Educational Texts Research Articles

The Autoethnography of a Teacher Educator

I turn to evocative autoethnographic storytelling as a means to experiment with the text of teacher education and re-imagine my role as a professor of education and early childhood literacy. When I feel that the rigidity of rubrics and standards designed to evaluate my students is creating an uncomfortable distance between us, I invite the formation of a literate thirdspace. My stories convey the feeling of being in-between states of authority and imagination, and question the image of the child’s fragility, including my own. As my students respond with their own memories through discussion, commentary, and writing, my autoethnography emerges as more personal and concrete. The inevitable death of my mother collides in my mind with the university’s literacy curriculum as I am teaching it, and I am forced to revisit the absence of friends, and my mentor to cancer. The denial of death as part of our own, and our children’s experience, is challenged by a child’s words at the end of this paper, where I finally learn to accept loss and the painful act of saying goodbye.

Automatic Translation between Mixtec to Spanish Languages Using Neural Networks

This paper introduces a novel method for collecting and translating texts from the Mixtec to the Spanish language. The method comprises four primary steps. First, we collected a Mixtec–Spanish corpus that includes 4568 sentences from educational and religious domain texts. To enhance the parallel corpus, we generate synthetic data with GPT-3.5. Second, we cleaned the data with a semi-automatic approach followed by preprocessing and tokenization. In preprocessing, we removed stop words, duplicated sentences, special characters, and numbers and converted them to lowercase. Third, we performed semi-automatic alignment to find the correspondence of Mixtec–Spanish sentences to generate sentence-level aligned texts necessary for translation. Finally, we trained automatic translation models based on recurrent neural networks, bidirectional recurrent neural networks, and Transformers. Our system achieved a BLEU score of 95.66 for Mixtec-to-Spanish translation and 99.87 for Spanish-to-Mixtec translation. We also obtained a translation edit rate (TER) of 0.5 for Spanish-to-Mixtec and a TER of 16.5 for Mixtec-to-Spanish. Our research stands out as a pioneering effort in the field of automatic Mixtec-to-Spanish translation in Mexico, filling a gap identified in the current literature.

Lessons From Dragons: Teaching Political Science With HBO’s House of the Dragon

Since first airing on HBO in 2011, Game of Thrones (GOT) has proven to be a fruitful text for teaching and studying politics. In 2022 the prequal to GOT—House of The Dragon (HOTD) debuted on HBO. This paper conducts discourse analysis on the entire first season with two goals in mind. First, we demonstrate how pop culture is impacted by real world politics by examining the change in gender and racial representation in HOTD compared to GOT and argue that this change was a product of cultural backlash that GOT received and a result of changing political attitudes over the time of both shows airing. Second, we use the show’s content as text to teach American and Comparative politics concepts. In the appendix we provide three examples of low, mid, and high-stake assignments that use show content in teaching political science courses.

Поликодовость английских текстов медицинского просвещения: прагматический и лингвокультурный аспекты

The aim of the study is to identify the pragmatic and linguocultural features of polycode English texts of medical education. The article discusses the features of polycode medical education texts posted at the World Health Organization website in the section “Multimedia”. The scientific novelty of the study is determined by the fact that, for the first time, polycode texts of medical education are considered as an effective tool for pragmalinguistic impact in the context of communication aimed at a wide target audience with various receptive-cognitive skills. The results obtained demonstrate that polycode texts of medical education presented in the video section are common and possess the widest range of semiotic codes. These texts can be divided into several groups based on the following criteria: mode of presenting information – cinematic and animated polycode texts, and the topic criterion – texts about vaccination, about the fight against malaria, about science in the “WHO’s Science in 5” section, etc. The pragmatic function is supported by the auditory and visual channels and manifested by verbal and non-verbal sign systems. The information is aimed at various population groups and belongs to mass communication.

Pengambangan Materi Ajar Teks Cerita Rakyat (Hikayat) Berbantuan Aplikasi Macromedia Flash Kelas X SMA

This research aims to determine (1) The form of teaching materials in folklore texts (saga) assisted by the Class X Macromedia Flash application (2) The process of developing teaching materials in folklore texts (saga) assisted by the Class on folklore texts (saga) assisted by the Class X Macromedia Flash application (4) effectiveness of teaching materials on folklore texts (saga) assisted by the Class The trial was carried out in class X MIA at MAS Miftahul Falah Diski. The object of this research is folklore text teaching material assisted by the Macromedia Flash application. The results show 1) The validity of the teaching materials developed is included in the valid category with an average value of total material validity of 88.3% from material experts and 87.5% from media experts. 2) The effectiveness of classical completeness reached 86.4%, that is, it had met the completeness criteria, namely ≥ 85% of students reached the KKM. 3) Student responses show interest in learning with teaching materials developed with the help of Macromedia Flash on folklore (saga) text material seen from the average student response questionnaire score in product trials of 89.20% in the interesting category.

