Social Conflict

Human conflict has been around since prehistoric times, and different ways of understanding the connections between different conflicts has evolved as a topic around philosophical, religious, and scientific definitions in different types of societies. War has been a constant in many societies, and since the past few hundred years of history have been generally dominated by warring patriarchal societies and religions, ideas of the place of women in society is interwoven with ideas in the culture about violence, warfare, and rape. Rape and violence against women in war is supported in patriarchal military and political power structures, and in the societies in which these power structures operate, violence that exists in the home against women is often extended to the idea of the enemy civilian as domestic violence victim. From this perspective, the idea of violence against women in war can be seen as an extension of domestic violence; however, it is also important to consider other variables that lead to aggression, abuse, and domestic violence.

If war in patriarchal societies can be seen as a reflection of domestic values, the domestic values regarding violence against women in civilian populations can be extended to the rape and violence perpetrated against women both within and by the military. "Violence against women is a byproduct of war in that women are civilians (in most conflicts). Yet I believe women are casualties also because they have been forced into vulnerable, inferior positions in much of the world and throughout history" (Rape, 2014). When one considers this above quotation, it is difficult not to see how domestic violence against women in civilian populations can be conflated to violence against women in war. Patriarchal codes of meaning determine how people are indoctrinated into the military, and violence against women is often a strong subtext in this indoctrination process. It is not as if the military goes about training its recruits with the deliberate intent to order soldiers to rape enemy civilians, but it enters the patriarchal rituals as a subtext of the continuation of domestic violence at home. If the society that is reflected in its military has problems with domestic violence, it makes sense that the military indoctrination procedures in that society would also have a problem with perpetrating this type of violence.

Of course, not all armies and situations are the same, even though most of the cultures that have existed in the past few centuries of history, as mentioned above, have tended to be patriarchal, and the main four religions of these times, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism, were all basically patriarchal in nature and setup, with the dominant gods being males. "The frequency of rape of civilians and other forms of sexual violence varies dramatically across conflicts, armed groups within conflict, and units within armed groups. The form of sexual violence also varies, including rape of women and girls and also of men and boys" (Wood, 2009). There are many forms of violence that differ from case to case, and there are also undercurrents of verbal and emotional abuse that accompany the violence as it extends from the patriarchal society to its military, and gets into its military indoctrination programs in a subtext of violence against women.

One of the causes of violence against women in war being an extension of domestic violence is how the state trains its soldiers, and what it teaches them about male roles, female roles, and sexualized violence. One does not have to have been in the military to know how when US soldiers are taught to march in cadence, many of the chants that they use contain violent and abusive jokes about women and genitalia, and that when one is of a low rank in the military, superiors, especially drill sergeants, are expected to belittle recruits by calling them homosexuals, or calling them women's names to shame them. Joshua Goldstein argues that "the practices of militarized masculinity account for the specifically sexual violence against enemy civilians (and combatants), but such practices are too widespread to account for the observed variation in sexual violence" (Wood, 2009). In this way, the rituals that exist in the military for indoctrination purposes can be linked to their impetus in society as rituals of domestic violence.

There are many victims of domestic violence as well as violence against women in war. It is important to remember that in the case of sexual violence perpetrated against girls in the home, as well as girls by soldiers, there is a higher likelihood that the girl will die of her injuries when a male is the perpetrator of abuse. "Data gleaned by PCADV from newspaper clippings in 1990 reveal that every three days a woman or child is killed in the state by a batterer/father (Yupcavage, 1991)" (Hart, 1992). Since women and children are most often the victims of abuse, rituals of domestic violence that then go through to the military indoctrination programs tend to focus on them. Many thinkers have found a statistical link between child welfare and domestic violence that is also something to consider in its attribution to violence against women and girls by the military. For example, in the early 1980s Lenore Walker "observed the link between domestic violence and child abuse. In interviews with 400 battered women, Walker found that 53% of the fathers and 28% of the mothers abused their children (1984, p. 59)" (Schechter and Edleson, 1994). An atmosphere of violence, according to these statistics, tends to perpetuate itself as it extends from the domestic society's rituals of oppression of women and girls, to military rituals.

Issues of domestic violence and rape against women in civilian and military capacities are mixed up with issues of women's human rights in society, and women's status as a minority in patriarchal cultures. Women are often ignored in human rights situations, because, from perspectives like that of MacKinnon, they are viewed differently by the media and in fact entire societies, in terms of what they are expected to suffer and how their suffering is viewed in the context of war and the domestic society. "When women are violated like men who are otherwise like them -- when women's arms and legs are cut and bleed like the arms and legs of men... these atrocities are not marked in the history of violations of women's human rights. The women are counted as Argentinian or Honduran or Jewish" (MacKinnon, 2014). From this type of perspective, the eyes of society look through lenses of gender role expectations which go so far as to determine what these roles are in times of atrocity and crime, such as torture, beating, or murder. This statement goes back to the argument about statistics tending to be faceless, whether they are about men or women.

There are other perspectives on why people develop violent and aggressive tendencies that are not as grounded in feminist or patriarchal critique, but seek to look at how exactly societies condition aggression. To the extent that different types of inhuman and cruel behaviors have different causes and different trajectories in different contexts, t "the use of aggregate outcomes prevents the identification of these mechanisms and specific developmental trajectories and also prevents the identification of effective treatment and prevention programs" (Romano, 2005). Despite these challenges, however, it may be that aggression and a predisposition towards violence is the result of a child or toddler not having a worldview that is pro-social in nature, and which would seek to end rather than instigate conflict. "Characteristics of children that have been associated with physical aggression and prosocial behavior range from age and sex to physical, emotional, cognitive, and social dimensions" (Romano, 2005). There are many possible reasons for violence and anti-female behavior in society, particularly if the society's power structures are male-dominated.

The role of women during conflict also changes, which adds another extraneous variable into the mix. For example, during times of revolution in society, women tend to take up the mantle of warfare in a way that shows them to be the instigators of violence rather than its victims. However, even during these times, there is a double standard that exists, and will exist when the swing of post-revolution society gets back to its (usually) patriarchal roots. "The universalism of human rights brandished during the French revolution was slowly superseded by a nationalist reaction incubated during Napoleon's conquests, just as the internationalist hopes of socialist human rights advocates were drowned in a tidal wave of nationalism at the onset of World War I" (Ishay, 2008). After the turn of the twenty-first century, there are some of these ideas that still pertain today. There are still many mainstream cultures that are patriarchal in nature, and define the man's role as a point of tension-poised, dominant breadwinner; women in these societies are often demeaned it their rituals, both civilian and military. In addition, women are still being assessed by a standard of passive domesticity to a large extent, though not as much so as in the past. We are no longer living in the Victorian era, but there are still strong vestiges of colonialism in many areas that also bring about changes in the way societies view females in the context of their respective rituals of repression.

REFERENCES

Gottschall, J. Explaining Wartime Rape. The Journal of Sex Research

Hart, Barbara J. Domestic Violence: Risks and Remedies. Child Protective Services Quarterly.

Schechter, Susan, and Jeffrey L. Edleson (1994). In the Best Interest of Women and Children: A Call for Collaboration Between Child Welfare and Domestic Violence Constituencies. MINCAVA.

Ishay, Micheline (2008) The History of Human Rights

MacKinnon, C (2014). Rape, genocide and women's human rights. in Hayden, Patrick (2001): The Philosophy of Human Rights

Romano, E. (2005). Multilevel correlates of childhood physical aggression and prosocial behavior. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.

Wood, E (2009); 37; 131 Armed groups and sexual violence. Politics and Society

Rape in war (2014).

Quantitative Research Studies Analysis

Introduction

Quantitative analysis is useful for its objectivity and clarity, but abstract concepts inevitably must be used in the interpretation of the results. Qualitative methods may not be as objective, as they rely on constructivist and interpretive research paradigms (i.e. inductive rather than deductive reasoning in analysis), but quantitative methods become just as conceptual when trying to make sense of the research findings. The three research studies discussed in this paper provide good examples to illustrate this point.

Dawes and Bishop, Kidd and Hogben, and Torppa, Tolvanen, Poikkcus, Ekiund, Lerkkanen, Leskinen, and Lyytinen all use quantitative analysis and the normative research paradigm. I chose them, because they all adhere to measurable and quantifiable data in a way that is consistent with the "real" experience that is valued in positivist research. None of the studies uses a qualitative design, but a discussion of the research findings and their implications reveals the fact that abstract concepts will always come into play in one form or another. All three research studies focus on the ability to process and interpret sensory information, and this is a phenomenon that will always necessarily remain somewhat abstract.

In a certain sense, any research study intended to fill in gaps in understanding will involve abstract concepts. The difference between qualitative work and the quantitative work discussed here is that abstract concepts are included within data analysis during qualitative research, whereas quantitative research reduces abstract concepts to a level that can be codified into numbers. In the sections that follow, quantitative methods are shown to produce measurable, objective results, but abstract thinking and speculation must be used during the researchers' interpretation of data.

Dawes and Bishop (2008):

Maturation of Sensory Processing in Children

Dawes and Bishop (2008) examined the process of maturation undergone by auditory and visual temporal processing abilities in children. This is an example of a situation in which researchers may be interested in understanding the processes of sensory and cognitive development over the course of time. For this reason, it is useful to establish "normal" levels of sensory functioning for various groups organized according to age and other factors. One example of a normative research study intended to explain auditory and visual development is Dawes and Bishop (2008).

Their work is focused on sensory development and the development of physical structures of the peripheral auditory system, but this inquiry is complicated by the fact that other, non-sensory factors are also at work to determine responsiveness to stimuli. A lack of attention, a lack of motivation, or an inability to use strategic listening can all interfere with test results, and with young children repeated trials are often necessary - which compromises the validity of results. Therefore, special care needs to be taken in order to promote accuracy in studies intended to build understanding of physical development in this regard.

Thus, Dawes and Bishop used normative research to examine auditory and visual processing abilities among adults and children. Three aims of this study, as explained by Dawes and Bishop, include the following:

- The researchers sought to characterize the development of audio and visual processing tasks, especially those associated with the study of reading and language disorders. However, one non-temporal auditory task and one temporal visual task were also used. All of these were used to asses within group and within subject variability.

- A relationship has been hypothesized to exist between auditory and visual processing. In this regard, the researchers were also interested in testing the hypothesis that common mechanisms are used to process both auditory and visual information; in order to do this, it was necessary to determine if the development of sensitivity to auditory stimuli is related to the development of sensitivity to visual stimuli.

