MA Program Research Articles

“Who Do We Think We Are?”

For many, professional teacher identities begin to develop purposefully and dynamically during the discussions and activities that happen during formal teacher education. Of course, identity formation begins much earlier in one’s lifetime and is influenced by variables such as biographic and cultural background, as well as life experiences. This study aims to explore the narrated identities of L1 and L2 English-speaking TESOL student teachers undertaking an MA TESOL programme at an Irish university. The data from questionnaires and focus groups, analysed through thematic corpus-based discourse analysis, reveal that three major factors contribute to the formation of the professional identities of the TESOL student teachers. These are (1) cultural identity; (2) linguistic identity; and (3) status as student teachers. Discussions highlight the specific details of each from the point of view of both L1 and L2 English-speaking student teachers. The conclusion suggests future pathways for the critical exploration of identity-related issues as a key imperative for student teachers during teacher-education programmes.

Intercultural education in the Global South: decolonising canonical intercultural models in Moroccan University MA program courses

ABSTRACT Decolonial theorists continue to argue for a de-linking from the uncontested onto-epistemic constructs of intercultural education pedagogy (IEP) in TESOL. In the Global South, intercultural education may remain largely amenable to Euro-Western culturalist/differentialist frameworks that often breed essentialism and ethnocentrism. This paper envisages decolonial intercultural education as a de-linking approach for decentring the intercultural models prescribed in the canonical textbooks and materials. Therefore, it critically engages with intercultural language teaching from a decolonial lens so as to unravel and challenge the colonial undertones that are often rendered invisible within the assigned IC materials in Moroccan MA program courses.

A Classroom Ethnographic Study on Silence among EFL Graduate Students: A Case Study

Miscellaneous investigations have been implemented to investigate the factor of silence among Asian students in the ESL and EFL contexts and has generated huge literature most of which is related to ESL/EFL students’ silence because of several cultural and social factors. The study in hand reports on an ethnographic investigation of silence attitudes among Sudanese graduate learners in the EFL graduate linguistics environments with their academic staff in Gezira University, Sudan. The study has exploited a previously developed ethnographic interview protocol as well as observations with EFL graduate students and teachers in the MA linguistics. The researcher has investigated the probable patterns of silence among Sudanese EFL learners, explored the reasons behind this phenomenon and has attempted to trace the cultural interpretations among Sudanese silence. The participants of the study were eleven first-year graduates of English (all 26-38 years old) and 6 professors. The whole sample of the study was from Gezira University situated in the central region of Sudan. Another important factor is that the participants of this study came from different parts of Sudan including Khartoum, Darfur, and Gezira State etc. All the participants have BA and BEd in English language enrolling in Gezira University MA Program. The results of the study representing sufficient empirical proof highlight/emphasize that the Face Negotiation Model (Ting-Toomey 1994; West and Turner 2010; Wang and Yang 2005) indicates that Sudanese students’ silence behaviors are reported to be determined Sudanese cultural factors including its notions of face, sense of impact and infrequent social interactions.

What should a dictionary contain to be useful for translators?

Translators are one of the main groups of dictionary users. The design, revision, and compilation of any kind of lexicographic or terminographic resource for translators should thus be based on their specific needs. To this end, the research examined the importance attributed by 221 BA and MA trainee translators to the various types of information in a dictionary entry, with a view to determining which are most useful for translation. Also identified were the differences between an ideal entry for translators and one for the general public. The results showed that the students’ answers varied depending on their year of study, as well as whether they were on the BA or MA program. The data collection tool was a self-reported questionnaire. The dictionary information most valued by trainee translators was usage contexts, definitions, phraseology, and translation equivalents. Furthermore, students at higher academic levels attributed more importance to usage contexts and phraseology. This study highlights the need to include phraseological and contextual information in the entries of translation-oriented dictionaries.

STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF FACTORS AFFECTING THE MA APPLIED LINGUISTICS PROGRAM AT ADEN FACULTY OF EDUCATION

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of MA students regarding the factors that affect the MA Applied Linguistics Program at the Faculty of Education- Aden, University of Aden, Yemen. Specifically, the study focused on the faculty, supervisors, and collaboration between departments of higher education within the country's universities. Data was collected from 30 MA students enrolled in the MA program in Applied Linguistics. The findings revealed that the MA Degree is highly influenced by many factors. Among the factors found are access to digital resources, the internet, and well-equipped libraries. The study provided suggestions and recommendations that could be put forth to the quality assurance and given urgent attention to improve the quality of the program.

