The emergence of digital storytelling and multimedia technology in improving Greek language teaching and learning： Challenges versus limitations

Greek schools are witnessing widening gaps between traditional definitions and applications of literacy, which include reading, writing and speaking in terms of exercises from school textbooks and contemporary literacy practices like digital storytelling, interactive multimedia use and online communications. Language and literacy teachers of primary education are called upon daily to bridge these contradictions through pedagogical and textual choices they make in classroom teaching. This paper reports an experimental study with children of the fifth grade at public Greek schools to apply modernist literacy approaches involving digital storytelling and online communication in improving language skills. The paper analytically presents the didactic examples of a thematic union within the framework of the Greek curriculum and the alternative assessment for the experimental teaching on digital technologies among mother tongue learners. The findings have implications for teacher＇s and student＇s education and also for the integration of a pedagogical-technological content of curriculum within the continuing debate of being culturally and equally literate in today＇s education.

The Impact of Discovery Education Digital Textbook Usage on Students＇ Achievements

Discovery Education digital textbook series help accelerating school districts＇ digital transition in different subjects for K-8 and high school classrooms and related services. We evaluated the impact of using Discovery Education digital textbooks on students＇ science, english and math achievement in a large school district in southwest United States.

The Relationship Between School Principals＇ Leadership Styles and Teachers＇ Achievement Motivation

School principals＇ leadership styles play a major role in teachers＇ performance. This paper examines the relationship between school principals＇ leadership styles, whether transformational or transactional, and teachers＇ achievement motivation. Using the quantitative methodology, a total of 320 heads of instructional departments were randomly selected from randomly selected schools. The results revealed that a transformational leadership style was prevalent among principals, and teachers＇ achievement motivation was positive. There was a positive correlation between the principals＇ transformational leadership style and the teachers＇ achievement motivation. Relevant recommendations are included.

Teachers＇ Concerns and Solutions Towards The Implementation of Digital Storytelling in Teaching English in ESL Classroom in Asian Countries

We are living in the era of Information Technology where students have a lot exposure to the state-of-the-art devices and softwares. The remarkable revolutions in interactivity and multimedia materials together with countless emerging technologies have also enabled the conception of digital storytelling. However, it has not been widely used in many developing countries such as Vietnam. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to conduct an investigation into the history of digital storytelling, the necessary facilities and how it is being used educationally in the classroom so that teachers in developing countries can widely apply digital storytelling in teaching. This paper also raises students＇ awareness towards using technology in their study, which will make an important breakthrough in teaching and learning English in Vietnam.

On the Self Management in MET Development

Maritime English teaching has placed higher requirements on the part of the teachers. In combination with the requirements and the characteristics of maritime English teaching, this article puts forth new viewpoints for the self management of maritime English teachers and provides evidence in the aspects of theory and practice.

Do Engineering Diploma Students Drop out Due to Reasons Other Than Academic Performance

The aim of this paper is to highlight the fact that students enter their higher education careers underprepared and fail their engineering studies due to the lack of various life skills. The South African Government is attempting to redress the social inequalities which prevailed in the education sector during the apartheid era. However, many students attempting their higher education studies are in many respects still under-prepared. This is mainly due to insufficient life skills, communication skills, numeric skills, and literacy skills. In the current study it was established, by means of a self-administered questionnaire, that students＇ lacking time of management skills, and study skills, are conditioned by their schooling not to value or use prescribed text books. These results re-emphasise the fact that students drop out of the programme for reasons other than academic performance and underline the need for effective measures toward student support and effective student learning.

Developing Students’ Intercultural Communicative Competence Through Threads of Personal Experiences: A Reflective Approach

With the development of world globalization, English works as a lingua franca for intercultural communication among different cultures in the world. This shift implies that introducing solely English native speaking cultures to students is not sufficient for their needs. This paper depicts the reflective teaching process of my ten years of experience of teaching intercultural communication.The paper describes how the teacher systematically reflects on the practice of teaching,continuously revises the curriculum, and finally formulates an efficient model of integrating students’ personal experiences into developing students’ intercultural communicative competence and awareness. This reflective study attempts to provide some pedagogical implications for intercultural communication education.

