial or total immersion program is the second language skills of the existing teacher staff. Another significant

In this directory total immersion model is also mentioned as “minority-language dominant model”

Ekaterine PIPIA Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 factor in design selection is student mobility. This is particularly problematic for English-dominant students in to immersion programs because most content instruction, and often literacy instrucÂŹtion, is conducted in the minority language (Cummins, 2001). School demographics (the linguistic makeup of both teachers and students), the philosophical and political positions regarding bilingualism and biculturalism, and teacher Table 1.1. Total and Partial Immersion Programs

and parent expectations for studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; linguistic proficiencies all bear in the decision to implement a total or a partial immersion model. Table 1.1. offers summed up comparison of total and partial immersion programs, paying special attention to their benefits and drawbacks.

The history and nature of immersion programs in American context

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 While talking about total immersion programs, it’s noteworthy to point out the two types of programs it consists of: 90/10 and 80/20 dual language models. In each model, the initial amount of minority and majority languages exposure corresponds to the amount of time dedicated for instruction in each language. That is, instruction is conducted in the minority language (e.g. Spanish) 90% to 80% of the time and in the majority language (English) 10% or 20% of the time, usually from pre K to second grade. By the time students reach the fourth or fifth grade, there is balance of instructional time in each language (Quay, 1995). To sum up this, we may assert that total immersion programs immerse both language minority and language majority students in the minority language in the first years of the program. As for the teaching of academic content areas (math, science, social studies, and art) are initially taught in the minority language. In the second or third grade, there is a gradual shift to English instruction for some content areas, for example, math can be taught in English, while science and social studies in the minority language. In the next year, both math and social studies may be taught in English and science continues to be taught in minority language. By fifth or sixth grade, all content areas are either taught in both languages, alternating by day, week or month. The main thing that is useful for the survey is the type of English instruction, which is usually offered

in the form of ESL. But in the 90/10 model, initial literacy instruction is usually conducted in the minority language for all students. That is, minority and majority language students learn to read and write in the minority language. By third grade, students receive more formalized literacy instruction in English. Sometimes in 80/20 models, literacy instruction is conducted in the student’s native language (Quay, 1995). That is, minority language students learn to read and write in their native language and English dominant students learn to read and write in English. In partial immersion programs students’ instruction is conducted in equal amounts of time (50/50) from pre K on. It means that the instruction is conducted in the minority language 50 percent of the time and in English the other 50 percent of the time. In a 50/50 program, instruction in the majority language and the minority language is divided evenly at all grade levels. The instructional time is balanced through a daily division, for example, the morning is spent working in one language and the afternoon is spent working in the other. Some schools offer the distribution of time through a weekly division, where one week is spent working in one language, and the following week is spent working in the other language. According to Howard and Christian (2002): ‘Programs that use these approaches tend to use a half-week/half-week approach in kindergarten and first grade, because it

Table 1.2. Description of 90/10 and 50/50 Programs

Ekaterine PIPIA Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 is recognized that a full week in the second language is too stressful for young children with limited second language proficiency’ (p.14). It should be noted that literacy instruction is primarily offered in the students’ native language. Educators support this approach as considering it very useful for English dominant students. In addition, there is sometimes the concern that children may forget language skills that they have attained in their second language if the intervals between instructional periods in that language are too long. This may create a less efficient language learning situation (see below Table 1.2. in which I summed up the above-presented information). The main difference between these two models is the amount of instructional time spent in each language. But notably, these differences are apparent only at the primary grades (K-3) only. The contemporary prosperity of immersion programs in the United States of America tends to respond some key needs of the nation and is in favor of both native English speakers and language minority speakers. The research has indicated ‘critical need for residents who are proficient in more than one language, and the rapidly increasing number of language minority students entering U.S. schools, the majority of whom are native speakers of Spanish. The increase in the number of programs has led to concerns and questions about how to design and implement effective TWI programs (Two-way Immersion Program)’ (Howard & Christian, 2002, p.2).

Dual language instruction in schools Dual language instruction in public school context has become the major topic in contemporary publications regarding foreign language programs in the United States of America. The country strives to overcome the existing obstacles for limited English proficient children and to our interest; even the private schools have authorized dual language instruction for language majority and minority students. According to Fishman (1985), ‘there are approximately 6,500 private schools in the United States that provide some form of education in a language oth¬er than English. At the time the study was completed the Jewish community account¬ed for nearly half that number, providing schooling in both Hebrew and Yiddish, but at least 108 languages were represented in private schools’ (p. 87). It would be difficult to estimate the number of such schools at the present time, but there are revealing examples. Lindholm-Leary & Borsato (2001) state that, ‘the Association of Northern Califor¬nia Chinese Schools lists 84 member schools (ANCCS, 2003). Some of them enroll upwards of a thousand students. These are generally “Saturday” schools, offering Chi¬nese instruction on weekends only. Note that children who attend these schools devel¬op language and literacy in two languages. In other words, they actually receive a bilingual education—it just happens under more than one roof’ (p.102). 70