- The study was designed to test whether or not children may have their language and literacy development impacted by impairments to auditory processing. It has been suggested that impaired auditory development can be associated with impaired ability to a deficit in speech processing, and that a link can therefore exist between auditory perceptual impairment and language/reading issues. Therefore, the researchers sought to identify any possible relationships between perceptual tasks to a speech based clinical measure of auditory processing (the SCAN-C) and a measure of communication skills (The Children's Communication Checklist (Bishop, 2003).

Several visual and auditory temporal processing tests were used, including the speech-based clinical measure of auditory processing, the SCAN-C, and also to a measure of communication skills, the Children's Communication Checklist (CCC-2; Bishop, 2003). The procedure involved assessing participants and comparing results with the norm for their respective age ranges.

The researchers note that a significant amount of variance was not accounted for by auditory and visual procedural skills, and they suggest that this could suggest differences in auditory processing from one individual to the next. They found that with detection of FM stimuli did improve over the age range of children studied (6 to 10 years) but that IRN detection did not improve. This led the researchers to draw tentative conclusions about pitch processing development.

Strengths and Weaknesses

This normative research study used quantitative analysis of scores on measures of auditory and visual processing. In the sense that the performances of participants were compared against norms that may not be truly representative of the total population, this normative study is subject to error. Depending on the accuracy of the norms against which the numbers in the present study are compared, the results may be misleading. Another limitation of this study is its small sample size. Only 18 adults and 98 children were involved in the study, and only 21 children provided test-retest data.

Another questionable aspect of the study is represented by the implications of its finding that perceptual task performance generally increases with age. With the exception of temporal processing and coherent form perception, perceptual task performance improves with age, but this does not necessarily suggest that sensory processing is improving with age. The researchers note that the improved performance may be related to other factors, such as capacity for communication, concentration, and strategic listening.

In this case, quantitative methods were used for the purpose of providing hard data, but accuracy is always lost when abstract concepts - such as sensory processing ability - are codified into numbers. This is especially true in the present example, because certain factors such as concentration and level of interest are difficult to quantify. However, the researchers did attempt to mitigate such problems by using controls such as the Children's Communication Checklist (Bishop, 2003). To the greatest extent possible, the influence of other major factors was taken into account.

Kidd and Hogben (2007):

The Saltation Illusion and Dyslexia

Kidd and Hogben (2007) conducted a research study based on the notion that auditory temporal processing ATP abnormalities may be associated with the disorder known as dyslexia. One of the most prominent sources of adversity associated with dyslexia is phonological awareness, the ability to extract, reflect on, and manipulate the sounds of language (Kidd and Hogben, 2007). For this reason, it has been hypothesized that auditory sensory processing ability can play a role in dyslexia. Again, normative research is used.

The quantitative analysis used by Kidd & Hogben was intended to answer the following questions:

- Do dyslexic readers perform poorly on auditory tasks compared with competent readers?

- Is auditory task performance related to reading and phonological processing skills? (p. 983)

Kidd and Hogben cite research evidence that suggests significant differences in the processing of auditory information when the performances of dyslexic individuals are compared to those of non-dyslexic individuals. However, they also cite some research studies that show that discrepancies may be caused by the influence of dyslexic individuals who perform extremely poorly and other studies in which no difference is observable at all. Thus, they question the validity of the results supporting the auditory temporal processing (ATP) hypothesis for explaining dyslexia.

As one of many research studies designed to identify any auditory factors contributing to dyslexia, this work focused on a particular aspect of auditory processing. The method used here to assess temporal processing of auditory information among individuals with dyslexia involves the Auditory Saltation illusion. This phenomenon is an illusion of motion perceived by most individuals when exposed to multiple auditory stimuli in different locations. People ordinarily perceive one stimulus to "jump" from one location to another. The basis for using this phenomenon to assess ATP among dyslexic individuals is that the experience of the auditory saltation illusion relies on the, "capacity to derive a veridical percept from rapidly presented stimuli" (p. 984) and that the limits of ATP may therefore be reflected by the temporal boundary between the percepts of auditory saltation and veridical localization.

Research studies involving this method, like other research studies searching for auditory attributes of dyslexia, have produced conflicting results, so Kidd and Hogben sought to revisit these findings by investigating the question of whether or not poor saltation task performance characterizes dyslexia. Participants included 19 adults with dyslexia and 20 competently reading adults. Two trials of a 2-alternative forced-choice saltation task were used together with standard measures of reading and phonological processing in order to determine whether dyslexia is "characterized by poor saltation task performance and whether saltation thresholds are related to reading and phonological processing" (982).

Research instruments included the Matrices subtest of the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (Kaufman & Kaufman, 1990), which was used to establish whether or not participants were of acceptable levels of nonverbal intelligence for this study, and the Phonemic Decoding Efficiency subtest of the Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE; Torgesen,Wagner & Rashotte, 1999), which was used to establish the presence of dyslexia in the experimental group. Among the participants with dyslexia, poorer saltation thresholds were observed. However there was considerable overlap among threshold distributions overlapped considerably, and thresholds alone were insufficient for predicting group membership.

Strengths and Weaknesses

In this quantitative work, previously establishes norms were used as a reference point by which to assess the performance of a saltation task - which requires answering a question to determine the limits at which one is affected by the Auditory Saltation Illusion. The saltation task may be useful as a measure of auditory temporal processing, but it may not be useful for measuring capabilities that are significantly correlated with dyslexia. If a relationship is observed to exist between saltation task performance and dyslexia, it is not necessarily a causal relationship.

Another limitation of this study comes from the fact that a two-alternative forced choice process was used. With only two alternatives from which to choose, the potential for inaccuracy is increased by a lack of options. Although the two-alternative method is useful for its clarity, it also inevitably reduces and simplifies the information being measured. They write: "We chose to use this task primarily because it is objective but also because our previous studies had shown that this task is more reliable and more efficient when used in individuals who are largely inexperienced with psychophysics (Kidd & Hogben, p. 992).

The researchers attempted to compensate for the reductionist nature of qualtitative work by using careful discernment in their interpretation and discussion of the results. They note, for example, that negative relationships were observed between log saltation thresholds across groups and measures of reading and phonological processing but that these relationships were not significant.

While quantitative methods are generally free of speculation, they are still subject to inexplicable inconsistency in results. That is the case in this example. The researchers find themselves struggling to interpret the data and make sense of inconsistency - and this is where abstract reasoning and conjecture end up playing a role in quantitative work. In qualitative work, the researcher is free to speculate as part of data analysis, but in quantitative work speculation takes place while interpreting the numbers.

Torrpa et al (2007):

Factors Affecting Word Recognition and Reading Comprehension

Torppa, Tolvanen, Poikkcus , Ekiund, Lerkkanen, Leskinen, and Lyytinen (2007) conducted a study was based on Jyvaskyia Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia (JLD), a study of 100 children in Finland who are genetically predisposed to dyslexia and 100 children in a control group. The researchers were interested in learning whether or not word recognition and reading comprehension could be indicative of heterogonous developmental paths. Although recognition of words and reading comprehension are strongly related, they are not exactly the same, and they may develop at different rates. The researchers also examined the relationship between early literacy skills and future reading ability; in order to do this, they devised five categories of reading development in the follow-up study: poor readers, slow decoders, poor comprehenders, average readers, and good readers.

The focus of the study was to test the claim that identifiable subtypes exist within the total population of students with reading difficulties and to give special attention to the development of word recognition capability compared to reading comprehension ability. The researchers acknowledge that word recognition and reading comprehension are strongly related, but they cite studies that suggest subtle differences. The researchers also examined the results of JLD study participants with regard to language and literacy development, reading experience, and the familial dyslexia risk.

Word recognition and reading comprehension were assessed in comparison with one another and also in relationship to early reading experience and skills, including receptive language, expressive language, morphological knowledge, phonological awareness, letter knowledge, memory, rapid serial naming, and intelligence,

Assessments were administered to 1803 students, and of these 193 were student in the JLD study. The assessments were given twice during the first grade year, when the children were seven years old, and twice the following year. After excluding some students who for one reason or another did not participate in both studies, the results of 1750 students were analyzed in comparison with that of the students in the JLD study. The researchers found that, of the children studied, those with familial risk for dyslexia were overrepresented in the "slow decoder" subtype.

One weakness of this study was that it is based on categories derived based on a mixture modeling procedure that may have been subject to error. Various factors could be at work in any process used to assess the skill with which students decode words. The findings of the study are all based on the relationships of various factors to categories into which students were assigned based on their performances on various assessments. As with any standardized test, factors such as the students' skill at test taking strategy, level of fatigue, and level of interest on the day of the test all may have come into play. This research method uses abstract terms (i.e. "slow decoder," "poor comprehender") as a basis for quantitative analysis.

Torrpa et al attempted to mitigate the disadvantages of this method by using a population that is quite large. The students with known genetic risk for dyslexia numbered fewer than one hundred, but they were compared with a large population of almost two thousand other students. Furthermore, multiple assessments were given; word recognition and reading comprehension were assessed four times during the first grade school year.

Ethical Considerations

One ethical issue that is relevant in any research study involving children is that they are not old enough to give their legal consent about the process. They will be affected by their participation, either positively or negatively, so care should be taken to ensure sensitive and confidential treatment of all information obtained. For example, one example of a negative consequence of the study conducted by Torppa et al might be that a student in the group at risk for dyslexia may suffer an injury to the self-esteem when her or his parents explain the reason for their involvement with the study - especially in cases where the child is classified as a slow decoder, slow comprehender, or slow reader. In fact, these labels seem unnecessarily blunt and derogatory; perhaps some effort should have been made to establish subtypes in a more tactful way.

Summary

Despite the different focuses of these research studies, all three studies involved the use of established norms. Dawes and Bishop (2008) examined the process of maturation undergone by auditory and visual temporal processing abilities in children, and their norms were established by previous research data. Kidd and Hogben (2007) were interested in determining whether dyslexic readers perform poorly on auditory tasks compared with competent readers and whether auditory task performance related to reading and phonological processing skills (p. 983), and the norms for this study were based on the performance of "competent readers. Torppa et al (2007) were interested in learning whether or not word recognition and reading comprehension could be indicative of heterogonous developmental paths and also in examining the relationship between early literacy skills and future reading ability, and in this study the researchers established norms by deriving them from the data that they were analyzing. In every case, the establishing of norms creates the possibility of error.