The Curriculum of Erstwhile MA (English) Program: Reviewing the Canonicity of English Literature in Pakistani Public-Sector Universities

The Curriculum of Erstwhile MA (English) Program: Reviewing the Canonicity of English Literature in Pakistani Public-Sector Universities

Collaborative possibilities of CAT tools in the revision process

In many MA programmes, input about translation technology is provided in dedicated courses that run parallel to the practical courses. In a session in a revision course module, co-taught by the translation technology lecturer and a translation lecturer, students discovered the collaborative possibilities that CAT tools can offer.

The quest for the ideal business translator profile in the Romanian context

Abstract An ideal translator profile is a crucial issue for both translation providers, who want to deliver impeccable performance, and translation beneficiaries, whose purpose is to obtain flawless services. In the context of Romanian higher education, two distinct educational profiles of providers are distinguished in the business translation market: graduates of Philology, who have been trained in translation (3-year BA and 2-year MA programmes in Translation Studies), and graduates of Faculties of Economics or Business who have undertaken 3-year and/or 2-year MA study programmes in a foreign language. Showing the results of a study conducted with groups of third year Bachelor students of the University of Craiova, Romania (students in Translation Studies and students in the Finance and Banking English-taught programme), across a 3-year period (2015–2017), our research aims at providing answers to the following questions: To what extent does each of these two profiles match the ideal one of a business translator? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each of the two training profiles? What specific actions can and should be taken for each of the two target groups in terms of university training?

Toward Teaching Innovatively: L2 Teachers’ Belief Change and Development

Abstract Rapid technological advances and enhanced global cooperation have led to tremendous changes in access to information and new modes of communication and, hence, calls have been made for instantaneous adjustments in education (Fullan, 2007). Despite global access to internet-enhanced modes of communication and up-to-date information on all subjects – including those relating to new and effective approaches to pedagogy – traditional teacher-centered teaching prevails in many EFL contexts. This is the case even though this approach to teaching has been insufficient to address challenges in EFL teaching. This study explores how the teaching beliefs of 12 EFL teachers changed as they learned to teach innovatively and to teach with features of learner-centeredness and L2 interaction. In the context of a MA program capstone course, the teachers were introduced to the essential elements, such as learner-centeredness and L2 interaction, involved in four approaches to teaching innovatively: task-based language teaching, problem-posing, scripting and oral interpretation, and extensive reading. The data analyzed comprised the teachers’ belief reports, written reflections on teaching interactively, interview accounts, and the teacher educator’s observational notes. The results of this study revealed changes in teachers’ beliefs about innovative teaching with the aforementioned features, the influential forces bringing about the change, and teachers’ growing expertise in using and drawing on concepts in teaching practice.

Medicare Advantage: Growth Amidst Mounting Scrutiny.

The Medicare Advantage Program, home to nearly half of the eligible Medicare population, has recently come under increased scrutiny. The Government Accountability Office called on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to monitor "disenrollment of MA beneficiaries in the last year of life, validate MA-provided encounter data, and strengthen audits used to identify and recover improper payments to MA plans." The House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Energy & Commerce, dedicated a hearing to "Protecting America's Seniors: Oversight of Private Sector Medicare Advantage Plans." In addition, a recently conducted audit of the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services raised concerns over "denials of prior authorization requests" and "beneficiary access to medically necessary care." In this article we consider the backdrop for the growing scrutiny of the MA program and the implications thereof to its future trajectory.

Ensuring Sustainable Academic Development of L2 Postgraduate Students and MA Programs: Challenges and Support in Thesis Writing for L2 Chinese Postgraduate Students

This study, based on Activity Theory, investigated the challenges and support for L2 Chinese postgraduate students in their master’s degree (MA) thesis writing. The five participants, currently PhD candidates in applied linguistics, shared their experiences of MA thesis writing. The data include multiple drafts of theses and semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis reveals that these participants went through four kinds of challenges: (1) selecting the research topic and theoretical basis; (2) meeting the high requirements of MA theses, using new research tools, and overcoming linguistic barriers; (3) writing the literature review; and (4) writing the discussion. The findings reveal the challenges were caused by four levels of inner contradictions in activity systems. The main support was provided by their supervisors, whose tailored help was more effective than the related courses they took. More sources of support came from their fellow students, the assessment panels of the research proposal, and the thesis defense. The analysis illustrated how these participants managed to receive support by interacting with the academic community. This study is expected to shed light on postgraduate education in general and the sustainable development of individual students and MA programs. Its implications may not only benefit Chinese L2 postgraduate students and their supervisors but also those in similar EFL contexts.