As part of a federal project on bilingual education, researchers made site visits to 24 private schools that had dual language instructional programs. They found that private schools use many of the same methods as public schools for providing dual language instruction. Despite the lack of innovation, private dual language programs are distinguished by their emphasis on the value of knowing two languages (Elford & Woodford, 1982). This emphasis appears to persist, even in the current political cli-mate. For example, the International School of the Peninsula in Palo Alto, California, offers a full curriculum in both Mandarin Chinese and French to approximately 500 students, many of whom are American-born English speakers. In its mission, the school states ‘We are committed to developing well-rounded individuals with a broad international awareness and the ability to communicate in at least two languages’(California Department of Education, 2003). The gathered data on this topic indicate the great demand for second language instruction in private preschools, which therefore, gives rise to the popularity of immersion programs. While the numbers have grown from 30 documented programs in 1987 (Lindholm, 1994) to 261 in 1999 (Sahagun, 1999), the vast majority of these programs operate at the elementary school only. To date, very few programs have effectively carried on into the middle school (26) and fewer to high school (8) (Sahagun, 1999). The lack of immersion programs at secondary school levels is caused by two major reasons: a) First, because contemporary two-way immersion programs are groundbreaking to American society and they start with a single cohort of students in kindergarten, adding additional grade levels and cohorts each year. It is far-reaching that there have not been a significant number of two-way immersion programs in schools, which caused the lack of those programs at the secondary level until this time. b) Second, the structure of secondary schools is contrasting to elementary school and this difference complicates the further development of two-way immersion programs. In secondary schools, students can have a free choice of subjects, which is not a common issue in elementary schools. Regarding students’ freedom of choosing subjects in secondary programs require from two-way immersion programs to not interfere with core courses or well-liked electives. Another obstacle is the staffing problem, as ‘secondary teachers tend to teach a single academic domain rather than all content areas, meaning that several bilingual teachers may need to be hired in order to keep going the program at the secondary level’(Loeb, 1999, p.13). We have seen so far, that the nature of secondary two-way immersion programs differs from that of elementary programs. Because this program at the high school and middle school level typically becomes the sum of the classes offered in the non-English language only. According to Loeb (1999, p. 24): …the Spanish-English two-way immersion program is considered to be the two or three courses

The history and nature of immersion programs in American context

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 taught in Spanish to the participating students, since those are typically the only classes offered exclusively to TWI program students. Classes taught in English may no longer count as TWI, since they frequently include non-TWI students. Planning the TWI program, then, consists mostly of deciding which courses to offer in the non-English language and how many periods per day students will be required to attend these classes in order to be considered part of the TWI program. While most TWI (Two-way Immersion Programs) programs appear to offer the same as non-TWI programs deciding how much of the curriculum and which subjects will be taught through which languages is often a difficult decision. I have already dealt with two-way immersion programs at the elementary level as the complete and separate unit, which makes the school curricular easier to adopt any of a variety of program models (50/50 model or a 90/10 model). The staffing problems is also very easily solved, as s/he can teach any or all subject areas in Spanish, while a monolingual English teacher can teach any or all subject areas in English. As for middle and high school curricula (with the exception of language arts in the non-English language), the choice of language (majority or minority) causes serious problems. It should be noted that high schools are ‘departmentalized’ (Loeb, 1999), and teachers specialize in one or more content areas. Consequently, teaching different subjects will most likely require the services of many bilingual teachers instead of just one. Middle schools are more flexible in their structure. Some may be much departmentalized (especially in the upper grades), while others may operate more like elementary schools (especially in sixth grade), with one teacher teaching multiple subjects or staying with the same group of students for most of the day. According to surveys conducted on the effectiveness of two-way immersion programs at the secondary and high levels, the most pressing aspects are: subjects’ availability (in terms of language), qualifications of teachers, and subject-matter preferences of the staff. The non-existence of two-way immersion programs at high level is caused by a number of factors. It is quite challenging to find qualified teachers for each content subject in the non-English language. Finding appropriate bilingual texts in non-English languages can also prove problematic. It should be mentioned that the social studies curricula, which is a core subject is different in all states. Therefore, the availability of textbooks can be named as another problem for establishing two-way immersion programs at high level. Teaching the same subject in two languages will require two textbooks instead of one, which will cause some budgeting problems then. The above pointed obstacles are not faced by 90/10 programs, because most of the instruction is conducted in Spanish in the primary grades, this does not become a major issue until the upper elementary grades. On the contrary it works for 50/50 programs, where the instruction is provided in neck and neck

