Albanian Context Research Articles

The Application of English Syllabuses by Teachers of Elementary Education in the Teaching- Learning Process, in Korça Region

Growing needs for appropriate English learning in Albanian context, the importance of English syllabuses, objectives reflected in the English textbooks, the conformity of syllabuses and the assessment teachers make, conform Common European Framework of References for languages in Elementary education , in urban and rural area, public and non public schools in elementary schools of Korca region, are some elements that lead toward the question: To what extent do Albanian teachers apply the syllabuses in the Albanian context, and how the syllabuses are a point of reference for them and for Albanian learners, for a better language acquisition? The purpose of this research is to conduct an empirical study on the way how Albanian Elementary school teachers aimed at developing their opinions and their practice in the teaching- learning process. A questionnaire survey was adopted as the methodological approach employed in this research. In total, 60 teachers from different public and nonpublic elementary schools, belonging to urban and rural areas in Korca region, participated in this research. It also explored how Albanian teachers of different Elementary schools in Korca region implement the syllabus in their actual classroom language teaching practices and what effect syllabus has on learning outcomes. The questionnaire was conducted in the continuation of a learners' survey, in order to see and observe the teachers' opinions on the English syllabus, the way of organizing classes, how the syllabus is followed, how they adjust it to the textbooks they use, how satisfied they are with them, how they apply them in the educational process. The expected contribution of this research is to observe how the English syllabuses are implemented from the Albanian teachers in elementary education and if they are conform Common European Framework of References for languages (CEFR). The findings of this study provided valuable implications in developing teachers' new ideas for the actual situation of the teaching and learning process.

Impact of Educational Leadership Styles on Job Teachers Stress

During the school management, it is very important to have an effective school but more important is to use the right styles according to health safety and high outcomes. The leadership is a wide concept in general way and a specific one according to the education and school too. The tradition of school leadership is new in Albania. The education leadership in the new Albanian context request establishing of school leadership. The knowledge and application of contemporary education leadership it is obligatory for improvement and raising effectively to Albanian school. This study is focus in the influence of educational leadership styles in the job teachers stress and satisfaction. The research question is: what is the best and right education leadership style need to be applied in Albanian school. The research method is a quantities and qualitative way through the questionnaires, semi and structures interviews. The conclusion is that no all the educational leadership styles that are effective ones, are the right educational leadership styles. This conclusion brings the need to be selected the educational organizational theories for an effective school through the right educational leadership styles.

The Effect of Attendance on Academic Performance

Faculty in higher education institutions oftentimes follow different attendance practices and policies: some make it compulsory and count toward the final grade while others do not. Even when attendance is not compulsory, many faculty believe in its positive effect in academic performance. In this article a summary of the latest studies on attendance and academic performance will be given along with a deeper analysis of this relation in Albanian context. Data are collected from two courses in the civil engineering department of a private university taught by the same lecturer during 2009-2012. The results of the study are discussed in the light of the attendance policy enforced in today's Albanian higher education institutions. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p961

CANCER CAREGIVERS' DISCRIMINATION AND ITS IMPACT TO QUALITY OF LIFE

Family caregivers can face many challenges in their caregiving role like employment discrimination, making accomodations to work, low average monthly income etc. This is also the case for the cancer caregivers in the albanian context. The aim of this study is to explore the impact that caregiving has in cancer caregiver’s Quality of Life, mediated by the socio – economic status. The participants of this study (N=377) were cancer caregivers for at least one month for an hour/per day. They were contacted at the University Hospital “Nene Tereza” in Tirana, at the Oncology Section. The research instrument consisted in socio – economic questions and the Flanagan Quality of Life Scale (1982). Results indicated that cancer caregivers had low family monthly income and were mostly unenmployed which correlated positively to Quality of Life.

ACROSS-CULTURAL ADAPTATION OF A PUBLIC HEALTH LEADERSHIP COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK IN ALBANIA

BACKGROUND: The aim of our study was to validate an international instrument addressing the leadership competency level of public health professionals in Albania, a post-communist country in the Western Balkans. METHODS: A sample of 53 public health professionals operating at different levels were interviewed twice in May 2014 in Tirana (25 men and 28 women; median age: 44 years, inter-quartile range: 35-55 years). A structured questionnaire was administered [and subsequently re-administered after two weeks (test-retest)] to all participants aiming at self-assessing the current level of leadership competencies and the required/desirable level of leadership competencies for their current job position. The questionnaire included 52 items organized into 8 subscales/domains. Answers for each item of the tool ranged from 1 (“minimal competency level”) to 5 (“maximal competency level”). An overall summary score (range: 52-260) and a subscale summary score for each domain were calculated for the test and the retest procedures. Cronbach’s alpha was used to assess the internal consistency for both the test and the retest procedures, whereas Spearman’s rho was employed to assess the test-retest reliability of the instrument. RESULTS: Cronbach’s alpha was 0.89 for the test and 0.86 for the retest procedure. Overall, Spearman’s rho was 0.97 (P CONCLUSION: We validated in the Albanian context a recently established international framework which measures the level of the current leadership competencies possessed by public health professionals, as well as the required level of leadership competencies for their current job position. Future research should apply this instrument to a large representative sample of public health professionals at different levels and in different regions of Albania. Keywords: competency, cross-cultural adaptation, framework, leadership, validation.

