Discovering EFL learners' perception of prior knowledge and its roles in reading comprehension
- Authors: Lin, Zheng
- Date: 2002
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Research in Reading Vol. 25, no. 5 (2002), p. 172-190
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- Description: This paper investigates EFL learners' perception of prior knowledge and its roles in reading comprehension. It is based on a survey conducted among 400 EFL students studying at secondary and tertiary levels in China. Through the analysis of the ranked multiple responses to the questions posed in the questionnaire, the paper shows that EFL students in mainland China believe that their command of English vocabulary plays a crucial role in their reading comprehension. However as their linguistic knowledge increases, they tend to attach less importance to their linguistic knowledge, especially the knowledge of English syntax and formal structures. At the same time, conceptual and sociocultural knowledge seems to gain greater importance. Furthermore, the perceived importance of linguistic knowledge seems to start diminishing around the end of secondary education, when EFL students have acquired a vocabulary of about 3000 words and the basic knowledge of English syntax and formal structures. The final replacement of linguistic knowledge by conceptual or sociocultural knowledge as the top factor that affects their reading comprehension seems to take place one year after the beginning of the tertiary EFL course. This may well be considered as an indication of the EFL threshold level for EFL students in China.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003000045
A review of cloud application assessment practices at the University of Ballarat
- Authors: Wilmott, Deirdre , Knox, Ian
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Education for Information Vol. 29, no. 3-4 (2012), p. 229-242
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- Description: It has been suggested that traditional assessment practices in tertiary institutions tend not to equip students well for the processes of effective learning in a learning society [1]. This paper reviews alternative Internet based assessment practices used in Library, Business and Education courses at the University of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia in 2011.© 2012 - IOS Press and the authors
- Description: C1
Research as a tool
- Authors: MacNaughton, Glenda , Rolfe, Sharne
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Doing early childhood research: Theory & Practice. International Perspectives. (2nd ed.) p.
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Associations between behavior regulation, competence, physical activity, and health for adolescent females
- Authors: Craike, Melinda , Polman, Remco , Eime, Rochelle , Symons, Caroline , Harvey, Jack , Payne, Warren
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Physical Activity and Health Vol. 11, no. 2 (2014), p. 410-418
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What would you like? Identifying the required characteristics of an industry-wide incident reporting and learning system for the led outdoor activity sector
- Authors: Goode, Natassia , Finch, Caroline , Cassell, Erin , Lenne, Michael , Salmon, Paul
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Outdoor Education Vol. 17, no. 2 (July 2014), p. 2-15
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/565900
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- Description: The aim of this study was to identify the characteristics that led outdoor activity providers agree are necessary for the development of a new industry-wide incident reporting and learning system (UPLOADS). The study involved: 1) a literature review to identify a set of characteristics that are considered to be hallmarks of successful reporting and learning systems in other safety-critical domains; and (2) the presentation of these characteristics to 25 Australian led outdoor activity providers using a two round modified-Delphi technique to obtain consensus views on their relative importance in this domain. Thirteen out of 30 characteristics were endorsed as "essential" for developing an incident reporting and learning system for the led outdoor activity sector, and a further 13 were endorsed as "required". "Essential" characteristics primarily related to operational or practical characteristics of the system, while "required" characteristics primarily related to system infrastructure, data quality and the basis for developing of countermeasures to address identified injury risks. The findings indicate that although led outdoor activity providers are primarily concerned that the demands of reporting do not adversely impact on their day to day operations, they also recognise that data collection methods and countermeasure development need to be of high quality. The paper concludes by highlighting some potential strategies for implementing the characteristics considered "essential" and "required".