amount of time in both languages at all grade levels. According to Howard E. & Christian D. (2002, p. 16): There are three ways that language distribution can be accomplished, and most programs use a combination of two or all three methods. First, language of instruction can be distributed by time. Accordingly, sometime blocks are allocated for instruction in the minority language, while others are allocated for instruction in English. Common structuring of these time blocks includes the morning vs. afternoon or weekby-week language distributions that were described in the previous section on 50/50 programs. A second way that language distribution can occur is by topic. Using this approach, some content areas are taught in English, while others are taught using the minority language. If this approach is used, language arts should still be taught in both languages, as recommended in the earlier discussion of criteria for success. The third way that language distribution can occur is by person, meaning that two teachers work together, with one providing instruction in English and the other providing instruction in the minority language. Getting acquainted with immersion program data, three key approaches to initial literacy instruction have become salient --minority language first, both languages simultaneously, and native language first-and these three approaches tend to be reflected with certain program models. Minority language approach is reflected in the model of 90/10 immersion program. In this program the majority and minority children are integrated in one class the whole day and receive initial literacy instruction in the minority language only (mostly in Spanish). Informal literacy in conducted in English, but I is allocated for a small percentage of the day. English instruction occurs at third grade. The studies revealed that this approach is only appropriate for the 90/10 model (or 80/20 or 80/10/10) and would not work with a 50/50 model. Because native English students in a 50/50 model ‘would not be likely to have enough proficiency in the minority language in the primary grades for initial literacy instruction in that language alone to be meaningful to them’ (Long, 1991, p. 51). Both languages simultaneously approach is most frequently used in 50/50 model. In this program, the majority and minority students are grouped together during a day, and from the very beginning, receive literacy instruction in English during English instructional time and literacy instruction in the minority language during instructional time in that language. The students receive literacy instruction in both languages at all grade levels. The studies indicate the appropriateness of this approach is a 50/50 model. Native language first approach separates the students by language. This approach provides the language minority students with initial literacy instruction in their native language and providing the native English speakers with initial literacy instruction in English. If the two groups are separated during the classes, the 71

Ekaterine PIPIA Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 instruction is conducted in targeted second language if needed. Informal literacy instruction in the second language takes place for both groups through content instruction in each language, and by third grade, the two groups are fully integrated and formal literacy instruction is provided to both groups in majority and minority languages (Johnson & Swain, 1997). In some cases where a 90/10 model is preferred, the instructors apply to this approach, which somehow, can be a challenge for the native English speakers, who are academically at-risk. The native language first approach has been applied to some 50/50 programs and proved to be effective. Notably, some factors have to be taken into account while implementing this approach to initial literacy instruction in this model. Instructional time in the minority language (50%) for native English speakers needs to be fixed in their school curricula simultaneously with initial literacy instruction which is in English. Concerning with instructional time, Howard & Christian (2002) state: This is especially problematic if an alternating weeks approach is used, because this approach results in a total exposure of only about 25% to the minority language for the native English speakers. Second, if the 50/50 model uses a half-day/ half-day model, and if the students work with other teachers for art, music, and so on, then adding an additional switch and potential teacher change for initial literacy instruction could result in a schedule that looks more like a middle school model. This much transition on a daily basis could be disruptive and developmentally inappropriate for young children (p.26).

Conclusion In sum, it could be stated that grouping native language students in initial literacy classes won’t work in case the school faces the large influx of bilingual students, who do not have clear language dominance. Considering the above presented information, one might conclude that the languages are usually separated by teacher and classroom in team-teaching situations and students alternate between the two teachers every other day in dual language instruction classes. It’s note-worthy to point out that school districts around the USA are challenged by the increasing linguistic diversity of their student population. At the same time, the ability to communicate in multiple languages is becoming recognized as a valuable asset. In order to help language minority students learn English and achieve academically, and give language majority students an opportunity to develop proficiency in another language, a growing number of schools have developed two-way immersion programs.

References Baker, C. (2001). Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters California Department of Education. (2003). Number of English learners in California public schools by language and grade. Retrieved February 12, 2003, from Dataquest: www.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/ Center for Applied Linguistics. (2002). Directory of two-way bilingual immersion programs in the U.S. Retrieved November 19, 2009 from http://www.cal.org/twi/directory Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power and pedagogy: Bilingual children in the crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Cummins, J. (2001). Instructional conditions for trilingual development. International Journal of Bilin gual Education and Bilingualism, 4, 1, 61-75 Elford, G., & Woodford, P. (1982). A study of bilingual instructional practices in nonpublic schools: Final report. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 240 855) Fishman, J. A. (1985). Ethnicity in action: The community resources of ethnic languages in the United States. Binghamton, NY: Bilingual Press / Editorial Bilingiie Guido, M. (1195). Model escuela: Two-way language immersion program to be emulated by schools in other regions. San Jose mercury News, 1A.22A Higgs, TV. (1991). Research on the role of grammar and accuracy in classroom-based foreign language acquisition. In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Foreign language acquisition research and the classroom. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath and Company, 46-53 Johnson, R. K., & Swain, M. (Eds.). (1997). Immersion education: International perspectives. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press Lindholm, K. J. (1987). Directory of bilingual immersion programs. Educational Report No. 8 of the Center for Language Education and Research, UCLA Lindholm, K. J. (1994). Promoting positive cross-cultural attitudes and perceived competence in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. In R. A.DeVillar, C. J. Faltis, & J. P. Cummins (Eds.), Cultural diversity in schools: From rhetoric to practice (pp. 189–206). Albany, NY: State University of New York.

