Student Cohesiveness Research Articles

Social Cohesion of Padang City Vocational School Students

Brawls among students in various regions of Indonesia are still often the main topic in various media. Even though student brawls are not new in Indonesia, in recent years, the community has felt uneasy because brawls increasingly threaten a sense of security in the community. When explored further, a lack of student social cohesion causes student brawl. This study aims to provide an overview of the social cohesion of vocational students in Padang. This research is a descriptive study with a quantitative approach using a data collection instrument in the form of a social cohesion questionnaire with a validity greater than 0,404 and a reliability of 0,936. The subjects of this study were vocational high school students in Padang. The subjects were chosen by simple random sampling technique. This study applied data analysis with descriptive analysis. The results of this study indicate that the students' social cohesion consists of various dimensions. Each dimension has a different percentage. Dimension Inclusion has the lowest percentage that is 10%, dimension Participation as a percentage of 23%, dimension Recognition and Appreciation has a percentage of 25%, and dimension Sense of Belonging has the highest percentage, which is 42%.

AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL COHESION IN STUDENTS’ WRITING (A Case Study in the Eleventh Year Students of SMAN 1 Garut)

This study focused on AN ANALYSIS OF GRAMMATICAL COHESION IN STUDENTS’ WRITING. It aims to discover what kinds of grammatical cohesive devices used in students’ writing recount text and how these grammatical cohesive devices are used in the students’ writing recount text. To achieve the aims of this research, the researcher used qualitative as research method and case study design. The data source of this research is the eleventh grade students of SMAN 1 Garut that consist of 10 students as participant. The writer has chosen 3 students from high-achiever, 4 students from middle achiever, and 3 students from lower-achiever. For collecting data, the writer used writing test. The writer put the data based on kinds of grammatical cohesion. The writer identified and classified each sentence in data, and the writer analyzed them by using theory from Halliday and Hasan (1976), Halliday&Mathiessen (2004), Bloor & Bloor (2004), Eggins (2004). The result of this study showed that all type of grammatical cohesion appeared in students’ recount text, but the use of substitution and ellipsis were rarely used by students in writing recount text while the use of reference and substitution were often used in students’ writing

Analysis of Referential Cohesion in L2 Written Narratives Within an English Immersion Education Context

This study explored the effects of English immersion education on referential cohesion in L2 writing. To measure the discourse competence arising from a curricular difference, referential use was chosen to be investigated in order to find the effect of English immersion education. Written personal narratives of 29 students in an immersion school and 35 students in regular high schools were examined to compare the two groups’ use of reference. The only significant group difference was found in the use of zero anaphora. In order to extend their writing as well as construct cohesion in their writing, the students in the immersion school used zero anaphora more often than those in the regular high school. In addition, the regular high school students showed a tendency to produce more errors with third-person singulars and demonstratives. These differences can be attributed to curriculum differences, and in particular to English immersion education’s greater language input, which facilitates textual cohesion in immersion students’ writing.

Assisting students' writing with computer-based concept map feedback: A validation study of the CohViz feedback system.

CohViz is a feedback system that provides students with concept maps as feedback on the cohesion of their writing. Although previous studies demonstrated the effectiveness of CohViz, the accuracy of CohViz remains unclear. Thus, we conducted two comprehensive validation studies to assess the accuracy of CohViz in terms of its reliability and validity. In a reliability study, we compared the concept maps generated by CohViz with concept maps generated by four human expert raters based on a text corpus comprising students' explanatory texts (N = 100). Regarding the depiction of cohesion gaps, we obtained high accordance between the CohViz concept maps and the concept maps generated by the human expert raters. However, CohViz tended to overestimate the number of relations within the concept maps. In a validity study, we examined the validity of CohViz and compared central features of the CohViz concept maps with convergent linguistic features and divergent linguistic features based on a Wikipedia text corpus (N = 1020). We found medium to high agreement with the convergent cohesion features and low agreement with the divergent features. Together, these findings suggest that CohViz can be regarded as an accurate feedback system to provide feedback on the cohesion of students' writing.

