This study aimed to investigate whether Thai high school students’ perceived teacher support could enhance their reading ability through self-efficacy and sense of school belonging. The theoretical foundation of this study included the theory of social-motivational processes and social cognitive theory. Structural equation modeling was used for analysis and validation. The student questionnaire from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 survey questions regarding teacher support, sense of school belonging, self-efficacy, and reading ability. The sample consisted of the data collected from the Thai students in the PISA2018 survey, with an effective sample size totaling 7968. The research results of the overall model showed that the perceived teacher support of Thai high school students’ had no direct effect on their reading ability, but their perceived teacher support had an indirect effect on reading ability through their self-efficacy and sense of school belonging. From the results can be seen that high school teachers in Thailand, in supporting and encouraging their students in learning, must simultaneously develop their perceived self-efficacy and sense of school belonging. Only thus can there be obvious help to their students’ reading ability.

Digital storytelling has undergone extensive study in different content-areas, but its naturally-combined use with collaborative writing for skills development, and reflective practice remains underresearched in pre-service EFL teacher education. This study undertook joint tech-enhanced retelling of L2 texts by 56 Turkish EFL teacher candidates, rubric-based peer and teacher assessment of final products, comparative analysis of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) between outliers, and process evaluation using the significant learning taxonomy to explore impacts on L2 writing performance, academic learning, and personal growth. Despite assigning lower scores than the teacher-assessors, especially to the top-performers, the majority of peers successfully fulfilled the job, effectively performed the future reviewer role, and positively reacted to co-construction, and technology integration. CAF and reflection analyses indicated that the biggest difference between the highest- and lowest-scoring groups lay in grammatical accuracy, and lack of mutual interaction could account for the less cooperative group’s poorer performance. The classification of their post-task responses into six kinds of learning gains (foundational knowledge, application, integration, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn) also revealed that their collaborative digital storytelling experience (CDS) elicited more procedural, critical, creative and practical thinking on the academic learning front, while disciplinary and integrative thinking may have declined due to more immediate preoccupation with task achievement. Their critical thinking was mainly organised around consensus-reaching, fluctuating membership, and logistical challenges, and most demonstrated a clear understanding of the role of positive group dynamics in group outcomes. Despite heightened awareness of the performance-boosting, character-forming, and motivational benefits of collective scaffolding and multimodal meaning-making, a minority could also discern the instrumentality of innovative teaching techniques in their future classroom practices.

Decline in students’ motivation to learn languages remains a vexing issue for teachers and educators. Among a myriad of factors that affect student motivation, teachers’ practices appear to play a very dominant role. This has been reflected in the rising number of studies that examine teachers’ motivational strategies. This study aims to determine the specific teacher strategies which are most likely to positively affect the motivation of Arab learners of English from the perspective of learners. Some 400 teenage learners of English responded to an open-ended question in which they were asked to freely describe the strategies their teachers used that motivated them to learn. The results of the study suggest that the majority of students prefer strategies that promote communicative uses of the language to ones that focus on grammar or emphasize learning through texts. Many students also reported that they had more interest in studying English when their teachers integrated technology. It is therefore recommended that teachers give more weight to these motivating strategies by incorporating more communicative use of English and more technology into their lessons.

Progress monitoring of academic achievement is an essential element to prevent learning disorders. A prominent approach is curriculum-based measurement (CBM). Various studies have documented positive effects of CBM on students’ achievement. Nevertheless, the use of CBM is associated with additional work for teachers. The use of tablets may be of help here. Yet, although many advantages of computer- or tablet-based assessments are being discussed in the literature (e. g. innovative item formats, adaptive testing, automated scoring and feedback), there are still concerns regarding the comparability of different assessment modes (paper-pencil vs. tablet). In the study presented, we analyze the CBM data of 98 fourth graders. They processed the exact same computation items once with paper and pen and once in a tablet application. The analyses point to comparable results in the test modes, although some significant deviations can be found at item level. In addition, the children report perceived benefits when working with the tablet.

