Research Highlights in Language, Literature and Education Vol. 3

Reconstructing Linguistic Landscapes in Time and Space at the Railways in South Africa

2023-02-13T10:48:38+00:00

Rail transport is the backbone of mobility in South Africa, attracting diverse commuters from various sociocultural and economic backgrounds. This paper explores the transformation of the linguistic landscape (LL) in South Africa since the end of apartheid as perceived and experienced by rail commuters. The guiding research objective was to assess the LL through the lenses of rail commuters over time. Interviews were conducted to assess commuter perceptions and experiences of changes in the languages used on signs at the railways since the end of apartheid. Interviews were analysed using thematic content analysis, supplemented with multimodal analyses of signs. Key findings reveal that although signs about racial segregation were removed from the LL since the end of apartheid, many people today still remember those signs and continue to act upon the messages that were displayed on the apartheid signs as if they remain physically emplaced. The findings suggest that messages about racial segregation in the LL had become embedded in people’s minds. In this way, the paper contributes to the notion of ‘oralinguascaping’ in which people rely on both memory and oral language for sign-making thereby contrasting traditional theorising on LL that is mainly premised on written or scripted languages or texts.

The Significance of Pragmatism in Educational Research: A Current Perspective

2023-02-13T10:51:26+00:00

The purpose of this chapter is to explain why the pragmatic approach is useful to educational researchers. The articles objectives will address the major contributory thinkers of Peirce, James, and Dewey; detailing the philosophy of pragmatism, the pragmatic maxim, and its philosophical assumptions, albeit theoretical position – at odds with the ontologies and epistemiologies of positivism and constructivism. A summary will then explore how pragmatism shows ontological and epistemological awareness although is best considered a methodology. The article addresses through example of an educational research inquiry how pragmatic methodology does not reduce all social scientific knowledge to mere binary assumption, and how epistemologically and ontologically it differs from its competitors, in fulfilling its research inquiry. The article concludes with a distinction between the Peircean pragmatism theorists and that of contemporary pragmatism, whilst challenging the ulitity of such approaches, for the benefit of the researcher and practitioner alike.

The Importance of Online Assessments in Higher Education

2023-02-13T10:54:15+00:00

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about wide-spread disruption in almost all educational programs, globally; and this has brought about challenges in the planning and implementation of assessments through the online format, which needs to be addressed by academic administrations [1], as feedback from instructors can play a pivotal role in the learning process of students and transform their assessment performance into future learning opportunities [2]. This review article aims at deliberating on the importance of online assessments, the advantages and disadvantages of e-assessments, and their importance in the higher education sector, in the post-COVID era. Online assessments are a collection of tasks created by educational instructors to evaluate student performance through the use of Information and Communication Technologies. There are various techniques for conducting e-assessments, each with its own set of benefits and drawbacks. However, this article provides strategies for overcoming the disadvantages of online assessment.

Problem-Based Learning for Improving Student’ Activities and Learning Outcomes in Social Science

2023-02-13T10:57:26+00:00

The purpose of this study is to describe the improvement of students activities and learning outcomes of fourth-grade students at Putat Gede State Elementary School, Surabaya. The design and methods in this research are classroom action research. The subjects of this study were 24 fourth-grade students from Putat Gede State Elementary School in Surabaya during the 2018/2019 academic year. Observation, learning outcomes tests, and documentation are data collection techniques. Students' participation in the learning process was 71.86% in cycle I, 81.90% in cycle II, and 85.83% in cycle III. The first cycle's student learning outcomes had an average value of 74.41. The classical completeness percentage was 70.83% in the first cycle and increased to 78.32 in the second cycle with a classical completeness percentage of 79.16%. Cycle III's average, which includes student scores, is 82.63, and the percentage of classical completeness is 87.50%. Based on the study results, implementing Problem-Based Learning can improve students’ activities and learning outcomes for fourth-grade students at Putat Gede State Elementary School, Surabaya.

Development of Discovery Learning Module on Chemical Equilibrium for Improvement of Critical Thinking Skills: A Case of Senior High School Students in Indonesia

2023-02-13T11:00:16+00:00

The goal of this study is to create a discovery instructional module on chemical equilibrium to help senior high school students improve their critical thinking skills. The discovery learning module with a scientific approach is equipped with teaching materials that contain stimulation, where students are introduced to the problem, led to solving the problem systematically. Teachers act as facilitators and motivators of student learning. This research was based on an observation that was found that the learning instruction was not yet optimal to train students to think critically. This study falls under the category of research and development that employs the Plomp Model, which has three stages: preliminary research, prototyping, and evaluation. The assessment phase was carried out in two schools, with students of high and low academic ability participating. The instrument used was a critical thinking test consisting of nine essay questions. The results showed that generated discovery learning module on chemical equilibrium was effective to improve critical thinking skills, both for students with high and low academic ability.

Libraries: A Hub of Technology Enhanced Learning Space

2023-02-13T11:04:29+00:00

The present study explores how to make the defining technology of this century more accessible, appealing, and inviting a variety of users and learners to meet the technological demands.

