Polish Secondary School Students Research Articles

Verbalisations of Emotions in the Sociolect of Secondary School Students in the Light of Survey Research

The article contains the results of a survey on words within one of the lexical-semantic fields that can be distinguished among Polish secondary school students – the issue of using messages regarding effects/feelings in informal situations. The aim of the study was to isolate units of articles regarding emotions and their descriptions. Source material for the 1765 survey. Follow-up additional advanced testing descriptive section. The quantitative range is indicated as fields, and its exclusion is displayed based on the survey results. Featured include: colloquialisms (chicken face, embarrassment); profanity (whore); descriptions of the internal state and situation (I made a blunder, it was a disaster); loanwords and their innovations (lofciam, wiksa). The collected material makes it possible to present and partially discuss lexemes, nominative phrases, utterances and sentences used by students from selected secondary schools. The content presented in the article is real material obtained during several years of research.

Ocena kompetencji informacyjnych uczniów liceum – przykład toruński

Information literacy lies at the heart of lifelong learning and is a prerequisite for effective participation in an information society. This article discusses the level of information literacy skills observed among Polish secondary school students, based on the example of two secondary schools in Toruń, with the information literacy of the study population identified and characterised using the SCONUL Seven Pillars of Information Literacy model, and also compared with the students’ self-assessment of their information skills and knowledge. The majority of students were classified as competent, having mastered information skills to a satisfactory degree in most of the pillars analysed, although competency areas in need of educational efforts were also identified.

Involvement of Young People in Extracurricular Activities in General Education Secondary School – an Opportunity for their Balanced Development

The article addresses important issues related to the daily educational experiences of Polish secondary school students. In the first place it focuses on the general concepts conveyed by the title, such as balanced development, extracurricular activities, and volunteering. The theoretical and exploratory purpose as well as practical and implementation related goals have been formulated. The main research problem was defined as follows: What was secondary school students’ involvement in extracurricular activities in school, in the context of their opportunities for balanced development? The study applied a method of diagnostic assessment, a survey technique and a specially designed questionnaire. The survey was conducted in May and June 2022 among 286 secondary school students in the Podkarpackie Region. Majority of the respondents did not engage in extracurricular activities. The students who were involved in some kind of extracurricular activity most often perceived various gains for themselves. The most popular were volunteering projects organised by the school. The students reported that involvement in extracurricular activities most often allowed them to gain knowledge, develop skills and help other people. The gains perceived by the respondents can contribute to their balanced development.

Perceived hypocrisy and deconversion in adolescents. The mediating role of irrational beliefs and identity styles

ABSTRACT Deconversion is a biographical change in which one goes from claiming adherence to a religion to departing from it. A meaning system model can help us understand the processes through which deconversion occurs. Drawing on that framework, we explored how perceiving hypocrisy in one’s religious setting influences adolescent deconversion. Irrational beliefs and identity styles of adolescents were examined as potential mediators of this relationship. In total, 369 Polish secondary school students participated in the research (65.8% female). Their mean age was 16.92 years (SD = 1.08; range = 15–19). They completed the Adolescent Deconversion Scale, Perceived Religious Hypocrisy Scale, short form of the Attitudes and Belief Scale-2, and the Identity Style Inventory. The results demonstrated that the perception of religious hypocrisy was positively related to deconversion. Moreover, the adolescents’ identity styles and propensity towards irrational beliefs partially and serially mediated the relationship between perceiving religious hypocrisy and deconverting. The results suggest that adolescents’ deconversion is related to their perception of the hypocrisy of other religious people. The theoretical and practical implications of this research are discussed.

Gender accounting stereotypes in the highly feminised accounting profession. The case of Poland

Purpose: The article presents the results of research on the frequency and content (varieties) of the stereotype that the accounting profession is a job for women. The research concerns Poland, a country with a unique level of feminisation of the accounting profession. Methodology/approach: To formulate hypotheses about the content (varieties) of the stereotype concerning the feminine character of accounting that exists in Poland, several mainly qualitative studies were carried out. As a result, four stereotypes were identified (i.e. different beliefs about why accounting is a profession for women and not for men). The hypotheses were tested using a survey of a representative group of Polish secondary school students (almost 1,200 respondents). Findings: The belief that the accounting profession is for women and not for men is expressed by one in six secondary school students, more often by men. Two stereotypes are particu-larly common: 1) that accounting is simply for women (without any specific justifica-tion), 2) that the most important aspects in this profession are accuracy, patience, meticulousness, the ability to focus on details, and other similar qualities usually attribut-ed to women. Originality/value: For the first time in Poland (and probably in other East European countries with feminized accounting profession), the article provides new and up-to-date knowledge on the gender perception of the accounting profession and the stereo-types about this job which may be a significant driving force in sustaining gender segre-gation in this profession.