AFNR educators’ experiences in an MA program

AFNR educators’ experiences in an MA program

Cosmopolitanism and social dominance orientation mediate relationship between political orientation and sexism

Over the past decade, ‘anti-gender discourse’ has been institutionalised by the governing right-wing party in Hungary to a wide effect, from the removal of accreditation from a gender studies MA program to the Parliament's refusal to ratify the Istanbul Convention. The anti-egalitarian backlash echoes those emergent in other countries where right-wing populism has gained ground — such as Poland, Turkey, India, the United States, and Brazil. The present study examined the role of two opposite orientations, cosmopolitanism as an egalitarian worldview and social dominance orientation as the preference for hierarchies and inequality among groups and people in general, in mediating the relationship between political orientation and sexism among a representative Hungarian sample (N = 1000). The path analysis revealed that left-wing political orientation was associated with higher levels of cosmopolitan orientation, while right-wing political orientation was associated with higher levels of SDO. Higher levels of cosmopolitan orientation were associated with a more positive attitude toward feminists and lower levels of modern sexism and gender-based zero-sum thinking, while higher levels of SDO were associated with the opposite. Furthermore, cosmopolitan orientation mediated the relationship between political orientation and modern sexism and attitudes toward feminists, while SDO mediated the relationship between political orientation and modern sexism and gender-based zero-sum thinking. Our study emphasizes the important role of cosmopolitan orientation in opposing SDO and promoting a more egalitarian worldview.

PRE-SERVICE EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION OF TEACHING COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT OVER THE TESOL COURSE

The English teaching practice is an essential part of a TESOL methodology course as it can offer TESOL students or pre-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers valuable experience in actual teaching environments. Additionally, TESOL methodology courses play a crucial role in providing pre-service EFL teachers with excellent chances to master their professional knowledge to become competent language teachers in the future. In this regard, pre-service teachers’ improvement in knowledge, attitudes, and professional skills in teaching English is of vital importance to their teaching career since they assist pre-service EFL teachers in displaying teaching abilities. This study aimed at examining pre-service teachers’ perception of their teaching competency development after taking 45 periods of the English teaching course, which is a compulsory course in the MA program. 121 pre-service EFL teachers, whose majors are TESOL methodology, answered the self-assessment questionnaire survey in this study. The SPSS software was utilized for data analysis. The findings disclosed that pre-service EFL teachers believed that their teaching competencies were developed after learning the teaching practice course. Specifically, they improved their knowledge and teaching skills so as to attract students to their lessons. Pedagogical implications are suggested for policymakers and teacher trainers to enhance pre-service EFL teachers’ teaching competencies based on the preliminary results of the current study.

Task-Based Needs Analysis: Identifying Gaps Between Cultivation Scheme of BE MA Program and Market Demands: A Case Study of GDUFS BE Program

Cultivation scheme is the foundation of the teaching. With an increasing demand of professional English talents, needs analysis of market demands has become a significant basis for the development of Business English teaching. Despite the growing popularity of Business English (BE), needs analysis combining cultivation scheme and markets demands has rarely been carried out. Based on the the cultivation scheme of BE MA program of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS) and wants ads collected online, this study aims to identify gaps between the cultivation scheme and market demands in Guangdong. Adopting the Key to employability Model and competence model, the present study investigates the following three questions: (1) what is the market demands for professional BE talents? (2) Is there a gaps between the overall cultivation scheme of BE MA programs in GDUFS and the market demands for BE talents? If there is a gaps, what’s the discrepancy between the cultivation scheme of BE MA program and the market demands and how to improve the current cultivation scheme? (3) How to realize the program mission of the modified cultivation scheme? The results reveal that objectives of GDUFS BE Postgraduates program cultivation scheme should be improved and can be modified according to the General Model of BE Postgraduates’ Abilities. Some practical suggestions regarding the revision and realization of the cultivation scheme of BE MA program of GDUFS are put forward. The research results have reference value for universities to adjust their orientations to meet the market demands.