The aim of the present study is to examine the effect level of procrastination on academic achievement. To this end, a meta-analytic approach was applied and the studies published between January 2000 and May 2020 in Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) and Academic Search Ultimate databases were included in the study. The research was limited to articles examining the correlation between the variables and, accordingly, the correlation coefficient was specified as an index to identify the effect size. After reviewing 22 relevant studies with 8307 participants, the meta-analysis was conducted through Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) software. The findings revealed that the variables were negatively correlated with each other and the overall effect size of procrastination on academic achievement was found -0.61, which can be interpreted as the medium effect size. The findings of the study endorse the main tenets of theoretical framework regarding the aforementioned link.

Revision constitutes an important component of the writing process that integrates text interpretation, reflection, and production. Although previous studies have offered useful insights into the revision behaviour of L2 writers at different levels of proficiency using off-line measures, little is known about the online processes of revision. In this study, I used keystroke logging to investigate longitudinal changes in the revision processes of postgraduate and undergraduate students in the context of an intensive English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program. Twenty-five postgraduate and 14 undergraduate students participated in this study. The keystroke logging program Inputlog was used during two essay writing sessions at the beginning and at the end of the course to observe how the participants revise their essays and to get insights into their on-line writing processes. Keystroke logging data were coded in terms of the orientation and location of revisions. The results revealed that postgraduates produced more content-oriented revisions at the end of the programme than at the beginning. The opposite trend was observed for the undergraduates, who revised their essays significantly less frequently at the end than at the beginning of the EAP program and made more mechanical revisions than postgraduate writers. The findings highlight fundamental differences in the developmental trajectories of revision processes between postgraduate and undergraduate students. These differences caused by previous academic writing experience and language proficiency should be considered in developing materials for EAP programs. In the paper, I also discuss benefits of using keystroke logging to investigate L2 writers’ revision processes.

This research aims at revealing the effects of Second Life (SL) application used in virtual environment in art and design education of creativity. This research is a qualitative study conducted evaluating the results of a group of 16 students studying art and design at universities, for a period of 12 weeks. For SL, a 3D, online, multi-user virtual environment was chosen as the study area.  The process of the research was evaluated by the researcher with a Structured Observation Form (SOF). Student designs were evaluated by four graduated artists/educators and researchers with a Rubric. The study group discovered SL during the application process. They made numerous trials, took risks and tried different solutions in SL. The design process that started with an avatar creation continued with 3D design, adding texture, colour, and script to objects and creating a notecard. According to the researcher’s feedback based on SOF, the group is considered “Good” in the design process. According to the Rubric for creativity, applied by the experts is evaluated as “Accomplished.” As for the rubric applied by the researcher, the group is evaluated “Good.” Based on these results, it can be considered that the inclusion of SL in the art and design education curriculum will contribute to 21st century skills and develop imagination and creativity of students.

E-learning has become a viable mean to both Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and Small Private Open Courses (SPOCs). Research has shown that the quality and effectiveness of these types of courses depend largely on the contextual factors that may impact the design and development of online courses. This study highlights a design framework for a SPOC offered at Sultan Qaboos University. It employs a design-based research methodology, which is a systematic research approach aimed to improve instructional practices through iterative analysis, design, development, and implementation to produce contextually-sensitive design principles. The sample of this study consists of a diverse group of subjects including instructional designers, subject-matter experts, as well as students. The findings illustrate the importance of contextual logistics that need to be considered in the design and development of SPOCs. The findings also highlight the importance of the DBR as a suitable research methodology for similar developmental studies.

