Second-year University Students Research Articles

Improving the understanding of written peer feedback through face-to-face peer dialogue: students’ perspective

ABSTRACT Feedback plays a vital role in the process of mastering writing in many academic disciplines. Although peer feedback has been proven helpful to develop students’ academic writing competency, the role of additional face-to-face peer dialogue in this context remains indistinct. Face-to-face peer dialogue on written peer feedback is expected to improve students’ understanding; however, it is unclear under which conditions it might do so. The purpose of this exploratory study is to explore students’ beliefs about peer feedback and to investigate both the instructiveness of face-to-face peer dialogue and the conditions for achieving improved understanding. Second-year university students (N = 84) participated in a mixed-method study that included questionnaires and focus groups. The intervention comprised face-to-face dialogue in small groups about the participants’ written peer feedback on a draft report. Quantitative data showed students perceived peer feedback as meaningful, useful and a very important skill to possess. They felt confident about feedback quality, both provided and received. Overall, students perceived written feedback and face-to-face dialogue to be instructive, although no significant difference between the two forms was established. Qualitative findings revealed that face-to-face dialogue stimulates peers to elaborate on their written feedback, helps them deliver constructive comments and feel responsible for the feedback process. Important conditions appeared to be the quality of the written feedback, the non-anonymous character of the dialogue, and the opportunity to revise the report. It can be concluded that face-to-face peer dialogue is a useful variation within peer feedback, which enhances further elaboration and students’ engagement with feedback. This study provides insight in important conditions to design and implement face-to-face dialogue peer interventions in higher education in the context of academic writing.

THREE HIDDEN PROBLEMS FACED BY SECOND YEAR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ON LISTENING SKILL

This research is aimed at identifying the second-year university students’ perspective on the problems encountered in listening comprehension particularly dealing with listening task, effect of the problem and context. The design employed in this research belongs to descriptive research. 50 second-year university students were selected voluntarily. The research result showed problematic uses in which EFL learners have difficulties understanding listening text while the native speakers with varied and non-familiar accents. Besides, they were not able to understand meanings which are not pronounced clearly.

Understanding of university students about improper integral

The study of the understanding of mathematical concepts is of great interest for research in Mathematics Education. In this sense, an investigation is carried out on the understanding of the concept of improper integral, a basic concept from the first courses of Bachelor of Mathematics for subsequent courses. The objective is to characterize the understanding of this mathematical concept through a proficiency model for this purpose, an instrument was designed that was applied to second-year university students. The research is qualitative exploratory and is based on the framework of the Theory of records of semiotic representations. 
 

Creativity and Personality Traits as Foreign Language Acquisition Predictors in University Linguistics Students.

Foreign (second) language (FL/SL) proficiency is one of the most important competencies for a modern person, and is necessary for both professional and personal fulfillment. The purpose of this study is to consider and compare personality traits and creativity as predictors of success in foreign language acquisition (FLA). The sample includes 128 (105 female and 23 male) first- and second-year university linguistics students. Creativity is measured by the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults (ATTA). The FFM personality traits are measured by the Russian NEO Five-Factor Inventory adaptation by S. Biryukov and M. Bodunov. To assess the level of FL proficiency, we used a traditional academic achievement indicator (the semester’s final grades in English), as well as the English teachers’ assessment of the level of language proficiency of their students according to the “Foreign Language Proficiency Scale” (10 indicators and total score). Descriptive statistics methods and a multiple regression analysis were used to process the data in the R software environment, version 3.5.2. The findings of our research showed that creativity indicators have a stronger but contradictory impact on the level of FL proficiency compared to personality traits. We suggest that teachers, most likely, lack knowledge on the manifestations of student creativity in the process of FL learning.

Психологическая безопасность личности и ценности подростков и молодежи

The article analyses the relation between psychological security (PS) and values in adolescent and young age. The value-semantic sphere of an individual determines his or her social behavior, and the strategic task of the education system is to create such educational environment that would promote the development of personal potential in students. The aim of the study is to identify the features and characteristics of students’ personal values in adolescence and young age depending on the level of their PS. The hypothesis was tested that the values of adolescents and young people with different levels of PS have different significance. The sample of the study consisted of 2789 first- year and second-year college students, aged 15-21 years. Significant differences in values at the level of normative ideals were found in groups with different levels of PS. There are also significant differences in the significance of values at the level of individual priorities which, in contrast to normative ideals, have a non-linear growth depending on the level of PS – the lowest values are observed in the group with an average level of PS. Values at the level of individual priorities in the group with a low level of PS are more significant than values at the level of normative ideals.

Second-Year University Students’ Problem Encountered During Listening Process

The ultimate goal of language teaching is to enable learners to communicate in the target language they learn. For those who can meet this goal are regarded as high achievers or successful language learners. However, not every language learner can reach this goal. Listening is one the most important skill to have but unfortunately Listening is clearly considered as the weakest skill of EFL students who encounter different kinds of listening problems. It is the most underestimated skill in EFL context, though. This research is aimed at identifying the second-year university students’ problems encountered during listening process.