Surf bather drowning risk and exposure-related factors identified by an expert panel
- Authors: Morgan, Damian , Ozanne-Smith, Joan
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education Vol. 6, no. 4 (2012 2012), p. 336-349
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- Description: In the absence of an established literature, identifying and quantifying surf bather drowning risk factors requires a clearly defined problem-focused research strategy. To initiate this strategy, nominal group technique (NGT) was used to identify and rank risk and water exposure-related factors based on consensus of an expert panel. The results identified, in order, level of experience (encompassing swimming ability in surf conditions), lack of local knowledge (encompassing awareness of surf hazards, including rip currents), and surf conditions (encompassing prevailing wave height and rip currents) as the three most influential surf bather drowning risk factors. Factors most influential on exposure to water were identi fied and ranked as prevailing weather geographic location (encompassing bather accessibility to the beach), and infrastructure (encompassing the presence of artificial beach amenities). This study provides direction for future analytic epidemiological research and complementary studies on drowning at surf beaches and other locations. ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR
Self-reported supervisory behavior and beliefs vs. actual observations of caregiver behavior at beaches
- Authors: Petrass, Lauren , Blitvich, Jennifer , Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education Vol. 5, no. 2 (May 2011), p. 199-209
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/565900
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/565904
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- Description: This study examined self-reported supervisory behaviors of caregivers at beaches and ascertained whether self-reported supervision reflects observed behavior. Observations were conducted of caregiver/child pairs at 18 Australian beaches, with questionnaires subsequently completed by caregivers. Caregivers identified visual contact as essential for close supervision and proximity a key determinant in distinguishing supervision and close supervision. Supervisory behavior was associated with child age, while lifeguard patrol had no effect on supervision. All supervision statements from the PSAPQ-BEACH were associated with supervision. Only three statements were significant independent predictors of supervision. Comparisons suggest caregivers' self-reported supervisory behavior reflects actual supervision. As this is the first study of its kind, it is essential that further prospective research using mixed-method approaches build on this information.
Spirituality and religious education in the national curriculum: A response to Duncan Reid
- Authors: Fisher, John
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Religious Education Journal of Australia Vol. 28, no. 1 (2012), p. 3-8
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- Description: Duncan Reid's paper provided a springboard from which to launch into discussions about making space for Religious Education in the (Australian) National Curriculum (REJA, 27(2):10-15, 2011). Some brief comments are presented in this paper to expand thinking in the area of religious education with particular reference to spirituality. Due to size constraints and editorial direction, references of research in the area of spirituality related to religious education, that were edited out of the Australian College of Educators book on Australian perspectives on education and spirituality, have also been included here. It is hoped that this response will add to and help inform the debate about the place of Religious Education (and spirituality) in the evolving Australian National Curriculum.
Burnt at the Student Evaluation Stake – the penalty for failing students
- Authors: Backer, Elisa
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: e-Journal of Business Education & Scholarship of Teaching Vol. 6, no. 1 (2012), p. 1-13
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- Description: Student Evaluations of Teaching (SET) are a common device for assessing units and teaching ability in higher education. Despite the wealth of research in the area of SETs, little has been done to examine student and academic perceptions of SETs. This research examined student (n=235) and academic (n=49) perceptions concerning SETs at one Australian regional university. Almost one-third of respondents felt that some students punish academics for failing their work by giving the lecturer low scores on the SET form. Thus, academics can essentially be burnt at the student evaluation stake as punishment for failing students.
- Description: C1
All over, red rover? The neglect and potential of Australian adult education in the community
- Authors: Golding, Barry , Foley, Annette
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Adult Learning Vol. 51, no. SPEC.ISS.1 (2011), p. 53-71
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- Description: Consistent with the 'looking back, moving forward' conference theme, in this paper we undertake a critical, research-based appraisal of the current, arguably neglected state of adult education in Australia in 2010, and proceed to paint a picture of how a different and potentially more positive future might be realised. Firstly, we emphasise situations (including states and territories) in Australia in which adult education is seen to be lacking or missing for particular groups of adults. Secondly we emphasise research evidence confirming the demonstrable value of learning for purposes other than those that are immediately vocational. We identify links between lifelong and life wide learning on one hand, and health and wellbeing on the other. Part of the paper involves international comparisons with other forms of adult learning that Australia might learn from, adapt or borrow. We make particular reference to research underpinning the recent Inquiry into the Future of Lifelong Learning by NIACE in the United Kingdom. Our first main conclusion has to do with equity. Adult and community education (ACE) in Australia is currently seen to be least available or accessible to those Australians with the most limited and most negative experiences of school education, but the most need to learn in non-vocational domains. These groups include older Australians, some men and women, people not in paid work, and rural, isolated and Indigenous people. Our second main conclusion is that, to realise adult learning's future potential, we need changes to government policies, research and practice that acknowledge and actively support the broader nature and value of learning for life across all age groups. To paraphrase research from Belgium by Sfard (2008), based around Beck's (1986) exploration of reflexive modernity, the adult education function of ACE is in dire straits, unless education is seen as being much more valuable than the sum of individual vocational competencies, and particularly unless it is also recognised, valued and supported as one of many valuable outcomes of social, lifelong and lifewide learning throughout the community.