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Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 Lindholm-Leary, K., & Borsato, G. (2001). Impact of Two-Way Bilingual Elementary Programs on Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Attitudes Toward School and College (ERIC Digest EDO-FL-02-01). Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics. Retrieved September 2, 2008, from: http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0201 lindholm.html. Loeb, M. (1999). Directory of two-way bilingual immersion programs in the U. S. , 1998-1999 Supplement. Santa Cruz, CA and Washington, DC: National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning Long, M. 1991: Focus on form: a design feature in language teaching methodology, in K. De Bot, R. Grinsberg and C. Kramsch, eds. Foreign language research in cross-cultural perspective. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Pp. 39-52 Ovando, C.J.,& Collier, V.P. (1985). Bilingual and ESL classrooms. New York: McGraw- Hill Quay, S. (1995). The bilingual lexicon: implications for studies of language choice. Journal of Child Language, 22, 369-387 Ramirez, J., Pasta, D., Ramey, D., & Yuen, S. (1991). Final report: Longitudinal study of structured English immersion strategy, early-exit and lateexit bilingual education programs for language minority children. Vol. 1. Prepared for U.S. Department of Education Sahagun, L. (1999, July 1). L.A. schools are abusing Prop. 227, report says. Los Angeles Times, Record Edition, p.3 Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (1999). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press Sugarman, J., & Howard, E. R. (2001). Development and Maintenance of Two-Way Immersion Programs: Advice from Practitioners (Practitioner Brief 2). Santa Cruz, CA and Washington, DC: Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from: http://www.cal.org/crede/pubs/PracBrief2.htm Thomas, W. P., & Collier, V. (2002). A national study of school effectiveness for language minority studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; long-term academic achievement: final report. Santa Cruz, CA and Washington, DC: Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence. Tomlinson, E. H., & Eastwick, J. F. (1980). Allons enfants. Independent School, 40(1),23-31

Ekaterine PIPIA Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

Publication and translation side by side: Translation strategies of medical researchers for publishing articles

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

Publication and translation side by side: Translation strategies of medical researchers for publishing articles Nematullah SHOMOOSSI * Azam SHOMOOSSI **

Abstract English has turned into an international language at least in scientific negotiations, and the number of journals publishing in English is growing day by day. This presentation will disclose the results of a qualitative study on the translation attempts of Iranian medical scholars in getting their scientific papers published in international journals. The participants included three highly published scholars at a medical university in Iran. The results were interesting as to the barriers of translating research articles from Persian to English experienced by the participants. Also, their experiences will be analyzed with reference to the ELT system in Iran in order to provide implications for further research as well as implications for language teaching in ESP, translation studies, and consequential validity of training translators. Keywords: Translation; English Language Teaching; Publishing Articles; Medical; Iran

Introduction The Iranian ministry of Health has recently set rules and regulations to encourage medical researchers to publish articles in indexed journals. However, this decision has brought about problems too. The disadvantage experienced by scholars who use English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in writing for publication has been documented in the field of science (Benfield & Feak, 2006). As well as needing more time to write (Curry & Lillis, 2004; Lillis & Curry, 2006), EFL writers encounter difficulties with reviewers and editors if their use of English is non-standard. While there is some evidence of journal editors’ and reviewers’ tolerance of non-native features in EFL authors’ submissions (Flowerdew, 2001), there are also reports of such gatekeepers criticizing these features. Ammon (2000, p. 113), for example, as a German editor of a book published in English, reports on criticisms of his work on the grounds of its ‘near unintelligibility [because] the grammatical mistakes were so severe’. Similarly, Curry and Lillis (2004, p. 678) report on a Hungarian psychologist who made the following remarks: ‘if the style or the form of the paper is not native-like, reviewers think that ‘this is a stupid man, this is not acceptable material’. While commenting on the language of a manuscript is, for reviewers and editors in the field of science, much less of a concern than commenting on its scientific content (Gosden, 2003; Wood, 2001), a high rejection rate of authors from EFL contexts has been due to English errors in their manuscripts (Coates et al., 2002). It is now understood that a published research article, especially if it is written by an EFL author, needs

to be viewed as the product of not just those people who have their names on it, but as a product involving a range of other people who participate in the editorial process (Lillis & Curry, 2006). Burrough-Boenisch (2003) refers to these other people as shapers of research articles. They may include authors’ colleagues or supervisors, colleagues’ Native English speaking (NES) spouses, correctors who may work professionally as editors of manuscripts but are not usually specialists in the field, journal reviewers, journal editors, and copy editors. In this paper, we will consider the views and comments of three Iranian medical researchers who have highly published with prolific experience in submitting their work to English journals and getting their work published. Based on the data collected from various sources, we will highlight the motivators and barriers in publishing research articles, and we will consider the probable solutions for Iranian scientists.

Methodology This qualitative study is intended to report the result of an investigation into the successful factors affecting the publication of research articles published in the area of medicine and health by these three Iranian scientists. In addition to a set of demographic data collected by the interviewer, the publication endeavors of these three scientists were studied through semistructured interviews. For the sake of consistency, the interviewer was the same for all interviews. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. Transcrip-

* Ph.D. Sabzevar University of Merical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran E-mail: nshomoossi@yahoo.com **Department of Linguistics, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran E-mail: a.shomoossi@yahoo.com

Nematullah SHOMOOSSI , Azam SHOMOOSSI Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 tions were checked and rechecked for accuracy by the researchers. The focus of our analysis was on factors leading to success as well as barriers hindering their failure in getting their pieces published. Scripts were carefully analyzed for probable themes expressed by the interviewees, and the recurrent patterns were grasped and noted for further reporting. Based on the collected data, motivators and barriers in publishing research articles as well as some conceptual solutions are suggested with reference to the current strategies of the Iranian Ministry of Health.