A series of activities for formative assessment of second-year university students’ sociocultural knowledge of Spain

This publication presents a series of activities for formative assessment of second-year university students’ sociocultural knowledge of Spain based on the topic “Por el mundo hispanico. Viajando por Madrid” (“Travel to Spain. Madrid Tour”). The author uses several puzzles, a crossword, a test and a lexical game, as well as some exercises borrowed from the Internet (http://videoele.com/Archivos/A2_El-fin-de-semana_actividad.pdf). These activities are recommended for Spanish language classroom and extracurricular self-study work.

Exploring Gender Differences in Moral Intelligence and its Effects on the Learning Outcomes of Second Year College Students

The current study was undertaken with the primary objectives of exploring differences in moral intelligence due to gender and determining moral intelligences effect on the learning performance of second-year students. The population of the study consisted of all second year college students of Skardu, Pakistan. However, data were collected from 445 students within the entire population by using the simple random sampling technique. Female students were found more intelligent than male ones in this study. The results depict that moral intelligence significantly affects the academic performance of students. So, it is suggested that subjects and contents related to moral intelligence may be included in the syllabus of second-year college students, as far as students practical involvement of students in social and moral activities may also helpful in increasing moral intelligence; it may also be developed and increased by motivational speakers, who may deliver speeches and lectures on moral intelligence topic.

Willingness to communicate from an English as an International Language (EIL) perspective: The case of Macau

The study was conducted in Macau, a sociolinguistically diverse context with sixty-two first-year and second-year university students. Semi-structured interview was used as an instrument for data collection for this exploratory study. The students were asked questions regarding their willingness to communicate (WTC) using different varieties of English in face-to-face communication and communication in the social media contexts. The results indicate that the participants are aware of the status of English as an international language and can identify the different English varieties in Kachru’s (1986) concentric circles. The participants have reported a high willingness to communicate in two standard English varieties; that is, American English and British English for face-to-face communication and social media contexts. The study has also revealed an emergence of the Chinese variety of English in that the participants hold a positive attitude towards Chinese English and are willing to use it in monolingual classrooms and in the case of out-of-class events in which the speakers share the first language and culture that Chinese English is used.

Social or Economic Goals? The Professional Goal Orientation of Students Enrolled in STEM and Non-STEM Majors in University

Various studies try to disentangle the gender-specific competencies or decisions that lead to a career in a STEM field and try to find a way to encourage more women to pursue this kind of career. The present study examines differences in the meaning of work (i.e., their professional goal orientation) of students who are enrolled in STEM or non-STEM programs in tertiary education. Based on the background that gender stereotypes associate women and men with communal or agentic roles respectively, we expected that women in STEM subjects differ in their professional goal orientation from women in non-STEM programs. More precisely, women who are enrolled in a STEM major are expected to be less oriented to social and communal goal orientations than women in non-STEM university programs. In a sample of 5,857 second-year university students of the German National Educational Panel Study, three profiles of professional goal orientation were confirmed in a latent profile analysis. As expected, women were more oriented toward social aspects of occupations, whereas men more likely belonged to a profile with high importance for economic aspects of occupations. Moreover, students enrolled in STEM programs more likely belonged to the profile of economic goal orientation. There was, however, no interaction of gender and STEM program: Women in STEM fields did not differ in their occupational goal orientation from women enrolled in non-STEM programs. Based on these findings and on a goal congruity perspective, future interventions aiming at overcoming the underrepresentation of women in STEM fields should consider the individual meaning of work and the goals that are associated with STEM occupations.

Web-based tests for evaluating second-year university students’ Italian idiom comprehension

This paper presents a series of web-based tests designed by the author with the use of authentic reading materials to evaluate second-year university students’ Italian animal idiom comprehension. There were used such online test generators as “EasyTestMaker” and “LearningApps.Org” to create alternative response tests, multiple choice tests, matching type tests, cloze tests, and short answer tests. Readers can use the url-links and codes given by the author to get free access to her tests. The automatic test correction is provided by the above-mentioned online test generators.

REVEALING PRE-SERVICE CHEMISTRY TEACHERS’ CONCEPTIONS OF HYDROGEN ATOMIC ORBITALS USING OPEN-ENDED TESTS: A CASE STUDY IN INDONESIA

Atomic concept is one concept that is abstract and difficult to describe. Therefore, a research has been conducted to reveal students’ conception in the atomic structure topic, especially the concept of hydrogen atomic orbitals. Totally, 44 pre-service teachers from the second-year students of the Chemical Education Department University of Lampung-Indonesia became the subject of this research. This research used the qualitative design by the type of Grounded Theory. The results showed that there were 9 conceptions related to hydrogen atomic orbitals with the percentage of students who have correct and incorrect conceptions (misconceptions) of 4.54% and 95.46% respectively.

