Search

We examined how a group of Chinese undergraduate students understood paraphrasing and source use conventions for research paper writing in English. Prior scholarship has generated valuable insights about novice second language (L2) writers' unconventional source use practices, but little is known about how these writers interpret and understand source use expectations for English academic writing. We followed a group of nine Chinese undergraduate students for an academic term as they learned to paraphrase and write with sources for their research paper assignments. Drafts of students' papers were collected and rounds of text-based interviews were conducted where students were asked to explain their source use decisions. Findings showed that the students actively and constantly referenced their source use knowledge of Chinese essay writing to help make sense of source use expectations for English academic writing, although their understanding of English academic source use as well as their rendition of culture may likely be viewed by expert academic writers as 'insufficient' or 'inadequate'. We conclude by highlighting the importance of foregrounding learner voice and acknowledging the legitimacy of the interpretations of novice L2 writers as intercultural informants in the teaching of English academic source use.

Despite the growing interest in incorporating response time data into item response models, there has been a lack of research investigating how the effect of speed on the probability of a correct response varies across different groups (e.g., experimental conditions) for various items (i.e., differential response time item analysis). Furthermore, previous research has shown a complex relationship between response time and accuracy, necessitating a functional analysis to understand the patterns that manifest from this relationship. In this study, response time data are incorporated into an item response model for two purposes: (a) to examine how individuals' speed within an experimental condition affects their response accuracy on an item, and (b) to detect the differences in individuals' speed between conditions in the presence of within-condition effects. For these two purposes, by-variable smooth functions are employed to model differential and functional response time effects by experimental condition for each item. This model is illustrated using an empirical data set to describe the effect of individuals' speed on their reading comprehension ability in two experimental conditions of reading medium (paper vs. digital) by item. A simulation study showed that the recovery of parameters and by-variable smooth functions of response time was satisfactory, and that the type I error rate and power of the test for the by-variable smooth function of response time were acceptable in conditions similar to the empirical data set. In addition, the proposed method correctly identified the range of response time where between-condition differences in the effect of response time on the probability of a correct response were accurate.

There has been a policy push in K-12 educational settings towards personalized learning in the last decade. Commercial platforms and learning designers have responded, offering learning tools to support teaching and learning through data-driven insights and recommendations. Trending towards the augmentation or replacing human teachers with non-human technology, this paper argues that personalized learning with human teachers is an entirely different process from personalization with digital twins. Drawing on new materialist thinking, it explores the impacts and implications for discourse concerning teacher quality and disadvantages within educational systems. It clarifies the conflation of the terms "personalized learning" and "personalization" to illuminate the power, positionality, and privilege enabled for some, in conflating terms in Australian educational policy.

The purpose of this study is reducing sustainable paper recycling at Thi-Qar University by using waste reduction techniques. It can be argued with much confidence that the idea of recycling paper can be successfully implemented in an academic institution. This can be done by merging the specific waste paper baskets, pulping machine and power from a renewable source with an already established local paper making company. The methods applied in this study are making company would be able to recoup a government subsidy that pays them to recycle paper in order to offset the cost of pulped paper which is 30% more expensive than raw wood pulp. The academic institution that implements this would save money on waste disposal, and cut its carbon footprint in half, by up to 600%, per year approximately five-six tons of CO2 instead of one-ton-two tones carbon offset for simply recycling the paper. All these steps could also be applied for recycling of the large amount of waste papers generated by students an idea that encounters high costs in recycling hence being rarely implemented. This could be achieved through urged use of the same paper disposal methods already in use, where the paper collected is pulped from the student paper waste bins once a week. The results of this article are more specific yet indirect environmental benefit concerns the recycling habits of students. By providing the means for students to recycle paper at their places of study, it is hoped that they will adopt similar practices in their homes and other areas of life and show that the practice of paper recycling at Thi-Qar University has a success rate of 98.42%. Additionally, a total revenue of $3,527.98 was collected from the value of recycled paper. This can be important, as it is today's young people who will shape the future condition of the environment. If a more conscientious attitude towards recycling can be established, the cumulative environmental benefits could be very significant. On the economic side, recycling paper can potentially save academic institutions a substantial amount of money on their waste disposal. This is because paper and cardboard often make up a high percentage of the waste and these are materials which can be recycled relatively cheaply. By decreasing the volume of general waste, a decrease in waste disposal costs can be achieved. If institutions take it a step further and decide to purchase only recycled paper products, this can also help accelerate the demand for recycled paper and its long-term economic feasibility. The benefits of paper recycling in academic institutions are undoubtedly far-reaching. Not only are the environmental benefits significant, but also the potential cost savings and impact on student attitudes. Probably the most apparent benefits of paper recycling are the environmental ones. The significance of this research is recycling paper in academic institutions is not only beneficial to the environment but also has potential cost-saving implications and significant educational value for students' attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Writing a research paper as a graduation requisite by university students is an important part of university education. It is not a simple task for most university students who face several problems during writing the graduation project. Several kinds of research have been conducted onrecognising the challenges and problems that face students in academic writing, but to the researcher's best knowledge, no study has been conducted on the problems faced in writing a graduate research paper by Jordanian undergraduate students of the English Language and Literature major. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the academic writing challenges and difficulties encountered in writing graduation papers by EFL undergraduate students in the Department of English at Alzaytoonah University of Jordan (ZUJ). The data for the study was collected through distributing a questionnaire of three parameters: attitude about writing a research paper, methodology challenges, and background knowledge about research. The questionnaire is based on identifying the causes of the students' challenges in writing their graduation papers. The respondents were 45 undergraduate students of the English Language and Literature. The findings revealed that the most important problems were lack of an academic prerequisite of teaching the techniques of how to write a research paper, lack of knowledge of research paper writing process, lack of resources, lack of the methodology, etc. Thus, for these reasons, the present study attempts to present suggestions and recommendations to overcome such hurdles faced by graduate students in writing their graduation research papers.