References

Results

Burrough-Boenisch, J. (2003). Shapers of published NNS research articles. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12, 223–243.

On the basis of the recurrent patterns in the interviews, some success criteria came up to be: (1) Correction by the supervisor (2) Peer correction (3) Correction by language professionals (4) Using editorial services (5) Promotion opportunities (6) Financial Motivations Also, some barriers emerged in their words as follows: (1) Busy workload (2) Lack of enough research facilities (3) Lack of enough funds and grants (4) No institutional motivation (5) Family problems (6) Political issues

Conclusion It is evident that the major success criteria appear to be those that shape the initiatives on the part of the researcher. For instance, the knowledge of medicine does not suffice the publication of a well-researched topic. Rather, the cooperation of language practitioners and editors will enhance chances of getting articles published. This may highlight the team work (Benfield & Feak, 2006) even if editors are not part of the authorial team. However, barriers are often excuses and more related to the internal desire and conflicts of the authors with the institution or with the political system. All in all, the impetus to do research should be initially integrated with an impetus for publication, or at least a team is to be formed for the publication. Further analysis of the results will be elaborated in the presentation.

Acknowledgement This research was supported by Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Iran.

Ammon, U. (2000). Towards more fairness in international English: Linguistic rights of non-native speakers? In R. Phillipson (Ed.), Rights to language: Equity, power and education (pp. 111–116). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Benfield, J. R.,&Feak, C. B. (2006). How authors can cope with the burden of English as an international language. Chest, 129, 1728–1730.

Coates, R., Sturgeon, B., Bohannan, J., & Pasini, E. (2002). Language and publication in cardiovascular research articles (Editorial). Cardiovascular Research, 53, 279–285. Curry, M. J., & Lillis, T. (2004). Multilingual scholars and the imperative to publish in English: Negotiating interests, demands, and rewards. TESOL Quarterly, 38, 663–688. Flowerdew, J. (2001). Attitudes of journal editors to nonnative speaker contributions. TESOL Quarterly, 35, 121–150. Gosden, H. (2003). ‘Why not give us the full story?’: Functions of referees’ comments in peer reviews of scientific research papers. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 2, 87–101. Lillis, T.,&Curry,M. J. (2006). Professional academic writing by multilingual scholars: Interactions with literacy brokers in the production of English-medium texts. Written Communication, 23, 3–35. Wood, A. (2001). International scientific English: The language of research scientists around the world. In J. Flowerdew & M. Peacock (Eds.), Research perspectives on English for academic purposes (pp. 71–83). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Teacher talk in support of student language acquisition

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172

Teacher talk in support of student language acquisition Mariam BANDZELADZE *

Abstract Teachers’ and learners’ perception about the teaching and/or learning process is largely determined by the flow of interaction between the study process participants. Whether such premises lead to teacher-centered or student-centered teaching, the nature and purpose of the interaction facilitates the language acquisition process. Teacher talking time has an impact on language acquisition as the different techniques and methods employed by a teacher through discourse leave sufficient time for the students to practice the target language. A survey of 40 teachers and 45studentsrevealed preferences on the distribution of the talking time between the interlocutors and distinguished expectances of the classroom discourse participants while supporting the overall pedagogic goal of the target language acquisition. The survey also provides conclusions on how to adjust the talking in class by the teacher in order to maintain the efficient teaching and attain better language acquisition. Keywords: classroom, classroom interaction, language, language acquisition, proficiency level, student talk time (STT), teacher talk time (TTT), teaching methods

Introduction Features of the language teaching classroom differ greatly from any other classrooms as the teachers control both the topic of the interaction and the various techniques for reaching the ultimate pedagogic goal. The techniques employed by a teacher during the process are extremely important and noteworthy for facilitating effective language acquisition and attaining the ultimate fluency of the speakers. Long (1996:61) interestingly points out that communication in a language classroom is unique as “linguistic forms used are often simultaneously the aim of a lesson and the means of achieving those aims”. Therefore, Johnson believes that language teachers play a pivotal role in managing the communication, as they repair, restrict, or allow learners to employ the target language (Johnson, 1992). Echoing on the above-said, Walsh ascertains that pedagogy and interaction come together through talk as “pedagogic goals are manifested in the talk-in-interaction” (Walsh, 2006:88). Therefore, scholars agree that the active use of the target language is pivotal for language acquisition. Van Lier (2001: 103) suggests that efficient learning is facilitated by contributing to learning activities and maximizing students’ use of the language. The present article illustrates that abundant studies of classroom interaction basically focused on one type of interaction strategy, which is the language of instruction. Therefore, the overall goal of the classroom discourse is to find common grounds for complex relationship between teacher talk, classroom interaction, and learning opportunities. Teacher talk time (TTT) has been critically evaluated within the frameworks of increasing students’ target language practice (Willis, 1990: 57; Paul, 2003: 137).

