Classroom Performance Research Articles

Voice Detection and Deep Learning Algorithms Application in Remote English Translation Classroom Monitoring

With the continuous development of cellular networks, the traffic from voice services increases gradually. The wireless sensor network (WSN) is a distributed network consisting of a large number of peripheral nodes distributed in the surveillance area. The nodes in the network complete it in a self-organizing form, and the sink node collects the data from each sensor node. When sending data, the nodes near the receiver will quickly run out of energy and cannot perform further transmission tasks. The resulting “power supply emptiness” problem has a great impact on network performance. Therefore, the power consumption of the network must be considered when designing the WSN routing algorithm. In order to effectively improve students’ academic performance and monitor students’ teaching conditions, the classroom remote monitoring system places two cameras in the university’s English translation classroom and uses technology to merge the information to execute the entire process. By recording the course, we can save the teacher’s classroom content and the student’s classroom performance and upload the recorded video in real time. In addition, the classroom remote monitoring system is a multiclient system, divided into teacher and student terminals. The user can log in, watch the video, and perform other necessary operations.

THE EFFECT OF MIXED TEACHING MODE BASED ON NETWORK OPEN COURSE AND INTELLIGENT TEACHING PLATFORM ON ALLEVIATING STUDENTS' PSYCHOLOGICAL ANXIETY

THE EFFECT OF MIXED TEACHING MODE BASED ON NETWORK OPEN COURSE AND INTELLIGENT TEACHING PLATFORM ON ALLEVIATING STUDENTS' PSYCHOLOGICAL ANXIETY

Narrative Inquiry: An Alternative Tool to Recapitulate Teachers' Pedagogical Capital

In this paper, I examine how the interpretative prototype is undertaking its supremacy in the educational research model and how a narrative inquiry paradigm supported and helped me to explore different realities of teachers' pedagogical capital in the context of Nepal. It aims to relate how the perceptions of pedagogical capital affect teachers’ performance in the language classroom. Data for this study were collected from three participants purposively. The data, in this research, have been analyzed based on the framework of Stake (1995). The study uses Bourdieu's (1977) notion of cultural capital for theoretical substantiation and the findings indicate that teachers' pedagogic capital is an ability that can be employed for an effective teaching-learning process. More specifically, this paper pinpoints how narrative inquiry could be considered as an alternative tool to recapitulate teachers' pedagogical capital in educational research.

A Study on the Organizational Commitment of Teachers and their Classroom Performance

This study investigates the influence of the organizational commitment of male and female secondary school teachers on student outcomes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The objectives were to determine instructors' commitment levels towards their employers' organizations and their own professional development. The study to find the correlation between teachers' organizational commitment and students' learning outcomes, as well as the impact of demographic factors (age, gender, etc.) on commitment levels.The study population consisted of male and female educators from government secondary schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A total of 480 teachers, including 280 males and 280 females, were randomly selected from four all-male and all-female schools. The findings revealed significant differences in organizational commitment between male and female teachers.The study suggests that male and female principals should attend organizational behaviour courses, investigate the reasons for lower organizational commitment among male teachers, and hire more highly qualified teachers for secondary schools.

REDUCING EFL LEARNERS’ SPEAKING ANXIETY THROUGH SELECTIVE ERROR CORRECTION AND GROUP-WORK STRATEGIES

This quantitative study aimed to examine the level of speaking anxiety experienced by second-year high-school Acehnese EFL learners in their oral performance in L2 classroom and to investigate the attempt to lower their anxiety through the implementation of selective error correction and group work. The Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety Scale (Horwitz et al., 1986) was used as a means to survey and evaluate the learners’ speaking anxiety, and their oral performance was assessed through speaking performance rubric before and after the learners’ exposure to selective error correction and group work. The findings showed that a high level of speaking anxiety was found in the majority of the learners, and that the use of selective error correction and group work for the treatment of speaking anxiety overall resulted in the learners’ improved performance in their oral task. The findings highlighted the needs to create a positive and supportive educational environment that stimulates learners to freely experiment with L2 and to establish close-knit learning communities that promote authentic interactions in L2 and provide opportunities to be more engaged in oral language use.

