Research Instructors Research Articles

Reconceptualising ELT research pedagogy in the Iranian higher education context

ABSTRACT One of the significant drawbacks of the English Language Teaching (ELT) Ph.D. programme in the Iranian ELT setting is the insufficiency of the research courses offered in the current curriculum, which do not adequately address the Ph.D. candidates needs, and this issue was not tackled in the field. Therefore, adopting a qualitative approach, this research aimed to investigate the possibilities and challenges of reconceptualising ELT higher education research pedagogy from a content-oriented into a learning-oriented approach from ELT Ph.D. candidates’ and instructors’ perspectives. To do so, 20 ELT Ph.D. candidates and eight ELT university instructors of both genders were selected from different Iranian universities based on convenience sampling as the participants. The context under investigation is that of Ph.D. candidates researching into ELT. This study employed an individual semi-structured interview as the instrument for gathering data. The data were analysed using the descriptive qualitative content analysis method, and the results showed that increasing the research methodology courses, changing the research instructors’ conceptions, decreasing the instructors’ workload, and specifying funds for escalating instructors’ motivation are the possibilities of tackling the current challenges from the ELT instructors’ views. In addition, the results indicated that from the ELT Ph.D. candidates’ views, adding a fieldwork course to the ELT curriculum, designing and implementing criteria for instructors’ performance evaluation, decreasing the number of Ph.D. candidates, and holding the extracurricular activities are the possibilities of tackling the current challenges. The findings may hold some implications for policymakers, curriculum designers, ELT instructors, and ELT graduate students.

Examining research motivation, self-efficacy, and anxiety in TEFL graduate students: a structural equation modelling approach

ABSTRACT Applied linguistics has recently seen a surge in research and methodological approaches to do stronger studies. One important factor affecting such a new movement is the researchers’ individual differences in shaping their research repertoire. Therefore, this study, which employs a path-analytic approach, investigates the interrelationship between three significant individual factors in the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) context: research self-efficacy, anxiety, and motivation. This nationwide survey included 561 male and female Iranian MA students studying TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). The researchers administered three adopted instruments, namely the research motivation scale, the research anxiety scale, and the research self-efficacy scale. The path-analytic findings revealed such interrelationships among the three factors. In particular, the findings indicated that there is a negative relationship between research anxiety and motivation to conduct research. In our study, however, the relationship between research self-efficacy and motivation is positive. These evidence-based findings can help policymakers shape an evidence-based research policy. Recommendations and implications of the results for policymakers, research methodologists, research instructors, and MA students are discussed.

Master in education students' attitudes toward research at one University of Education in Myanmar

PurposeThis study scrutinizes the attitudes of postgraduate students specializing in education toward research at one University of Education in Myanmar.Design/methodology/approachHaving collected data from 121 Master in Education (MEd) students in three education departments, the study validated Papanastasiou's (2014) Revised-Attitude toward Research (R-ATR) scale by performing confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). A one-way MANOVA was used to establish the significance of mean differences between groups and ANOVA was used for the same purpose among groups.FindingsThe R-ATR scale is fit with the sample (χ2/df = 1.60), and the students' attitudes toward research are favorable with mean value for research usefulness (5.98), positive research predispositions (5.55) and research anxiety (3.61), despite feeling stressed and anxious. There was a significant difference in the students' attitudes toward research regarding their departments, while no significant difference was found based on their research experience, gender and age.Practical implicationsThere should be an effective mechanism in implementing the research course and in online delivery mode, collaboration between the faculties in the process of revision and review of the research courses, effective strategies of improving research instructors' quality and also internationalization to sustain students' positive attitudes toward research and to reduce their stress and anxiety.Originality/valueThis research is empirically novel, and the initiative attempts to first use the R-ATR scale in teacher education in Myanmar.

Examining the Society in Which We Are Educated: Applying Critical Approaches to International Law Research

International law suffers from a lack of diversity. The scholars who are cited by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) write the most widely used textbooks, and those who are recruited by elite organizations are predominantly Western-educated White males. International law discourse sidelines Third World perspectives. In response, Third World approaches to international law (TWAIL) scholarship centers colonialism and the Global North’s entrenchment of economic and political dominance as the raisons d’être for modern rules of international law. Legal research instructors can address the lack of diversity in international law by incorporating TWAIL scholarship and applying critical approaches to international legal research.

