scholarly journals University students’ perceptions towards using exemplars dialogically to develop evaluative judgement: the case of a high-stakes language test

Author(s):  
Sin Wang Chong

AbstractThe revived interest in the notion of ‘evaluative judgement’ in higher education is motivated by commitment of researchers and practitioners to effectively implement learning-oriented assessment and cultivate this high-order cognitive ability to develop students’ capacity for self-regulated learning. Recent studies have examined the affordances and constraints of using exemplars to develop students’ evaluative judgement in the fields of Education, Nutrition, Biology, and English for Academic Purposes. The present study, which focuses on use of exemplars in IELTS, analyzes patterns of teacher-students dialogues and 129 university students’ perceptions of using exemplars to develop their understanding of assessment standards of IELTS academic writing tasks. Qualitative data were collected through an online questionnaire, individual semi-structured interviews, and workshop observations. Findings suggest that the IELTS instructor/researcher utilized various interactive strategies to develop students’ hard, soft, and dynamic dimensions of evaluative judgement. Students identified affordances and limitations of using exemplars for language test preparation. Implications related to dialogic exemplar use to develop students’ evaluative judgement are discussed in light of the findings.

2017 ◽  
pp. 60-78
Author(s):  
Yolanda Álvarez-Sánchez ◽  
Santiago Fabregat-Barrios

This article presents an exploratory study into the assumptions, habits of composition and principal difficulties that university students in the study declare to have in regard to the composition of written texts. It is a qualitative study elaborated from a series of semi-structured interviews used as a method of data collection. Once the analysis and categorisation of the data is complete, we present the system of beliefs of the participants regarding professional and academic writing. We identified their most relevant difficulties and make clear what must be taken into consideration when proposing actions which objective is to improve writing competencies in the area of Tertiary Education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (No.2) ◽  
pp. 45-68
Author(s):  
Yogi Saputra Mahmud ◽  
Emilius German

Purpose – At the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic affected many aspects of life, including education. In response, the Indonesian government mandated all educational institutions, including universities, to implement online learning. Through online learning, many university students experienced considerable changes in the way they regulated their knowledge-seeking process. This research examined the level of EFL university students' self-regulated learning during their online learning activities for an English academic writing course, as well as the difficulties encountered and strategies developed in the online learning context. Methodology – This research employed a convergent mixed-method research design by adapting the Online Self-Regulated Learning Questionnaire (Barnard et al., 2009) and an open-ended questionnaire to discover the students' difficulties and strategies during online learning. The study involved 307 students of the English 3 (Academic Writing) course at President University, Indonesia. Descriptive statistics were employed to analyse the quantitative data sets, while the qualitative data sets were systematically coded and thematically analysed. Findings – The statistical analysis indicated that the students had a medium level of self-regulated learning skills. The qualitative analysis revealed that in the context of online self-regulated learning, the issues they faced included technical, material, time management, study space, and motivation issues. At the same time, the students attempted to alleviate these issues by improving collaboration and time management, and adopting technical, academic, and affective strategies. Significance – By exploring the level of students' self-regulated learning skills, this study provides insights for universities and lecturers into students’ ability to regulate their learning in an online learning context. Additionally, this study has identified the difficulties students face in the online learning process and their strategies to overcome these issues, which can practically inform educational institutions about the necessary support that should be provided to facilitate students' self-regulated learning skills in the online learning context.


Author(s):  
Liaqat Ali ◽  
◽  
Nidal Abidal Hamid Hmoud Al Dmour

The education system has dramatically changed from physical to online due to COVID-19. Millions of learners around the world have been affected due to the pandemic caused by coronavirus. The emergence of COVID-19 has forced educational institutions to divert all strategies from physical to online platforms for the safety of the students, instructors, and all the other staff members. The processes of examining students and their assessment strategies are heavily affected due to the sudden adoption of online education than physical education at campus. The research in this paper discusses issues relevant to online assessments and the strategies used by the universities due to COVID-19 in the region of UAE. The research collected data through an online questionnaire from 312 undergraduate university students in UAE to understand their behaviour. Furthermore, their performance of online assessment is gauged through the analysis of exams transcripts and comparison is made with their previous GPA and CGPA to understand the effects of COVID-19 on their overall performance. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to discuss issues related to e-assessment and recommendations are made to improve the online assessment process in universities. The research proves that students have benefited from the online assessment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 112
Author(s):  
Nechita Olivia-Dumitrina ◽  
Montserrat Casanovas ◽  
Yolanda Capdevila

This research aims to present a number of findings on the perception that university students have on academic plagiarism. Data has been collected on the procedures of copy and paste, paraphrase, translation, as well as the need for citation of resources taken from the Internet. This study was carried out at the University of Lleida (UdL), via an online questionnaire administered to 1150 first-year students. The results show similar figures in the understanding of plagiarism with respect to two procedures: copy and paste (69.3%) and paraphrase (68.3%). In the case of translation, the figure is higher with 82.1% of students considering that translating a text is plagiarism. Regarding the need to cite digital sources, 13.6% argue it is not necessary. When analysing the results according to the different faculties and affiliated schools, no pattern of behaviour has been detected in relation to the typology of the degree students were enrolled in, but a trend towards different behaviours can be observed in the two faculties in which students have received specific training within the framework of subjects of their degrees (Faculty of Nursing and Physiotherapy and Faculty of Education, Psychology and Social Work). In these cases, the figures related to acknowledging plagiarism procedures are higher and so is the percentage of students who say that resources taken from the Internet should be cited. This leads us to conclude, in line with other studies that have dealt with the same subject, that training is key to tackling the issue of plagiarism in higher education.


