Research Highlights in Language, Literature and Education Vol. 6

Due to the impact of the internet in the current era, huge volumes of data have emerged. This makes the user spend more time gathering information that is scattered across many documents. Summarizing the documents and providing a compressed version of it reduces the reading time for the users. Text summarization is the practice of condensing larger text documents into an organized summary of instructive sentences. The term "embedding" refers to the representation of each sentence in the text as a vector of real values. Values of particular attributes are examined and plotted in n-dimensional space when embedding a text. Semantically comparable sentences are located closer to one another. By calculating the distance between the vectors, unsupervised summarization combines comparable sentences and determines whether or not they should be included in the summary. With the input text data, Hierarchical Summarization creates a tree-structure, with the tree's length being determined by the number of clusters.  Three different hierarchical clustering models are used to perform the clustering. Sentences with a comparable semantic content are collected in each cluster. A predetermined number of sentences were extracted from each cluster by locating its closest neighbor, and these phrases were then added to a summary that holds at least half the size of the original document(s). Performance indicators are used to assess the effectiveness of hierarchical summarizing on the CNN/Daily Mail dataset. The evaluation score finds that, with an F1 score of 0.75, the BIRCH algorithm performs better than the other clustering algorithms.

The knowledge economy concept is a very huge science that has been established in the last few decades. The importance of this science comes from enabling the post-graduate and freshman graduate students to find the best match to their student qualifications. The researchers aimed to find out the level of awareness of the knowledge economy concept among the students at Sultan Qaboos University and the best ways of improving and enhancing the concept of the knowledge economy. A lot of research shows that most students do not have more details about the knowledge economy and its features to improve their skills.

Researchers to spread fresh information have conducted a questionnaire to a controlled group of students from Sultan Qaboos University. The control group includes students from different majors, gender, and academic performance levels. The researchers used the questionnaire tool for data collection in order to achieve the research objectives. The researchers also conducted an interview with one of the faculty of the university to find out more about the knowledge economy innovation levels at the university.

According to the results, the researcher has found out that there are a lot of activities and practices that have been established in the university, but the students were not aware of them and did not match them correctly with the knowledge economy concept. Accordingly, the researchers have established some recommendation points which will help in enhancing and improving the awareness of knowledge economy concepts and skills among students.

The study focuses on what school violence is, its characteristics, its forms, its effects and ways it can be prevented. School violence and bullying have a considerable number of consequences for both the victim and the aggressor, as they will both face many difficulties, both in their smooth psychosomatic development, and their subsequent adult life. The study’s material consists of articles related to the topic, found in Greek and International \(\kappa\alpha\iota\) databases, the Google Scholar, and the Hellenic Academic Libraries (HEAL-Link)The study of the phenomenon of school violence is important since it constitutes the base on top of which prevention schedules can be designed. Violence prevention measures regarding the school facilities themselves can also be taken. Parents must always act civilly and without violence inside their homes, and teachers can support the development of positive relationships between the children. The abuse and isolation of the children can be reduced in this way. Schools must provide the children with safety. The students that are the most likely to become bullying victims especially should be under the impression that they are being protected in the school.

In the present study, the methods confused with the active participation of the students in the educational procedure, and the ways students can participate in it, are examined and presented. Active involvement of students in school concerns both the educational procedure and the activities taking place at school, social or otherwise. Student involvement at school can have multiple aspects, going from initially taking place inside the classroom to eventually taking place over the entirety of school life. The study consists of a review of Greek and international bibliography. The study’s material consists of articles related to the topic found in Greek and international databases such as Google Scholar, the Hellenic Academic Libraries Association (HEAL-Link). Participation by students in school activities fosters self-respect and confidence. The youngsters begin to sense that they are valued, heard, and taken into account. The children who are being encouraged are in a position to develop their own ideas and learn new skills, and they also feel more comfortable expressing their beliefs in every aspect of their lives.  Student participation in school, either inside the classroom, or inside the school life in general, provides the children with supplies for their future and experiences, thus making them active citizens.

The major focus of this study is to ascertain how undergraduates in the Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan use the library and its resources in spite of the user education gained through the use of library course. In every academic environment, the library, users as well as information resources are very important components for realization of academic set goals. Therefore, the effectiveness of academic library is a function of a healthy interaction between the users, library staff, information resources and other components that make up the library system. Structured questionnaire was used for the collection of data. The population of the study focused on was the undergraduates of the faculty of Education, University of Ibadan. The target population was from six out of seven departments in the Faculty of Education. The nature of user education programme, timing and content were the major factors that caused undergraduates dissatisfaction in using the library resources. Therefore, the findings adjudged undergraduates as non-frequent users of the library. The lecturers in charge of the library use course, reference librarians, and all other library professionals and library staff who organise library orientation should all participate in the teaching/training of undergraduates in some way, while keeping the user education program's objectives in mind. Failure to accord Use of Library the status of a full-fledged GENERAL STUDIES (GES) course with high units was found as the most significant factor limiting effectiveness of user education programme through the Use of Library. Therefore, In order to increase seriousness among undergraduates in Faculty of Education in Universities and other higher institutions generally, it is advised that "Use of Library Course" be separated from the "Use of English Course" in the GES/GST/GNS 101 and have USE OF LIBRARY as a full-fledged course with a high unit credit load. The curriculum should also be based on more of a practical approach than a purely theoretical/essay approach.  