Furthermore, as stated in the introduction to this paper, quantitative analysis produces results that still must be interpreted in order to be useful. Even though quantitative, positivist work is generally free of speculation, a certain amount of speculation must take place as scholars make use of the data yielded by them. Dawes and Bishop (2008), Kidd and Hogben (2007), and Torppa et al (2007) have all adhered to research paradigms that are not interpretive, and for this reason a process of interpretation must take place for those who read the studies and reflect on the results.

References:

Dawes & Bishop. (2008). Maturation of visual and auditory temporal processing in school-aged children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research (51): 1002-1015.

Kidd & Hogben. Does the auditory saltation stimulus distinguish dyslexic from competently reading adults? Journal of Speech, Language,and Hearing Research. (50): 982-998.

Torppa, Tolvanen, Poikkcus , Ekiund, Lerkkanen, Leskinen , & Lyytinen. (2007). Reading development subtypes and their early characteristics. The International Dyslexia Association.

Research on Supporting Students With Disabilities

Introductory Contexts

Much in the same way the old adage of its takes a village to raise a child heralds a collaborative approach to child development, the same can be said of supporting students with disabilities. Successful special education programs are ones that draw upon resources and relationships between a variety of stakeholders. These stakeholders include but are not limited to: teachers, parents, students, the community, administration and the school district. Specifically, there are a variety of elements that contribute to the success or failure of special education paradigms. In an effort to explore efficacious collaborative practices for special education, this work will examine the foundations of special education, a personal philosophical description of approaches and include a detailed example of how the general thematic can be applied in an actual educational scenario. By drawing from research, educational theory and classroom experience, it is possible to achieve powerful collaborative efforts that will contribute to sound educational methods for students with special needs.

Foundations of Special Education

Special education is defined by Friend as "the specially designed instruction provided by the school district or other local education agency that meets the unique needs of students identified as disabled" (2). Though for centuries the necessity of approaching the education of people with disabilities has been known, the modern discipline of special education did not come into existence until the Twentieth Century (Friend 6). The current special educational paradigms that are in existence today have been shaped by federal law, the civil rights movement, court cases and changing political and social beliefs (6). These were also aided by parental/professional advocacy and general academic research on the subject. At first, the compulsory education system that came to fruition in the Twentieth Century had virtually no provisions for special needs students (7). It can also be stated that special education has evolved as our understanding of human exceptionality has evolved. As a result, since our knowledge of human exceptionality is not complete, the field is still one that continues to evolve now into the Twenty First Century.

One of the more contemporary legislative principles that have shaped the modern special education field was the Individuals With Disabilities Act of 1990 (Friend 10). Failure to properly educate special needs students is now legally a civil rights issue and one of discrimination. In 2004, the PL 108-446 went into effect which was essentially a reauthorization of IDEA (12). Though this legislation streamlined some paper work and administrative capacities, it still holds the same anti-discriminatory spirit and commitment to educated special needs students as it did upon the introduction of the IDEA (12). Though imperfect, the current special education paradigm is one that is rooted in legality and therefore proliferates responsibility and increased attention to the process. Both of which require collaboration to make sure the Least Restrictive Environments (LREs) are being utilized by schools.

General Approach to Collaboration

The general approach to collaborative education for students with special needs begins first with designing a strong individualized education plan (IEP). In an effort to design the best plan possible, the special education teacher needs to consult former teachers of the student, the parents of the student and the teachers would be involved in any inclusive scenario for that student. The latter would be necessary to make sure that anything conceived on paper could become a reality in practice. Checking with parents and getting their expectations and insights into the child's home life is of critical importance (Friend 18). In addition, once the program has been developed maintaining contact with the parent through meetings, notes, phone calls and electronic mail should be the norm rather than the exception. Holistically, Friend designates that the most important part of collaborating on behalf of students with disabilities is working with parents (20).

Once the parental paradigm has been established, what occurs in the school is solely up to the school's staff to implement the process. In regards to establishing the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), there is typically an element of inclusion/mainstreaming present in the IEP. Though inclusion can be efficacious and is a legal portion of establishing LREs in many situations, the reality is that many schools are under-equipped to actually make such a practice occur. Many parents that cited problems with inclusion indicate fear that their child will simply be abandoned into a general education classroom and left to fend for themselves (Friend 16). In some situations where this would occur, the inclusive efforts would not likely contribute toward the success of the special needs students. As a result, the focal portion of this collaborative discussion will be on what occurs after the parents have been consulted and the program has been drafted. At this stage, it is now necessary for the general education and special education teachers to work together to make sure that the program can occur. For the general education teacher, they need to be prepared for the special education student and they need to prepare the class in some instances for the special needs student. For the special education teacher, they will have to prepare the student for the inclusive setting and monitor the progress in which that student is having in that setting to make adjustments when necessary.

A Specific Approach

As part of the collaborative general approach to educating student with special needs, co-teaching is a strong potential methodology for success. Though not always possible in all included settings, by having routine interactions between the special education teacher and the special education student in the general education classroom, a presence can be established. In addition, the general education students can get used to interacting with the special education instructor and regard them as a teacher rather than simply a support mechanism for the special needs student. To illustrate a strong example of this process, Appendix A shows a potential lesson plan for accomplishing a team teaching goal. In the included lesson, the special needs student will be doing the same activity as the other students, however, he/she will simply be granted extra time to complete the activity.

At the conclusion of every successful placement of the states on the map, the class will give the student a round of applause as a congratulatory mechanism of positive reinforcement. For example the teacher would say, "Nice work Jimmy... class give Jimmy a round of applause." At that time the class would then applaud the student. The applause would occur when the student was successful at the task. As a result, it would regardless of how many attempts it took them to get it right. When a student places it wrong, they will then be scaffolded by the teachers and/or class in certain examples until they do place it correctly, at which time the previously mentioned dialogue would occur.

This would be the same reaction for general education students and the special education student. It will be more meaningful to some students than others but overall it would not be a negative response in any way. The other important construct is that the special education teacher and the general education teacher are seen as equal authorities. There should be no perceived hierarchies and the general education students should not see the special education teachers as merely an aid. In order to do this, the general education and special education should seamlessly exchange roles throughout the delivery of the lesson. At first this may require specific designation in the planning process; however, as the teachers become used to collaborating with one another the process will become more natural and smooth thus requiring less preplanning.

Conclusions

Properly designing and implementing special education programs for special needs students necessitates collaboration at all intervals including: planning, implementing and evaluating. On all levels, it should not be understated that parental collaboration is a key variable to success. Though that was not the focal mechanism of this work, it must be designated as the consistent variable in the equation. On the teacher implementer level, during the course of a school day it is up to the special education teachers and the general education teachers to make sure the demands of the IEPs are being met. With LREs generally having an inclusive portion in most of their processes, work between special education teachers and general education teachers if of the utmost importance. Rather than being separate pillars of the educational experience, they should be dual support mechanisms. By employing frequent conversations and interactions, this can occur. On the other hand, by employing practices like team teaching whenever possible the results will be even more beneficial. If general and special education students see special education teachers and general education teachers as occupying the same role, this will greatly decrease the artificial barriers present in many of the special education/general education diversion based paradigms.

Works Cited

Friend, Marilyn. Including Students with Special Needs: A Practical Guide for Classroom Teachers. New York: Allyn & Bacon, 2008.

Appendix A

A Team Teaching Collaborative Exercise

Classroom Level: A grade 5 social studies activity designed to help students memorize state locations on a map. The lesson acknowledges that the students have been introduced to the topic and are now engaging in an activity to help reinforce their knowledge of the topic and facilitate social skills scenarios.

Activity: Students will come up to the front of the room and place sticky notes containing a state name in their respective geographical locations on a blank map. Along with each state, a memorization mechanism to associated with that state will be employed. For example, Pennsylvania would be designated as "The Keystone State." Students will be called by volunteering to come up to the front of the room and designate a location on the map. With 50 states possible and 20 students in the class, each student will go to the map at least 2 times per class.

Instructor Facilitation:

The class will begin with the general education teacher explaining and facilitating the exercise. During that time, the special education teacher will be reiterating the expectations to the included student. While students are going up to the board, the special education teacher will be talking the special needs student through the activity. The states in which the special needs student will be marking on the board will be identified beforehand. As a result, the special education teacher and the special needs student can take extra time at the seat to determine where the tag will be placed. Once established, the special education teacher and the general education teacher can communicate and the special needs student can place the state in its respective position. The activity would be the same for the general and special needs student, the special needs student would just be given added support and preparation time.

To keep the role of the special education teacher and the general education teacher on the same perceptual paradigm for the students. The introduction by the general education teacher will be supplemented by a closing by the special education teacher addressing the entire class. During this time the general education teacher will be checking in with the special education student and essentially roles will have been reversed.

Backward Design - Language Arts Classroom

Unfortunately common is student misunderstanding in the language arts classroom. Within the curriculum of upper-elementary and middle public schools, a range of opportunities exist for intelligent students to misconstrue information and, too often, they do not voice their confusion. More saliently, students may not be aware of their misunderstanding at all; this is dangerous in that even minor misconceptions can preclude successful learning in the future. The backward design approach to planning seeks to disallow for student misunderstandings by defining the ultimate goal and working backward via deconstructing the main aim. This brief inquiry explores a common student misconception in the language arts classroom, and seeks to remedy the misconception using backward design.

Problems with Historical Fiction

A common student misconception, and certainly one of which adults are guilty as well, is the failure to accurately distinguish between historical fiction and non-fiction. With texts such as Johnny Tremain and The Scarlett Letter, there is a tendency to perceive elements of the texts, if not the entire text, as true. Undoubtedly, Esther Forbes and Nathaniel Hawthorne were well-versed in their history and made every attempt to illustrate the details of their time period as accurately as possible. However, readers of such profoundly accurate historical fiction understandably struggle between ascertaining fact out of fiction; the tendency is to unwittingly absorb everything as truth.

As a public school teacher, this writer is fully cognizant of both the profound advantages as well as the unseen pitfalls of teaching historical fiction. Each year, lessons on the above-mentioned texts lend themselves to an ambiguous understanding of the function of historical fiction. More importantly, rigid curriculum timelines often preclude a thorough deconstruction of the texts during which students distinguish fact from fiction and vice versa. Alternatively, some students are absent when historical fiction is discussed and they thus wrongfully assume that either the text is entirely true or truer than it actually is upon their return. In their text entitled Understanding by Design, authors G. Wiggins and J. McTighe contend that "evidence of misunderstanding is incredibly valuable to teachers, not a mere mistake to be corrected. It signifies an attempted and plausible but unsuccessful transfer. The challenge is to reward the try without reinforcing the mistake or dampening future transfer attempts" (2005). With respect to historical fiction, this challenge is slightly exacerbated.