2017 ◽  
pp. 60-78
Author(s):  
Yolanda Álvarez-Sánchez ◽  
Santiago Fabregat-Barrios

This article presents an exploratory study into the assumptions, habits of composition and principal difficulties that university students in the study declare to have in regard to the composition of written texts. It is a qualitative study elaborated from a series of semi-structured interviews used as a method of data collection. Once the analysis and categorisation of the data is complete, we present the system of beliefs of the participants regarding professional and academic writing. We identified their most relevant difficulties and make clear what must be taken into consideration when proposing actions which objective is to improve writing competencies in the area of Tertiary Education.


Author(s):  
Max Antony-Newman

This qualitative research involving semi-structured interviews with Ukrainian university students in Canada helps to understand their educational experience using the concept of cultural capital put forward by Pierre Bourdieu. It was found that Ukrainian students possess high levels of cultural capital, which provides them with advantage in Canada. Specific patterns of social inequality and state-sponsored obstacles to social reproduction lead to particular ways of acquiring cultural capital in Ukraine represented by a more equitable approach to the availability of print, access to extracurricular activities, and popularity of enriched curriculum. Further research on cultural capital in post-socialist countries is also discussed.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helaluddin Helaluddin

This article discusses the needs and interests of the university students in Banten Indonesia for learning to write with an integrative approach as an initial stage in the development of academic writing textbooks. The participants in this study were 60 students in the first semester of the 2018/2019 academic year who took an Indonesian language course. It was found that students were familiar with writing activities. But the majority were limited to non-academic genres such as writing poetry, short stories, and writing personal blogs. Also, students have almost the same problems in academic writing, both from linguistic aspects, technical aspects, to issues of developing writing ideas. Another thing that was found in this study was the participation of lecturers who they expected in guiding and providing input during academic writing learning.


Author(s):  
María Leonila García Cedeño ◽  
Anicia Katherine Tarazona Meza ◽  
Robert Gonzalo Cedeño Mejía

Resilience is a phenomenon that can be studied in catastrophic situations but also in everyday matters such as disability, this being an alternative way of working in the environment that requires the adaptation of the social networks that contain and support people with this condition. The research was conducted at the Technical University of Manabí applied to the population of students with disabilities. The paper presents an analysis of support networks and their relationship with student resilience. The results related to the application of the Saavedra-Villalta test are shown, which allowed to correlate the level of resilience of the sample studied with the support networks. An analysis linked to the interpretation of the Pearson correlation coefficient is presented. The result obtained is presented by applying semi-structured interviews to a sample of 48 disabled students.


Author(s):  
Yolanda Marcén-Román ◽  
Angel Gasch-Gallen ◽  
Irene Isabel Vela Martín de la Mota ◽  
Estela Calatayud ◽  
Isabel Gómez-Soria ◽  
...  

Today’s COVID-19 situation can affect university Health Sciences students’ psychological health. This study aimed to analyze the stress caused by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Health Sciences students from the University of Zaragoza (Spain) almost 1 year after the pandemic began. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with a sample of 252 university students who completed a self-administered online questionnaire. It evaluated the impact of perceived stress with a modified scale (PSS-10-C), and assessed anxiety and depression on the Goldberg scale. Students presented stress (13.1%), anxiety (71.4%) and depression (81%). Females (81.7%) and the third-year Occupational Therapy students (p = 0.010) reported perceived stress. Nursing students perceived less stress (OR: 0.148; 95% CI: 0.026 to 0.842). University students developed stress and anxiety due to COVID-19 almost 1 year after the pandemic began. Psychological support measures for these groups should be prioritized.


Author(s):  
Jovita Tan ◽  
Karl Andriessen

Background: Experiencing the death of a close person, especially in emerging adults and students, can have profound effects on the bereaved individual’s life. As most research in this field has focused on negative effects of a loss, little is known about potential positive effects experienced by bereaved university students. This study investigated the experience of grief and personal growth in a sample of students from The University of Melbourne, Australia. Methods: Semi-structured interviews via Zoom/telephone with bereaved students (n = 14), who were invited to reflect on their loss and any personal growth potentially experienced. Thematic analysis of the data was based on a deductive and inductive approach. Results: The analysis identified four themes: (i) sharing of grief as a coping mechanism, (ii) balance between grief reactions and moving forward in life, (iii) lessons learned and personal growth, and (iv) adopting values from the deceased person and continuing bonds. Conclusions: Participants emphasized personal growth regarding self-perception and philosophical views on life. Following the loss, they preferred peer support, and used formal services only when they had a specific need. The findings indicate the importance of social support for bereaved students, and the complimentary role of peer and professional support. Hence, academic institutions should offer supportive services tailored to both students and professionals to help bereaved students.


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