UNIVERSITY-LEVEL REFLECTIVE WRITING, ANALYZING THE INTERNSHIP REPORTS OF STUDENTS OF FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Reflective writing is an important aspect, especially for students who are majoring in teaching a foreign language, because it constitutes an initial step for finding a solution to problems arising in practice. Reflectivity in writing can be acquired by working since the first cycle studies, even in the pre-university system but in the Albanian context, it is not always realized from one level to another. This paper will focus on reflectivity in writing by means of internship reports handed by students at the end of their two-month internship in middle and secondary schools. The corpus consists of the internship reports of the last two years (2011-2013) submitted by 80 master`s students, in order to point out that the students’ reflection on their internship in various schools are not realistic due to their inability to express their viewpoint on their experience. The main results of the analysis indicate that the students fail to coherently organize the data according to the internship report’s structure and they cannot explain accurately the problems encountered in the Albanian context. Instead, in most of the cases, they depart from an ideal context found in various foreign authors’ works. They are unable to argue on the importance of teaching experience for exercising their future profession. Furthermore they display several deficiencies in describing sample classes that they have taught in the schools. Key words: internship, reflexivity, students, university.

Family Violence and the Criminal Justice System

Family violence is becoming a very widespread phenomenon in Albania and the state is taking no preventive measures against such a phenomenon. The Declaration against violence; The Albanian context; The family violence as a criminal offence; Analysis related to family violence court judgments; Conclusions on family violence and Reactions of public authorities. Family violence is prevailing in Albania; yet, police officers, prosecutors, judges and lawyers have not been properly sensitized and trained on family violence issues. No sufficient evidence is being gathered in support of the victims and no psychological support is being given to violated women; furthermore, the extent of punishments is very small and they fail to consider the previous incidents and the continuity of family violence. In most of the cases family violence criminal proceeding depends entirely on women reports, which practically negates the possibility of a fair trial. The methodology, the theoretical and practical methods, the interview methods employed. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n3p291

Teaching English Language In Elementary Education In The Albanian Context, Korça Region; The Syllabuses And Their Conformity To The Common European Framework Levels Of Linguistic Skills for Assessment

The overall aim of this study is designed to explore various possibilities how the Albanian syllabuses are in conformity to Common European reference levels of linguistic proficiency. This study relies on qualitative and quantitative data through surveys, questionnaires and data analysis, held with Albanian English teachers and learners in the Albanian context.It is outlined the scope of syllabus design and its relation to the broader field of curriculum development. The primary focus of the study is the reform of curricula in the country of Albania. It provides information about what actually goes on between teachers and learners in pedagogical and linguistic interactional terms and how the designed syllabuses can be adopted to their needs and to the learners’ outcomes.This article reports on the use of a second language classroom observation instruments in the syllabuses of elementary education and in particular to the objectives of the language skills. It is an observation which has been developed for analyzing learners’ common reference levels, based on the 4 skills. It provides data for learners’ language competencies, as they provide objective, quantifiable data and are obtained insights on what is actually happening in English language classrooms in the Albanian context. This survey is held in different kinds of schools in the city and villages of Korça. The survey research investigates what should learners actually know and what is their actual situation, how these linguistic skills are applied during the English classes in Korça and whether the standards set by CEFR are met. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n7p59

Smoke in Young University Albanians

After an Italian experience of college internship at Gea Health Project non-profit organization in field of Health Psychology, more specifically in prevention and treatment of Smoking and Pathogenic Addiction, finalized with a thesis entitled: Cigarette smoking among addiction and treatment the interest of study focuses on smoking in Albanian context, little explored and known by public health workers in their promotion intervention-prevention and care. The objective of this study is to build a picture of smoking problem in Albanian society, identification of interpretations of mechanisms of phenomenon of smoking in young people, bring theoretical insights, study, research, treatment used for years in Italy about smoking now in Albanian context latest. It appears that law against smoking in public places was enacted in Albania in 2007, two years after Law named Sirchia” in Italy in 2005. A big step for Albania, but what was consequences of this law? In fact in Albania continues to smoke a little 'everywhere, in restaurants, pubs, bars, even in corridors of university or waiting room in hospitals. This article highlights smoking in young students’ college, target group most vulnerable to fight against addiction, customers-patients who did not traceable by health care workers, those most indifferent and passive in risk perception and smoking related diseases. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n8p161