Reducing EFL Learners’ Speaking Anxiety through Selective Error Correction and Group Work

This quantitative study aimed to examine the level of speaking anxiety experienced by second-year high-school Acehnese EFL learners in their oral performance in L2 classroom and to investigate the attempt to lower their anxiety through the implementation of selective error correction and group work. The Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety Scale (Horwitz et al., 1986) was used as a means to survey and evaluate the learners’ speaking anxiety, and their oral performance was assessed through speaking performance rubric as adopted from Ismailia (2021) before and after the learners’ exposure to selective error correction and group work. The findings showed that a high level of speaking anxiety was found in the majority of the learners, and that the use of selective error correction and group work for the treatment of speaking anxiety overall resulted in the learners’ improved performance in their oral task. The findings highlighted the needs to create a positive and supportive educational environment that stimulates learners to freely experiment with L2 and to establish close-knit learning communities that promote authentic interactions in L2 and provide opportunities to be more engaged in oral language use.

Exploring the Relationship between Metalinguistic Knowledge and Communicative Competence of Chilean EFL Teacher Trainees

There is enough evidence that Metalinguistic Knowledge (MK) benefits second language (SL) and foreign language (FL) learners’ communicative skills and SL and FL teachers’ classroom performance, therefore it should be an important component in SL and FL teacher training. Very little is known, however, about Chilean English as Foreign Language (EFL) teacher trainees, who are, at the same time, language learners. The study reported here aimed to find out the correlation and regression of future Chilean EFL teachers’ MK and their Communicative Competence (CC). In order to measure their MK, two tests were used: the Metalinguistic Knowledge Test and the Grammaticality Judgement Test. In regard to their CC, the grades of the English CC Development Course were considered. The participants were 59 first year EFL teacher trainees of an EFL teacher training program of a Chilean university. General results show that there is a positive moderate correlation between MK and CC and that the GJT and the MKT explain 26,5 % of the CC Final Grade.

Analysis of English Education Classroom Student Interaction and Performance Based on Virtual Reality

In order to improve the interaction of students in English teaching and improve the effect of English teaching, this paper combines virtual reality algorithms to construct an interactive virtual space for English teaching. Furthermore, this article advances the virtual reality method from a physics standpoint and uses the Fourier transform to superimpose the cross-correlation function in the frequency domain. At the same time, this study uses the Fourier transform to convert the overlaid result into a cross-correlation function in the time domain, eliminating the noise of virtual reality algorithms, improving immersion in the virtual environment of English instruction, and encouraging student participation. In addition, on the basis of virtual reality analysis, this paper constructs an English virtual reality education platform. Finally, after the platform is built, the effect is verified through experimental teaching methods. The experimental teaching shows that the English education classroom student interaction and performance analysis system based on virtual reality proposed in this paper has certain advantages over traditional algorithms.

Effectiveness of the Automated Writing Evaluation Program on Improving Undergraduates’ Writing Performance

Automated Writing Evaluation program (AWE) has gained increasing ground in ESL/EFL writing instruction because of its instructional features, such as the instant automated writing score system and the diagnostic corrective feedback in real-time for individual written drafts. However, there is little known about how the automated feedback provided by the AWE program can impact students’ writing performance in an authentic classroom and how to make the most of it to improve students’ writing performance effectively, especially for ESL/EFL undergraduate students. This paper attempts to offer an overview of the investigation of the effectiveness of automated feedback via a literature review. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, eleven articles published in the past five years were finally included for the analytical synthesis. The literature review matrix for the synthesis reveals the research gaps of the previous literature in the levels of the effectiveness of the automated feedback, including the lack of the design of delayed post-test, writing performance in terms of writing traits, and students’ writing strategies regarding the use of AWE program. The conclusion highlights the need for future research by bridging the gaps of exploring the long-term internalized impact of the embedded use of automated feedback and an advanced teaching method on improving both students’ overall writing performance and analytic writing scores.
  

Home gardens and distances to nature associated with behavior problems in alpine schoolchildren: Role of secondhand smoke exposure and biomarkers