Willis further elaborates on the issue, arguing that mostly research on TTT has focused on the quantity and quality (Willis, 1990: 94). Subsequently, the aim of the present study was to investigate the amount of TTT and the extent of its effectiveness in the light of supporting language acquisition by the learners. In lieu to this, a questionnaire has been administered, in order to gather responses from teachers and students separately and compare the results for driving conclusions.

Literature Review Throughout different periods of language teaching the emphasis has been constantly shifting from more teacher talking time (TTT) to more student talking time (STT). Researchers have been offering advantages and limitations of both approaches.The modern trends in language teaching mostly favor the student-centered approach and, correspondingly, limiting the TTT and concentrating mostly on STT. As Thornbury(2000: 81)puts it: “Language classrooms are language classrooms, and for the teacher to monopolize control of the discourse – through, for example, asking only display questions – while possibly appropriate to the culture of geography or math classes, would seem to deny language learners access to what they most need – opportunities for real language use”. Ross (1992: 192-93 cited in Nunan, 199: 209) states that constant teacher talk during the lessons hinders students’ listening comprehension and subsequently the communication skills. Allwright (1982: 10) suggests that efficient teachers should manage to involve students in the activities and interaction and make them

* Ph.D. student, Faculty of Education and Humanities, International Black Sea University E-mail: mariam_aba@hotmail.com

Mariam BANDZELADZE Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 do the majority of the issues on the day’s agenda. Tsui (1995: 201) assures that student talk accounts for an average of less than thirty percent of the total talk in teacher-centered classrooms, whereas “learners not only learn to talk, but they also talk to learn”. Richards and Lockhard (1994:3) wrote down after viewing a videotape of their own lesson as “I had no idea I did so much talking and didn’t let students practice”. Harmer (2007) believes that the more teachers talk, the less students have the chance to learn language and as students need practice a good teacher should minimize talking time and allocate more lesson time to students’ talk. In order to further explore the relationship between TTT and students’ language acquisition, various TTT analyses have been conducted by scholars. Foster (1995: 129) distinguishes three categories of teacher talk: (a) the language of control, (b) the language of curriculum, and (c) the language of critique. The language of control involves sanctions on encouraging a particular behavior of a student that can take place in the classroom. Throughout the speech event a teacher gives feedback, explains tasks, and/or controls other assignments. Teacher’s talk is obviously very asymmetric as he/she does most of the talking and students rarely talk with each other or with the teacher since there is no overlapping speech or backchanneling characteristics of other verbal interactions. On the other hand, language of curriculum is marked by many of the discourse features. Foster mentions that “used as a bridge between concepts in the text or lecture and students’ out-of-class experience, the purpose of such language is to elicit student participation in classroom discussions” (Foster, 1995: 144). The speech act in practice is revealed in various techniques, such as some elongation of certain words/ sounds in order to attract attention, manipulation of the cadence and meter by speeding up the phrases, employing patterned self-repetition for the effect, etc. The overall goal of the above-said is to increase students’ participation in language usage. In contrast to the two above-discussed acts, the language of critique is also commented in Levinson’s (1992) work, describing the speech event as the bold one and intriguing for the language learners. Mostly initiated by the teacher, the latter encourages students to speak using target language and express different opinions contributing to the ultimate fluency of the speaker. Based on the above-said, Davies (2011: 2) proposes a number of teaching techniques and approaches “to curb excessive TTT” and to maintain balance between teacher talk and student talk. The techniques suggested by Davies are: (a) management of error correction, (b) management of responses and elicitation, (c) student pair work and group work, (d) sufficient wait-time after elicitation, and (e) the clarification of instructions and expectations. Obviously, in order to encourage learners to ask or respond to a question, discuss the topic, express opinion, etc. via target language, teachers need to systematically create space for this during lessons. Walsh (2006: 99) suggests that 78

allowing learners to work in groups encourages them to ask more and better questions than when they work individually. It is also noteworthy, that although excessive TTT has been criticized and increased STT - advocated by many researchers, minimizing the teacher talk should not be an objective and more attention should be allocated to the quality of interaction. Teachers’ utterances need to be explicit and appropriate to the students’ level of proficiency (Hadley, Wilcox, Rice, 1994: 113). Only by considering the above-said, listening to the teacher for better acquisition of the language will become a significant impetus to employ target language correctly. There are many variables which could affect the amount of TTT in the classroom and it can vary among classes of the same teacher. Individual teachers should become aware of their talking time by measuring and analyzing it in a specific class, which may help them assess the effectiveness of their teaching approach in general.