Today’s individuals are expected to have skills in many areas as a natural consequence of the advances that have been taking place in society and technology. Particularly in developed countries, these skills are also called 21^st century skills. Critical, creative and reflective thinking, problem solving and keeping up with the digital age (digital literacy) are some of these skills. Universities play a significant role in raising qualified individuals in our country. Updating the training programs, keeping up with the era and having a say in the digital world makes it a necessity for people who give education in these areas to be competent. From this point of view, this study aimed to explore the digital literacy levels of Turkish academics working in faculties of education and the perceptions of students towards technology integration competence of the academics. In this study, quantitative cross-sectional design was preferred. While selecting the participants, purposeful sampling method was used, and two different participant groups (academics and prospective teachers) were included in the process. Two scales with validity and reliability in the literature were used as data collection tools in the research. In the data collection process, firstly, a survey was administered to academics working in faculties of education, and then another one was conducted with prospective teachers. The results obtained were subjected to quantitative data analysis via SPSS 24 and AMOS 24 software, and descriptive and inferential statistics were generated. The results revealed that the variables of department, age and grade level created a significant difference in the digitalization of academics, whereas the gender variable significantly contributed only to the perceptions of prospective teachers.

The language, in the most basic sense, is a means of communication among people. Since the proper and effective use of people’s native language will shape the whole life of an individual, individuals are expected to have native language awareness. There is a strong bilateral relationship between the effective use of native language and native language awareness. All the teachers/preservice teachers and especially native language teachers/preservice teachers, who are role models as being instructors, are expected to have this awareness and help students to gain and transfer it to the future generations.  By this motivation, this study aims to examine language awareness of preservice teachers, an example from Turkey. Through phenomenological design of the qualitative research methods, it has been aimed to reach this goal.  Accordingly, the data were collected through semi-structured and structured opinion forms from 60 preservice teachers studying in a state university. In the study, it was seen that preservice teachers generally have this awareness. It has been revealed that the preservice teachers tend to correct their use of language that they think is wrong, they investigate the word they do not know the spelling when they are indecisive, and they mostly find it necessary to obey the language rules in multimedia. It was concluded that attention in the use of language emphasizes the negativities to be encountered in the dimension of providing social communication in daily life.

Contemporary studies related to teacher autonomy mostly deal with research into how autonomy is perceived by teachers and which variables it is associated with. On the other hand, there are very few studies dealing with how teachers’ instructional autonomy over the curriculum is reflected in the education process. The aim of this study is to reveal in depth the practices carried out in the context of instructional autonomy by science teachers who have different levels of autonomy. The study is based on data gathered from eight teachers employed at different schools in the province of Izmir in Turkey. Interviews, observations and documents were used for collecting the data. The results reveal that while teachers with high instructional autonomy successfully apply contemporary teaching methods, alternative evaluation techniques, high-order thinking skills and effective classroom management, teachers with low instructional autonomy fall short in all of these areas.

The objectives of this research were to: 1) Study the suitability of the indicators to be included in the model, 2) Test the consistency of the model developed from the theories and research studies’ empirical data, 3) Evaluate reliability value of the main components, the sub-components and other related indicators. The population used in the research were the teachers in the schools under the local administrative organization of Thailand. The multistage random sampling was used for the selection of 660 samples from a total population of 30,359 teachers across the country. The following results were observed: 1) All of the 52 indicators used in the research were appropriate according to the specified criteria, 2) The theoretical model was found to have been consistent with the empirical data. All of the statistical figures including; Relative Chi-Square, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation, Goodness-of-Fit Index, Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit Index, Comparative Fit Index, and Normed Fit Index: NFI, were found to have met with the specified criteria in both the first and the second confirmation factor analyzes, and 3) The primary element’s factor loading was between 0.73 to 1.48, which is higher than the criteria of 0.70, the sub-element’s factor loading was between 0.67 to 1.72 and the indicators weight was between 0.68 to 1.37, which is higher than the criteria of 0.30. These results indicate that the theoretical model developed in this research can be effectively used with construct validity for the development of the targeted samples in a research study.