Behavior problems in children are shaped by a complex intertwining of environmental, social, and biological factors. This study investigated whether more nature exposure was associated with less behavior problems and whether these associations were mediated by differences in secondhand smoke in the home, sleep problems, adiposity, and inflammation. We used cross-sectional data collected from 1251 schoolchildren (8-12 years old) in the Tyrol region of Austria and Italy. Information on sociodemographics, lifestyle, perinatal data, and housing conditions was obtained by questionnaire. Behavior problems in the past school year were rated by teachers using the Needleman questionnaire for classroom performance. We estimated nature exposure using a comprehensive naturalness index called "distance to nature" (D2N). This was calculated in several buffer sizes around the child's home and school. Presence of a home garden was assessed by self-report. Data on potential mediators including parental smoking in the home, child's urinary cotinine concentrations, sleep problems, body mass index, and urinary neopterin concentrations were also collected. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the multiple pathways between nature exposure and behavior problems. Children who lived in a home with a garden and those whose school was closer to nature exhibited less school behavior problems. The effect of proximity to nature from the school was directly associated with less behavior problems, and the effect of a home garden on behavior problems acted indirectly through a lower likelihood of secondhand smoke exposure. Associations were in unexpected directions between behavior problems and residential proximity to nature and depended on the outcome and context. Natural environments in school and home surroundings might be beneficial for school conduct and performance. Lower secondhand smoke exposure at home might be a pathway between home gardens and children's behavioral problems. Associations with residential proximity to nature in this study were in unexpected directions and warrant further investigation. These findings serve as a point of departure for investigating how proximal nature might activate health supportive pathways in children and simultaneously confer childhood health benefits via positive behavioral changes in their parents.

The Impact of Online Learning on Students’ Achievements

The current research tends to investigate the effect of online learning on students’ achievement and performance in classrooms. The pandemic has disrupted teaching and learning system around the world, in general, and Morocco in particular. Electronic learning (e-learning) has become the core method of teaching curriculum during the lockdown. This paper investigates the impact of online learning on students’ achievement during the lockdown; Moroccan vocational institutions as a case study. This research attempts to shed light on the perceptions and attitudes toward students’ experiences regarding online learning, capacity to assimilate information, targeted skills, and the use of e-learning platforms. The paper also discusses some key challenges of online teaching for instructors and teachers followed by a discussion of the results to enhance the effectiveness of online learning.

Student perceptions and academic performance in a remote flipped classroom

Objective: To identify the components of a flipped classroom that may need to be adjusted for remote learning and to compare academic performance between remote and in-person flipped classrooms. Methods: After implementing a remote flipped classroom in therapeutics classes in an integrated organ system block in 2020, the authors surveyed students on their perceptions of it and compared the median percent score of therapeutics questions on two summative assessments between students who took the block in person in 2019 and remotely in 2020. Results: Reducing the amount of pre-class work was the most frequent feedback. Fewer than half felt that breakout room sessions enhanced their learning. The Cohort 2020 had significantly lower median percent scores on therapeutics questions than the Cohort 2019. Conclusions: Delivery of pre-class materials and arrangements of student interactions in-class were identified as components for adjustments in a remote flipped classroom. Given the lower academic performance, additional support should be provided.

Influence of Head teachers’ Instructional Supervision Practices on Teachers’ Classroom Performance in Rwanda

The school head teachers are responsible to make effective instructional supervision for the purpose of enhancing performance of both teachers and school in general. The purpose of this study was therefore to examine the influence of head teachers’ instructional supervision practices on teachers’ performance in public primary schools in Gasabo district-Rwanda. The target population was 289 respondents. A sample size of 168 obtained using Yamane formula was used in the study. Interview guide and questionnaire were used as data collection instruments. Correlation research design was employed. The findings revealed there is a significance high degree of positive correlation between head teachers’ instructional supervision and teachers’ performance where Pearson coefficient (r) was 0.913 with the p-value=0.000<0.01. The study concluded that checking teaching methods, checking the availability and use of pedagogical documents and providing pedagogical guidance can improve teachers' classroom performance. The study recommended the ministry of education should provide head teachers with instructional supervision training in public primary schools in Rwanda to improve teachers' performance. Educational planners should make an effective setup to enhance teachers' performance to make up for effective instructional supervision implementation in Rwanda's public primary schools. School head teachers should carry out regular supervision to improve teachers' performance and ensure that teachers effectively use instructional materials. Keywords: Head teacher, instruction supervision, classroom performance, teacher performance

Optimizing daylight, energy and occupant comfort performance of classrooms with photovoltaic integrated vertical shading devices

ABSTRACT This work proposes a multi-objective approach for optimizing the design of fixed vertical, parametrically modeled PV integrated shading devices to achieve their highest benefits to the indoor environment and residents in a classroom. Since the geometric design of conventional shading devices, whether in real-world applications or the literature, is usually restricted to non-amorphous and rectangular shapes, our goal is to gain insight into the likely advantages of employing panels with novel design alternatives. To this end, we initially developed a parametric model of shading devices containing planar PV panels utilizing the Grasshopper program. Next, the environmental plugins of Honeybee and Ladybug were used to assess daylight and energy operations along with occupants’ thermal and visual comfort. Moreover, to lessen the required lighting energy and enhance users’ visual convenience by providing appropriate illuminance levels required for a specific task, we divided the classroom into adjustable lighting zones. The last step was performing the optimization process via the Octopus plugin for Grasshopper and determining the optimal solutions. The numerical results of the annual simulations show that we reached considerable energy saving up to 20% while enhancing occupants’ thermal and visual comfort.