Methodology A total of 120 individuals (50 teachers and 70 learners) were approached with the request to participate in the study.University lecturers, school teachers, language instructors, as well as students, school children and general language learners were contacted to solicit their responses. A total of 90 questionnaires were returned: 40 from the teachers and 50 from the learners. However, 5 students’ surveys were discarded for the incomplete entries, so finally 45 student questionnaires were analyzed. Distribution of the survey was coordinated with administration in the selected educational facilities.The instrument was piloted with three university lecturers. These teachers completed the survey and recommended revisions in the wording of various items. After the revisions were made, the survey was administered to the targeted population. Each survey consists of 6 (six) questions. Question 1 is a multiple choice, multiple answer allowing to detect teachers/students attitudes towards learners’ talk throughout different activities. Question 2 is the same type as described above, providing information on teacher-centered, student-centered or the balanced type of teaching. Question 3 is related to the preferred quantity of Teacher Talking Time, while Question 4 provides data on differentiation of TTT on different proficiency levels. Question 5 assessestime distribution among different activities encountered in the classroom discourse context. Finally, Question 6, a 5-point Likert Scale, provides respondents responses on their attitudes towards the statement “Teacher’s talk supports learners’ language acquisition”. The overall goal of the survey is to depict the prevailing pattern of the classroom interaction. Based on the survey it is anticipated to reveal teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards three major issues: 1) What is the preferred distribution of time during the classroom interaction? (2) Which activities require more Teacher Talking Time or Student Talking Time? (3) Does teach-

Teacher talk in support of student language acquisition

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 er talk support language acquisition? The survey allows to compare teachers’ and students’ answers and to develop a model acceptable for all the classroom interlocutors in order to attain better target language acquisition.

teachers in total permits or encourages students’ talk during the former activity in practice, and 20% in total permits or encourages talk during other activities.

Results 1.1. Please indicate how you feel about learners talking to each other during each of the following activities. The first question evaluated teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards learners’ talk during various activities common for the language classrooms. Moreover, it gave information on when the teachers appreciate students’ discourse more and what the students’ perception on the same issue is. The chart presented bellow reveals that the majority of the teachers do not allow peer talk during introducing the plan of the lesson or giving instructions. Figure 2. Students’Evaluation of Teachers’ Attitudes towards Students’ Talking

1.2. How do you believe language learning takes place? Please tick the appropriate answer. 46.2% of the teachers believe that language learning happens through teachers’ discourse with students, while 30.8% assumes that better learning is supported by peers discourse with one another. The survey revealed that only 23.1% of the teachers believe that the balanced distribution of teacher and student talk supports language acquisition. The results could have been predictable as teachers generally think that their talk is crucial for effectively transferring information to the learners.

Figure 1. Teachers’ Attitudes towards Students’ Talking

The students’ responses to the same issues are absolutely in line with the teacher’s answers. The chart also shows that teacher’s (21%) do no encourage students’ talk when eliciting responses from their peers, although, students believe that 24% of the teacher’s allow this in practice and 6% even encourages. On the contrary to the above said, a vast majority of the teachers encourage students’ talk during assignment discussion and during group activities. Students’ responses are in full conformity with the teachers’ answers. Teachers’ approval for the students’ talk decreases again in cases of correcting/reinforcing answers (in total 19% of teachers either permit or encourage the activity) and throughout other unspecified activities. However, students declare that 27% of

Figure 3. Teachers’ Evaluation of Language Learning

Mariam BANDZELADZE Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 On the other hand, students illustrate the abovestated issue in a different light. The dominant majority (52.2%) of the respondents marked their choice in favor of peers discource during language acquisition. 32.6% of students believe that language acquisition better happens while balance is maintained between student and teacher talk. Only 15.2% made their choice in favor of teachers’ discourse. Therefore, it can be assumed that although the majority of teachers think that language acquisition is better attained through teacher-to-student talk, students themselves favor intorudicing balanced talk in class and the increase of their participation in the classroom discourse.

guage in various situations. (Figure 6.)

Figure 5. Teachers’ Allocation of TTT

Figure 4. Students’ evaluation of language learning

1.3. How much time should be allocated to teacher’s talk? The third question further supports the data generated by Question 2, discussed above. Considering the results of the above question, it was strange to see that37.5% of the teachers supported allocation of more than 50% to TTT in class and 42.5 % to the balanced distribution of the TTT. Considering the abovesaid we may assume, that although teachers believe in the importance of their discourse during teaching, the modern trend in favor of student-centered teaching/learning has an influence on teachers’ responses. They acknowledge the necessity of spending balanced or more time on STT, although quite often practice indicated or requires contrary. The finding can be further elaborated by contrasting the present question with the results extracted from question 5. (Figure 5.) Students’ answers were more logical in this case. The majority of the respondents (45.7%) favored balanced distribution of time between TTT and STT and 32.6% of the students thought that STT should be increased. The responses elicited from the diagram are relative to the answers received from Question 2. It is reasonable to expect studentsdesire for more talking time during the classroom discourse as they believe that language could be better mastered through practice with teachers or peers. Language classrooms provide them with the opportunities to use target lan80

Figure 6. Students’ Allocation of TTT

1.4. At which language proficiency level should the Teacher Talking Time (TTT) be more than Student Taking Time (STT)? The responses provided in Question 4 are analyzed based on the assumption that more TTT could be necessary at some level of students’ language proficiency. The assumption has been widely discussed in the literature, indicating that on lower proficiency level students need more encouragement, invitation to speak, information, etc. The survey revealed that teachers believe more TTT is required when student have elementary or Pre-Intermediate proficiency. It can be deduced that at these levels, students are not able to express themselves completely and need teachers’ corrections or encouragements to communicate in target language. Moreover, they lack sufficient knowledge in grammar, vocabulary, writing, or speaking. Yet again, teachers’ participation is crucial as they are the knowledgeable ones or the role-models for the students from whom they pick up the knowledge.