Difficult is it to support student recognition of that which is true in a work of historical fiction in conjunction with charging them to ascertain what is fictionalized. Perceiving the entire work of The Scarlett Letter, for instance, as pure fiction, with not only the plot and the characters fabricated but the setting and context as well, undermines the brilliance of the work. Conversely, perceiving the entire work as true does neither supports learning nor serves the students in any other capacity.

Using Backward Design with Historical Fiction

Designing lessons using backward design is crucial when working with historical fiction, as one of the primary goals should always be to allow students to accurately distinguish between fact and fiction. Authors Wiggins and McTighe contend that the following questions should be integral to effective, backward design:

- "What should students understand as a result of the activities or the content covered?

- What should the experiences or lectures equip them to do?

- How, then, should the activities or class discussions be shaped and processed to achieve the desired results?

- What would be evidence that learners are en route to the desired abilities?

- How, then, should all activities and resources be chosen and used to ensure that the learning goals are met and the most appropriate evidence produced?

- How, in other words, will students be helped to see by design the purpose of the activity or resource and its helpfulness in meeting specific performance goals" (2005)?

These questions are the foundation for stage I of the backward design process; that being, "Desired Results."

In beginning to teach The Scarlett Letter for instance, an introductory lesson that seeks to eradicate the tendency for students to misconstrue too much of the text for fact would have the following desired results: 1) Students will understand the most salient elements of colonial life 2) Students will understand common elements of the colonial, judicial and penal system 3) Students will understand what makes a text a work of historical fiction. All of these results will be supported by the following two stages in the process.

Assessment evidence of student understanding, as the authors note, is not limited to standardized testing but can include a wide range of alternative channels for assessment. For this particular lesson, assessment would include simple, graphic organizers to be handed in that clearly demonstrates understanding of the genuine context in which the text is set as well as what makes the text a work of historical fiction. Additional assessment will come from the students' creation of their own work of historical, colonial fiction.

The learning plan for this lesson will embody the first two stages of backward design, being clearly fueled by the ultimate aims of the lesson. In small groups, students will research the colonial time period using the internet and encyclopedias and prepare three graphic organizers that will handed in at the end of the class; each organizer focuses directly on one of the desired results. Thus, each group will have an organizer for colonial life, colonial judicial system, and historical fiction, identifying the most salient elements of each focal point. For homework, students will individually write a brief (1-2 pages) work of historical fiction that makes use of at least two elements from each organizer. For instance, a single story might encompass colonial gender roles, colonial religion, colonial jails, colonial laws, accurate historical setting and fictionalized characters.

Summation: In Defense of Backward Design

Ultimately, backward design would thoroughly dissolve the common student misconception that too many elements of historical fiction are true. Too often, teachers do not perceive the valid harm in this misunderstanding. Is it truly counteractive for students to believe that Hester Prynne was a real person? Absolutely; it undermines the value of historical fiction entirely and demeans the amount of time and research conducted by the authors in order to complete their works.

Backward design, in essence, is a means of beginning with the end in mind; it eradicates the waste of valuable classroom time and ensures that every activity is wholly and thoroughly useful to student understanding. More importantly, it creates a sense of continuity throughout the lesson that keeps students on task and fully cognizant of the ultimate goals. Backward design leads to more accurate and effective assessment and charges teachers to design lessons that will counter student misunderstandings without making them feel embarrassed or otherwise unintelligent for having made the mistakes; it is the most effective channel for cultivating student understanding.

References

Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design.

Study on Students Self-Efficacy and Academic Achievements

Abstract

This study is a review of ten quantitative studies that have been conducted concerning the relationships between self-efficacy, academic achievement and college students. As the review was conducted, several themes emerged from them: self-efficacy as it correlates with performance, self-efficacy as a construct of parental influence, and direct college experience. The studies show that each of these factors in self-efficacy are important to college success. The study further recommends that future studies focus on distance learning and on developmental students who show some inhibition toward school and whose self-efficacy is not realistically related to performance. Further, this study is a review which can be used by educators concerned with the latest research and who want understand the students in their classes whose performance is not in line with their expectations.

Self-Efficacy and Academic Achievement in College Students

Introduction

Any study of self-efficacy begins with Albert Bandura and Social Cognitive Theory. Beginning with his seminal study in 1977, Bandura presented a theoretical framework stating that psychological procedures alter the level and strength of self-efficacy. When faced with situations requiring some personal efficacy, Bandura postulated that a person will then determine whether coping behavior is to be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained when obstacles make success difficult and the experience is negative. In his early model, Bandura determined that personal efficacy derives from four sources: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. Factors that influence cognitive processing of efficacy information also have four sources: enactive, vicarious, exhortive and emotive. His study supported the hypothesized relationship between perceived self-efficacy and behavioral change.

Bandura goes on to state in a later article (1993) that there are "diverse ways in which perceived self-efficacy contributes to cognitive development and functioning. Perceived self-efficacy exerts its influence through four major processes. They include cognitive, motivational, affective, and selection processes. There are three different levels at which perceived self-efficacy operates as an important contributor to academic development. Students' beliefs in their efficacy to regulate their own learning and to master academic activities determine their aspirations, level of motivation, and academic accomplishments." Bandura concludes with the notion that it is the self-regulatory functions of the person that determine development and adaptation, and that self-regulatory social,, motivational and affective factors play a crucial role in efficacy.

Zimmerman continued this line of thinking. Writing in Contemporary Educational Psychology in 2000, Zimmerman spoke about self-efficacy as a measure of perceived capability, and that it differs conceptually from outcome expectations and self-concept. Self-efficacy beliefs, Zimmerman says, "have been found to be sensitive to subtle changes in students' performance context, to interact with self-regulated learning processes, and to mediate students' academic achievement." The level of self-efficacy refers to its relationship to the perceived difficulty of a task. Generality refers to its transferability across tasks. Strength of self-efficacy is measured by the amount of certainty about performing a particular task.

Since Bandura's 1977 study, many others have been done to determine the relationship between self-efficacy and academic achievement. In study after study, a correlation has been found between the two. Generally, college students who have high expectations about themselves and their abilities do better on almost all measures of success than do those who do not. This is important for several reasons: as counselors and other education personnel focus on self-esteem, they are missing many opportunities for developing something more important. Self-esteem is clearly conceptually different that self-efficacy. In the former, it is about self-concept, and does not derive particularly from perceived self-ability. Self-efficacy, on the other hand, is exclusively derived from factors relating to ability in given situations.

Another reason for its importance is that self-efficacy is directly correlative with academic achievement. Young and Ley (2002) cited a study by Menec, Hechter and Perry (1995) which showed that high self-efficacy was correlated to achievement as measured by grades, and that a student's confidence to solve mathematical problems was the most powerful predictor of success.

In this study, self-efficacy is examined as it regards college students. Motivational factors such as prior experience, goal setting, and self-system are discussed as they appear in the articles chosen. Students entering college come with a wealth of experience, some positive and some negative. Some have been successful academically from an early age, some later, and some not so much. Each has with him- or herself a perception of their own abilities, and an expectation of their work that generally corresponds to that perception. Assuming that academic skill is in place with which to accomplish an academic task, it appears that self-efficacy is the single most important aspect of academic achievement and the single most important predictor of success or failure.

This study addresses these studies for the purpose of determining their worth as contributions to the field of research and as a way of determining future studies that will make the concepts and truths more clear.

Objective

The objective of this study is to review pertinent studies concerned with self-efficacy and academic achievement in college students. It is also important to point out who this study will benefit and in what ways. Criteria from all of the studies will be explained, as well as discussed in a separate section. The focus will be on the major themes of the studies collectively.

Rationale

It is important in a study such as this to identify themes which emerge from other studies. The great bulk of studies concerning self-efficacy and academic achievement sometimes make it difficult to classify them according to focus. In order to conduct further studies that are unique but related, one must have a sense of what has been done so that one will know what direction to take with further studies.

Additionally, a person who is not a researcher but is interested in the latest research would benefit from a review of previous research that delineates the themes present in them so that one can find the appropriate studies for decision-making. This would include educators who are concerned with any number of issues that present themselves in their classes.

Methodology

Young and Ley examined regular admission and developmental students from student populations at an urban community college and at a rural residential university in the southeast. Both schools assign students to developmental classes based on the results of the ACT exam and a departmental examination. Participants were asked to complete a verbal comprehension and mathematical problem solving measure used with middle school students. Participants were asked to assign a percentage to show the degree of sureness that he or she knew the definition of a word or could solve a mathematical problem.

The results of the study indicated that although the achievement scores between the groups differed significantly (as would be expected), the self-efficacy scores did not. This was an unexpected result. As an explanation for this, Young and Ley posit that academic skill is a requisite of success in any academic task, regardless of perceptions of self-efficacy. In order to be successful, a student must have confidence in his or her abilities but must also posses the requisite academic skill to complete the task.

Jakubowski and Dembo conducted a study whose purpose was to examine the relationship between academic self-regulation, self-efficacy and self-belief systems. Participants in the study were 210 private research university students. High scores on informational identity, contemplation stage and action stage and low scores on diffuse/avoidant identity scale were correlated with high self-regulation scores. The results showed that students who invest effort in establishing identity as a student and their willingness to improve their study skills increased the proportion of variance in self-regulation scores.

Lundberg, McIntire and Creasman examined the effects of social support on the self-efficacy and academic achievement of entry-level adult students and graduating adult students in a cross-sectional study. Participants were 196 undergraduates enrolled in an accelerated degree program at a midsize research institution. All participants were given questionnaires related to the support each student received from others. Self-efficacy was also measured with two instruments which have been found to be valid and reliable.

The results of the study indicated that adult students at the beginning of the program received more support from their families and discussed their school experiences with family more often than did those in the last course. There were no significant differences with other support groups) friends, other students employer, etc.). There were two differences in the study in areas of self-efficacy for self-regulated learning.. Adult students beginning scored significantly higher on measures of self-regulation (finishing homework by deadlines and using the library) than did those in the last course, but on measures of academic achievement, those in the last course scored higher on self-efficacy measures than did the beginners. The author s conclude that adult students entering the program had a greater sense of self-efficacy for self-regulation than did the last course students, but the last course students had a higher self-efficacy related to producing quality academic products.

Turner, Chandler and Heffer examined the influence of parenting styles on self-efficacy. Participants in the study included 264 undergraduate students in psychology courses at a major university in the southwest. Participants were given a series of instruments from demographic information to a Parental Authority Questionnaire, an academic motivation scale, and a Self-Efficacy and Study Skills questionnaire (SESS). Academic performance was measured using the students' self-reported GPA.