Exploring TEFL Research Methods Courses in Iran: A Path to Research Synthesis Pedagogy

There has been inadequate investigation of research pedagogy in applied linguistics, despite the significance of research reform in the field. As such, we examined the status of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) research pedagogy in postgraduate classes in Iran. We described and evaluated 28 research methods (RM) courses in terms of objectives, content, and assessment in Iranian universities. We employed a qualitative content analysis of RM syllabi, utilizing a mixture of inductive and deductive coding. Our results revealed that among the Iranian research instructors whose syllabi we examined, there is a common approach to delivering research methods courses. Nonetheless, there is a noticeable misalignment between the objectives they report and how these objectives are put into practice, as reflected in the course content and assessment methods. Among the analyzed syllabi, one instructor approached the course through the lens of research synthesis pedagogy. While acknowledging the benefits of the prevailing instructional approach, we argue in favor of implementing research synthesis pedagogy as an evidence-based and complementary alternative to conventional research training approaches within TEFL. This synthesis-informed research pedagogy has the potential to nurture a research mindset among postgraduate students, subsequently enhancing the quality assurance of different methodological orientations, including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research.

Construction and application of a performance assessment model for teaching operations research based on Bayesian network technology

Abstract Operations research plays a pivotal role in fostering effective management, sound decision-making, and modern management practices. Its significance in the academic realm, particularly within higher education, is increasingly acknowledged. This study leverages a Bayesian network to introduce a Markov chain, thereby constructing a dynamic Bayesian network-based model for evaluating the teaching performance of operations research. Initially, a questionnaire survey method was utilized to make preliminary adjustments to the performance evaluation index system. Subsequently, various methods, including the principle of halves and the coefficient of variation, were applied for coarse and fine screening of indices, culminating in the development of a comprehensive index system for evaluating operations research teaching performance. The efficacy of the constructed model and index system was tested by assessing the performance of five operations research instructors. Key metrics such as teaching performance, student trust, and student interest were assigned the highest weights, with respective values of 0.153, 0.127, and 0.114. Notably, Teacher D achieved the highest total performance score of 9.051, surpassing the other four instructors. The assessment results obtained from the designed model are closely aligned with those derived from fuzzy clustering techniques, underscoring the model’s robustness and applicability. Thus, the performance assessment model and index system designed for operations research teaching work demonstrate substantial practical effectiveness.

Models of classroom assessment for course-based research experiences

Course-based research pedagogy involves positioning students as contributors to authentic research projects as part of an engaging educational experience that promotes their learning and persistence in science. To develop a model for assessing and grading students engaged in this type of learning experience, the assessment aims and practices of a community of experienced course-based research instructors were collected and analyzed. This approach defines four aims of course-based research assessment—(1) Assessing Laboratory Work and Scientific Thinking; (2) Evaluating Mastery of Concepts, Quantitative Thinking and Skills; (3) Appraising Forms of Scientific Communication; and (4) Metacognition of Learning—along with a set of practices for each aim. These aims and practices of assessment were then integrated with previously developed models of course-based research instruction to reveal an assessment program in which instructors provide extensive feedback to support productive student engagement in research while grading those aspects of research that are necessary for the student to succeed. Assessment conducted in this way delicately balances the need to facilitate students’ ongoing research with the requirement of a final grade without undercutting the important aims of a CRE education.

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.

Meet the First Authors.

Meet the First Authors.

Peeling Away the Taken-For-Grantedness of Research Subjectivities: Orienting to the Phenomenological

Qualitative research is a multidisciplinary field of practice that acknowledges and values the situatedness and subjectivities of the researcher. Therefore, reflexively accounting for one’s subjectivities is a crucial part of a research report. Less discussed is how subjective understandings are historically, culturally, and socially mediated, often challenging researchers’ abilities to orient themselves critically to this self-reflective undertaking. Phenomenology is a philosophical approach investigating how phenomena such as subjectivity are constituted in experience. This makes phenomenology an essential resource for understanding how complex subjective responses manifest differently depending on one’s orientation to the situation. This paper aims to familiarize qualitative research instructors and learners with a series of phenomenological activities that have proven helpful in disclosing multiple ways subjectivities are historically and contextually mediated, embodied, and technologically modified.