Teacher talk in support of student language acquisition

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 The activities requiring more STT are: group activities, interaction with peers, responding to questions, expressing opinion. Although in Question 3 the majority of teachers indicated preference of a balanced time sharing, activities requiring more TTT have received the highest percentage. This again confirms that although teachers theoretically know that more or equal time should be allocated to STT, in practice they are acting quite differently. It proves that teachers have to reconsider their methods and techniques if they want to be effective in the profession.

Figure 7. Teachers’ Evaluation of TTT at Different Proficiency Levels

Students’ responses actually coincide with the teacher’s answers, therefore we may assume that the reasoning stated above is correct and students indeed need more attention at the beginning of the language acquisition.

Figure 9. Distribution of TTT according to Different Classroom Activities by Teachers

Figure 8. Students’ Evaluation of TTT at Different Proficiency Levels

1.5. How much time do you allocate to the following activities? In Question 5, teachers and students were asked to distribute 100% of the lesson time on different activities common for the language classrooms. The listed activities have been selected as the ones requiring more teachers’ participation or more students’ participation. Although much more initiatives could have been enlisted in the diagram, we have limited ourselves by the bellow-mentioned ones. The activities have been evaluated against the time allocated to them by the teacher. The activities requiring more TTT are: invitation to talk, questioning around material, directing the activity, informing about the material, prompting to talk, repairing/reinforcing the answers.

Students’ responses confirm the above-mentioned reasoning. They validate that teachers indeed spend more time on the activities in which they participate more and relatively less on the activities that require students’ participation.It is interesting to distinguish the activities students think teachers pay most of the time, these are: questioning around the material and letting learners express opinion, invitation to talk, etc. (Figure 10.) 1.6. Please tick your attitude to the statement given bellow: “Teacher’s talk supports learners’ language acquisition” Teachers and students were asked to express their attitudes towards the statement “Teacher’s talk supports learners’ language acquisition”, which was the general conclusion of the article. Again, teachers’ responses were actually consistent with the answers provided in the previous questions.Teachers markedly expressed their position in favor of one answer.71% of the respondents strongly agree with the statement,

Mariam BANDZELADZE Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 while 22% agree with it. Nobody disagreed with the statement. Students’ responses were also consistent with the teachers’ responses. 77.7% of the studentrespondents strongly agreed that teachers’ talk has indeed an impact on the their ability to acquire the target language. Only 6.7% of the learners were not able to answer the question, which can be understandable as some proficiency levels do not allow them reflect on such kind of issues as their knowledge is still limited, therefore, cannot judge the influence of other factors on their language acquisition capacity. Overall, both teachers and learners acknowledge the power that teachers’ talk has on the students, which once more reinforces the teachers’ pivotal role in the process of language acquisition. (Figure 11, 12.)

Figure 12. Teachers’ Evaluation of the Statement “Teacher’s Talk Supports Learners’ Language Acquisition”

Conclusions

Figure 10. Distribution of TTT according to Different Classroom Activities by Students

Figure 11. Teachers’ Evaluation of the Statement “Teacher’s Talk Supports Learners’ Language Acquisition”

The findings of this study suggest that the importance of considering the teachers’ verbal dimensions on the students’ ability to acquire the target language is inevitable. Considering the crucial role TTT plays in the classroom discourse, teachers have to consider both educational goals, styles of the classroom management, and their expectations for verbal interactions. Teachers as well as students acknowledge that learners may need to make significant differences in their verbal behavior, particularly when the students’ proficiency level is elementary or Pre-intermediate. In such cases language classrooms have a more restrictive communicative environment. Obviously, in such asetting teachers are expected to control the nature and amount of learners’ talk as students are linguistically restricted and might experience difficulty in expressing themselves. Therefore, it is important, that teachers be aware of the different verbal interactive demands presented by specific activities and of their own expectations and rules for interaction. The study clearly revealed that teachers do allocate more time to their talk in the language classrooms through various activities employed during the class. Students, on the other hand, wish a more balanced distribution of time in class or encouraging more students’ talk as they are the ones in need of practice. We could, therefore, conclude that teachers’ talking time should not be very strictly decreased, although they should also facilitate students’ verbal participation in the language classroom. The emphasis should be shifted to the quality rather than quality in order to maintain the balance and support efficient language acquisition. The analysis also highlighted that the majority of

Teacher talk in support of student language acquisition

Journal of Education; ISSN 2298-0172 teachers appeared not to be tolerant of a number of the verbal behavioral infractions such as shouting out answers, interrupting, and dominating conversations. Although insome situations these behaviors may be characterized as conversationally assertive, they are still not allowed in the majority of the cases. Likewise, the majority of the teachers encourage students’ participation in expressing their opinions, or getting engaged in the group activities. Overall, the data suggests that language classroom environment introduces the array of various activities which need to be cautiously employed during the class. Bearing in mind that the ultimate goal of the language classroom is the target language acquisition, teachers need to balance the activities and therefore TTT and STT in light of the mentioned pedagogic goal. Students need directions, instructions, informing at any level of the proficiency, but they also need a positive environment encouraging them to talk in English.

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