Using Technologies to Improve Students’ Performance in EFL Classrooms: Teachers’ and Learners’ Opinions in Some Secondary Schools in Benin

Using Technologies to Improve Students’ Performance in EFL Classrooms: Teachers’ and Learners’ Opinions in Some Secondary Schools in Benin

Behavior Monitoring in the Middle Grades: Evaluation of the Classroom Performance Survey

ABSTRACT Middle level school teachers commonly measure and monitor students’ academic performance, but such is not the case for students’ classroom behavior. This is unfortunate, given the rise in students’ classroom behavior problems in middle school, especially for students who experience emotional or behavioral disorders. The Classroom Performance Survey (CPS) is a brief behavior rating scale that has shown promise for use in elementary school settings, but no studies have investigated the psychometric properties of this measure in middle level schools. In the present study, 103 middle grades students at-risk for emotional or behavioral disorders were rated by their classroom teachers using the CPS. We conducted a psychometric evaluation using a multi-step analytic strategy, including confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis. Results showed that the CPS displayed evidence of a reliable two-factor structure (Academic Competence and Interpersonal Competence), predictive validity with academic outcomes (percent of assignments completed and student grades), convergent validity with established behavioral and observational measures, and sensitivity to change over time. Study results suggest positive implications for using the CPS as part of behavior intervention and monitoring efforts in middle level schools.

Beyond the Walls: Establishing Classroom Expectations in a Virtual Classroom

Classroom expectations are clearly defined explanations of behavioral and classroom performance that help create a consistent and safe learning environment. The value of setting classroom expectations has been researched for nearly 60 years and researchers have consistently found that teachers who explicitly teach expectations have students who are: on-task at higher rates, have more prosocial behaviors with peers, and overall are more academically successful than children who have not been systematically taught classroom expectations. Setting expectations is a way to define appropriate classroom behavior and to build consistency and structure among students. As result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many classrooms around the globe are experiencing higher rates of behavioral challenges than pre-pandemic levels. Costello et al. determined that during a typical school trajectory, approximately 20% of children experience some social–emotional and behavioral (SEB) concern. There are predictions that these rates will double or triple after the COVID-19 pandemi. Educators are mandated to implement evidenced-based practices and therefore, should further explore the implementation of setting expectations while their students are engaged in virtual learning, hybrid learning, and/or returning to the brick-and-mortar classroom amidst the pandemic. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that systematically teaching expectations to all students in a virtual setting is an innovative and effective teacher classroom practice that can then be carried into the brick-and-mortar classroom as students return to in-person learning.

Letting the Struggling Saudi EFL Readers Take Lead: How Teachers Transform English Language Instruction

The paper intends to divulge and argue the major reading problems Saudi students face and flaws in contemporary research that affects a lot on developing their reading skills. The problems and pitfalls related to reading skill, prime facie, seem traditional but widely discussed; hitherto, remain unsettled in the arena of language learning. The researcher tries to explore and shed light on these problems while achieving different asymptotic levels of performance, constrained and unconstrained skills to observe and experience how far and fast the Saudi EFL learners master the reading skills in and out of classroom settings at Jazan University. It is solely based on experience and observational data that the researcher has collected on his students’ everyday classroom performance. The paper also monitors how far the previous findings contributed to overcome struggling readers’ problems and improve their reading abilities and suggests how recognizing these major occurring problems may endow with an authentic and viable initiative for planning reading instruction and interventions. Hence, the present study aims to provide in-depth examination and interpretation of struggling Saudi EFL learners’ problems and challenges meting out different texts in structure and related aspects on different reading tasks. The paper concludes with some vital suggestions that would indubitably help learners and teachers practice in realia to lessen anxiety, achieve desired outcomes and evolve educational policies for language instruction, evaluation and assessment.