In this study in which case study – one of the qualitative research methods - was used, it was aimed to assess the effects of covid-19 pandemic on preschool education by teachers. Preschool teachers working in 14 provinces where the number of cases is high form the universe of the study. Sample group is 140 teachers in total. So as to get data for the study, survey questions prepared by the researcher and submitted to expert opinion and structured interview forms were used. The findings of the study are as follows: preschool children had feelings of anxiety, fear and longing all together during this process and they wanted to return to their schools as soon as possible. Similarly, most of the teachers were highly concerned and worried. The teachers attended online educations related to their professional development during the process of staying home. Before Covid-19 came to Turkey, the schools did not take any measures; then, when distance education started, all schools were disinfected, the materials and toys in the classrooms were put aside after disinfection. Distance education process was quite difficult in preschool education; all the teachers taught in line with their own initiatives. During this process, while the activities most preferred by the teachers were games and art activities, the activities having pandemic theme were experiments and dramas about hygiene. Distance education increased parent participation to preschool education and this had a positive effect on parent-child interaction. In the distance education process, by establishing platforms intended for preschools, suggestions to make more and professional activities, to have common actions in cooperation with schools and to train parents were made.

The purpose of the study is to examine pre-service teachers' impromptu speaking skills on the basis of the evaluations of the instructor, peers and their own. The study employed a descriptive case study design, one of the qualitative research methods. A total of 23 pre-service math teachers taking the course of Art of Effective Speech in a state university in Turkey in the 2016-2017 academic year participated in the study. The data of the study were collected through the observations of the researcher and pre-service teachers. Descriptive analysis was used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the study, it was found that in most of the observation items, the pre-service teachers found themselves inadequate in terms of impromptu speaking skills while they were found to be adequate by their peers and instructor. In addition, it was revealed that the pre-service teachers found themselves inadequate in some items related to the use of voice while they found themselves adequate in most of the items related to articulation/diction and body language and in all of the items related to communication. However, while the instructor observed that the pre-service teachers were generally competent in all the sub-dimensions, she determined that they needed improvement in the sub-dimensions of eye contact, pausing at the appropriate place and speaking without repeating words.  

Suspension and expulsion are adversely related to negative outcomes of students, such as falling behind academically, an increased risk of absenteeism or dropout from schools. Suspension discrepancy due to ethnicity is evident and well known in the United States. The proper understanding of factors affecting suspension may lead to intervention towards the reduction of suspension episodes in the schools. The aim of this study is to determine how student, parent and school characteristics affect the likelihood of K-8 school students’ suspension in the United States. We analyze the National Household Education Surveys of 2019 with a sample of 9,699 K-8 students to evaluate the risk factors of suspension. The study finds that 6% students receive K-8 school suspensions. Bivariate analysis suggests that gender, ethnicity, poverty, parental education, school type, repeated grades, contacted for behavioral problem and school type are significantly associated with the K-8 students’ suspension. An adjusted analysis of these factors via multiple logistic regression suggests that the odds of suspension of NH-black students are 2.7 times the odds of NH-white students. Odds of suspension for students with parental education below HS is 3.2 (95% CI: 1.77-5.80) compared those with parental education at Graduate or professional level. Likewise, students of public schools have higher odds of suspension compared to private schools. There is significant evidence that students with repeated grades, poor parents, school type and those contacted for behavioral problems have substantially higher odds of suspension.

The self-report and think-aloud approaches are the two dominant methodologies to measure metacognition. This is problematic, since they generate respondent and confirmation biases, respectively. The Meta-Performance Test is an innovative battery, which evaluates metacognition based on the respondent's performance, mitigating the aforementioned biases. The Meta-Performance Test consists of two tests, the Meta-text, which evaluates metacognition in the domain of reading comprehension, and Meta-number, in the domain of arithmetic expressions solving. The main focus of this article is to present the development of the battery, in terms of its conceptual basis, development strategies and structure. Evidence of its content validity is also presented, through the evaluation of three experts in metacognition, two experts in Spanish language, two experts in mathematics and five students who represent the target population. The results of the judges' evaluations attested to the Meta-Performance Test content validity, and the target population declared that both the battery understanding and taking are adequate. Contributions and future research perspectives of the Meta-Performance Test in the field of metacognition are discussed.