Results indicated that parental influence plays an important role in academic performance even when students are away from home. Previous experience with parents played a vital role in students success. Students who reported an authoritative style of parenting (encouragement of communication, autonomy and boundaries) also reported higher GPAs and scored higher on academic self-efficacy than those whose parents had a different style.

Ramos-Sanchez and Nichols examined the effect of self-efficacy on the adjustment of college students from first-generations and academic achievement. The participants were 192 college students who were given a self-efficacy measure relating to college courses, roommates, and social efficacy. These results were compared with those of students who were not first-generation students at college.

The results did not support their hypothesis, that self-efficacy would mediate generational status and GPA. The results support previous findings that non-first-generation students perform better academically than first-generations students do. The authors conclude that even when first-generation students have confidence in their academic abilities, their performance is still lower than those who are not first-generation.

Coutinho (2008) looked at the relationship between self-efficacy, metacognition and performance. The study comprised 173 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory psychology class at a university in the Midwest. Students completed a self-efficacy questionnaire and a metacognition measure. Also used was the students' self-reported current GPAs.

The results indicated that self-efficacy is positively related to GPA and also to metacognition. Metacognition was an accurate predictor of GPA. The correlation between self-efficacy and performance was stronger than with metacognition, however, suggesting that students who are confident in their abilities tend to do well. There was also a modest correlation between metacognition and performance, suggesting that students who have good metacognition skills also have good performance.

Baldwin, Baldwin and Ewald (2006) conducted a study examining the relationships between shame, guilt and self-efficacy. There were 189 participants who were given a 92-itwem questionnaire that combined the TOSCA 3 and the General and Social Self-Efficacy Scales. The hypothesis of the study was that individuals who score high on the TOSCA3 scale measuring shame would have a lower self-efficacy score. The results supported the study's hypothesis. Shame and guilt are significantly related, as one might expect, but guilt and self-efficacy showed no significant correlation.

Cruce, Kinzie, Williams, Morelon and Yu (2005), in a conference presentation at Indiana University, examine the relationship between self-efficacy and first-generation college students. As mentioned before, the weight of the evidence suggests that these students are generally less prepared for college experiences and academics than their non -first-generation peers. Even after controlling for academic preparation and prior achievement, first-generation students are less likely to be successful. The study utilized a pilot instrument for a student engagement survey. The results suggest that academic self-efficacy differs by parent education attainment, and that the difference persists even with prior academic experience and achievement.

Ergul (2004) conducted a study relating to distance education, which requires a high level of motivation to complete and to do successfully. In a study of 124 freshmen students enrolled in Anadolu University distance learning programs, she examined demographic variables, self-efficacy, self-regulation and achievement.

The results indicated that motivation was the single most important factor in distance learning success. Academic achievement and self-efficacy were again highly correlated.

Results

There are several common themes in these studies which bear mentioning. One is the effect of self-efficacy in performance. Of all factors related to academic success, self-efficacy seems to be the most crucial. However, self-efficacy alone is not sufficient for academic success. Prior preparation and skill acquirement also play a part in academic success. Students who overestimate their efficacy with certain tasks do not perform well, however well they may have thought they would. Developmental students and first-generation students tend to overestimate their abilities and have high efficacy scores.

Another theme that emerges from these studies is the relationship between parental influence and self-efficacy. Those students who report structured parental support and parent experience with education also tend to score highest on self-efficacy measures, and also report the highest achievement scores. Students whose parents have not performed as highly on both factors tend to do less well than their peers.

Another theme is the result of direct college experience. This is related to the first-generational studies, but focuses on those who are entering college as opposed to those graduating. Students who are beginners have higher self-regulation scores than their more experienced peers, while those with college experience have higher self-efficacy scores and perform better on school productivity tasks.

Discussion

Self-efficacy is a measure of one's confidence in task performance. Generally, prior successful experience with a task is a strong predictor of subsequent success on the same type of task. In individuals who are highly skilled, there may be some cross-effect to other areas-for example, a student who performs well in algebra may also have a high self-efficacy for statistics. This is, however, a different concept from self-esteem or self-concept. One gains self-esteem from successful completion of tasks, but this construct does not always carry over to subsequent tasks, as it also involves self-perceptions such as "I am not a good student," or "I don't like school work. I'd rather have a real job." Self-concept comes into play as a result of a larger body of perceptions, and these sometimes interfere with success In school.

Students who perform well in school have an expectation of performing well in school. This expectation is reinforced by parental expectation and also by parental achievement in school and also in their jobs. Students see and learn that success is rewarded and perform with the expectation that they will also be rewarded for good performance. Though the rewards are not always tangible, the mere act of successful performance is rewarding and reinforcing.

Self-efficacy, identity style, support and cognition are all correlated highly. Bandura's theory holds for these factors. Cognition in schooling is a social activity in most cases, beginning with the very young. As a student progresses through the years of mandated schooling, he or she acquires a set of skills and social attributes that directly affect cognitive performance. Students who are outside the pale socially often have difficulty with school, inclusion college students. The norm of expectation in college is high, and everyone knows that it is difficult and challenging. Those equipped for the challenge, who know they are equipped for the challenge, are those most likely to succeed.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The concept of self-efficacy has been studied many times in relationship with academic success. In the great preponderance of such studies, self-efficacy is determined to be the most crucial factor in student success. However, self-efficacy without the requisite skill set does not result in performance success. One can be falsely confident in one's abilities, and this does not translate to high performance.

On the other hand, skill without high self-efficacy is not a guarantee of success, either. There are students who are quite skilled, but without motivation show no inclination to perform well. In the case of distance learning, this shows most readily. Like one who is self-employed, a distance-learning student must be able to independently budget time, work when there are distractions not ordinarily present in a traditional setting, and must complete assignments by a deadline. This requires a high degree of motivation, which includes self-efficacy. If one did not think he or she could complete the assignments, the work would be inferior and deadlines would be missed.

The concept of self-regulation comes into play as well. Knowing that a homework assignment is due (often, in college, an assignment is made the first day of class via syllabus, and isn't mentioned again until it is due six weeks later) requires a degree of self-regulation, but self-regulation in some ways interferes with self-efficacy. It seems a minor difference, but the self-efficacious student will complete the work as a matter of course, while the self-regulated student will do it because it was assigned. It is similar to the difference between being an amateur and a professional.

Recommendations for further study include focusing on the factors that inhibit self-efficacy in students, with the possibility of therapeutic involvement as a treatment option. This would be a longer-term study, perhaps over a two year period. Selecting a population of developmental students for therapeutic treatment might show how inhibitors might be ameliorated with supports in the home and/or with peers.

Another recommendation would be further studies of distance learning. As more and more students turn to online sources for their education, it is important to know the kinds of situations that are best for a student's identity style and motivational level. If the traditional classroom setting is inhibiting a student's self-efficacy, it may be that a setting in which there is no competition or face-to-face emotional scenarios would enhance a student's self-efficacy by allowing him or her to self-pace, gaining the important experiences with success that build high self-efficacy.

References

Baldwin, K.M., Baldwin, J.R., and Ewald, T. (2006). The relationship among shame, guilt and self-efficacy. American Journal of Psychotherapy. Volume: 60. Issue: 1. 2006. P. 1+.

Bandura, A. Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, v84, 2, p 191-215.

Bandura, A. (1993). Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and functioning. Educational Psychologist. Volume: 28. Issue: 2. 1993. 117.

Coutinho, S. (2008). Self-efficacy, metacognition and performance. North American Journal of Psychology. Volume: 10. Issue: 1. 2008. 165.

Cruce, T.M., Kinzie, J.L., Williams, J.M., Morelon, C.L., and Yu, X. (2005). First-generation academic self-efficacy: the relationship between first-generation status and academic self-efficacy among entering college students. Conference presentation, Indiana University. Accessed Dec. 18, 2009.

Ergul, H. (2004). Relationship between student characteristics and academic achievement in distance education and application on students of Anadolu University. Turkish Online

Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE April 2004 Volume: 5 Number: 2

Jakubowski, T.G. and Dembo, M.H. (2004). The relationship of self-efficacy, identity style and stage of change with academic self-regulation. Journal of College Reading and Learning. Volume: 35. Issue: 1. 2004. 7+.

Lundberg, C.A., Mcintire, D.D., and Creasman, C.T. ((2008). Sources of social support and self-efficacy for adult students. Journal of College Counseling. Volume: 11. Issue: 1. 2008.

Ramos-Sanchez, L. and Nichols, L. (2007). Self-efficacy of first-generation and non-first-generation college students: the relationship with academic performance and college adjustment. Journal of College Counseling. Volume: 10. Issue: 1. 2007. 6+.

Turner, E.A., Chandler, M., and Heffer, R.W. (2009). The influence of parenting styles, achievement motivation and self-efficacy on academic performance in college students.

Journal of College Student Development. Volume: 50. Issue: 3. 2009. 337+.

Young, D.B. and Ley, K. (2002). Brief report: self-efficacy of developmental college students. Journal of College Reading and Learning. Volume: 33. Issue: 1. 2002. 21+.

Zimmerman, B.J. (2000). Self-efficacy: an essential motive to learn. Contemporary Educational Psychology. 25, 82-91.

E-Learning and Higher Education

Since the early part of the new millennium, many areas have been impacted by internet and online ways of doing things, from commerce to governmental affairs to education. Since that time, e-learning has taken a huge bound forward, beginning as a general website consultation to a now-massively inclusive and comprehensive platform for everything from taking a course online for college credit, using college-internal resources such as Blackboard to communicate with teachers and manage assignments, to obtaining accredited degrees without ever leaving home.

E-learning has changed the way colleges approach the education of students. Once a relative novelty, it is now a standard in any educational program even when one matriculates and takes all courses in residence. This paper reviews some of the ways in which this happens, the scope and varieties of e-learning possible, and the ways in which e-learning prepares one for the workforce and subsequent careers.

The University of Phoenix, located in Phoenix, Arizona, was founded in 1976 as a college for working poor students who needed flexibility with jobs and families in order to attend school. Classes were offered nights, weekends, one at a time or in any combination students found helpful. Since that time, the University has grown to be the largest private university in North America, with over 200 campus locations, more than 100 degree programs at all levels, from baccalaureate to doctorate, in fields of study that are in demand, from medicine to education, technology and business. (University of Phoenix, 2009).