THE FACTORS INFLUENCING GROUP COHESION AT HUMANITARIAN AND TECHNICAL STUDENTS’ GROUPS

The article studies the factors influencing group cohesion at humanitarian and technical students’ groups. The survey included 324 students of Vasily Stus National University in Donetsk and Vinnitsa State Pedagogical University. The study was carried out using the following methods: the method estimating development of small groups, Rogers-Diamond techniques estimating social and psychological adaptation, Schwartz Value Survey, Leontiev’s test of life-meaningful orientations, Guildford's “Social Intelligence” test, and Danilchenko’s subjective well-being technique. These methods allowed measuring and exploring the features of group cohesion, as well as the characteristics of a group and personal characteristics of its members. SPSS statistical package was used for data processing, in particular, frequency, correlation and regression analyses. We found out from the performed research that groups of student in different specialties had different characteristics. Humanitarian students were characterized by high group development, adaptation, self-acceptance, acceptance of others, emotional comfort, internality, high awareness and emotional intelligence, they assessed the psychological climate in their groups as good. Humanitarian students were more successful communicators. They could use the maximum information about people’s behaviour, understood the non-verbal communicative language, and successfully predicted behaviour of others. In turn, students in technical specialties were characterized by a strong desire to dominate, escapism and a desire for security. The performed regression analysis showed that the factors of group cohesion of humanities students and technical students were also different. Group cohesion of humanitarian students was determined exclusively by group motivation. Technical students needed group motivation, a tendency toward affiliation and a positive assessment by their group. These factors will determine in the future an individual’s social status in a group.

Investigating Network Coherence to Assess Students’ Conceptual Understanding of Energy

Conceptual knowledge is a crucial tool for students to understand scientific phenomena. Knowledge about the structure and function of mental concepts potentially helps science educators to foster the acquisition of this tool. Specifically, the coherence of students’ mental concepts is an intensely discussed issue within the related conceptual change discourse. While former discussions focused on the question of whether these conceptions are coherent or not, recent approaches describe them as dynamic systems behaving more or less coherently in different situations. In this contribution, we captured this dynamic behavior of individual concepts by means of network analysis. Transcribed video data of 16 pairs of students working on four subsequent experiments on energy were transformed into weighted networks, which in turn were characterized by standardized coherence parameters. These coherence parameters and more basic network parameters were correlated with students’ pre-post scores of a multiple-choice test on the energy concept. We found that the coherence parameter is significantly related to the students’ test scores. Even more intense relations are indicated if networks are calculated solely based on conceptual key terms. Implications as well as methodological constraints of this approach are discussed.

Family Cohesion Facilitates Learning-Related Behaviors and Math Competency at the Transition to Elementary School

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Children differ in their ability to adapt to elementary school. Yet, the family factors that foster a successful transition to elementary school are less well understood. Family cohesion as an indicator of a positive emotional climate within families may play an important role for children’s ability to adapt to school. Thus, using data from the German National Education Panel Study (NEPS), in a 2-year longitudinal study conducted with a cohort of 357 5 to 7-year-old children and their parents from Germany, we have investigated the role of family cohesion in students’ learning-related behaviors and math competency during the transition to elementary school. Results indicated that the relationship between family cohesion in kindergarten and students’ second grade math competency was significantly mediated by students’ learning-related behaviors in first grade. Results highlight the importance of a positive family climate in early life for the development of children’s learning-related behaviors and their later academic success in mathematics. Practice or Policy: Family cohesion is a process-oriented indicator of the family context, which is more malleable than family demographics or socioeconomic status. Therefore, family cohesion might be an important element to consider in intervention programs designed to improve children’s early learning-related skills and math competency.

An Assessment of Cohesion and Coherence in Students’ Descriptive and Narrative Essays: The Case of Sodo Preparatory School Grade Eleven Students’

This study is aimed to assess the students’ use of cohesion and coherence in their descriptive and narrative essays. It was conducted at Sodo Preparatory School on grade 11 students. The descriptive research design was employed to achieve the intended aim of the study. In this study, 30 grade eleven students were selected as participants through simple random sampling technique. Document analysis was used to collect data from the sample students. The data collected through document analysis was analyzed qualitatively based on the analysis parameters of cohesive devices; such as, substitution ellipsis, reference, conjunction and lexical cohesion to determine meaningfully (coherently) written students’ essays. The findings revealed that students’ used a variety of cohesive devices in each genre of writing except ellipsis and they employed all the other sub categories of cohesive devices in their (descriptive and narrative) essays. However, among the frequently used cohesive devices, the largest numbers of connectors were inappropriately instanced regarding the total use of devices. The students’ inappropriate use of cohesive devices mainly appeared with conjunction, followed by reference, lexical cohesion, and substitution signals. As a result, the essays lacked consistent key expressions, clear purpose of the statement, and the logical shift from one sentence to the other. Based these findings, conclusions and recommendations were made.