Can the neuroticism-willingness to communicate relationship across languages be explained by anxiety?

This study focuses on the role of neuroticism in shaping L1 and L2 users’ communicative behaviour, as represented by the L1/L2 users’ willingness to communicate (WTC). It was expected that this relationship could be explained by language-specific forms of anxiety: communication apprehension (CA) in L1 communication, and language anxiety (LA) in L2 communication. The participants were 621 Polish secondary grammar school students at the intermediate to upper-intermediate levels of English proficiency. Two mediation analyses revealed that for L1 communication, neuroticism was significantly related to WTC, with CA mediating this relationship. For L2 communication, in contrast, this relationship could be observed only when controlling for LA, which suppressed the link between neuroticism and WTC. These findings suggest that the effect of neuroticism on the willingness to communicate is indirect in L2 communication, and detectable with the mediation of language anxiety. It can thus be concluded that the link between personality and aspects of communicative behaviour is likely to be language-dependent, suggesting that it may be necessary to apply more refined research models when assessing L2 effects.

¿Cómo ayudar a los estudiantes en la vuelta a la educación presencial después de la educación a distancia durante la pandemia? El papel de las actividades colectivas de interacción en los libros de texto de ELE seleccionados

The aim of the article is to reflect upon the tasks which might help students in the crisis caused by the return to school after distance learning connected with the pandemic. To start with, the data presented concern both mental and physical well-being, as well as the needs of Polish secondary school students during the pandemic (distance learning and the return to schools). Next, the author analyses the place of textbooks during the return to schools and suggests the typology of team tasks facilitating this process, with a special emphasis on the ones which develop the oral interaction and are in accordance with the processual approach to writing. Furthermore, in the research part, the tasks analysed proposed in the four textbooks of Spanish as a foreign language, destined for students aged 15-19 years, in order to state to what degree, they may facilitate the return to schools and what kind of adjustment to this situation they need. Finally, the conclusions were presented.

Measuring Stereotype Threat at Math and Language Arts in Secondary School: Validation of a Questionnaire

A stereotype threat arises when a negative stereotype about group to which an individual belongs is activated. It affects the achievement and interest of students in a particular academic domain, e.g., girls at math or boys at language arts. Hence, it is important to assess the level of stereotype threat at school (STaS) in order to identify the vulnerability of students to its negative consequences. This study devised and validated two parallel versions of the STaS scale: girls in mathematics and boys in language arts in a nationally representative sample of Polish secondary school students (N = 1,241; 13–16 years). The results of a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in a complex sample approach showed one general factor. Furthermore, a multiple-group CFA confirmed metric invariance and partial scalar invariance. The variances for boys and girls were equal. This suggests that the construct of stereotype threat is similarly conceptualized by both genders despite being in different domains. Finally, the comparison of means of latent variables revealed a higher level of stereotype threat among boys in the language domain than girls in mathematics. Possible theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Prevalence and selected determinants of the risk of problem gambling among Polish secondary school students.

The study had two aims. The first was to determine the prevalence of various types of gambling behaviour and the severity of gambling among secondary school students in one of the poorest provinces in Poland. The second was to identify correlations between selected socio-demographic variables and the severity of gambling problems. The study was carried out on a group of teenagers from secondary schools in the Lublin Province of eastern Poland. The survey covered 923 respondents aged 17 - 21 (M=18.06; SD=0.367). The study used a list of gambling activities, the South Oaks Gambling Screen-Revised Adolescent (SOGS-RA), and a socio-demographic questionnaire. The effects of independent variables on the severity of gambling behaviour were evaluated using the Mann-Whitney U test (for binary variables, such as gender or age group) and Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA for ternary variables (e.g., place of residence, type of school). The findings show that in the studied population 7.2% were pathological gamblers and 41.8% had not gambled during the 12 months prior to the study. These findings are consistent with the literature. There seems to be a clear trend in which pathological gambling is found most frequently among technical secondary school students, and least frequently among those from secondary schools of general education. In addition, persons who had lived (until the age of 10) in rural areas scored the lowest in SOGS-RA, while those from cities below 50,000 residents, scored the highest. In families with a gambling member, pathological gambling was found 1.7 times more frequently.

Appetitive Traits in a Population-Based Study of Polish Adolescents within the PLACE-19 Study: Validation of the Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire.