Peer-to-peer dialogue about teachers’ written feedback enhances students’ understanding on how to improve writing skills

ABSTRACT Academic writing is a complex competence in higher education. To develop this competence, teachers’ written feedback is vital, especially if it contains feed-up, feed-back and feed-forward information. However, academic writing does not always improve after provision of written feedback. The purpose of this study was to explore if peer-to-peer dialogue between students about teachers’ written feedback does enhance students’ understanding of written feedback. Sixty-three second-year university students participated in a pre-test-post-test design with mixed methods. Questionnaire data showed that peer-to-peer dialogue increased students’ understanding of feed-up, feed-back and feed-forward information. Focus group data demonstrated that the dialogue helped students to understand the assessment criteria better (feed up) and offered suggestions for improvement (feed forward). High quality teachers’ written feedback was perceived as an important condition. Peer-to-peer dialogue among students about teachers’ written feedback seems promising in enhancing students’ understanding on how to improve their academic writing assignments.

Effects of anonymity on online peer review in second-language writing

This paper investigates the effect of anonymity in online peer review on feedback types (directive, non-directive, higher-order concern, lower-order concern) and students' revisions (processed, partly processed and not processed) in second-language writing. Participants were 114 Dutch second-year university students. They were assigned to two experimental conditions: anonymous and non-anonymous. Results showed that students in the anonymous condition provided significantly more feedback on higher-order concerns and offered significantly different types of feedback than students in the non-anonymous condition. As for revision, overall findings showed that assessees in the anonymous condition did not process more feedback (i.e., the adoption rate) than their non-identified peers, however, assessees in the anonymous condition processed significantly more directive higher-order feedback and scored significantly higher final grades for the writing module than their non-anonymous peers. These results might imply that anonymity could enable learners to provide unreservedly more higher-order concerns feedback type. On the self-same note, the adoption and revision of these higher-order feedback items was instrumental in the improved writing performance of students in the anonymous condition.

Effeciency of Initial-I Stage Generalized Periodontitis Treatment Among Medical University Students According to Indicators of Oral Cavity Prooxidant-antioxidant System

Periodontal diseases are one of the most important problems in dentistry, due to its very high dissemination. Inflammatory processes in periodontal tissues are more common among young people, which, in the future, without adequate treatment lead to irreversible changes in structure of cellular bone. This causes development of new effective therapeutic complexes aimed at eliminating etiopathogenetic factors development of periodontal tissues inflammatory diseases and the targeted influence on the pathological processes in these tissues.
 The objective of the study was to analyze the efficiency of suggested initial-I stage generalized periodontitis treatment among second-year students of medical university.
 Materials and methods. To achieve this goal, we examined and treated 50 students with initial-I stage of generalized periodontitis without somatic pathology, which were divided into two groups, depending on treatment method. First group included 25 students who received advanced treatment; second group included 25 students, who received usual treatment. Control group consisted of 20 clinically healthy students. The state of oral cavity prooxidant-antioxidant system was determined by the level of malone dialdehyde (MDA), diene conjugates (DK), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, glutathione-S-transferase (G-ST), and the activity of glutathione peroxidase (GPO).
 Results and discussion. Periodontal diseases, namely, initial-I stage of GP, are accompanied by an imbalance of oral cavity prooxidant-antioxidant system indicators. This is confirmed by an increase number of MDA and DK (p<0.001), and a decrease in SOD, G-ST, GPO (p<0.001) compared to clinically healthy students.
 Conclusions. The results of GP treatment in first group were significantly better in relation to the second one (p<0.05), indicating the effectiveness of the proposed advanced treatment of initial-I stage of GP.

Speciesism Predicts Prejudice Against Low-Status and Hierarchy-Attenuating Human Groups

ABSTRACTA growing body of evidence demonstrates that attitudes toward nonhuman animals correlate with attitudes toward disadvantaged human groups. It has been suggested that the connection rests in the ideology of social dominance. Endorsement of social hierarchy and intergroup domination is thought to extend to both human intergroup and human– animal contexts. The present research tested this reasoning by examining the scope and basis of the relation between speciesism and human inter-group attitudes. It was hypothesized that speciesism would predict less positive attitudes toward low-status groups (e.g., disadvantaged ethnic minorities) and those who support social change (e.g., feminists) but that it would be uncorrelated with attitudes toward stigmatized groups that are unmarked by social status (e.g., atheists). Two studies (Study 1, n = 98; Study 2, n = 82) tested this prediction using survey measures of speciesism, social dominance orientation, and attitudes toward 31 human groups including those noted above. Participants were first- and second-year university students in a mid-sized university in Ontario, Canada. As hypothesized, in both studies speciesism predicted less positive attitudes primarily toward low-status groups and groups that support social change. Further, relations between speciesism and intergroup attitudes were explained by their shared connection with social dominance orientation. These data contribute to the growing body of evidence showing links between speciesism and prejudice by illustrating that their shared emphasis on support for social hierarchy gives rise to a specific pattern of intergroup attitudes—one that supports inequality.

