The main purpose of English learning is to communicate and interact in global contexts. However, in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts as in China, most of the students have limited ...interactional competence in contrast to their grammatical and structural competence. The reason is that Chinese classrooms mostly lack an interactional climate. This calls for an urgent need to develop interpersonal interaction skills by EFL teachers via appropriate strategies. To this end, this article presents an overview of nine interpersonal communication skills/strategies which are pivotal in L2 education. It also describes their definitions and related theories. Moreover, the outcomes of such strategies in aural skills are also explained. Finally, implications, research gaps, and future avenues for research are provided.
This study investigated the mediating role of conceptions of learning in the relationship between metacognitive skills/strategies and academic outcomes among middle-school students. The self-report ..."Learning Conceptions Questionnaire" (LCQ) and "Metacognitive questionnaire on the method of study" (QMS-in Italian) were administered to 136 middle-school students and their academic outcomes were collected. Correlation analyses revealed that within metacognitive skills/strategies only self-assessment was positively correlated with academic outcomes. Mediation analysis indicated that a conception of learning as internal attribution of success and failure was significantly involved as mediator in the relationship between metacognitive skills/strategies and academic outcomes. This study permitted to advance our knowledge about the relationship between metacognitive skills/strategies and academic outcomes and it has opened the way to practical implications.
Test Expectancy and Memory for Important Information Middlebrooks, Catherine D.; Murayama, Kou; Castel, Alan D.
Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition,
06/2017, Letnik:
43, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Prior research suggests that learners study and remember information differently depending upon the type of test they expect to later receive. The current experiments investigate how testing ...expectations impact the study of and memory for valuable information. Participants studied lists of words ranging in value from 1 to 10 points with the goal being to maximize their score on a later memory test. Half of the participants were told to expect a recognition test after each list, whereas the other half were told to expect a recall test. After several lists of receiving tests congruent with expectations, participants studying for a recognition test instead received an unexpected recall test. In Experiment 1, participants who had studied for a recognition test recalled less of the valuable information than participants anticipating the recall format. These participants continued to attend less to item value on future (expected) recall tests than participants who had only ever experienced recall testing. When the recognition tests were made more demanding in Experiment 2, value-based recall improved relative to Experiment 1: though memory for the valuable information remained superior when participants studied with the expectation of having to recall the information, there were no longer significant differences after accounting for recall testing experience. Thus, recall-based testing encouraged strategic, value-based encoding and enhanced retrieval of important information, whereas recognition testing in some cases limited value-based study and memory. These results extend prior work concerning the impact of testing expectations on memory, offering further insight into how people study important information.
The role of international governmental organisations (IGOs) in global policymaking has received significant attention in the field of adult learning and education (ALE) in the twenty-first century, ...and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was recognised as one of the most influential IGO due to its skill surveys - such as the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). However, while the majority of empirical studies in the field have focused on the analysis of PIAAC data, little attention has been given to the influence of the OECD skills strategies on the development and/or improvement of national ALE systems. This study addresses this gap in two OECD member states - Portugal and Slovenia - by applying the 'what's the problem represented to be?' approach to policy analysis and using the theoretical concept of myth in defining policy problems. Our findings indicate that although both countries' ALE systems differ, they share problem representations that reinforce several policy myths: ALE is a solution to tackle socioeconomic problems; unemployment is a problem of low-skilled adults; the learner-centred approach is a way to raise participation in ALE, and improved governance is a means to advance national ALE systems.
A central challenge for local skills strategies is whether they can contribute to 'inclusive growth' including more and better jobs across a local economy. Skills strategies, it has been argued, must ...go beyond simply boosting skills supply and be integrated with policies that shape employer demand for, and utilisation of, skills, including economic development and business improvement. Among developed countries, this is particularly challenging for neo-liberal economies, with weakly regulated labour markets where many firms compete through low wages and low-skill job design. How much progress can be made locally is unclear. The article focuses on England, a highly centralised neo-liberal economy, with high levels of low-wage work and over-qualification. Since 2010, UK governments have promised to empower local communities to drive growth, reforming the infrastructure for sub-national economic development and localising elements of skills policy, as part of a devolution agenda for England set in the context of austerity. There are important questions around how local actors understand the 'skills problem' and whether they can evolve integrative approaches that might contribute to inclusive growth. Drawing upon qualitative research with local actors in the Midlands, the article explores their assumptive worlds in order to shed light on opportunities and constraints.