The Application Strategy of Graphic Combination in Primary Art Teaching

Graphic teaching is a teaching mode that guides teachers to combine images and words in the course of teaching. This teaching mode enables art teachers to explain the course content to students in a more intuitive way, deepen their understanding of what they have learned, and promote the improvement of art level and aesthetic ability. At the same time, it also helps to cultivate students' good study habits and achieve their all-round development. After consulting that no matter which version of the current primary school art textbooks are composed of text and picture typesetting. They complement each other and are closely linked to guide the learners. This is enough to explain an important feature of the combination of pictures and texts in art teaching, that is, teachers should pay attention to the combination of pictures and texts in teaching, especially in PPT courseware, and try to avoid all words or only pictures. This paper will discuss the essay and drawing diary and the combination of illustration and text in the form of graphic combination. This paper demonstrates the significance of graphic combination to the primary school art teaching and puts forward the application strategy of graphic combination in the primary school art teaching. Finally, the importance of graphic combination teaching to the overall development of students and the cultivation of social talents is emphasized again.

Parameters of the cognitive potential of educational text

INTRODUCTION. The subject of the study is the cognitive potential of educational text. The purpose of the study is to determine the parameters of the cognitive potential of an educational text that make up its conceptual model. The relevance of the study is explained by the insufficient knowledge of the cognitive characteristics of educational text as a means of cognitive activity.MATERIALS AND METHODS. To achieve the goal, the author analyzes theoretical and practical material using generalization, systematization and comparison and modeling methods. The research uses domestic and foreign research materials on the problem of academic training text and electronic English-language educational texts for teaching English.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. The author uses the concept of cognitive potential to identify and summarize cognitive characteristics. The cognitive potential of educational text is understood as its ability to accumulate, store and transmit various types of knowledge in linguistic form. According to the notion, the a uthor proposes a model of the cognitive potential of the text, which includes three main parameters: the goal-oriented parameter, the subject-oriented parameter, and the text-oriented parameter.CONCLUSION. A conclusion is made about the relationship and heterogeneity of the parameters. It is noted that some parameters have a level structure, since the subjects of cognitive activity are the author and the addressee of the educational text, and the text parameter should be considered in conceptual and linguistic aspects. The development of research can complement and clarify the proposed model of the cognitive potential of educational text. The prospect is to study the relationship between knowledge formats, levels of knowledge in an educational text, as well as the study of cognitive and linguistic models and mechanisms of formation and representation of meaning.

Literature in and through Translation: Literary Translation as a Pedagogical Resource

This article is the revised version of the paper that I presented at the 5th APTIS (Association of Programmes in Translation and Interpreting Studies) 2023 conference (“The teaching and learning that matter today”), whose proceedings were never published. As a result of globalisation, the number of books requiring translation considerably increased. Nevertheless, readers do not always acknowledge translations as such, and literary translators do not generally obtain the recognition they deserve. Academia may be partly responsible for that: on the one side, indeed, literary translation is not as discussed as other topics within the broader field of Translation Studies; on the other, whilst teaching texts in translation is becoming increasingly common, translated literature is not generally considered as an academic discipline on its own. To promote a wider circulation and appreciation of translated literature in and beyond academia, translated literary texts could be systematically introduced into the curricula of courses in literature and literary translation. This could be achieved through the compilation and use of parallel corpora, namely collections of source texts and respective translations. In this light, this paper has two main objectives: explaining how courses in literature and literary translation could be taught using parallel corpora; showcasing the pedagogical advantages that such an approach may have on different levels. As for courses in literature it would provide students with an understanding of the mechanisms behind the production of literary translations and their relevance within the broader literary system. On what concerns courses in literary translation, it may represent a compromise between theory and practice, and between the research-orientated environment of academic settings and the commercially-orientated publishing industry. The study was conducted through the review of pedagogical practices and contexts where literary texts are taught in translation. The paper concludes with the observation that this corpus-based teaching approach may have some positive repercussions outside academia: it would not only contribute to a broader appreciation of translated literary texts among the general public but also foster a broader recognition of the role of the literary translator in shaping and constructing foreign literature.