Nelson Mandela once said that “Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savor their songs”. In this context, it is clear that language has its own significance which leads to the effective communication. English Language has its own importance in this fast rapid growing world as it has spread its roots throughout  the globe by placing itself in the top priority by grabbing the titles as the Global Language or the International Language. In this process, the present study tries to emphasize the English Language and its importance in different spheres especially on Media. This chapter tries to explain the significance of the English language in the media, especially in India, which facilitates the learner and the reader in receiving tangible information. It also emphasizes on the acquisition of language, which is beneficial to improve the learners' understanding and also the language standard by preparing them to face the comprehensive world.  In this fast growing globalized world, the media has taken over, in competing with the present trends and inventions.  Media plays an immense role in influencing people. Whether the objective is to sell a product, communicate a significant case or to set the principles in today’s competitive society, they function with a massive power in facing this globalized world.  Besides, with the advent of Globalization, there has been an enormous contribution of media to the humankind.  The media plays a crucial role in getting the truth to society's citizens.  By positioning itself as one of the effective tools, it has a deeply ingrained significance in the modern era.   In the present generation, learning takes place within and outside the classroom.  Media floats more information to the learners through the radio, newspapers, magazines, television, Internet etc., in addition to classroom teaching by using English as a medium of transmitting information. Thus, English in the media tries to bring a prolific transformation in the society.

The aim of this chapter or study is to outline the principles of the pedagogical technique called dictogloss, and to share the author's results from an experimental lesson using this method. While English Language Teaching (ELT) often focuses on established teaching approaches like Presentation, Production, and Practice (PPP) or Test-Teach-Test (TTT), many EFL professionals do not often experiment with less common methods such as Dictogloss, Silent Way, or Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT). While an eclectic approach to teaching English can help achieve lesson goals better, having a more in-depth understanding of specific approaches and techniques can improve teachers' professional skills. Dictogloss is one such approach that can integrate all skills and different linguistic items in planning and delivering ELT lessons. In fact, dictogloss is a constructive learning method that blends language skills such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing and language systems enabling students listen to variety of topics, take notes, interact, collaborate, draft, re-draft and present their work, and the method enhances learners’ experiential learning through an optimum classroom engagement. The writer’s/ the teacher’s experiment with the approach of dictogloss and reflections are summarized in this chapter. This chapter, therefore, condenses the author's experience of using dictogloss in English Language Teaching and Learning (ELTL), a brief review of relevant literature, the objectives of the experimental lesson, findings and analysis, recommendations, and conclusion. Overall, this qualitative study on the experimental dictogloss lesson and its reflections conclude at a positive note and provides ELT professionals, researchers, and readers with valuable insights into this method of dictogloss.

Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in India is 26.3, which is lower than the world average and much lower than most of the developed countries. Although there could be many reasons for this low enrollment ratio, one of the important reason could be that students don’t get what they are looking for in the institutes of higher education. A survey was conducted to ascertain what exactly students are looking for from the institution. The findings of the survey is presented in this paper.

Lesson planning and preparation to improve teaching competencies have long been recognized by educational institutions as an integral part of teacher preparation worldwide.  The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of traditional lesson planning determined by teachers and the negotiated lesson plan (NLP) on the vocabulary knowledge of intermediate EFL learners. In order to achieve this, a copy of the Solution Placement Test was given to 47 students. Of these, 36 students who scored at the intermediate level were randomly chosen, split into two groups of 18, and the remaining 13 students served as the control group. After that, a vocabulary pretest was administered to evaluate the groups' initial homogeneity and assess their vocabulary knowledge. In small groups, those in the experimental group discussed their ideas, played a significant part, and enjoyed making decisions together about what they would do during the course's upcoming sessions. The course materials were not decided upon by those in the control group. The findings demonstrated that the experimental group's participants improved their vocabulary learning abilities in comparison to the pre-planned lesson group, which exhibited no discernible improvement from the pretest to the posttest. To ensure that the issue of learner involvement in instructional materials is taken into consideration, teachers and material makers must take the negotiated lesson preparation into account.