Miscommunication between Members Belonging to Different Subcultures

Based on theoretical perspective of some distinguishable authors in the field of sociology of communication, it will be intended to defend the hypothesis that non-communication between individuals or social groups during socializing processes produces problems related to psychosocial nature. Here, it is not the case that the actors of communication, such as “provider” and “recipient”, face organic difficulties to capture or make their message accessible, but the fact that they do not understand the codes through which they transmit messages and therefore misunderstand the roles as a result of miscomprehending these messages.Exactly, this discrepancy between roles and codes of communication along the socialization process produces a state of “stagnation” of social conventions and confusion of roles. Analyzing the phenomenon in this perspective tends to contribute to the understanding of the Albanian context, as frequent demographic changes during last two decades, inside and outside the territory, have led to difficulties for some social groups or individuals to be integrated into new social realities. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n8p591

Earnings Management: Obvious Phenomenon in Albanian Market

Fiscal earnings, measures the performance of the company during the financial year. Motivated by different factors such as those related to the capital market, contractual motives etc, managers can manipulate earnings, increasing or reducing them and this phenomenon is recognized as “earnings management”. If we accept that the initiatives of “earnings management” lead to distortion of the financial results, it means that financial reports can be considered as poor quality reports, and financial information provided to the users and various parties of interest is also of poor quality. This paper is focused on reviewing the existing literature with regard to the Earnings Management in response to the growing pressure of investors, policy makers, and companies’ governance reform mechanisms to curb opportunistic behavior of the managers of these companies. It also examines the existence of this phenomenon in Albanian context as well as tests the importance of Modified Jones Model as an efficient tool for detection of abnormal accruals, used as a proxy for earnings management. The results show that firms in the Albanian market are engaged in earnings management initiatives.

New Technology and Language for Specific Purposes: The Benefits of Moodle Platform

Using Moodle platform in teaching language for specific purposes is an innovation in the Albanian context, as teachers are mainly introduced and trained how to use this platform. This platform is very useful when speaking about using it in such an inconsolidated field as language for specific purposes is in Albania. Its implementation and an efficient use seeks specialised help and group work which we have already started in the framework of a two year inter-regional project of the UAF, with a Moldavian university and two French Universities. In this paper, we aim at describing and analysing the advantages that Moodle Platform brings in teaching French for specific purposes and especially in French for economics and law, based on our experience with the above-mentioned project. We will firstly point out the features of the platform, why we have chosen half presentielteaching method and the implied amount of work for the professor and the learner. Furthermore, we are going to bring a module example that we will use for the both above-mentioned fields. At the end, we are going to make some suggestions of how to integrate new technology in consolidating the main three fields we have at present in the Faculty of Foreign Languages: methodology, translation and communication. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n7p528

Modern day slavery: sex trafficking in Albania

PurposeHuman trafficking for sexual purposes is a significant human rights violation, as well as a crime of international proportions. Albania has been identified as an important source of individuals who are trafficked as well as an entry point from Eastern Europe and Russia into Western Europe. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the nature of this problem and governmental and societal responses.Design/methodology/approachAn examination of data sources regarding sex trafficking in Albania seen through the lens of the Albanian context and feminist legal perspective helps provide an understanding of the complexity of the issue and the nature of appropriate approaches.FindingsRecommendations are given for a more effective anti‐sex trafficking campaign, incorporating socio‐economic factors that might be linked to sex trafficking.Research limitations/implicationsThe lack of available data from victims of sex‐trafficking and Albanian government limits the ability of researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of anti‐sex trafficking response by Albanian government.Originality/valueThis is the first theoretically based attempt at analyzing governmental and societal responses to sex trafficking in Albania.

Globalisation and the wine market: developments in the small Albanian context

The current wine sector is characterised by two main producers’ groups adopting contrasting management philosophies: the EU traditional producers (Italy and France in the lead) that ‘sell off to produce’ and ‘The New World of wine’ producers (the USA, Australia, etc.) that ‘produce to sell’. These trends influence each other both strategically and operatively. New small producers like Eastern Europe countries (Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Ukraine and Albania) are emerging lately. In light of the above scenario, the present work is aimed at answering the following questions: Which management philosophy have these emerging countries adopted to develop production? Can a new management model be assumed to develop production, or rather, can the former be compared to one of the above-mentioned models? What are the prospects for the near future in these countries, with special reference to Albania? Are they likely to be strong enough to change the balance of the wine sector internationally?