Opening up learning theory to social theory in research on sport and physical education through a focus on practice
- Authors: Light, Richard
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy Vol. 16, no. 4 (2011), p. 369-382
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- Description: Background: Research on pedagogy in physical education and sport has increasingly been informed by contemporary learning theory with the socio-cultural perspective being prominent. Over a similar period research on the social dimensions of physical education and youth sport has drawn on a range of social theory yet there has been little systematic integration of them. Purpose: This article identifies the ways in which learning theory can be opened up to some social theory in research on learning and pedagogy in physical education and sport. It provides a specific example of how this can be achieved through integrating the conceptual tools of Bourdieu with those of Lave and Wenger for research on learning in physical education and youth sport. Findings: This article identifies a complementary relationship between the socio-cultural learning theory of Lave and Wenger and the social theory of Bourdieu. It suggests that integrating Bourdieu's work with that of Lave and Wenger provides for a stronger focus on the body and corporeal learning in and through sport and physical education. © 2011 Copyright Association for Physical Education.
Acquisition of laboratory skills by on-campus and distance education students
- Authors: Mosse, Jennifer , Wright, Wendy
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Accessible Elements p. 109-129
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Blurring the boundaries : From relational learning towards a critical pedagogy of engagement for disengaged disadvantaged young people
- Authors: Smyth, John , McInerney, Peter , Fish, Tim
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Pedagogy, Culture and Society Vol. 21, no. 2 (2013), p. 299-320
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP100100045
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- Description: This paper tackles what is arguably the most pervasive and pressing educational issue confronting affluent Western countries - the disengagement, disconnection and tragic displacement from schooling of increasing numbers of young people, mostly those from backgrounds of disadvantage. Despite enormous policy efforts, this 'problem' is proving impossible to dislodge from within the existing educational policy paradigm that appears to be exacerbating the problem. This paper explores theoretically and practically what alternative attempts might look like that start from within the lives and experiences of those most affected, young people as well as their teachers, and it explores what some research 'portraits' look like from 'inside' the existential realities of these complexities. Employing the heuristics of 'new mobilities', the paper looks at some alternative ways of locating 'new social spaces' from which to re-engage and re-connect these young people with learning, and with some effect. The paper is sanguine about the extensive work yet to be done, and in this regard it proffers some thoughts on the unfinished business of what it terms a 'critical pedagogy of engagement'. © 2013 Copyright Pedagogy, Culture & Society.
- Description: 2003011131
Curricular responses to teaching gifted students in Australia
- Authors: Kronborg, Leonie , Kelly, Liz , Plunkett, Margaret
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Curriculum Development and Teaching Strategies for Gifted Learners p. 317-327
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Rage against the machine? Symbolic violence in E-learning supported tertiary education
- Authors: Johnson, Nicola , MacDonald, David , Brabazon, Tara
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: E-Learning and Digital Media Vol. 5, no. 3 (2008 2008), p. 275-283
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- Description: The move toward online course facilitation in tertiary education has the intent of providing education at any time in any place to any person. However, the advent of blended learning and e-learning innovations has ostracised, marginalised or ignored those who cannot afford or who are unable to access the latest hardware and software to take advantage of these opportunities. The Web 2.0 age is an era of assumptions: assumptions of participation, literacy and democracy. Yet such inferences are based on the need for high-speed Internet connections, and the latest computers are standard requirements. Those without the ability to access these necessities are being indirectly marginalised by the universities, which is particularly ironic in an era of ‘widening participation’. This article reveals a few tears in the fabric of wiki-enabled democratic education. The authors argue that there is a community of students that are subjected to what Bourdieu termed symbolic violence. Digitisation in tertiary education is reinforcing what it has always been through its history – a haven of the wealthy and the advantaged.