This research aimed at understanding why candidates and proctors cheat during national examinations. To attain our target, we interviewed all the 35 cheaters and the 12 available proctors. Our results revealed that the examinees who have failed twice already are more likely to cheat than the others, for the fear to fail again (54.2% of all cheaters). As for 94.1% of them, they cheat because the baccalaureate symbolises social success for them, whereas others cheat in order to put all the chances on their side (78,9). Finally, some of them cheat with the hope to succeed and avoid the reprisals following failure (21.1%). All these results that are interrelated.

Concerning the proctors, they turn from their normal duty to watch over candidates in order to prevent them from cheating, to suddenly become candidates’ protectors against official exam supervisors for money. Indeed, most public secondary school teachers refuse to partake in the free exam proctoring. Consequently, most of those who eagerly accept to work for free are mostly secretaries, bookkeepers, primary school teachers, clerks, etc. mostly private school staff with terrible financial conditions. Being unable to partake in the grading of exam copies that would be their reward, the private staff accept candidates’ financial offers and close their eyes on the examinees’ cheating. Such a behaviour serves none of the actors. Therefore, the government who has all power shall bring back public-school teachers or invest in automated proctoring using artificial intelligence.

This study aims at a better understanding of the integration process of adolescent refugees. This study addresses how school administrators as well as participants handle and adjust to more diverse student groupings, as there have long been debates regarding whether and to what extent refugees and displaced individuals may be integrated. Participants in the study include principals, teachers, local students, parents of refugees (both parents and children who have left owing to the Syrian war or out of fear of persecution in Afghanistan), national and federal school officials, and principals. To ensure diversity and openness of data for this study, interviews with the aforementioned participants who were assigned to different levels (i.e., micro-, meso-, or macro-level) of the Austrian school system were undertaken.

The analysis revealed that opinions about what constitutes the proper judgments leading to the proper measurements in connection to the integration of adolescent refugees appear to vary based on the productivity of each protagonists’ in the Austrian school system. For those working at the same level, decisions made by school administrators and educators are understandable, but decisions made at a different (typically higher) level are frequently viewed as unsupportive or even convey a negative image, leading to disappointment, frustration, and a lack of interconnectedness between different levels.

This chapter highlights about awareness regarding Different Scholarship Schemes among University Students. Scholarship schemes are intended to recognize and reward a student's academic achievement and educational programmes. Receiving a scholarship is a significant accomplishment.  Though a considerable number of scholarship schemes are available in India, the level of awareness regarding scholarship among students is not known. So, in order to find out the level of awareness of the respondents regarding different scholarship schemes the present study was conducted among the students of Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat district of Assam, India. Two hundred forty undergraduate students from different colleges of the University were included as respondents by using a stratified random sample method for the study. One questionnaire was prepared on “Google Form” for online data collection. Frequency, percentage, Mean, Standard Deviation and chi square test were used for analyzing the data statistically. The study reveals that majority (88.75%) of the respondents were aware about State Merit Scholarship followed by 83.75 per cent of respondents about Ishan Udya scholarship, 53.33 per cent were aware about National Talent Scholarship whereas only 2.91 per cent were aware about Financial Support to the Economically Backward Students of the University. Majority of the respondents i.e. 90.00 per cent had senior as source of awareness. Though the level of awareness for two scholarships was good, the awareness for the remaining scholarships was not good among the students. It is important on the part of the University authority to increase the awareness among students regarding different scholarships by various different ways.

This chapter sheds a new light on the theoretical foundations of the main contemporary initiatives towards the adequacy of the teaching-learning process to the great changes of our society. An academic environment can evolve from chaos to stabilised states, and this theoretical study will present and also discuss a chaotic simulation model that addresses this. This study will provide a consistent foundation for new methodological initiatives that support shifts in the traditional paradigm of education and learning.

The study was designed from the classical literature on chaotic systems with some original theoretical implementations.

This study is based on the configuration of a DAS toy model by means of computational simulations carried out on a virtually built random academic environment. The individuals were classified by profiles of ordered abilities represented by binary strings defining a topology. Such topology fixed the type of the strings and their transcriptions to decimal system. To simulate the evolution of the system, three differential equations were numerically combined in convolution, one of which made reference to those strings transformed into decimal signatures. The simulations were run using the Maple and R programming languages.

Simulations showed attractors for different time intervals of iterations. For wide ranges of individual propensities to develop the six abilities described in the work it was observed that the dissimilarities of individual profiles induced attractors with narrow boundaries. Growing the number of individuals, this tendency was maintained.   

The study displayed simulations of academic systems made up of professors and researchers interacting in a stable environment, highlighting how these systems could transition from chaotic configurations to stability and produce well-defined attractors.