ENGLISH LANGUAGE INFLUENCE IN THE 21st CENTURY ALBANIA AND ENGLISH LOANS IN THE ALBANIAN LANGUAGE

The intake of English lexis in the Eastern Europe countries has been increasing considerably since the end of their political, social and cultural isolation. Having one of the most severe and violent political systems Albania was probably more eager to accelerate the exchanges with the ‘outer world’ and its integration in Europe. Thus adapting to the international context English language was, and still is, one of the mediators to achieve this integration. From the linguistic perspective what results from this languages contact are the loans, neologisms, and even ‘pseudo – loans’ (Albanian words with the form or the pronunciation of the donor language - English in this case, but that do not exist in the donor language). In this context this paper states some of the extra-linguistic factors (historical, social, political and other factors) which conditioned and determined the language contact between English and Albanian and that would further lead to a considerable number of borrowings from English. Pseudo loans and other new Albanian words created under the influence of English language are briefly discussed under the title of ‘Language shifting’. The study also describes Albanians’ attitude toward English language, which is found to be definitely a positive attitude. Based on the above overview of English-Albanian contact and on some of the linguistic outcomes deriving from it, is concluded that the impact of English language and culture in the Albanian context is of a considerable degree, and that the outcomes of this impact are only at the primary stages of identification and examination. Key words: Albanians’ attitude to English, English-Albanian contact, language shifting.

Fertility Trends, Marriage Patterns, and Savant Typologies in Albanian Context

In this article, the author focuses on the speculative literalism and typologism in current scholarship to construct a taken-for-granted view, taking issue especially with many points raised in the literature on the subject that have associated fertility rates in Albania more closely with the existence of patriarchal cultural traits. This leads the author to argue that the specific rationale for the myth of many children, high fertility rates, and complex family structures in Albanian context, as elsewhere in patrilineal societies, is an ideological elaboration of patriarchy. Methodologically, the analysis of the standard view of childbearing, based on standard ethnographic methods, traditional historical sources and aggregate demographic data, is aimed to illustrate the inadequacy of the historical-ethnographic paradigm against the available empirical evidence. In turn, understanding how ideological elements are emphasized in cultural activism should lead, against current scholarship claims, to an understanding of the way in which the urgent need for male children must have been to hide away other more troubling reasons.

Albanian Turnover: Is the Job Embeddedness Construct Predictive in an Albanian Context?

This paper seeks to expand the knowledge of the influence of job embeddedness using a sample of Albanian employees working in the banking industry. Findings from the Albanian sample differed from previous findings in embeddedness research conducted in the US. The influence that the affective components of turnover, that of commitment and satisfaction, have on intent to leave as well as the highly predictive (in U.S. samples) job embeddedness construct influenced turnover in this sample of Albanian bank employees. Demographic and cultural explanations for these findings suggest that job embeddedness may have differential effects cross-culturally.

Globalization, Conduct Norms and 'Culture Conflict': Perceptions of Violence and Crime in an Ethnic Albanian Context

The paper examines whether violence in contemporary Albania is a structured phenomenon linked to Albanian customary laws, such as the Kanun of Lek Dukagjini, or whether it is a product of social confusion and ‘culture conflict’. It argues that the expansion of Western legal norms in the Albanian territories has caused a ‘culture conflict’ within the society, which has subsequently led to an increase in crime. The conclusions drawn are based on a cross-national survey with ethnic Albanian respondents from Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia, carried out during 2006.

The Albanian Renaissance in Political Thought: Between the Enlightenment and Romanticism

The conceptual genealogy of the Albanian so-called Renaissance is often linked to the influence of Western Romantic ideas on the nationalist movements of the Balkans. This paper analyzes the specificities of the Albanian cultural and political context and suggests, by contrast, that Enlightenment categories provide a better means of comprehension of this stage in Albanian intellectual history. It focuses on the ideological function played by the critique of religion as well as by a cultural project addressed to political struggle and emphasizes its roots in the Enlightenment tradition. It finally argues that Enlightenment concepts such as self-criticism and rational teleology might help to grasp some unique features of the Renaissance movement and to construct a more sophisticated account of the emergence of the Albanian modern state.

Understanding a 'Culture of Violence and Crime': the Kanun of Lek Dukagjini and the Rise of the Albanian Sexual-Slavery Rackets

This chapter elucidates the nexus between the ancient Albanian legalmoral code, the Kanun of Lek Dukagjini and the 'violent behaviour' of the contemporary Albanian organised crime groups. It explores from a historical and cultural perspective why Albanian organised crime groups have come to be regarded as 'ultra-violent' actors in a Western context. The chapter mainly tries to link the Albanian perception of women in society with the rise of the Albanian sexual-slavery rackets. It examines the role of the 15th century Kanun , regarded as the foundation of the Albanian culture, in defining the traditional role of the Albanian woman and her relation to the 'superior' man. The chapter also tries to assess, the degree to which trafficking of women for sexual exploitation in an ethnic Albanian context should be regarded as intentional violation of prohibition or as a morally justified act. Keywords:Albanian culture; Albanian sexual-slavery rackets; Albanian woman; Kanun ; Lek Dukagjini ; violent behaviour