According to the website, many of the advantages that students enjoy such as evening classes, flexible scheduling, continuous enrollment, online classes, online library, ebooks, and others were pioneered by UP or "made acceptable through University of Phoenix's efforts." (ibid). UP offers its programs in three ways: in residence, a combination of residence and online programs through the use of FlexNet, or completely online. The requirements for all courses are the same, regardless of the method taken, and the same rigorous expectations apply in all cases.

Our Online Campus is an outcome of the University's recognition of the technological transformation of the workplace and the needs of the working adult student. Rather than gathering in a traditional classroom, students and instructors interact electronically and asynchronously, resulting in increased access for students by allowing them to control the time and place of their participation. (Ibid).

Alison Carr-Chellman (2006) writes about the perceptions of using the internet, in particular, as a tool for learning. Critics have dismissed the idea as either too clumsy to be effective or, given the reach of online sources and the sheer magnitude of available sources, some of them unreliable academically, impossible to control. Advocates, while acknowledging the problems, suggest that instead of replicating the ways in which online learning has occurred, we should be discovering how to use the medium and then design instructional environments that utilize tha e-advantages of the web while minimizing or negating its negatives. Carr-Chellman states:

Instead of asking what the Internet allows us to effectively do (dispense information) and designing instruction to fit that medium because it is efficient or glitzy or fundable, we should instead be asking how do people best learn a given topic, and create learning environments on- and off-line that meet those learning needs. (2006, p. 102).Even as recently as 2006, there was a great concern over the content and appropriateness of online learning. Certainly, in some cases, it works very well; in others, there is still much to learn about how to effectively use and harness this potentially wonderful way of engaging more and more students in a world which demands skill and knowledge as a basic part of entering the workforce.

Cher Ping Lim lists four characteristics of online learning:

1. Online learning is about the learning processes mediated by network technologies;

2. Online learning is about making possible successful knowledge management to leverage upon the intellectual capital of the learning environment;

3. Online learning is about harnessing the strengths and addressing the weaknesses of network technologies to create a conducive learning environment;

4. Online learning is about providing the interactions among the students and their communities to build and share knowledge.

Lim goes on to discuss strategies for successful online learning, bringing the discussion to more than just the program and the physical requirements of electronic items and the software that runs them. The article also speaks about the "whole configuration of events, activities, contents, and interpersonal processes taking place in the context that online learning is carried out." (p. 324). There are necessary and sufficient conditions that must be met if online learning in higher education is to be successful, if a learning culture is to "enculturate students to be lifelong learners." (ibid).

Sylvia Charp (2001) describes the growing trend of using internet technology in higher education. California State University has enrolled students in over 800 courses in 40 disciplines, while the US Navy has partnered with 16 colleges to offer an opportunity to sailors to complete full degree programs entirely online from their workplaces, even submarines. More than 100,000 high school teachers in Pennsylvania use online courses to meet their professional obligations in continuing education.

Anthony Picciano (2006) talks about online learning as it truly is, an amalgam of approaches that have the internet in common. The ways in which it is used vary widely according to need, institutional guidelines, and teaching situation. E-learning can be a supplement to regular instructor-based teaching, or it can be the entire course using an interactive asynchronous network (ALN), which could be a threaded conversation between students. It can be a self-paced environment, where students master objectives before moving on to the next component, which is presented sequentially.

In all of this, there is a pedagogical underpinning, and three of these are discussed in the article. These are instructional planning with course-management software, self-reflective teaching, and interaction. Instructional planning with course management software may be a series of lessons done on the Whiteboard with a CD and a projector. In this scenario, the students are present in the classroom, but the lesson is web-based and accompanies a text. The teacher in this instance is a facilitator of the information presented.

Self-reflective teaching refers to the process of slowing things down so that there is time for reflection by both teachers and students. This allows for time to think and reflect on a topic. Though this can occur in a regular traditional classroom setting, the online community is much better suited to this kind of learning. Reflective teaching is certainly desirable, particularly hen the learning is not closed, but open-ended, such as a case-study approach, critiques of works of art, and problem solving. The asynchronous environment allows for time to think and then respond.

Interaction refers to the social and educational exchanges that occur in groups. There are, of course, interactions between the teacher and the student. There are also exchanges between students that are course related. Working in groups, class discussions of material and the like are all examples of interaction. Online learning, in some instances, facilitates this process. Those students who are shy about participating "live" in the classroom can certainly do so in the online platform. Discussions are also not time-bound, as they would be in a real classroom, so that they can take other forms and extensions as the students need. (p. 95).

Several other works were consulted for this topic. They are listed as follows. The list is by no means exhaustive, but is fairly representative of the topic.

Fletcher, G.H. (2004). The Future of E-Learning. T H E Journal. Volume: 32. Issue: 2.

A discussion of the likely direction that e-learning will take in the future, given its course over the past few years.

Gaylord, T. and Tolliver, D. (2003). Sharing E-Learning Services: Former Rivals Improve Education While Stretching Dollars. T H E Journal. Volume: 31. Issue: 1.

Discusses the issue of resource sharing among colleges. In some cases, smaller colleges do not have the budgets for extensive e-learning development and equipment, but do have academic programs to share with other colleges that do have e-learning budgets.

Howell, D. (2001). Elements of Effective E-Learning. College Teaching. Volume: 49. Issue: 3.

Discusses the necessary requirements for effective e-learning strategies and development.

Waters, J.K. (2008). A Pathway to Achievement: An Innovative IT Skills Program Is Laying Students a Trail between High School, Higher Education, and Ultimately, the Job Market. T H E Journal. Volume: 35. Issue: 9.

Makes the connection between all levels of education, from prior e-learning experience in high school, through college, and the requisite acquisition of skills for career and workplace.

Lightfoot, J.M. (2005). Integrating Emerging Technologies into Traditional Classrooms: A Pedagogic Approach. International Journal of Instructional Media. Volume: 32. Issue: 3.

Another pedagogical approach to e-learning in a traditional classroom setting. This one is concerned with potential technologies and the problems associated with full integration.

Bibliography

"About University of Phoenix."

Campus and Online Learning Formats. (2009).

Carr-Chellman, A. A. (2006). Desperate Technologists: Critical Issues in E-Learning and Implications for Higher Education. Journal of Thought. Volume: 41. Issue: 1. P. 102

Charp, S. E-Learning. T H E Journal. Volume: 28. Issue: 9. P. 10

Fletcher, G.H. The Future of E-Learning. T H E Journal. Volume: 32. Issue: 2.

Gaylord, T. and Tolliver, D. (2003). Sharing E-Learning Services: Former Rivals Improve Education While Stretching Dollars. T H E Journal. Volume: 31. Issue: 1.

Howell, D. Elements of Effective E-Learning. College Teaching. Volume: 49. Issue: 3.

Lightfoot, J.M. (2005). Integrating Emerging Technologies into Traditional Classrooms: A Pedagogic Approach. International Journal of Instructional Media. Volume: 32. Issue: 3.

Lim, C.P. Online Learning in Higher Education: Necessary and Sufficient Conditions. International Journal of Instructional Media. Volume: 32. Issue: 4. P. 324.

Picciano, A.G. Online Learning: Implications for Higher Education Pedagogy and Policy. Journal of Thought. Volume: 41. Issue: 1. P.

Waters, J.K. (2008). A Pathway to Achievement: An Innovative IT Skills Program Is Laying Students a Trail between High School, Higher Education, and Ultimately, the Job Market. T H E Journal. Volume: 35. Issue: 9.

Comparison of High-School and College

The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast three characteristics of high school and college. The three aforementioned characteristics consist of the academic goals of the students, the difficultly level of courses, and study habits. Each of these three topics will be presented in turn with respect to each of these two types of educational institutions. This paper will conclude with a brief discussion of how these comparisons and contrasts can be used by students to enhance their educational experience.

One significant contrast between high school and college is the nature of the academic goals of the students. While students within these two types of educational institutions strive to graduate with a diploma, the meaning associated with a high school diploma differs from the meaning placed upon a college diploma. Furthermore, college diplomas can be divided into three categories (associate's degree, bachelor's degree, master's degree, and more advanced degrees such as a Ph.D. or M.D.). Each of these degrees is typically associated with a particular major which will hopefully be identical with the career choice of students. In contrast, while a graduating high school student may have taken courses within a particular elective field such as biology or political science, a high school diploma is probably better thought of as signifying that the graduating student has satisfactorily completed coursework relevant to a number of skills that they may require throughout their lifetime irrespective of the nature of their future career. Because of this contrast between the academic objectives of high school students and the academic goals of college students, an individual who decides to graduate from high school and not to attend college has a much more limited career choice then those individuals graduating from college.

The above contrast between the academic goals of high school and college students is closely related to the level of difficultly of the courses found within these two types of educational institutions. To be more specific, the difficultly level of courses found in college is often much greater than the difficultly level of courses find within high school because the former courses are often designed to prepare college students for a career within one or more particular fields. In fact, some high school courses may serve as preparation for "entry level" college courses related to a particular major such as psychology or physics. In turn, the aforementioned entry level college courses may provide the prerequisite knowledge needed to take even more advanced courses.

Finally, study habits are important in both high school and college. Both high school and college students should include studying as part of their routine and make sure that they devote a sufficient amount of time to this activity. However, there might be a contrast in the study goals of high school and college students. The study objective of college students is probably to simply learn that material presented within their classes. In comparison and contrast, the study objective of high school students should be to learn course material while simultaneously learning the skills that there will need later in college to possess those study habits which will allow them to succeed in college.

Finally, the discussion presented within this essay implicitly suggests considerations and steps that students may use to exceed within their education. For example, high school students may wish to consider their future objectives. If these future objectives involve a career which requires a college degree, then they may want to lay an "educational foundation" within high school which makes it easier to transfer into the entry level college courses relevant to the major in which they are interested. Another thing high school students may wish to make a priority is to develop those excellent study habits which will allow them to succeed in both high school and college. By taking these steps, students will be more likely to succeed in college and, therefore, their chosen future career.

Professional Certification

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the topic of professional certification. The first paragraph of this paper will mention the fact that the concept of professional certification is not a new concept, but has been around for more than a half of century. Furthermore, it will show that the debate concerning the benefits of certifying individuals, within a given profession, has been discussed and debated for at least as long. The second section of the paper will be devoted to the meaning of the concept of professional certification. The second section will also present an overview of what is involved in becoming certified. The third portion of this paper will present examples of several fields and/or organizations which make use of the concept of professional certification. Examples from of professions which make use of certification include the fields of corrections, music education, information technology, GIS (geographic information systems), and the profession of S,H, & E (safety, health, and environmental). This third section of the paper will also mention that the US military also make use of the concept of professional certification. Finally, the fourth section will briefly mention the fact that some fields actively debate the issue of professional certification.