An Assessment of Cohesion and Coherence in Students’ Descriptive and Narrative Essays: The Case of Sodo Preparatory School Grade Eleven Students’

This study is aimed to assess the students’ use of cohesion and coherence in their descriptive and narrative essays. It was conducted at Sodo preparatory school on grade 11 students. The study employed the descriptive research design. In this study, 30 grade eleven students were selected as participants through simple random sampling technique. Document analysis was used to collect data from the sample students. The data collected through document analysis were analyzed qualitatively based on the analysis parameters of cohesive substitution, ellipsis, reference, conjunction and lexical cohesion to determine meaningfully (coherently) written students’ essays. The findings revealed that students’ used a variety of cohesive devices in each genre of writing except ellipsis and they employed all sub categories of cohesive signals in their (descriptive and narrative) essays. However, among the frequently used cohesive devices, the largest numbers of connectors were inappropriately instanced regarding the total use of devices. The students’ inappropriate use of cohesive devices mainly appeared with conjunction, followed by reference, lexical cohesion, and substitution signals. As a result, the essays lacked consistent key expressions, clear purpose of the statement, and the logical shift from one sentence to the other. Based these findings, conclusions and recommendations were made. Keywords: Cohesion, Coherence, Descriptive and Narrative Essays. DOI : 10.7176/JLLL/64-05 Publication date: January 31 st 2020

Relationship Between Science Classroom Psychosocial Learning Environment and Secondary School Students’ Motivation

The learning environment of a classroom plays an integral role in students’ life. If a student’s surrounding environment is good then they perform well in studies. Learning environments are of different types like physical environment, social environment, psychological environment, instructional environment and psychosocial environment. Among these, Psychosocial learning environment is very important. It not only encourages the science learners to learn new things but also enhances their motivation for science learning. The aim of this study is to investigate of relationship between science classroom psychosocial learning environment and secondary school students ‘motivation. The research design used is descriptive and quantitative in nature. Population of the study consisted of 10th grade Secondary School Students’ who enrolled in all the campuses of District public school Okara during academic session 2016-2018.The total numbers of students were 1146.The random sampling technique was used to select the sample. Two Questionnaires were used to collect the data about the perceptions of students for psychosocial environment and motivation. Collected data were tabulated in SPSS (version24) and then analyzed by using one sample t-test, and two way between groups analysis of variance (Two-way ANOVA). Significant difference between science classroom psychosocial learning environment and secondary school students’ motivation in science classes was found for Student Cohesiveness, Teacher Support, Involvement, and Equity.

Expectations and Experiences of Technology-Rich Classrooms of Preservice and In-service Teachers in China

Technology-Rich Classrooms (TRCs) have been increasingly constructed in K12 schools. Existing studies revealed that to what extent TRCs play a role in shaping teaching and learning depends on what teachers expect to do and what they do with TRCs. This study aimed at exploring the gap between teachers’ experiences of existing TRCs and their expectations of ideal TRCs. A total of 194 preservice teachers studying at Beijing Normal University (BNU) and 149 in-service teachers who enrolled in a master program at BNU participated in the study. The Smart Classroom Inventory (SCI) a ten-component inventory revised from the previous study, was used to collect the data. Independent-samples t-tests and paired-samples t-tests revealed that: (a) both preservice teachers and in-service teachers reported significantly lower experiences of TRCs than their expectations of ideal ones in terms of most dimensions, with the only exception that preservice teachers’ Technology usage. (b) Whether in existing TRCs, or in ideal ones, both preservice teachers and in-service teachers reported relative lower scores of Flexibility, Learning data, Differentiation, Investigation, and Cooperation than other dimensions. (c) Preservice teachers reported significantly higher scores of Flexibility, Technology usage, Learning data, Differentiation, Investigation, and Cooperation than in-service teachers, while in-service teachers reported significantly higher scores of Physical design, Student Cohesiveness, Equity, and Learning experiences than preservice teachers.4) Preservice teachers reported significantly higher expectation of ideal Physical design, Differentiation than in-service teachers, while they reported significantly lower expectations of ideal Flexibility, Student Cohesiveness, Equity, and Learning experience than in-service teachers. Implications for preservice teachers’ education and in-service teachers’ professional development were discussed.