Appetitive traits of food approach or food avoidance are commonly measured using the Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire (AEBQ). However, there is no Polish version of the AEBQ validated for adolescents, and to the best of our knowledge, no study completed with the Polish version of the AEBQ has been published thus far. The present study aimed to validate the AEBQ in a population-based sample of Polish secondary school students and to assess differences in appetitive traits between boys and girls within the Polish Adolescents’ COVID-19 Experience (PLACE-19) Study. The PLACE-19 Study was conducted in a group of 2448 adolescents recruited in May 2020 through the random quota sampling of secondary schools. The AEBQ was used to assess food approach subscales (Food Responsiveness, Emotional Over-Eating, and Enjoyment of Food) and food avoidance subscales (Satiety Responsiveness, Emotional Under-Eating, Food Fussiness, and Slowness in Eating). To validate the questionnaire, the standardized factor loadings within confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with weighted least squares (WLS) were analyzed, and invariance was verified. The CFA presented good model fit, with χ2 = 4826.105 (degrees of freedom (df) = 384), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.069 (90% confidence interval (CI): 0.067, 0.070), comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.90, and standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.08. The results revealed that, compared to the configural invariance model, the metric invariance model did not result in significantly decreased model fit, with ΔCFI = −0.002 and ΔRMSEA = −0.001, which were lower than the recommended cutoffs of 0.010 and 0.015, respectively. The scalar invariance model also did not result in significantly decreased fit of the model over the metric invariance model, with ΔCFI = −0.005 and ΔRMSEA = 0.000. Girls reported higher levels of Food Responsiveness (p < 0.0001), Emotional Over-Eating (p < 0.0001), Satiety Responsiveness (p < 0.0001), Emotional Under-Eating (p < 0.0001), and Slowness in Eating than boys (p < 0.0001), and the total AEBQ scores of girls were also higher (p < 0.0001). Positive inter-correlations were observed between all food approach subscales, as well as between Emotional Under-Eating and all food approach subscales for girls, boys, and the total sample; positive inter-correlations were also observed between the majority of food avoidance subscales. The present study confirmed the validity of the AEBQ in the studied population, and supported the associations between appetitive traits assessed using the AEBQ; it also indicated higher scores of both food approach and food avoidance subscales in girls than in boys in a population-based sample of Polish secondary school students.

Various reasons, various trajectories? Interrupted schooling among Polish upper secondary school students

ABSTRACT The aim of the study was to assess the scale of various interrupted schooling trajectories among Polish youth, and to identify the differences and similarities between students following these trajectories and their reasons for interrupting education. In a dataset of 5,414 young Polish adults, we identified 343 (6.3%) learners who left upper-secondary school at least once and followed one of four interrupted schooling trajectories: school non-completion, school switching non-completion, school switching completion and ISCED 3 graduates’ non-completion. They differed from non-interrupted learners in the type of first attended upper-secondary school, gender and socio-economic status, although the pattern of differences varied depending on the trajectory. We also observed differences between interrupted trajectories in the above-mentioned characteristics, as well as in reasons for leaving or switching school, which gives evidence of heterogeneity among interrupted learners. This heterogeneity appeared also in groups usually analysed together, such as early school leavers, which should be taken into account in future studies. Moreover, the analyses showed important similarities between the school non-completion trajectory, which is usually covered in studies, and the ISCED 3 graduates’ non-completion trajectory, which to date remained unrecognised. The results served as a basis for policy recommendations.

Layout changes in the textbook for learning English and their influence on the dyslexic students’ work effectiveness – an eye-tracking analysis

The aim of the following article is to present the results of the second part of an eye-tracking study conducted on Polish secondary school students working with a textbook for learning English. Because of the fact that almost every group of school students consists of both dyslexic and non-dyslexic ones and that all of them use the same textbooks, we wanted to examine if we can adjust the textbook for learning English in such a way as to influence (i.e. improve) the way the students work with it. To check it we used a real-existing layout of a textbook page and its changed version and checked how dyslexic and nondyslexic students worked with them.&#x0D; In the article we present the eye-tracking parameters for so called areas of interest as well as correctness of the answers which is a nonoculomotor parameter.

Classroom Interaction in Oral Language Learning Events Created by EFL Storytelling-based Games

The paper aims at discussing some examples of classroom interaction in the context of playing “One Word/Sentence at a Time” and “Story Cubes” games by Polish secondary school students of English. First, it gives an overview of definitions and major types of classroom interaction. Second, it presents the opportunities for classroom interaction offered by a game-like environment. Then, the action research study conducted with a group of EFL learners is presented. The participants were recorded in the course of storytelling-oriented lessons and their stories were transcribed. Summing up the data gathered throughout the study, it is evident that the games offer a highly interactive FL classroom environment in which various categories of student-talk intertwine with teacher-talk.