One, Two, ... , Many : The Outcomes of Paired Peer Assessment, Group Peer Assessment, and Teacher Assessment in EFL Writing

The learning potential of pair/team work in language assessment has been demonstrated in the literature, albeit with little concern about challenges faced by the educators to implement it. To contribute to this line of research, the present study aimed to investigate the impact of paired peer assessment, teacher feedback, and group peer assessment on students’ writing performance. To do so, 69 second-year university students of the English language were assigned to three classes. The first class received regular teacher feedback, the second class was instructed to work in pairs and assess each other’s work, and students in the third class were divided into groups of four members and a group leader was assigned to each group by the teacher. Team leaders’ responsibility was assessing and providing feedback on their fellow members’ writing samples. The results showed a growth in the performance of students in paired peer assessment class in comparison to the other two classes. In group peer assessment class, the group heads outperformed their peers but the overall performance of the class was lower than paired peer assessment class. The findings suggest careful consideration of the circumstances under which peer assessment can be employed and call for more research on the contribution of non-pedagogical factors to assessment designs.

Does High Anxiety Decrease Motivation for Learning English as a Foreign Language?

This study investigates the relationship between the level of foreign language anxiety experienced by Saudi female English learners at a Saudi university and the level of their motivation in learning English as a foreign language. The participants were 40 female second-year university students. The instruments the researchers used to gather the data were two questionnaires: Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope’s (1986) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and Gardner’s (2006) Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB). The data were analyzed by calculating the percentages of students’ responses to each item. The findings revealed that Saudi female English learners at King Saud University experienced high levels of foreign language anxiety. The findings also revealed that the learners were highly motivated to learn English. This demonstrates that a high level of motivation to learn English does not prevent the occurrence of a significant level of anxiety. That is, motivation can control foreign language anxiety and assist anxious learners in their determination to learn English.

Comparative Overview of Functional and Motor Preparedness of First- and Second-Year College Students

The study objective is to determine the possibility of recognizing the state of functional and motor preparedness of first- and second-year male college students, using multidimensional statistical methods.
 Materials and methods. The study involved first-year (n = 10) and second-year (n = 10) male students of Novomoskovsk College of Dnipro State Agrarian and Economic University. To achieve the objective set, the study relied on the following research methods: analysis of scientific and methodological literature, pedagogical testing, and methods of mathematical statistics for processing research results.
 Results. For practical application of discriminant analysis results, unstandardized canonical discriminant function coefficients are used. The probability of a case belonging to the predicted group is calculated based on substitution of values of variables for the corresponding case into the discriminant function. A comparison of the obtained results with centroid values makes it possible to determine the group the result belongs to.
 Conclusions. Discriminant function structure coefficients are most closely related to variables that characterize functional preparedness (No. 3, 4, 5 “Serkin’s test”), coordination and strength preparedness (No. 15 “Evaluation of perception of motion strength parameters, 1/3”, No. 8 “Arms’ bending and straightening in a hanging position”, 9 “Bent-arm hang”, 10 “Standing long jump”). The division of boys into groups by functional and motor preparedness is carried out on the basis of unstandardized coefficients.

A novel examination of exposure patterns and posttraumatic stress after a university mass murder.

Occurring at an alarming rate in the United States, mass violence has been linked to posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in both direct victims and community members who are indirectly exposed. Identifying what distinct exposure patterns exist and their relation to later PTSS has important clinical implications. The present study determined classes of exposure to an event of mass violence, and if PTSS differed across classes. First- and second-year college students (N = 1,189) participated in a confidential online survey following a mass murder at their university, which assessed event exposure and PTSS 3 months later. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to empirically determine distinct classes of exposure patterns and links between class membership and PTSS. The final model yielded 4 classes: minimal exposure (55.5% of sample), auditory exposure (29.4% of sample), visual exposure (10% of sample), and interpersonal exposure (5% of sample). More severe direct exposure (i.e., the visual exposure class) was associated with significantly higher levels of PTSS than the auditory exposure or minimal exposure classes, as was the interpersonal exposure class. There were no significant differences in PTSS between the auditory exposure and minimal exposure classes or the visual exposure and interpersonal exposure classes. Results point to the differential impact of exposure categories, and provide empirical evidence for distinguishing among auditory, visual, and interpersonal exposures to events of mass violence on college campuses. Clinical implications suggest that visual and interpersonal exposure may warrant targeted efforts following mass violence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).