Формування професійно-ціннісних орієнтацій майбутнього вчителя через зміст дисциплін соціально-гуманітарного циклу

The article substantiates the importance and necessity of forming the professional and value orientations of the future foreign language teacher in the process of educational activities. It is argued that the content of the formation of professional value orientations is a complete system of scientific, professionally necessary competences, knowledge, abilities, skills, experience in their application and determine a purposeful strategy of educational activities for the development of the future teacher. The main goals and ways of forming the student's professional and value orientations are determined while studying the discipline of the socio-humanitarian cycle in a modular-block form. It was found that the content of the educational material is implemented through productive learning technologies aimed at developing the professional competence of the future foreign language teacher, his intelligence, harmonization of emotional and motivational, cognitive, activity components. Groups of formation of professional and value orientations are outlined: goal orientations (nature of motivation for pedagogical activity, orientation to the image of the self-concept of the future foreign language teacher); orientation-competencies; orientation-quality using the educational text. The results showed that in the process of studying the theoretical material, special attention should be paid to the selection of texts, as they are an important means of forming the professional and value orientations of the future teacher.

Retrieval-based concept mapping makes a difference as a retrieval practice activity: a study with high school students

IntroductionWhile specific sequences of retrieval-based activities have been shown to have a powerful effect on learning, no previous study has examined this issue in children or adolescents. Here, we aimed to determine whether the benefit of concept mapping as an initial retrieval activity observed previously with college students in a lab setting may also be found in younger and less experienced students in a more naturalistic school setting.MethodsAfter a short training in concept mapping, participants (N = 60) read an educational text and then engaged in a sequence of two learning activities that required them to retrieve relevant ideas from the text. One of the activities involved free recall by writing down as many ideas as possible and the other involved creating a concept map, both of them in the absence of educational texts. Critically, we manipulated the order in which the activities were performed.ResultsA mediation analysis with success during retrieval practice as the mediator revealed both a direct effect of retrieval sequence and an indirect effect. Creating a concept map first and then freely recalling by writing paragraphs significantly improved performance on a 2-week delayed learning test, as compared to performing the same activities in the inverse order, even when doing concept mapping first led to lower success rates during practice.DiscussionThese results support the idea that concept learning from instructional texts can be modulated by the sequence of retrieval activities performed and point to the educational value of retrieval-based concept mapping as a first learning activity within a series across different learners and educational settings.

Poststructural Analysis of Anti-LGBTQ + Educational Policies

We draw on several critical paradigms, disciplines, and theories to interrogate 13 anti-LGBTQ+ educational policy texts. Using Institutional Theory (Anagnostopoulos et al., 2010; Carpenter & Feroz, 2001) and Poststructural Policy Analysis (Bacchi & Goodwin, 2016), we explore how these texts may cause separations between policy and practice, how they construct “teachers” and “students” as subjects and objects of the state, and how they promote cisheteropatriarchy. The terms reactive evasion and identity evasiveness are presented to describe central discursive mechanisms in the texts. The term identity specificity, or the humanizing practices of recognizing diverse identities, is coined as a fundamental component of educational quality. We situate our work as an enunciation of critical resistance within anti-oppressive discourses and assert three main arguments: (a) these dictates will adversely affect educational institutions; (b) a fundamental component of educational quality is identity specificity; and (c) policy not centered on the humanizing testimony of those about whom that policy is generated reinforces oppressive regimes.

The Effectiveness of Dewi Mangrove Sari Folklore Teaching Materials Based on the Open Ended Learning Model to Increase Learning Motivation and Learning Outcomes (Empirical Study on Class V Students of SD Cut Nyak Dien Cluster, Wanasari District, Brebes Regency)

The availability of non-fiction text teaching materials based on local folklore has not been utilized as an innovative teaching material that is integrated in Indonesian language learning. The use of accompanying teaching materials as student references is adjusted to the needs and level of development of elementary school students, especially in the Independent Curriculum. This research aims to determine the difference in sample averages resulting from the use of Dewi Mangrove Sari folklore teaching materials based on the Open Ended learning model on learning motivation, learning outcomes and the reasoning abilities of elementary school students. The quantitative analysis research method uses Quasi Experiment Design using a nonequivalent control group design pre test – post test. The research population was class V students of Gugus Cut Nyak Dien, Wanasari District, Brebes, while the research sample was 28 students. The independent sample test results for learning motivation obtained a value of 0.004, learning outcomes obtained a value of 0.00, and results for critical reasoning abilities obtained a value of 0.004. So it can be concluded that in the experimental class there is a difference in the average results compared to the control class. So, the Dewi Mangrove Sari Folklore teaching materials based on the Open Ended learning model have a positive impact on the motivation, learning outcomes and critical reasoning abilities of elementary school students. Keywords: Dewi Mangrove Sari Folklore Teaching Materials, Open Ended, Learning Motivation and Learning Results, Critical Reasoning.