Linguistic transfer in English as a foreign language in a single free writing task in Polish students with and without dyslexia

The aim of our study was to examine the spelling, grammar, syntax, and lexicon skills in learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in a free writing task of Polish students with and without dyslexia. We wanted to identify the potential linguistic transfer difficulties. We assumed that these difficulties would result from the deficient phonological skills, which is characteristic of dyslexia, and from language interference. 72 students with and 78 without dyslexia wrote a short text in English. We found that Polish secondary and junior secondary school students with dyslexia, as compared to the participants without dyslexia, made more spelling errors in the EFL free writing task. They, however, wrote equally long texts that did not differ in terms of grammar (including missing words), syntactic, and lexical errors. We found that 16-year-old native speakers of a semi-transparent Polish, having studied an opaque English for, on average, 8 years, were able to produce coherent compositions. However, they included errors that resulted from a negative linguistic transfer between Native Language and FL. / Keywords: English as FL, free writing, spelling, grammar, dyslexia, Polish

Perception of accountants by Polish secondary school students

Perception of accountants by Polish secondary school students

Learning Anxiety in the Language Classroom

It has generally been acknowledged that anxiety is an affective factor that plays a significant role in any learning. A highly specific type of anxiety, foreign language classroom learning anxiety, has been distinguished and recognised as quite common among foreign language learners (Horwitz et al. 1991). The article provides some theoretical considerations related to the issue and presents findings from research on it conducted among Polish secondary school students of English. Conclusions include some practical suggestions for language teachers.

THE INTERDEPENDANCE BETWEEN ATTRIBUTIONS AND SECOND LANGUAGE ATTAINMENTS IN SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Affective factors are undoubtedly considered to be vital in second language acquisition. Among these factors attribution theory is of primary significance, as it affects learners’ final achievement. It indicates that people attribute various causes in their lives to their success and failure.&#x0D; With the employment of attribution theory, this study examines Polish secondary school adolescent students’ attributions for success and failure in second language learning. The main purpose of the study is to investigate, whether Polish secondary school students’ attributions have an impact on their achievements in second language acquisition. In order to conduct the study, the researcher administered attribution questionnaires to the students and an achievement sheet to the teacher to fill in with students’ semester grades in English. Then the data obtained from the questionnaires and the achievement sheet were correlated. The results show that successful students are more likely to attribute their success to internal facets such as ability and effort and unsuccessful learners attribute their lack of success to external factors, among which task difficulty or luck could be enumerated.&#x0D;

POLISH LOWER AND UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ CONCEPTIONS OF A SCIENTIST

There is an increasing problem of a much smaller number of students in natural sciences or mathematics in Poland. The number of students is decreasing so dramatically that some courses are closed. Therefore, it becomes very important to look for the possible causes. The starting point for these considerations is the study on the image of a scientist. The image of a scientist and the factors that shape it have been the subject of research in various countries around the world for more than fifty years. The aim of the present research was to determine what the image of a scientist according to Polish students is. Additionally, the impact of the students’ age (in the range of 13-19 years old) on this image was analysed. The study involved 938 students of lower and upper secondary public schools from all over the country chosen randomly. The research was based on a questionnaire which was anonymous and community-based. The main questions were preceded by an enquiry about the respondent’s personal information such as gender, age, type of school they attend, and school locality. These data were needed for the analysis of such factors as, for example, the effect of gender. The obtained results showed that the image of a scientist according to Polish students is quite similar to the stereotype adopted by students from other countries. Contrary to some earlier reports, Polish students usually presented a scientist as a young person and paid more attention to personal safety equipment like a lab coat, gloves and goggles. It should be noted that this stereotype is quite archaic and is not associated with a real vision of a scientist. This lack of awareness may have an impact on shortage of students in the structure of science studies. Key words: Draw-A-Scientist Test (DAST), images of a scientist, stereotype of a scientist.

Age and Gender Effects on Motivation and Attitudes in German Learning: The Polish Context

ABSTRACT The research investigates the German language learning motivations of Polish secondary school students and university students. Questionnaire data were collected from 247 students (126 from secondary school and 121 from university). The aim of this research was to examine the relationships among language attitudes, instrumental, cultural interest, integrative, L2 self and motivated learning. The results show the existence of age and gender difference in variables under consideration. Relationships were found between age and gender to the motivational attitudes: older and female students had a more integrative attitude than younger and mail students and experienced more intensive motivation.

Polish Secondary School Students Learning German: Motivation, Orientations and Attitudes

Polish Secondary School Students Learning German: Motivation, Orientations and Attitudes The study investigates the German language learning motivations of Polish secondary school students. Questionnaire data were collected from 100 students aged 16-18 years. Using the AMOS 18 package, structural equation modeling was run to analyze how language learning goals, attitudes, self-related beliefs, and parental encouragement interact in shaping motivated learning behavior. The results of this study reveal that the important factor which exerts the most influence on motivated learning behavior is an integrative attitude, i.e. openness to and interest in the community using the language, as well as the culture, customs and international status. Another important factor in this model is parental encouragement, as it affects the German language community, learning and instrumental values.