Surveying TEFL MA students’ attitude towards research and research methodology course: a mixed research approach

ABSTRACT Research Methodology (RM) is the backbone of any TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) MA programme. Although a burgeoning body of research has investigated students’ attitude towards research and RM course in various disciplines, students’ attitudes towards research and research methods courses in TEFL research has remained a relatively unexplored area. This mixed-methods study aimed to contribute to this gap in the present research literature. To this end, we administered a 33-item close-ended questionnaire with two open-ended questions to 171 TEFL MA students studying at Iranian universities. IBM SPSS (version 26) was used to analyse quantitative data, and MAXQDA (version 2020) was used to analyse qualitative data. The integrated findings revealed a substantial interest in research and highlighted the right attitude towards RM courses. However, the findings singled out the barriers and impediments EFL students encountered during MA studies. We provide implications for EFL policymakers, EFL departments, and research instructors.

Stanislavsky and the Russian acting and directing tradition in twenty-first century Greece: the work of Stathis Livathinos

ABSTRACT In this article, the author explores the direct links of the Russian acting and directing tradition to the Greek field as they were introduced through the Experimental Stage of the National Theatre of Greece (2001–07) and the Acting and Directing Workshop of the National Theatre (2001–2004). Both endeavours were under the auspices of the National Theatre, and were inspired, structured, and managed by Stathis Livathinos, who had studied at GITIS and aspired to create an ensemble that worked and experimented together. In this framework, Livathinos gathered a group of approximately 24 actors and 14 actors who aspired to become directors and introduced to them anew Stanislavsky’s ideas and teaching as well as to the recent developments of the Russian directing and acting tradition. The Experimental Stage, during those 3 years, produced more than 10 productions, including a production of Medea in the theatre of Epidaurus. From the Workshop, which was, essentially, an MA educational programme, graduated around 15 actors and six directors – three of whom were women. This Workshop was the preamble of the National Theatre School of Directing established in 2018 by Livathinos, when he was General and Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Greece.

Publicly Reported Quality Performance for Dual-eligible Special Needs Plans, 2010–2019

ABSTRACT As enrollment increases in Dual-eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs) that exclusively enroll low-income Medicare beneficiaries with Medicaid coverage, better evidence is needed about quality of care in these managed care plans. Using 2010–2019 publicly reported Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures, we found that median HEDIS performance scores were usually slightly worse for D-SNPs than the overall MA program with some reductions in quality performance gaps between 2010 and 2019. D-SNPs had more incomplete performance reporting than MA contracts, especially for measures focused on clinical conditions. Medicare Advantage reporting requirements should require greater transparency about performance in D-SNPs.

‘It’s a language politic’: Sri Lankan English and linguistic hierarchies in the English language classroom

ABSTRACT This study investigates the language ideologies of eight in-service English teachers in Sri Lanka in order to understand how these teachers approach the plural Englishes in their classrooms. Specifically, this article traces, three years after World Englishes-oriented linguistics coursework, these instructors’ beliefs about the existence and appropriate use of Sri Lankan Englishes (SLE), and how participating teachers’ beliefs are hegemonic or counter-hegemonic, adhering to or contesting a linguistic hierarchy that privileges ‘native speaker’ varieties using data from semi-structured interviews (Appendix). The data suggest that the participating teachers, despite their shared MA program in teaching English as a second language, have a wide range of understandings of SLE which tend to be complex and unclear, often tangling together ideas of language variety, formality, and proficiency, echoing disagreement among language scholars. The data further suggest that teachers’ choices about promoting SLE in the language classroom are influenced both by their professional and personal experiences of linguistic prejudice and their sense of agency in their teaching context. Ultimately, to address the devaluation of postcolonial forms like SLE, teacher educators must directly confront both this slippery definition and teachers’ sense of social pressure toward ‘standard’ English.

Case studies in Romanian teacher education: flipped classroom and microteaching opportunities

This paper aims to problematize and conceptualize the teaching approaches used by two trainers in the Applied Linguistics MA program at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania. Data collection was undertaken during the first semester of the academic year 2017-2018 for approximately two months during which I attended the first module of my master’s studies as a post-graduate student. The approach adopted combines a conventional literature review with the examination and discussion of two case studies incorporating post-observation field notes and teacher questionnaires for the purpose of triangulating data and methods. The paper lists findings consistent with the idea that the Romanian teacher education program helps trainees develop a reflective stance on their pedagogical practices through micro-teaching and presentation opportunities. Both courses have similar ultimate aims and rely on a non-hierarchical teacher-student relationship, using teaching and presentation sessions embedded in the training classroom to bridge the gap between theory and practice. The ultimate aim of the present study is not to persuade anyone to flip a classroom or let students embark on micro-teaching, but rather to provide potential readers with feasible resources should they decide to modify a university course or a pre-university lesson using one of the approaches described herein.