Supporting Extensive Reading Through Soft Toy Theory and Story Sacks

This paper is based on the author＇s work shop which provides educators with information on how to utilize ＂Soft Toy Theory＂. The workshop is based on a set of theoretical concepts taken from： psychology, play therapy, and literacy theory which have been blended together to form a set of teaching approaches and lesson plan ideas that can be used in Literacy/English classes. The paper will also discuss the value of using ＂Story Sacks＂ to develop and raise levels of comprehension and understanding in extensive reading and reading programs. The application of ＂Soft Toy Theory＂ could also provide a positive social-psychological affect on the students. It is designed to creating bonding between teacher and student and student and student and to raise levels of self-esteem and enable the teachers to be able to access the thoughts and feelings of a child or young adu/t which can often be hard to discern from traditional direct question and answer sessions. ＂Soft Toy Theory＂ is a term that the author has adopted herself for using play, creativity, and art resources and soft toys to create dialogues in the Kindergarten and Elementary classroom： It is even possible to extend the use ＂Soft Toy Theory＂ to middle school, high school, and adult classrooms if the resources and topics and ＂tone＂ and tenor of teaching are appropriately adapted. Soft Toy Theory assumes that soft toys can include： actual soft toys, art resources, and other play resources： such as, sand, water, puppets, masks and clay. Story Sacks employ much of the theory that supports ＂soft toy usage＂ within the classroom. Story Sacks aim to provide inspiring resources whilst encouraging enjoyment and a greater comprehension of ＂real＂ books or ＂graded＂ readers. Additionally, Story Sacks can support extensive reading in the school and at home, and are a useful adjunct to Soft Toy Theory and supporting literacy activities in any classroom.

Reflection on strengthening basic Construction of basic Education to improve student Management work in Public Security Colleges

Public security colleges shoulder the responsibility of cultivating and transporting qualified policemen to public security institutions. They are the cradle cultivating police. Strengthening basic construction of public security colleges and universities ,combining each aspect management and teaching work thus forming a perfect management system is the cornerstone promoting long-term development of public security education undertakings. Since 2011, Students＇ Affairs Office of Criminal Police College of China has developed and implemented basic construction programs, starting with students organizations at grassroots level, achievinv better results. It has certain reference significance for improving student management work in public security colleges.

Study on Talent Cultivation Mode and Teaching Methods Reform in Military Academics

Military talents are those who have higher culture and scientific quality, much strong innovation consciousness and thinking ability. The overall objective of military talent training is to cultivate the comprehensive-quality military personnel that meet the requirements of military modernization and preparations for military struggle. In this paper, we construct the military talent training objectives model, and on this basis, we propose the innovative military talent training mode, from the perspective of curriculum content system and talent quality assurance system.

Hidden Crises and Communication： An Interactional Analysis of Hidden Crises

In this paper I describe the ways in which the communication discipline can make a hidden crisis transparent. For this purpose I examine the concept of crisis entrepreneurship from a communication point of view. Using discourse analysis, I analyse the discursive practices of crisis entrepreneurs in the domain of education in the Netherlands. This paper is part of my Ph.D. project in which I examine the dilemmas encountered by crisis entrepreneurs and the interactional solutions they choose in addressing a crisis. In my Ph.D. project I have analysed how crisis entrepreneurs use discursive practices： （1） to show thefactuality of the problem. For example, the way the problem is presented is too theoretical and is not a problem in reality; （2） to present the credibility of the messenger as an authentic, legitimate spokesman. Crisis entrepreneurs may be accused of wanting to attract attention to their own cause; （3） to create the accountability for the problem and the solution. For example, crisis entrepreneurs can be accused of nursing personal grievances or of drawing attention to the issue without actively attempting to solve it. The conclusion is that a communication professional is able to recognize a problem raised by crisis entrepreneurs. Knowledge of interactional dilemmas helps communication professionals understand the potential of crisis entrepreneurs. A communication professional can therefore contribute to the recognition of crises by acknowledging that a crisis entrepreneur is someone who can have a strong hand in the public agenda, i.e., public affairs that are important to the authorities.

Addressing Religious Issues at UAE Schools in Times of Global Changes

After the era of globalization, religious diversity increases in most of the countries all over the world. Therefore, the main goal of this article is to discuss the necessity of teaching pupils about the different religions at schools in order for increasing their religious awareness about their own religion as well as improving their sensitivity towards other religions. Hence, such awareness and sensitivity may contribute to open the channels of dialogue among the new generations and prevent more violence from happening, as a result. In doing so, it will display the level of religious diversity around the world and the number of expected religious groups by 2050 as found by Pew Research Center （2015）. It will also briefly review the Islamic principles that are related to dealing with other religious groups. Moreover, it will present possible ways of how multiple religions can be taught in schools in order to transform pupils from religiocentric phases to religiorelative stages.