Outcomes of the Dulce Digital-COVID Aware (DD-CA) discharge texting platform for US/Mexico border Hispanic individuals with diabetes

BackgroundHispanic individuals have higher type 2 diabetes (T2D) prevalence, poorer outcomes, and are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Culturally-tailored, diabetes educational text messaging has previously improved HbA1c in this population. MethodsDuring the pandemic, hospitalized Hispanic adults with T2D (N = 172) were randomized to receive Dulce Digital-COVID Aware (“DD-CA”) texting platform upon discharge plus diabetes transition service (DTS) or DTS alone. DD-CA includes diabetes educational messaging with additional COVID-safe messaging (e.g., promoting masking; social distancing; vaccination). FindingsAmong adults with poorly-controlled diabetes (Mean HbA1c = 9.6 ± 2.2 %), DD-CA did not reduce 30- or 90-day readmissions compared to standard care (28 % vs 15 %, p = .06; 37 % vs 35 %, p = .9, respectively). However, the improvement in HbA1c was larger among those in the DD-CA compared to DTS at 3 months (n = 56; −2.69 % vs. −1.45 %, p = .0496) with reduced effect at 6 months (n = 64; −2.03 % vs −0.91 %, p = .07). Low follow-up completion rates and the addition of covariates (to control for baseline group differences that existed despite randomization) impacted statistical power. InterpretationDuring the pandemic, DD-CA offered an alternative digital approach to diabetes and COVID education and support for a high-risk Hispanic population and achieved trends toward improvement in glycemic control despite relatively low engagement and not reducing hospital readmissions.

Visual Rhetoric and Spatial Sovereignty in Gord Hill’s The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book

Abstract: This article offers a close analysis of the interventionary visual rhetoric and comic techniques in The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book by Gord Hill (Kwakwaka’wakw). It positions Hill’s comic book as an act of discursive resistance that challenges imagery and narratives of colonial history using the affordances of comic arts. As a multimodal genre, as an audience-directed educational text, and as an account of warriorhood, The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book is an important contribution to Indigenous studies.

Developing Descriptive Writing Materials by Using Padlet Application in the Tenth Grade Students at SMK AL Washliyah 3 Medan

The aim of this research is to develop descriptive writing material, determine the validation of descriptive writing material and to increase the effectiveness of descriptive writing material by using the padlet application in teaching writing for class X students at SMK AL Washliyah 3 Medan. The research was carried out using the Development Research method, and the evaluator was an English subject teacher, and the subjects were class X students. Pre-test and post-test were carried out to determine the effectiveness of the results. The pre-test results obtained an average score of 70.15% in the satisfactory category; The post-test results show an average score of 82.15% in the very good category. The process of developing teaching materials includes three aspects of assessment: 1) development of descriptive writing materials; 2) validation of descriptive writing material and; 3) effectiveness of descriptive writing materials. Material expert validation includes content with an average score of 3.15% and percentages 4.35% in the superior category. Feasibility of presenting teaching materials has an average score of 5.67% in the superior category, and linguistic elements have an average score of 4.25% in the superior category. The conclusion shows that the design for developing descriptive text teaching materials using a scientific approach in English subjects is very effective.

Scientific educational text as a means of teaching

Scientific educational text as a means of teaching

Functional and semantic basis of the organisation of the process of foreign language communicative competence development of students

Relevance. By focusing on lexicalised grammatical material as a means of forming English-language communicative competence in non-linguistic specialisations educators can better prepare students to excel in their chosen professions by equipping them with the language knowledge for effective communication in their respective fields. Purpose. This study aims to demonstrate how functionally described grammatical units effectively shape speech and communicative competence in teaching "Professionally oriented foreign language" within "Tourism" and "Socio-Cultural Service" specialisations. The objective of the study is to check the mechanism of activation of frequency semantic units in the professional speech of future specialists in the field of tourism. Methodology. The paper uses such research methods as semantic analysis, statistical method, modelling, approbation, analysis of research subject based on the processing of educational texts. 15 2nd-year students of the specialisation "Tourism" and "Socio-cultural service" took part in the study. Results. The conducted research proves the necessity of organising a system of preliminary preparation of material with the selection of lexicalised material for developing English-language communicative competence. An algorithm and corresponding practices have been devised to expedite students' foreign language communicative competence development, ensuring proficient utilisation of acquired knowledge in their professional endeavors. The study delineates the constituent elements of foreign language communicative competency and aligns them with the overarching objectives of teaching within non-linguistic specialisations, encompassing linguistic, sociolinguistic, sociocultural, social, reflexive, pragmatic, and discursive components. Conclusions. Lexicalised grammatical material significantly influences the development of foreign language communicative competence in non-linguistic students specializing in "Tourism" and "Socio-cultural Service". Integrating intercultural competency into language acquisition is crucial, enhancing students' ability to navigate diverse cultural contexts effectively. The results of the study can be used in conducting English language classes of the discipline "Professionally oriented foreign language" in the specialisations "Tourism" and "Socio-cultural service". Keywords: semantic types of elementary utterances; speech act; lexical compatibility; lexical variation; syntactic field; syntactic synonymy