First Author Spotlight

AnnouncementFirst Author SpotlightPublished Online:18 Jan 2022https://doi.org/10.1152/ajprenal.2022.322.1.AUMoreSectionsPDF (347 KB)Download PDFDownload PDFPlus ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesGet permissionsTrack citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInEmail NICOLAS MONTALBETTIRenal-Electrolyte Division, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaFigure 1.Nicolas MontalbettiDownload figureDownload PowerPointNicolas Montalbetti is a Research Instructor in the Renal-Electrolyte Division, Department of Medicine, at the University of Pittsburgh. He obtained his PhD in physiology at the University of Buenos Aires, where he studied transepithelial ion transport. His research interest focuses on basic neurophysiological aspects of the urinary tract system in health and disease [Photo: Fig. 1].https://doi.org/10.1152/ajprenal.00167.2021JAMES VOTAVADepartment of Nutritional Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WisconsinFigure 2.James VotavaDownload figureDownload PowerPointJames Votava is a PhD student in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, currently mentored by Dr. Brian Parks. He earned his BS in Biological Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison before beginning his graduate studies in the laboratory of Dr. Rick Eisenstein. His research interest focuses on identifying new genetic modifiers of human disease. Outside of the laboratory, James enjoys playing recreational sports and spending time with his dog [Photo: Fig. 2].https://doi.org/10.1152/ajprenal.00537.2020ZHEN WANGDepartment of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MississippiFigure 3.Zhen WangDownload figureDownload PowerPointZhen Wang is an assistant professor of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at University of Mississippi Medical Center. He received his PhD from the Pharmacology Department of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and completed his postdoctoral training in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Mississippi Medical Center, under the mentorship of Dr. John Hall. His major research interest is to understand the pathophysiology of diabetic cardiovascular diseases and to determine the molecular mechanisms of target organ injury induced by diabetes, hypertension, and obesity [Photo: Fig. 3].https://doi.org/10.1152/ajprenal.00296.2021DAN-DAN ZHANGGuangdong-Hong-Kong Joint Laboratory on Immunological and Genetic Kidney Diseases, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangzhou, ChinaFigure 4.Dan-Dan ZhangDownload figureDownload PowerPointDan-Dan Zhang has received her PhD at the Department of Physiology of Harbin Medical University in 2018, and she has continued her postdoctoral training in Dr. Wang and Dr. Lin’s laboratories in the Department of Pharmacology of New York Medical College. Her research has focused on studying the regulation of renal potassium and sodium channels in the aldosterone-sensitive distal nephron. Since 2021, she has worked in Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital in China [Photo: Fig. 4].https://doi.org/10.1152/ajprenal.00306.2021This article has no references to display. Back to Top Next FiguresReferencesRelatedInformationRelated articlesBladder infection with uropathogenic Escherichia coli increases the excitability of afferent neurons 15 Dec 2021American Journal of Physiology-Renal PhysiologyDysregulation of the sensory and regulatory pathways controlling cellular iron metabolism in unilateral obstructive nephropathy 05 Jan 2022American Journal of Physiology-Renal PhysiologyTransient receptor potential cation channel 6 contributes to kidney injury induced by diabetes and hypertension 05 Jan 2022American Journal of Physiology-Renal PhysiologyROMK channels are inhibited in the aldosterone-sensitive distal nephron of renal tubule Nedd4-2-deficient mice 23 Dec 2021American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology More from this issue > Volume 322Issue 1January 2022Pages i-ii Crossmark Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2022 the American Physiological Society.https://doi.org/10.1152/ajprenal.2022.322.1.AUHistory Received 3 August 2021 Accepted 24 November 2021 Published online 18 January 2022 Published in print 1 January 2022 PDF download Metrics Downloaded 184 times

Assessment of nursing students’ research competencies with competency‐based education

AbstractIntroductionThere is a preponderance of studies on nurses’ research competency and its benefits to the nursing profession. However, investigations on nursing students’ research competency in the context of competency‐based education (CBE) remain underreported.ObjectiveThis study investigated the predictors and associations of Saudi nursing students’ research competencies using CBE approach.MethodsThis research used a descriptive, cross‐sectional design. A total enumeration sampling or census of 347 nursing students from three Saudi Arabian state universities who had finished the nursing research course was used. The 24‐item Research Competency Scale for Nursing Students (RCS‐N) was utilized to collect data, which was then analyzed using the chi‐squared test and logistic regression.ResultsMost nursing students were familiar with the nursing research process. There is a strong link between research competencies and age and marks obtained in nursing research course. Age and nursing research course marks (A+/A) were significant predictors of nursing research competency. Thus, students who earned A+/A grades were three times more likely to be competent than those who had lower grades. Similarly, nursing students over the age of 20 years are twice as likely to be research competent as those under 20.ConclusionAs there are few reports on nursing research competency, CBE helps nursing research instructors create relevant intended learning outcomes (ILOs), allowing them to assess each research step's ILOs more efficiently. Additionally, incorporating functionalist, behaviorist, and constructivist learning theories into the CBE in nursing research course will be more beneficial.

First person – Alaina Willet

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Alaina Willet is first author on ‘ Phosphorylation in the intrinsically disordered region of F-BAR protein Imp2 regulates its contractile ring recruitment’, published in JCS. Alaina is a Research Instructor in the lab of Kathy Gould at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA, investigating the mechanisms regulating contractile ring formation in fission yeast.