The concept of professional certification has been around for a very long time. Indeed, a psychologist by the name of Douglas Fryer (1941) wrote an article on this topic that was published in the Journal of Consulting Psychology in the spring of 1941. Even at this time, the issue of professional certification was a matter of debate. To be more specific, Fryer discusses the fact that many of his colleagues were divided as to whether such certification should be a matter of legal concern or whether it should be overseen by some professional organization recognized by the field of psychology (Fryer, 1941).

In general, the concept of certification relates to individuals within a particular field whereas the concept accreditation relates to the institutions associated with the same particular field. To be more specific, the concept of certification is typically given to an individual, within a given occupation, in acknowledgment of their abilities, knowledge, and skill level which they have demonstrated within their profession (Kemp, 2003, p. 160). Some of the criteria which experts, within the field, may wish to contemplate when considering whether or not the field should be considered as a profession include whether the field possesses a specific unique set of knowledge, a needed level of expertise, a shared language, a professional culture, and a code of ethics (Kemp, 2003, p. 160) Furthermore, typically there exists some professional board, within the field, which decides the levels of abilities, knowledge, and skills which are appropriate for the professionals to become certified as well as to bestow the honor of certification onto given individuals within the occupation (Kemp, 2003, p. 160).

There may be a wide variety of ways in which the appropriate professional organization uses to determine whether or not a given individual, within the profession, possesses the levels of abilities, knowledge, and skills necessary to become certified. One of these ways concerns the amount of time that a candidate, applying for certification, routinely spends within the profession. For example, the process of becoming certified as a music educator examines (among other things) whether the candidate is currently a full-time or part-time faculty member at an accredited college or university (Albergo, 2008, p. 62). Additionally some professional certification boards divide the abilities, knowledge, and skills needed to become certified within the occupation into a set of categories. For example, the professional organization which certifies national music educators divides is criteria into the standards of professional preparation, professional teaching practices, professional business management, professionalism and partnerships, and professional and personal renewal (Albergo, 2008, 62). Similarly, the exam which record managers must pass it or to become certified is divided into six parts which consist of management principles and the records and information management program; records creation and use; record systems; storage and retrieval, records appraisal, retention, protection, and disposition; facilities, supplies, and technology; and case studies (Phillips, 2004, p. 65).

The considerations listed within the previous paragraph, can often cause controversy to arise within a given profession concerning the certification process. This paper has already discussed the 1941 controversy as to whether psychologists should become certified by some governmental board or whether this question should be an issue which is dealt with by some professional board.

There are several considerations which a particular field or occupation must address when examining whether or not that particular field or occupation should adopt the concept of professional certification. First, to incorporate a professional certification process into a given field, experts within the same given field may need to consider whether or not the particular occupation can be considered as a profession (Kemp, 2003, p. 160). Second, the field or occupation needs to address if there exists a qualified organization within the profession which is capable of answering the question as to what the criteria for certification should be and to carry out a program which provides certification to those individuals who meet the aforementioned criteria.

There are several benefits associated with the concept of professional certification. The consumers of those services connected with a particular profession are likely to receive exceptional service if they elect to make use of a professional who has been certified by some professional organization. In turn, this implies that those professionals who have been certified, with regards to some occupation, may have a greater demand for their services. Indeed, several individuals have pointed out the fact that certification may make a professional more marketable and more employable within their choice of career. For example, the article by Venator (2006) discusses how employers are more likely to be interested in hiring a particular individual for an IT (information technology) position if they have been certified in one or more technologies related to that position. Furthermore, certified individuals are more likely to receive pay increases as the result of their documented abilities, knowledge, and skills that they bring to their particular profession (and hence to their employer). For example, the article by Venator (2006, p. 28) mentions how those information technology professionals who had been certified enjoyed an average pay increase of 16.4% between the years of 2004 and 2005. This may be an important reason as to why the number of jobs within the field of information technology increased the 12 8000 jobs between these same two years (Venator, 2006, p. 29).

Indeed, some certified professionals may actively attempt to impose the process of certification onto other individuals within this field. For example, the music instructor by the name of Samuel Holland requires his students to become certified within the organization for the national certified teachers of music (NCTM). Indeed, the article by Hadfield (2004, p. 54) quotes him as saying "... I have requires my students to join... it is a basic professional association, and it carries a multitude of benefits".

While as, discussed within the previous paragraph, there exists several benefits for a profession to adopt the concept of professional certification, there are also reasons why a profession may choose not to incorporate such a program. For example, consider the GIS field. Kemp (2003, p. 161) has listed some of the reasons why some of the individuals, within this particular field, may be against having the field adopt such a certification program. To be more specific, these reasons include that the profession is not clearly defined, that there does not exist a clear understanding of which set of skills and knowledge is needed by the practitioners of the occupation, that the control of the profession may be given to a single organization, that this may limit the growth of this particular field, that qualified individuals may become excluded from practicing this occupation, and it may reduce academic freedom (Kemp, 2003, p. 161).

There are several occupations for which individuals, working within that field, may become certified within that field. Among the many fields which recognize the concept of professional certification are the professions of music education, corrections, information technology, records management, GIS (geographic information systems), and S, H, & E (safety, health, & environmental). The common theme to each of these fields and professions is that they offer a service for which customers and/or employers place a premium value upon and for which the quality of the service is important.

It is interesting to make note of the fact that the military also make use of the concept of professional certification. Indeed, an article by Grande (2008, p. 22) discusses a disciplinary barracks which produces more certified individuals, within the field of corrections, than any other segment of the military. By becoming certified within the corrections profession, such individuals may obtain a job within the correction profession after their military career is over. Therefore, once again this example illustrates the benefits of professional certification. In particular, as with the field of information technology, individuals may become more employable and marketable as the result of becoming certified.

The concept of professional certification is an integral part of many occupations and professions. As mentioned earlier within this paper, it provides benefits to both those individuals who are certified as well as those customers and employers who make use of the services of individuals certified within a particular profession. With regards to those customers and employers who make use of the services of those individuals who are certified in a particular profession or occupation, they can be more assured they will likely receive a higher quality of work. With regards to those individuals who are certified within a particular profession or occupation, they are more likely to be more marketable and employable as well as more likely to receive pay raises.

References

Albergo, C. (2008 June/July). Professional certification. Academic Music Teacher, 57(6), 62 - 64. Academic Search Premier 32800868.

Fryer, D. (1941 March/April). Introduction: contribution of certification to unified professional status in psychology. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 5(2), 49 - 51. psycARTICLES

Grande, P. J. (2008 December). The US disciplinary barracks leads the military in professional certification. 24 - 27. Academic Search Premier 36236992

Kemp, K. K. (2003). Why GIS professional certification matters to all of us. Transactions in GIS. 7(2), 159 - 163. DOI 10 .1111

Phillips, J. T. (2004 November/December). Professional certification. The Information Management Journal, 64 - 67. Academic Search Premier 15014686.

Venator, J. A. (2006 January). IT certification: in the information technology field, professional certification can make an individual even more marketable. Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers, 81(1), 28 - 31. Academic Search Premier 19444325.

Mothers Returning to College

Introduction

In the current post-welfare reform economy, many mothers, both single and married have chosen to return to college. They face many obstacles as they try to complete their education including childcare concerns, the financial costs of returning to school and developing the time management skills they will need to juggle work, school, and motherhood. In some cases these women have strong support networks that help them to face these problems, but, in others they are entirely on their own. No matter what the individual circumstance is, mothers who choose to return to college must accept that these environmental factors can affect their ability to learn and grow and reach their full potential as a college student.

Environmental Risks

There are many different ways in which the environment can impact a mother's ability to do well in college. According to Reay (2003), one of the main risks is financial. Mothers who return to school must not only pay for schooling expenses, but childcare, and daily living expenses. For working class mothers this means they must attempt to balance work, school, and family concerns. This can affect their ability to learn in several ways. First, financial concerns and the need to not only attend school and care for one's children cuts down on the amount of time that mothers attending college have available to focus on their studies. Since a significant amount of the work done at the college level is done at home in terms of studying for exams, and writing papers, working class mothers may not be reaching their full learning potential in the classroom.

The second environmental factor is that of relationships. When a mother returns to school, her relationships with her family may become strained. Her spouse may have to take on more responsibility in the home, and the children may need to learn to be more independent in terms of picking up for themselves and dealing with their own schoolwork. Women who have strained family relationships may carry this over into the college environment resulting in higher stress levels. Stress plays a significant role in learning at the college level and many students who are under more than the usual levels of stress tend to do poorly in school.

Duquaine-Watson (2007) argues that women, especially mothers are faced with a hostile learning environment when they choose to return to college, or to attend college for the first time. They are faced with the preconceived ideas that many members of a college's faculty and administration have about women, mothers, members of the working class, or racial minorities. In a study of 13 community college students all of whom were single mothers attending college for the first time, Duquaine-Watson (2007) found that many of these women felt marginalized and invisible at the college level.

While community colleges offer many services, these are not typically geared towards smoothing the way for single mothers to attend school easily (such as on campus childcare, or childcare scholarships as part of the financial aid package). Many of the women in this study also reported that they had experienced a certain amount of prejudice, not only in terms of being a single mother, but in terms of the pre-conceived idea that single mothers are all on welfare This can have a negative impact on their ability to learn since they had to combat hostility and prejudice on top of doing well in school.

Another major environmental challenge faced by mothers returning to college is what is termed the "digital divide" by Duquaine-Watson (2006). The digital divide occurs when a single mother, who may not have access to the latest computer technology, or who may not even be computer literate begins attending college, and is faced with the task of becoming computer literate very quickly. Without access to a computer, or the knowledge of how to use a computer single mothers are often faced with severe deficits in comparison to students who are considered to be more traditional. Duquaine-Watson (2006) states that while there are some programs out there to help women develop the computer skills they need, there are very few of them, and there are often long waiting lists for these programs.

One possible solution as addressed by Sullivan (2001) is the online learning environment. While this offers substantial benefits for mothers returning to college such as; less time traveling back and forth to school, fewer strains on family relationships, and less financial expense in terms of the cost of schooling and childcare this environment does have some problems. First, online schools do not offer the face to face interaction with fellow students and with the professor on a regular basis. What this means in terms of the learning environment is that single mothers do not have someone there to assist them with hands on help when it is needed. Second, women still struggled with the need to juggle school and work even though they spent less time in class or in transit than using traditional methods of schooling.