The aim of this study is to obtain classroom teachers' views on the problems experienced in the literacy process by foreign students in the first grade of primary school, which constitutes an important part of language acquisition. A qualitative research approach has been adopted in the research. The data were obtained using a semi-structured interview form. With the semi-structured interview form created by the researchers, the opinions of the teachers working in the city center of Malatya in Turkey in the 2017-2018 academic year and having foreign students in their class were received. The data collected in line with the opinions of the teachers were analyzed with content analysis. As a result of the data analyzed, the opinions of the teachers were collected under 5 titles; "The problems experienced by foreign students in the process of adaptation to the school", "The problems experienced by foreign students in the stages of the literacy process", "Teacher’s problems in the education of foreign students", "Teacher’s solutions regarding the problems experienced by foreign students in education", and "System suggestions of teachers for the education of foreign students". Teachers mostly experienced problems in writing during the preparation stage, language-related problems in the perception of the sound, pronunciation problems in reading letters, and comprehension problems in syllable-word-sentence-text creation when starting independent literacy.

In modern times, the importance of education cannot be overstated. Beyond the acquisition of knowledge, perhaps the most important aim of education may be the development of character in individuals, including vitality, courage, sensitiveness, and intelligence, from which our society may experience increased prosperity, peace, and freedom. In this paper we address the daunting challenge of achieving successful, widespread, and inclusive university education. How do we enliven and engage the students in our classrooms? How can we help each and every student in the class self-actualize and reach the highest potential for learning? Active learning is one well-established and potent solution for accelerating the accumulation of knowledge. In this paper, an experiment in active learning utilizing team-based adaptive online quizzes in an introductory math finance course involving 378 undergraduate students over two years is conducted to explore the potency of this active learning methodology compared to a control group with traditional teaching. We find active learning unambiguously improves knowledge accumulation in the individual students, while simultaneously bolstering inclusive excellence across all students in the class, as measured by a relevant and meaningful quantitative metric. The paper concludes with a discussion comparing the quality of active vs. traditional teaching methods and offers interpretations of the quantitative results. The results of this paper support the widely accepted theme in the literature that active learning has a positive effect on student performance in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) courses.

Individuals’ engagement with reading and maintaining it depends on personal motivations. Having a multidimensional structure, reading motivation is affected by intrinsic factors. Studies on reading motivation can make a significant contribution to identifying students’ intrinsic motivation profiles closely, encouraging them to read, and increasing their reading engagement. The present study aimed to determine the individual and socioeconomic variables predicting middle school students’ intrinsic reading motivations. Employing the predictive correlational design, the study was carried out with 459 students attending six different public schools in the city of Sanliurfa. The participants were determined by stratified purposeful sampling method. The study data were collected by the Intrinsic Reading Motivation Scale and the Personal Information Form. According to the hierarchical regression analysis results, all the models constructed in the study were significant. All of the variables explained the intrinsic reading motivation with a 22% variance explanation percentage. As a result, it can be said that the change observed in intrinsic reading motivation variance mostly stemmed from reading engagement (ΔR²=.12), family (ΔR²=.07), demographic characteristics (ΔR²=.03), and school (ΔR²=.01), respectively. It can be stated that the predictors of the intrinsic reading motivation determined in this study should be taken into consideration by educators.

The early phase is the decisive period for the teachers’ career. Intellectual styles (particularly thinking styles) play a vital role in teachers’ professional development. With the purpose of measuring thinking styles of teachers at the early phase, this study was designed to validate a revised inventory of thinking styles (TSI-R2) for pre-service and early career teachers. A sample of pre-service teachers (n = 248) were invited to join the pilot study and a sample of teachers with one year work experience (n = 252) participated in the main study. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis were performed. The results suggested that with slight modification, TSI-R2 was a reliable and valid instrument to measure thinking styles of pre-service teachers and early career teachers, which has some implications to enhancing teacher education and development.