Skills evolve as technology advances, which is required for job readiness, productivity, research, and digital transformation. To provide the best user service, library staff must be technologically savvy in order to answer broadened technology questions such as computers, databases, and new media. . Rather than viewing technology as a threat, it should be embraced as a support system for information services, social networking, RSS, and weblogs, among other things. In the digital era, the concept of libraries as physical spaces is rapidly giving way to web-based servers. The needs and motivations of the past, present, and digital future shaped library innovations. The new generation is being born into technology, surrounded by an infinite number of digital devices, and they have high expectations for technology-driven library services. Universities and their libraries are well-positioned to provide a rich source of market information that can help resource-constrained start-ups to globalise their business operations. As one of the more important elements of the innovation ecosystem, knowledge-sharing can help start-ups to make data-driven, strategic decisions, rather than basing forward momentum on unreliable intuition.

Publication Trends in Manuscript Research (2011–2020): A Bibliometric Analysis

2023-02-13T11:15:30+00:00

The purpose of the current study is to characterise and provide a summary of research publications lined with manuscript libraries. Over the course of human history, writing and printing have advanced significantly, and the manuscript culture has followed. We must maintain contact with the individuals who created each of our individual accessions in order to preserve archives. It protects the literary, linguistic, artistic, and cultural heritage while maintaining the pulse of the past. The study result shows United States of America exceed in the area of research in manuscript libraries. The use of new trends and cutting-edge technologies to adapt to the expanded landscapes of the digital humanities and scholarly communications has produced a number of results, including top collaborators at the journal and institute levels, language, country, and keyword distribution. How to approach the publications in conjunction with manuscript libraries around the world is a challenge.

Countryside Remote Learning Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges in Adjusting to New Learning Styles

2023-02-27T12:09:03+00:00

The Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has affected educational systems globally. New learning styles have been introduced to students to avoid disrupting the learning process. However, these interventions posed a challenge to both learners and educational institutions, especially in rural areas. The students from North Eastern Mindanao State University (NEMSU) in the Philippine countryside did not escape this dilemma. Thus, a study was conducted to assess the level of compliance with the tasks given in the learning modules delivered to students’ residences as part of remote learning. Barriers confronting the students in submitting homework and other assignments from printed modules were identified using the non-structured interview. Results showed that around 70% of the printed modules were retrieved from the students. However, interview results revealed that most students faced many challenges and struggles in complying with the tasks. These include online connectivity issues, lack of learning resources, vague module contents, overloaded remote learning tasks, poor learning environment, and mental health problems. This study also showed that as the country adapted to this new remote learning system mode, the digital divide in the country became more apparent.

Educational Management Strategies in the 21st Century towards Sustainable Thai’s Basic Education, Thailand

2023-02-27T12:11:45+00:00

Strategy is the smart plan that can be implemented to achieve goal. This is presented to educational management strategies in the 21^st century towards sustainable Thai’s basic education, Thailand landscape, especially, the school directors and teachers of landscape to characterize the topic under study, the methods of literature review, in- depth interview with key informants, and survey by the questionnaire with the samples to data. Educational management strategies in the 21^st century include the educational leadership, creating the educational capacities, creating the efficiency of human resources, creating the educational equality, participations based on collaboration, creating the knowledge of global citizenship, creating the digital citizenship, networking, connectivity, and true assessment. CFA to showed that the factors to consistent with the empirical data to significant towards sustainable Thai’s basic education. In this way of results based management process as leadership, management, strategic planning, knowledge management, focusing student development, motivation, information system for performance monitoring, learning environment, and results to effectiveness.

Teachers’ Perception of Principals’ Management of Instructional Programs that Influence Learners’ Academic Achievement in Public Secondary Schools

2023-02-27T12:17:43+00:00

The study sought to establish teachers’ perception of how principals manage instructional programs in public secondary schools. Survey research design was adopted that employed mixed methods of inquiry in a concurrent procedure. A sample of 12 principals and their deputies, and 253 teachers in 48 public secondary schools were engaged. A structured questionnaire and unstructured interview guide were used to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed and qualitative data infused in the discussion of the data. The study found out that principals coordinated, supervised and evaluated instruction; and monitored students’ progress in their schools. The management of instructional programs by principals did not significantly differ between Extra County and County secondary schools (t (251) =.917, p>.05), nor did it differ between high, average, and low performance public secondary schools (F (2,250) = 1.524, p>.05). Even so, there was a statistically significant link (r (251) =.123**, p<.05) between principals’ management of instructional programs and students’ academic achievement.

Study of Knowledge, Motivation and Preference on Chemistry Learning among Gifted and Talented Students’

2023-02-27T12:21:07+00:00

STEM education is an area of great interest in Malaysia. However, learning STEM subject, focusing on chemistry at a younger age is a challenge among most of secondary school students. Thus, this study aims to investigate gifted and talented students’ knowledge and motivation toward learning chemistry, besides their preferred choice of learning. A total of 71 gifted and talented students taking chemistry at the age of 12 to 13 years old at a high school, were involved in this study. In this study, a survey questionnaire was used, as well as the Attitude toward Chemistry Lesson Scale and Glynn's Motivation Model. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21 was used to analyze the collected data, which included descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that students perceived chemistry to be important in many aspects of daily life. There was no substantial difference in the mean of male and female students' knowledge and motivation toward chemistry learning scores. The study's findings also show a moderately positive correlation between students' knowledge and career motivation, with the highest correlation value. This paper can help educators improve their students' knowledge and motivation for chemistry learning. As a result, educators' roles in bringing about changes in knowledge and motivation toward chemistry teaching and learning processes are critical.