Face to facebook: social media and the learning and teaching potential of symmetrical, sychronous communication
- Authors: Van Doorn, George , Eklund, Antoinette
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice Vol. 10, no. 1 (2013), p. 1-14
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- Description: Social networking offers teachers and learners exciting opportunities to communicate. Web 2.0 and its synchronous communications platforms provide new avenues for teachers to deliver curriculum and facilitate learning. Further, they provide new avenues for students to engage and intensify their own learning. Being able to chat in real-time with a teacher, usually via face-to-face discussions, is something that many students studying in on-campus (or day) mode take for granted, and is something that distance or off-campus students are generally unable to experience. In the evolving, flexible-learning tertiary environment, viable and effective computer mediated communication (CMC) alternatives to face-to-face teaching need to be explored. These alternatives will only work if they prove useful to students. This article considers student reactions to social media as a teaching tool, probing its benefits and limitations. Over the course of a semester, third year on- and off-campus students communicated with an academic, outside lecture times, via the social networking site facebook®. Students were allowed to ask any questions they had that related to the unit. At the end of the semester students were provided with a 10-item questionnaire asking them to evaluate their experience. This study looked at a specific aspect of social networking — synchronous text-based chat — and the students’ perceptions of its usefulness for their learning
Game sense: Pedagogy for performance, participation and enjoyment
- Authors: Light, Richard
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Book
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- Description: Game Sense is an exciting and innovative approach to coaching and physical education that places the game at the heart of the session. It encourages the player to develop skills in a realistic context, to become more tactically aware, to make better decisions and to have more fun. Game Sense is a comprehensive, research-informed introduction to the Game Sense approach that defines and explores key concepts and essential pedagogical theory, and that offers an extensive series of practical examples and plans for using Game Sense in real teaching and coaching situations
Visual data collection methods for research on the affective dimensions of children's personal experiences of PE
- Authors: Georgakis, Steve , Light, Richard
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical Education Vol. 56, no. 3-4 (2009), p. 23-27
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- Description: The rapid growth of research on Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) over the past decade has paid little attention to research methodology. This paper redresses this lack of attention to research methods and reports on a study conducted on children's personal experiences of Game Sense. The study focuses on the use of year six students' drawings as the primary source of data. Using this data we examine the affective dimensions of learning in a unit of work on cricket that was taught using a Game Sense approach. The children's drawings were used as a meaning making activity and then later used in a research interview where they provided the stimulus for children to discuss their attitudes and feelings toward their cricket experience. By adopting an interpretive approach the study gained insight into students' experiences and reports specifically on the impact Game Sense pedagogy had on the students with the least positive attitudes toward sport. Both the methodological innovation of the study and the positive impact upon the affective dimension of learning are discussed.
What does a role model Australian primary school health and physical education program look like?
- Authors: Lynch, Timothy
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: ICHPER-SD 53rd Anniversary World Congress & Exposition p. 150-161
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Where has class gone? The pervasiveness of class in girls' physical activity in a rural town
- Authors: Smyth, John , Mooney, Amanda , Casey, Meghan
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Sport, Education and Society Vol. 19, no. 1 (January 2014 2014), p. 1-18
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP0990206
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- Description: This paper seeks to animate discussion around how social class operates with adolescent girls from low socio-economic status backgrounds to shape and inform their decisions about participation in physical activity (PA) inside and outside of school. Examining the instance of girls in a single secondary school in an Australian regional town, the paper questions the impact of class and how the girls experience the obstacles, impediments and interferences to participation in PA. These girls are portrayed as living multiple, complex and embodied subjectivities that shape and are informed by the relational geographies in which they are located, as they interact ‘with’, ‘to’ and ‘between’ the social, emotional and classed hierarchies that require them to access familial and other resources in making decisions about participation in PA.