Teaching Hebrew Classics： Test Case— Agnon＇s Story ＂From a Foe to a Friend＂

Teaching literary classics has always been a burden for the teacher; since the language is archaic, and neither the themenor structure appeal to the students, because they are not trivial and do not deal with their immediate problems like puberty or relationships with parents. Nevertheless, it is essential that students will be exposed to the treasures of their culture. The author proposes that we introduce the classics through their literary adaptations into children＇s book, comics, and so on. Adaptation as well as translation involves interpretation. Therefore, through the adaptation, we show the students that classic texts are complicated and potent of many meanings. As an introduction to the works of S. Y. Agnon, the author chose his story ＂From a Foe to a Friend＂ （1992）. ＂From a Foe to a Friend＂ by S. Y. Agnon, is considered to be simple, na＇fve story, the plot is linear and accumulative, almost like a folktale or a children＇s story. And indeed, this story was published （2008） as a children＇s book with illustrations, and also as a comic book （2012）. The author will show how we can use these books, along with the folktale of＂The Three Little Pigs＂ （1890）, which the story＇s plot is based on, to prepare students to the challenge of Agnon＇s literary work. The conceptual framework of this paper is based on Polysystem Theory （Even-Zohar, 1990）, Translation Theory （Toury, 1995）, and adaptation as an interpretation （Shenberg, 1997, 1998）.

嘉定重浚学前二渠记

予以岁辛丑来署嘉定学教事,始至进诸生而试之,其文虽不尽雅驯,然多卓然,各吐其中之所欲言,不以剿袭相眩欺,已而渐得其为人,又获从其贤士大夫游,然后知其敦笃简远,学古而深识,盖他郡邑之所希也。然而庚子(万历二十八年,1600)之秋赋与其后礼部之试,乃无一人隽者。予固心疑之,执文之暇相与登览而叹息,则有言于坐者曰:'先生亦知其故乎?是殆人事与气数参半焉。'邑之出而仕于时者,皆不苟能自树立,顾独其文不善于争时,何欤?邑虽濒海,不多受江湖之水,所仰松江一线。

Exploring Researcher Identity Construction of University EFL Teachers in China

Based on the narratives of four Chinese university EFL teachers＇ research experiences, this study reports on the dynamic construction of their researcher identities and the crucial socioinstitutional and individual factors that have afforded and constrained researcher identity construction. The results presented different trajectories of researcher identity construction through the EFL teachers＇ three stages of research experiences （beginning, stagnation/ development, and struggle stages） in their professional lives. Academic learning contexts such as Master＇s and PhD programs were shown to be replete with factors that contributed to the development of researcher identity, while the institutional context and the broad social context in China were exposed to be greatly constraining. Motivation, publications, academic qualifications, and networking with researchers were four important individual factors that impacted the EFL teachers＇ researcher identity construction, The findings suggest that Chinese EFL teachers raise awareness of their researcher identities, make continuous critical reflections, and exercise agency to seek opportunities for development while governments and institutions should reform the current educational and promotion systems to support EFL teachers＇ research engagement.

DEVELOPING THE STUDENTS' COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN MARITIME ENGLISH TRAINING

To develop the students' communicative competence in order to be qualified in their future work (the seafarer's post) is the major educational aim in the field of Maritime. This paper summarizes some useful and efficient methods and practices to make teaching more effective and to help students learn better on the basis of integrated teaching approaches, especially, the CBI, the communicative approach, the natural approach. Language is being taught depend on the students' analysis. Successful learning should be learner-centered and in real-life communication. Teacher needs to supply authentic materials, good comprehensible input and low the affective filter to motivate the students learning. Moreover, teacher is suggested to establish an English-learning environment via learning English through English and teaching English through English.

Lost and Found： Storytelling in Language Counseling

This article explores the potential of the narrative educational processes of autobiographical writing and interactive storytelling for foreign language education. In our Autonomous Learning Modules （ALMS） at Helsinki University Language Centre, students write various autobiographical texts as part of their language portfolios. The texts are discussed in the face-to-face counseling meetings. Finnish students＇ learner identities are influenced by the competitive role of English in Finland： mastering English is a must, and not mastering English can single them out as failures. This is especially true of self-identified ＂different＂ learners whose previous language learning experiences and classroom situations have caused them anxiety. In ALMS, counselors engage them in sharing stories about past learning experiences as a way of supporting them in planning their personal study programs. Storytelling also helps them to explore their ＂wounded＂ learner identities by creating safe spaces for reflexive self- study. The practice and research of such storytelling are explored in the article.