A series of the changes are being wrought on a range of IHRM functions - recruitment, global staffing, management development and careers, and rewards - by the process of globalization highlighting ...the difference between globally standardized, optimized or localized HR processes. However, our theoretical understanding of the issues involved is still driven by concepts rooted in global staffing strategies based on the management of small cadres of international managers, such as expatriates. The fragmentation of international employee populations and the changing structure and role of international HR functions has raised three important questions. The first concerns the study of globalization processes at functional level (staffing) and whether this can provide useful insights for the IHRM literature. The second concerns the indicators that best evidence globalization of staffing at the functional level, and whether these might form the basis of useful future research. The third concerns the patterns or strategies within the global HR recruitment activity of organizations across domestic and overseas labour markets and whether these patterns can be explained by existing theory. This paper reports on a study of firm-level developments in international recruitment and selection, drawing upon an analysis of four case studies each conducted in four theoretically derived contexts of centralized or decentralized control and co-ordination, and focus on domestic or overseas markets. It examines the disparities between policy and practice through interview of HR actors at corporate level and in country operations.
Drawing from a wide array of case studies, this book analyses best-practice local strategies for increasing workforce skills. And it also takes a close look at the opportunities and challenges ...presented by international migration. The in-depth case studies in this report range from Shanghai's 'Highland of Talent Strategy' to new 'career ladders' which help immigrants escape low-skilled, low-paid employment in New York. National and local-level recommendations on local skills development are provided, for both OECD and non-OECD countries. (DIPF/Orig.).
Identifying parent views regarding social skills Aydoğan, Yasemin; Kılınç, F. Elif; Tepetaş, Şule
Procedia, social and behavioral sciences,
2009, 2009-00-00, Letnik:
1, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The purpose of this research is to identify social skills teaching strategies employed by mothers and fathers in rearing their children. The sample of the study is composed of 222 children aged 60-72 ...months attending pre-schools and their mothers and fathers (444) in the city center of Bolu. In the research, “Survey Form” and “Social Skills Strategies Scale” were used. The results of the study show statistically meaningful differences for mothers and fathers participation points to the importance of social skills and the sub-dimension of “Skills Related to the Acceptance of Consequences (SRAC)”.
PurposeThe purpose of this research is to investigate sustainable strategies for skills development that is specific to the youth of South Africa. International and South African data are ...statistically analysed and quantified to provide inputs for the systems dynamics (SD)-based predictive skills model. The skills model simulates the impact of barriers and drivers on youth skills development towards identification of focus areas for improvement.Design/methodology/approachThe research adopts a mixed-methods approach. The study begins with an explorative literature study on skills development, with the findings applied in developing (1) South African specific research instruments for small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and skills programme grant recipients and (2) a conceptual framework of the SD predictive skills model. The responses to the South African specific instruments are analysed via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), which quantifies the input coefficients to the system dynamics model. To quantify the global inputs for the SD model, an in-depth literature review of the global skills development initiatives is conducted. The SD model output on skills, for the South African inputs, is comparatively evaluated against global inputs.FindingsThe paper details the results of the literature analysis, instrument analyses, CFA and SD model. The instrument results rank experience, skills and interactions with experts and work-based learning as most important. South African and global learners identify networking as the primary medium for identifying training and employment opportunities. South African and global learners also identify qualifications and work-based experience as key to finding employment. The quantified results of the SA and global analysis are used as inputs in the SD model to deliver a forecasting tool. The SD model finds that the global data provide for better development of the skills base than the South African inputs. The key focus areas identified for improvement in South Africa include networking, work-based experience and a reduction in administrative requirements.Originality/valueThe research's originality resides in the ability to predict the impact of drivers and barriers on skills development. This research sought to transform qualitative global and South African inputs into a consolidated, predictive systems-based model. The SD model can be adopted as an indicator of drivers and barriers focused towards the optimisation of skills development.
Greek manufacturing firms Panagiotakopoulos, Antonios
The Journal of business strategy,
03/2012, Letnik:
33, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Purpose - Skills are increasingly identified by policy makers throughout the world as a central means to address social and economic challenges. The present study aims to look specifically at the ...Greek economy and evaluate through an extensive literature review the effectiveness of skill development strategies adopted by small manufacturing firms as a result of their chosen business strategy. The study seeks to explore whether the existing skill development strategies can ensure the future viability of small firms or not.Design methodology approach - Various types of secondary data were used in this study (e.g. journal articles, books, government publications including industry statistics and reports) to outline the importance of a high-skills strategy if living standards in advancing economies like Greece are to be improved and critically evaluate the existing skill development strategies of small industrial firms.Findings - The study argues that the low-skills strategy favored by most Greek small industrial firms can no longer ensure their survival. Therefore, a number of policy measures should be put forward to encourage small firm owners to move towards a high-skills business model.Practical implications - The study helps policy makers to take the required action in order to create a business environment in Greece that encourages the adoption of a high-skills, high-quality product strategy by small firm owners.Originality value - The study brings new insights around the effectiveness of cost-cutting strategies in the context of an advancing country.
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