Relationship between the Chinese Language Classroom Environment and Students' Motivation to Learn Mandarin in Malaysia

Associations between the nature of Mandarin Classroom Environments and Malaysian Chinese Independent High school students' motivation to learn Mandarin was investigated using a perceptual measure approach. A sample of 460 grade 8 students from 4 Independent Chinese High schools were involved in the study. The Mandarin Classroom Environment Inventory (CLCEI) (Chua, 2004) was used to investigate teachers' and students' perceptions towards their Mandarin classroom learning environments in six dimensions, namely 'Student Cohesiveness', 'Teacher Support', 'Involvement', 'Cooperation', 'Task Orientation' and 'Equity'. Students' motivation to learn Mandarin was examined using the Chinese Language Motivation Scale (CLMOTS) (Soh, 1993). Two statistical procedures, simple correlational analysis and multiple regression analysis, were used to examine the relationships between students' motivation to learn Mandarin and the nature of their Mandarin classroom learning environments. The results show that students' motivation to learn Mandarin was positively correlated with all the six learning environment dimensions. Multiple regression analysis show that students' motivation to learn Mandarin was associated with three dimensions of the learning environments, 'Teacher Support', 'Task Orientation', and Equity. Task Orientation had the most significant association with students' motivation to learn Mandarin.

Improving children’s textual cohesion and writing attitude in a game-based writing environment

This study describes the use of a game-based writing environment (GWE) to increase textual cohesion in students’ writing and improve their writing attitude. The participants were 113 third-grade students in Taiwan; the study was conducted over two semesters. A GWE was used for the experimental group (n = 56), and a conventional writing environment was used for the control group (n = 57). Both environments were constructed using the Reading for Creating and Talking for Revising writing model, which has helped students overcome writing difficulties. The GWE provided management-related game elements and a game-based feedback mechanism in the form of peer response and created a setting in which students could engage in more writing activity, pay more attention to their writing, and improve their writing skills. The results indicated that the experimental group performed better than the control group in referential cohesion and in terms of their affective, challenge, and qualified attitudes. We speculate that the GWE strengthens students’ textual cohesion and writing attitude.

Nature of learning environment in concurrent enrollment mathematics classrooms: a cluster analysis

Concurrent enrollment programs, which allow college credit-bearing classes to be offered in the high school taught by qualified high-school teachers, are a potential solution to the student debt issues impacting the United States and other countries. However, the learning environments of these rapidly-growing programs have never been studied. Because concurrent enrollment classes are taught in high schools with college-level rigour, they present a learning environment that is distinct from both high-school and college classrooms. This study had two broad goals of (1) determining if the What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument for the concurrent enrollment environment and, if so, (2) investigating the learning environments of 68 concurrent enrollment teachers’ classrooms using the WIHIC. The WIHIC was found to be valid and reliable, and cluster analysis of the concurrent enrollment classes revealed three distinct types of learning environments which we labeled ‘most conducive’ for learning, ‘conducive’ and ‘least conducive’. A follow-up discriminant function analysis revealed that the WIHIC scales of teacher support, involvement and student cohesion were most influential in determining cluster membership.

Sentido de coherencia y estilo de vida promotor de salud en estudiantes del noroeste de México

Objetivo: analizar el sentido de coherencia y su relación con el estilo de vida promotor de salud en estudiantes de una universidad pública en Sonora, México.Metodología: estudio descriptivo y correlacional, participaron 44 estudiantes de las carreras de ciencias de la computación, física y geología. Se empleó una cédula de datos sociodemográficos, la Escala Sentido de Coherencia 13 y el Cuestionario Estilo de Vida II. Se efectuó análisis de datos con medidas de tendencia central y de dispersión, se utilizó el test chi-cuadrado y coeficiente de correlación de Spearman, con un nivel de significancia de alfa 0.05.Resultados: la edad promedio de los estudiantes fue de 20 años, 70,5% eran hombres y solteros, un 52,3% mostró sentido de coherencia global bajo predominando en hombres (54,8%). Un 56,8% obtuvo un estilo de vida promotor de salud insuficiente, mayormente en mujeres (69,2%). El sentido de coherencia tuvo correlación positiva significativa con el estilo de vida promotor de salud (p < 0,05).Conclusiones: la etapa de transición a la vida universitaria es un período importante y crítico para los estudiantes, es prioritario establecer programas de promoción y educación para la salud con enfoque salutogénico, con el propósito de fortalecer el uso de los recursos disponibles y desarrollar un sentido de coherencia más fuerte en los estudiantes, fomentando un estilo de vida promotor de salud permanente.