Does the Use of Pre‐made Digital Flashcards Aid in Medical Students Learning of Anatomy

ObjectiveThe transition from undergraduate education to undergraduate medical education is often difficult for first year medical students (MS1s) and often requires new study techniques. Spaced repetition has shown to be an effective learning method that can be achieved utilizing flashcards. While pre‐made 3rd party flashcards efficiently teach large amounts of information, discrepancies and gaps in content exist. Alternatively, making personalized cards can be time intensive. This study explored the effect of neer‐peer created flashcards on MS1s anxiety levels, metacognitive awareness and classroom performance during a Medical Gross Anatomy course.Materials and MethodsThe five second‐year medical students (MS2s) prepared digital flashcards using Anki, a widely used digital flashcard application based on spaced repetition. The Anki cards mirrored the faculty provided materials and included pictures of anatomical structures and the facts that were judged to be most important for understanding and comprehension.The Anki cards were provided to 48 MS1s enrolled in a Medical Gross Anatomy course at an engineering‐medicine allopathic medical school. To test the benefits of Anki cards, the students were given an optional survey at the end of the course.Surveys contained a copy of the Westside Test Anxiety Score (WTAS) and Anki card usage. WTAS is a 10 question survey to screen for anxiety impairments that may impact a student's test performance. For statistical analysis, the surveys grouped the students generally as, not using Anki at all, using MS2 Anki cards, and using 3rd party Anki cards.ResultsOut of the 48 MS1s who were sent the survey, 25 students responded to the survey. When asked to rate their opinion of the cards on a scale of 1‐5 (1=”not helpful”, 5=”very helpful”) 82% rated them at least a 3 and 40% rated the cards as a 5/5. 71% of students who used third party Anki cards found them “not helpful”. 52% of students who made their own cards found them “not helpful).Students who used 3rd party Anki cards exhibited greater test anxiety, with an average score of 3.88 on the WTAS (classified as “High Test Anxiety”), compared to students who did not use 3rd party cards, average score of 2.77 (classified as “Normal‐high test anxiety”) (t‐test, p <0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in test anxiety between students who used the MS2’s premade deck versus students who did not (t‐test,2.52 vs 3.05, p=.25).ConclusionThis study was aiming to determine if any benefits exist in providing MS1s with premade Anki cards based off of their medical school’s curriculum. Almost all (80%) of survey respondents found the MS2‐made Anki cards helpful in their studies. This is likely due to the confidence that the flashcards were made based on their school’s curriculum and were made by students who had previously completed the course. This is supported by the observation that students who used 3rd party decks had higher test anxiety than those who did not. This may be due to the fact that 3rd party flashcards do not align well with an individual medical school’s curriculum, resulting in students feeling unsure if they are studying the right material for their exams.Limitations included a small sample size and low survey response rate, especially for students who did not use anki.

Peer Collaboration and Review: A Guide to Iterative Improvement in Learning

In typical intellectual work, scholars collaborate with colleagues by providing feedback on ideas, methods of inquiry, observations, lessons learned, and next steps. Beginning in 1994 a series of projects provided opportunities for faculty members to collaborate on teaching and learning using this general pattern of mutual exchange of feedback. Over time individuals refined the descriptions of their intellectual work in teaching and shared them with a wider range of colleagues. The work of several hundred instructors generated a conventional format for shared reflections (known as a course portfolio) through large scale workshops organized by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Course portfolios include: statements of learning goals, descriptions of methods used to enhance student success, examples and summaries of students’ understanding, and plans for refining successive iterations of a course to continue enhancements in learning. These documents were reading sources for seminars and teaching conversations aimed at yielding greater success in students’ understanding, often being specific to individual fields of study.During the late 20th century and early 21st many faculty questioned the validity of students’ perceptions as a sole measure to identify the quality of teaching. At that time peer review of teaching typically consisted of a colleague observing a classroom session and writing an opinion of the presentation quality. To many observers there was no gain in substituting a teacher’s opinion of classroom performance for that of students, as neither included any evidence of how well students’ understanding was enhanced by the entire set of experiences and activities included in the instructional design of the course. When use of course portfolios increased for faculty collaboration and improvement of student success, some teachers included course portfolios as evidence of excellence to complement the required student ratings. Since promotion committees were not typically familiar with this emerging genre, department committees would forward external reviews of those portfolios as part of the promotion or evaluation materials. In this way the intellectual work in teaching became visible within the system of academic quality review.The criteria for excellence in teaching have evolved in the last 20 years beyond being knowledgeable in one’s field and well regarded by students. The key element is that a teacher uses evidence from students’ understanding as the guide to continuous, iterative inquiry into enhanced student success. This process includes arms’ length colleagues able and willing to give critical feedback on the documentation of improved learning, and it has also given rise to frameworks of judgment that guide consistency in criteria and descriptions of increasing levels of accomplishment within various components of successful instruction. In this way the original collaboration of peers helping each other develop has itself generated a reasonable way to gather independent peer review of excellence in instruction.