Implications

What this research implies is that environmental stresses such as work, family and relationship issues, lacking skills such as; computer literacy, and a lack of time management skills can have a powerful influence on a single mothers ability to do well in a college learning environment. The results of these research studies also imply that mothers who return to college face a certain amount of discrimination related to their age, gender, or marital status that is not faced by traditional college students. Finally, this research implies that something must be done to assist mothers who are returning to school to adapt to a college environment, and to juggle work, school and family. Colleges must learn to adapt to the needs of mothers who are returning to college because women in this category and other non-traditional student populations are on the rise, and mothers are likely to form a significant percentage of the student body.

Conclusions

It can be concluded that mothers returning to college or attending college for the first time face certain environmental risks that may influence their ability to learn and grow in the college environment. The research indicates that these risks include financial, and familial stressors, as well as the lack of skills necessary in order to do well in a college environment. The main implication of this research is that mothers must be prepared to handle the environmental challenges they might face that can conflict with their ability to succeed in the college environment. If one is not prepared to deal with the risks, juggling college, motherhood, and oftentimes work can be a daunting challenge. Finally, mothers and other non-traditional are the wave of the future. Colleges should attempt to do their best to create a positive environment, and to reduce stressors for these students so that they have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

References

Dianne, R. (2003). A Risky Business? Mature Working-class Women Students and Access to
Higher Education. Gender and Education, v15, n3 , 301-320.
Duquaine-Watson, J. M. (2007). Pretty Darned Cold": Single Mother Students and the
CommunityCollege Climate in Post-Welfare Reform America. Equity & Excellence in Education, v40, n3 , 229-240.
Duquiane-Watson, J. M. (2006). Understanding and combatingthe digital divide for single mother
college students A case study. Equal Opportunties International, v25,n7 , 562-576.
Sullivan, P. (2001). Gender Differences and the Online Classroom: Male and Female College
Students Evaluate Their Exerience. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, v25 , 805-818.

Academic Writing Evaluation of EFL Students

Introduction

Academic writing assessment is a regular feature of class evaluation and standardized testing for both ESL/EFL students and native speakers of English. Arguably, strong academic writing ability is among the most important skills that a student can have or acquire, because effective communication in any academic field is based on the capacity to use high level structures and vocabulary in writing and comprehending academic texts. Biber and Gray (2010), through textual analyses of academic writing, determined that academic writing is not actually more complex than conversational English, as is sometimes assumed. Rather, academic language is more "compressed" than conversational English, and the ideas expressed may be abstract and therefore less explicit in meaning. As a result, academic texts are "... efficient for expert readers, who can quickly extract large amounts of information from relatively short, condensed texts" (Biber and Gray). A higher level of proficiency is needed to decode and utilize these structures.

For all of these aforementioned reasons, proficiency in academic writing is an important requirement and predictor of academic success among all students, and may pose a special challenge to ESL/EFL students. The assessment of academic writing and comprehension skills through standardized testing, notably the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and the IELTS (International English Language Testing System), are used internationally as well as in the UK as an index for proficiency in academic English. However, ample research suggests that the analytical assessment of a single, short piece of writing may not accurately assess students' ability or provide a foundation for improving skills. Song and August (2002), for example, found that the testing and assessment of timed writings may "unfairly penalize" non-native English speakers. Weigle (2002) describes a number of methods of assessing students writing, which include direct and indirect testing and testing of timed writings in addition to the assessment of a portfolio of written work. This latter method, known as the portfolio method of assessment, grades students' written English based upon a range of work written and revised over a period of time, with an opportunity for feedback and dialog with the instructor. This 'portfolio' method of assessment, according to some scholars, offers a more comprehensive view of students' proficiency in written English. Moreover, students may benefit from the opportunity for feedback and continuous dialogue afforded by this method (Sommers 1991, Kibler 2010). However, despite the promise of the portfolio method of assessment to offer more accurate evaluation and an enrichment of skills, studies of the efficacy of the portfolio method in assessing ESL/EFL students' academic writing are sparse and incomplete.

In response to the current lack of research that measures the efficacy of the portfolio method of assessing written English skill among ESL/EFL students, this proposed study will address the following:

Research Questions

- Is the portfolio method of assessment associated with higher scores or inflated scoring for ESL students?

- Does the portfolio method of assessment, in a program which includes regular feedback on writing assignments, enable ESL students to build their academic writing skills more than other methods?

- Does the analytical method of assessment, applied to individual, unrelated writing assignments or tests, compare favourably to the holistic and portfolio methods?

- Does the holistic method of assessment, applied to individual, unrelated writing assignments or tests, compare favourably to the analytical and portfolio methods?

- Which of the three methods leads to the most improved outcome on a standardized writing test?

Literature Review

The portfolio method of assessing students' academic writing is described by several authors as having distinct advantages in comparison to other methods (Weigle 2002). Baker (1993) finds that over 90% of students who were assessed using the portfolio method reacted favourably to it. Song and August (2002), in a qualitative study, indicate that non-native writers tend to score better on a portfolio assessment than during timed writing, as used in standardized testing, which is graded analytically. Moreover, there is some indication that students, particularly non-native English speakers, may benefit significantly from the increased opportunity for interaction, error correction and feedback afforded by the portfolio method, which emphasizes the process of writing and revising rather than focusing exclusively on the finished product. However, as Hamp-Lyons & Condon (2000) point out, there have been relatively few studies of the use of portfolio assessment of academic writing among EFL/ESL students, despite the advantages that the method may have for these students.

Despite the relative absence of studied dealing directly with the use of portfolio assessment among the ESL/ EFL student population, a number of articles do shed light on the needs of the ESL student in the classroom and how academic writing among this student group can be assessed and improved. Flowerdew (2008) finds that these students gain more acceptance based on their expertise in multi-disciplinary subjects. It can be inferred from this study that a method such as the portfolio method, which examines students' ability to contribute meaningfully to academic dialogue rather than judging their abilities based on single, timed writings, may more aptly measure their true ability. Cargill (2006) describes and assesses the effectiveness of a set of educational workshops which took place in China from 2001 - 2003, emphasizing and reinforcing the value of ongoing dialog and collaboration with a team of students and practicing scientists, indicating that multi-level collaboration, feedback and dialog increases student confidence. This endorsement of multi-level collaboration is reiterated by Kibler (2010), who analyzes interaction between students and teachers which "... blur traditional boundaries between 'expert' and 'novice' writers" and allows for L1 use in the classroom setting. Kibler (2010) notes that these interactions are very beneficial to bilingual students, who take on the role of both expert and novice in various situations, based on their own individual areas of proficiency. Although these studies do not deal directly with the portfolio method of academic writing assessment, they introduce and engage with pedagogical concepts, such as collaboration and open dialogue, which are clearly conducive to the portfolio method.

The portfolio method allows for direct feedback and dialogue between students and teachers. Drafts may be shown to the teacher and to peers, and students are encouraged to revise their work, incorporating feedback. Several studies indicate that error correction and feedback has a positive effect on ESL/EFL students' learning, although this point remains somewhat controversial. Bithener et al (2005) indicate that error correction and feedback can improve accuracy, noting, however, that the correct use of new linguistic forms can vary across samples of writing from a single student's body of work. On the other hand, Truscott (2007) argues that error correction has a very small effect, if any. Bithener (2008), in turn, responds to the work of Truscott (1996, 2007) and others and demonstrates that correction has been proven effective and students score better in a post-test after having been corrected. Imprecise assessment of means of correction has yielded inconsistent results in the past, according to Bithener (2008). Guenette (2007) offers another perspective on this debate, citing the influence of inconsistent research methodologies and influence of external variables on the outcome. Storch (2005) finds that pairs of students consistently produce better work than individual students, on the basis of "task fulfillment, grammatical accuracy, and complexity" (p. 153). Clearly, additional research is required with regard to the role of feedback and error correction in ESL/EFL students' learning.

Despite the positive effects of dialogue and collaboration, the suitability of the portfolio method of assessment of ESL/EFL students has been called into question. Hirvela and Sweetland (2005), in a qualitative study assessing and characterizing the reactions of two Asian non-native English speakers to a portfolio task and reflection, notes that these individuals failed to grasp and fully appreciate the intent of the exercise, therefore failing to fully benefit from it. However, as this study is based upon a very small sample group of two students, the value of the portfolio method certainly warrants further consideration.

Proposed Methodology

The participants in the proposed study will be a group of approximately 30 ESL/EFL students enrolled in a post-secondary English writing class. All of the students, by virtue of their having gained admission to the class and program, are identified as having scored 85 or above on the TOEFL exam, indicating an above average to high level of proficiency in academic English.

The students will be divided into three groups and will participate in separate tutorials according to their group allocation. The tutorial teacher will be responsible for setting assignments for the students and will also be involved in the assessment of the assignments. The first group (Group A) will be assigned timed, in-class writing tasks which will be assessed according to a holistic method, with a grade being given based upon the assessor's general impression of the students' proficiency and success in accomplishing the assignment. The second group (Group B) will likewise be assigned timed, in-class writings, and will be assessed analytically, with a clear break-down of criteria to be met for each assignment. The third group (Group C) will be assigned a portfolio of writing, to be completed during the course of the term. The group will engage in constant dialogue and receive feedback from the teacher and peers.

At the end of the term, all students will be assigned a timed writing, which will be analytically assessed according to a set of criteria. The average scores of the students in the three groups will be compared. The scores on the term assignments will likewise be compared in order to ascertain whether there are differences in success rate between the three groups. The grading of the final timed writing assignment will be undertaken by a team of two assessors who are not acquainted with the students and who were not involved in previous assessments. The students' names will not be visible on this final assignment.

Rationale

This methodology represents the first step in a comparative assessment of evaluation methods, their relative accuracy, and their ramifications with regard to ESL/EFL students' academic success and development. The study is not meant to be absolutely conclusive - that is, it will not absolutely indicate whether one method of assessment is superior to others - but will offer insight into the relative effects of the various assessment methods for ESL students. In particular, the method allows the researcher to assess the effects of the portfolio method of assessment as it relates to ESL/EFL students. At the same time, it allows for a comparison of the effects and efficacy of the portfolio method in comparison to other, more common methods of assessment. As significant literature indicates the value of feedback and dialogue in the learning process, especially for non-native English speakers, this research, specifically aimed at establishing the value of the portfolio method for this student group, may help establish a foundation for further research on this method. The use of a relatively large sample group of students (as opposed to Hirvela and Sweetland's qualitative study, which assessed the experience of only two students, for example) is justified in this case because there is a need to eliminate the influence of individual differences between students and to produce a reliable result based on representative sampling.

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