Thematic Progression in Acehnese EFL Learner-Produced Texts

This study reports the thematic progression of the EFL learner- produced texts in Acehnese context. The study employed qualitative method focusing on the content analysis. The content analysis technique was incorporated to analyse the corpora of 40 learner-produced texts. The findings of the study highlight both prevalent and problematic thematic progression patterns in the students’ texts. The EFL learners are inclined to use the constant theme pattern with less consistency of accuracy in longer paragraphs. With regard to the problematic patterns, the students tend to find difficulties in developing the ideas throughout the texts. This is shown through the emergence of many brand new themes and empty rhemes which result in incohesive and incoherent texts. The overall findings suggest that introducing the theme- rheme pattern concept to the students in English writing classes can be useful for improving the cohesion of the EFL students’ writings.

Differential effectiveness of alternative middle-school science sequences for students of different ethnicities

For a sample of 367 middle-school students in the USA, learning environment criteria were used to evaluate two alternative science curriculum sequences (generalised/integrated and topic-based) and to investigate the differential effectiveness of the alternative sequences for two different ethnic groups (Caucasian and Hispanic). The six scales used were Personal Relevance, Student Cohesiveness, Teacher Support, Investigation/Involvement, Task Orientation, and Enjoyment of Science. Science was enjoyed more by both Caucasian and Hispanic students experiencing the topic-based sequence (effect size of 0.74 standard deviations). In terms of task orientation, Hispanic students benefitted more from the general curriculum model, but the two curriculum sequences were equally effective for Caucasian students.

Thematic Progression in Students’ Descriptive Texts

Thematic progression is important in coherence to be considered as good text. So, it needs the element of thematic progression or it can be called theme and rheme. Theme and rheme constitutes the main part of clause, because comprehending the thematic progression may help to understand whole clause. The coherence text should also be necessary written by students in senior high school in Batujajar. This investigation is conducted to consider the thematic progression and coherence in descriptive text. The purpose of this research is to identify types of thematic progression in students’ descriptive text and the levels of coherence in students’ descriptive text. The researchers use descriptive quantitative method.. The data are all clauses from paragraphs on text. The result of the result shows that there are two of three models of thematic progression found, namely zig-zag theme and re-iteretion. In addition, the finding also found that there are three level coherence in every students’ descriptive text such as a good, fair, and less levels coherence.

Out of the Hood, But Not Out of the Woods: The School Engagement and Cohesion of Black Students Based on Exposure to Violence and Victimization

This study examines how violence exposure and victimization (VEV) influences the school engagement and racial cohesion of Black college students. Although VEV has been investigated for its impact on the academic outcomes of Black K-12 students, these issues have not been sufficiently explored in college students. Further, understanding racial cohesion and racial dissonance can elucidate culturally cognizant meaning-making processes that influence Black students’ response to VEV and school engagement. Based on the findings of 242 Black college students from throughout the United States, a 2-step cluster analysis revealed 4 distinct school engagement profiles based on GPA, extracurricular activities and NCAA sports involvement. The results indicated that VEV and racial cohesion was in fact related to Black college student’s engagement. It appears that Black students may respond to high VEV by becoming very engaged in extracurricular activities. Participants that focused solely on academics had the lowest racial cohesion, which may indicate that disengaging from the social and extracurricular activities on campus also includes disengagement from the Black community. Those with the most well-rounded engagement had the highest racial cohesion. University psychologists and administrators should be aware that students with high VEV might gravitate towards extracurricular activities (for support) at the expense of their grades, placing them at risk for academic failure. On the other hand, racial cohesion’s positive relationship with well-rounded student engagement indicates that sociopolitical development activities should be strongly supported.

The Use of Substitution and Its Contribution to the Text Cohesion in Students’ Expository Texts

The present study intends to investigate the use of substitution in students’ expository texts. It covers the types of substitution used by the students in their expository texts and the contribution of substitution to the texts’ cohesion. This study uses qualitative research through case study design. The participants in this study are nine students of twelfth grade in a public senior high school in Kuningan. The data in the present study are the documents of students’ expository texts. The data are analyzed by using the frameworks of cohesive devices proposed by Halliday and Hasan (1976). The findings indicate that there is only one substitution found in this study namely nominal substitution. The present study also delineates that the use of substitution contributes to the process of avoiding repetition and text redundancy. Furthermore, it can be concluded that the use and the contribution of substitution in students’ expository texts are still considered low. Thus, the encouragement is very necessary for the students to use appropriate substitution to make their texts more cohesive.