Jingjing Qin

It is widely accepted that writing is a cultural phenomenon, and conventions of writing differ from culture to culture. This study is intended to contribute to the field of contrastive rhetoric by comparing English and Chinese argumentative writing patterns. Two-hundred-thirty-two EFL Chinese university students wrote two argumentative papers on two different topics, one in Chinese, and the other in English. These papers were analyzed both in terms of overall rhetorical structures and the use of Toulmin elements (Toulmin, 1958, 2003). The findings suggested that the so-called culture-specific writing patterns do not exist for English and Chinese argumentative writing, as both prefer deductive type of rhetorical structures and exhibit the similar use of Toulmin elements.

Justin E. Jernigan

It has been argued that participation in tutoring sessions in a writing center typically benefits English as a second language (ESL) students in college or university settings. However, the particular characteristics of such sessions that may facilitate second language writing development are not well understood. The purpose of the mixed-method research described in this chapter is to address two primary questions: (1) How do college ESL students view the writing tutoring they receive in terms of efficacy and motivating second language writing development? and (2) Are there specific aspects of these one-on-one tutoring sessions with college ESL students that might be identified and applied effectively in different contexts in order to facilitate second language writing development? The results of the student feedback and session observations suggest that tutoring had a beneficial effect on the college-level ESL students described in this chapter.

Emil Theodoropoulos

This paper focuses on dyslexia and literacy and approaches the methods that literacy can be achieved in children with dyslexia. According to the literature, the diagnosis of dyslexia is possible at the age of approximately 9 years old. The child must be properly prepared even before the diagnosis in order not to be excluded from the learning process due to his or her inability. We have created a number of educational activities for children with dyslexia to develop their literacy with the help of parents or teachers. These activities would actually improve the auditory perception and ability to separate the auditory stimuli while processing the phonological structure of language, and finally would help them acquire the language.

Edite Vieira

Francisco Machado

Marcia Machado

Considering the importance that the quality of interpersonal relations between teachers and their students has over learning outcomes, and consequently academic achievement (GPA), the aim of this study was to investigate how and to what extent students’ perceptions of being accepted or rejected by their teachers, associates with their academic achievement. More specifically we wanted to understand the role that key self-regulatory dimensions, namely self-efficacy, attributions and causal dimensions, play in this dynamic. To reach our objectives we applied the Teacher Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (Rohner & Khaleque, 2005), the Academic Self-efficacy Scale (Neves & Faria, 2005) and the Attributions & Causal Dimensions Questionnaire (Neves & Faria, 2005), to a sample of 397 Portuguese high school students. Our results indicate that although both girls and boys perceive themselves as accepted by their teachers, girls perceive themselves as more accepted than boys. Also, our results show that lower perceived teacher acceptance is associated with lower self-efficacy and lower controllability in both genders. Although we didn’t find a direct association between teacher acceptance and GPA, our analysis indicates, for boys only, that teacher acceptance has a moderating effect on the association found between higher self-efficacy and higher GPA. This means that the positive effect of self-efficacy on boys’ GPA is stronger when teachers are perceived to be more accepting. Our results underline the importance of investing in improving the quality of interpersonal relations in schools and classrooms.

UI Research Center

The 3rd Untested Ideas International Research E-Conference
Identifying Untested Practices
June 26-28, 2015

UI Research Center

The 3rd Untested Ideas International Research E-Conference
Identifying Untested Practices
June 26-28, 2015