Development of QR Code Based Historical Narrative Text Teaching Materials to Improve Students' Skills in Extracting Historical Information

Teachers have not integrated the technology that should be implemented to support the success of 21st century learning. The aim of this research is to develop and test the appropriateness of teaching materials for historical narrative texts based on QR Code Indonesian learning in grade V SDN Srondol Wetan and SDN Sendangmulyo 01 Semarang City. Development research model of Borg and Gall. The form of data collecting instrument, namely validation questionnaire. QR Code-based historical narrative text teaching materials are developed according to the needs of teachers and students to improve students' skills in extracting historical information. The development of QR Code-based historical narrative text teaching materials is designed with characteristics that specifically include (1) appropriateness of content/material, (2) eligibility percentage, (3) linguistic feasibility, and (4) graphic feasibility. QR Code-based historical narrative text teaching materials are developed based on the feasibility assessment of media experts, and material experts. Based on the feasibility assessment of media experts on teaching materials for historical narrative texts based on QR Codes, including in the criteria with an assessment percentage score of 90.83%. Meanwhile, material expert feasibility assessment on QR Code-based historical narrative text teaching materials includes criteria are very feasible with an assessment percetage score of 92.5%. As well as a recapitulation of 2 validators obtained an average score of 90% in the very good category so that it is suitable for use in learning activities. Keywords: Teaching Materials, QR Code, Indonesian, Historical Narrative

Enhancing mental wellbeing by changing mindsets? Results from two randomized controlled trials

Improving mental wellbeing is often targeted with behavioral interventions, while mindset interventions might be more appealing as they require less time and effort. In addition to recent experimental studies demonstrating that attributional beliefs can be changed to improve emotional wellbeing and performance, the current study examines whether a positive change in people’s beliefs about stress and life philosophy enhances emotional, social and psychological wellbeing using brief educational interventions. Two parallel double-blind randomized controlled trials were conducted. Study 1 (N = 106; 62.3% female, mean age 36.0) compared an educational video about the benefits of a stress-is-enhancing mindset versus an active control video. In Study 2 (N = 136; 57.4% female, mean age 35.7), educational texts about the benefits of a stress-is-enhancing mindset and holding a life-is-long-and-easy mindset were compared to an active control text. Results of multilevel growth curve modeling showed that a stress mindset could be significantly changed using an educational video or text, while the change in the philosophies of life mindset did not significantly differ between conditions. Furthermore, none of the manipulations were able to sustain the positive change in mindset which might explain why there was no significant increase in mental wellbeing compared to control. To have a lasting effect on people’s mental wellbeing, a change in mindset might need to be embodied in everyday life. Future research should investigate simple versus intensive interventions with longer follow-up time to examine whether and how a mindset can be sustainably changed to promote flourishing mental health in the general population.

CONTENT ANALYSIS OF TEXTBOOKS

The paper presents the results of the content analysis of the teaching text. We analyzed two text samples selected from textbooks - "Biology 1 for grammar schools" (textbook 2) and "Biology for the 2nd year of grammar schools and the 6th year of grammar schools with an eight-year study" (textbook 1). Both of these textbooks are used in teaching subject Biology in Slovakia. When analyzing both teaching texts, we tried to find out whether the texts, in terms of content complexity, are processed appropriately for the 1st grade students at the gymnasium. As part of the content analysis, we focused on syntactic difficulty (Ts) and conceptual difficulty (Tp) and overall difficulty (T), for which we used the T measure (the innovative Nestlerová – Průcha – Pluskal measure). This measure was modified for the analysis of not only Czech, but also Slovak textbooks. Based on this measure, we came to the conclusion that textbook 1 is processed more demandingly and its degree of difficulty reached the value of 55.28 compared to textbook 2, which degree of difficulty reached the value of 52.10. In addition to the statistical difficulty of the text of both textbooks, we tried to analyze the text in terms of the occupation of individual topics, the basic and supplementary text and the overall visual and graphic processing of the textbooks.