Omani Undergraduate Students’ Awareness and Experiences of the Research-Teaching Nexus

The research-teaching nexus is an important factor in the enhancement of the quality of teaching and learning in higher education institutions. The purpose of the study was to explore undergraduate students’ awareness and experiences of research in one faculty at Sohar University, Oman. Data were gathered from 240 undergraduate students using an online survey. Overall, results indicated that while there was good evidence of students’ awareness and experiences of research, less than half of the students in the sample were aware of or had experienced important research activities. Some students reported advantages arising from their participation in research—including developing research skills and gaining new knowledge. They also reported the need for more hands-on research experience and instructor support. Some findings were generally consistent with the literature on students’ awareness and experiences of research. The study provided important implications for the research-teaching nexus at Sohar University.

Move Analysis of Senior High School Research Abstracts in a Philippine University

A well-written abstract speaks for the paper’s quality—it reflects an article’s value. Research is a relatively new discipline for senior high school learners, thus, the writing of an abstract can be problematic and challenging. Anchored on Hyland’s model of research article abstracts as adapted by Behnam and Golpour (2014), this paper presents a move analysis of thirty (30) randomly-selected research abstracts of Grade 12 senior high school students in a Philippine University. The results revealed the three (3) dominant moves in the corpus of research abstracts namely Introduction-Purpose-Method-Product, Introduction-Purpose-Method-Product-Conclusion, and Introduction-Product-Method. It was also noted that the “Conclusion” move is less frequently observed and considered “optional”. Additionally, instances of move embedding were prominent between the Purpose and Method move. It was recommended that research instructors in the senior high school shall consider using models in teaching the writing of the abstract. The findings of this study may serve as a basis in crafting a genre-based research syllabus, with genre-based tasks.

The Five-minute Exercise: A Method for Using Modified Lectures in the Legal Research Classroom

As legal research instructors develop new and exciting ways to engage law students in the classroom, the value of the lecture as a continued pedagogical tool can be lost. In comparing the pedagogical strengths and weaknesses of passive and active learning, this article identifies lack of engagement as one of the biggest weaknesses of lectures as compared to active learning methods. To increase engagement during lectures, the author proposes the five-minute exercise method as a way to modify lectures with the addition of short, skill-based exercises.

First person – Yang Li and Chelsea Merkel

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Yang Li and Chelsea Merkel are co-first authors on ‘The N-cadherin interactome in primary cardiomyocytes as defined using quantitative proximity proteomics’, published in JCS. Yang is a Research Instructor in the lab of Adam Kwiatkowski at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, USA, investigating cardiomyocyte adhesion complex organization and function. Chelsea is a PhD student in the Kwiatkowski lab, investigating myofibril development and integration at the cardiomyocyte intercalated disc.

A Decision Tree Approach for Predicting Student Grades in Research Project using Weka

Data mining in education is an emerging multidiscipline research field especially with the upsurge of new technologies used in educational systems that led to the storage of massive student data. This study used classification, a data mining process, in evaluating computer engineering student’s data to identify students who need academic counseling in the subject. There were five attributes considered in building the classification model. The decision tree was chosen as the classifier for the model. The accuracy of the decision tree algorithms, Random Tree, RepTree and J48, were compared using cross-validation wherein Random Tree returned the highest accuracy of 75.188%. Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA) data mining tool was used in generating the classification model. The classification rules extracted from the decision tree was used in the algorithm of the Research Project Grade Predictor application which was developed using Visual C#. The application will help research instructors or advisers to easily identify students who need more attention because they are predicted to have low grades.

Playing to Their Passion: A Legal Research Course that Resonates with Law Students

The first year of law school is chock-full of new experiences. Students can become overwhelmed in the face of so much change that they forget why they chose law school as a career path. They often lose sight of their end goal and need a touchstone to ground them back to their initial interests. Legal Research is the ideal first-year class to connect the acquisition of legal skills with interesting topics in a way that encourages students’ engagement in their present and future learning. By adding a student-selected subject context to their class, Legal Research instructors can incorporate contextualized learning and active learning techniques that improve student engagement and student learning. This article discusses the transformation of a generic, required, first-year legal research course into one that divides into four small (18–20 students) classes, each with one of four topics: patent, trademark and copyright, traditional practice, and social justice. In addition, it envisions future innovations to improve student engagement and student learning.

Research Knowledge Assessment: A Study of MSW Students’ Acquisition and Retention of Research Knowledge

ABSTRACTIn response to the need for meaningful data about student learning in research courses, we developed and implemented the Research Knowledge Assessment instrument to measure MSW student acquisition, application, and retention of research knowledge over a 3-year period across the research curriculum. Initial findings indicated that students entered the foundation research methods course with little research knowledge, gained some knowledge during the course but not at an acceptable level, and lost 22% of the gain by the beginning of the concentration research course. The greatest knowledge acquisition was in sampling and the least in theory and question development. Knowledge acquisition was associated with not having a BSW and not having adjunct faculty as a research instructor.