Problems of Education in the 21st Century

759

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 76, No. 6, 2018, PEC

762-778

Authors: Kateřina Berková, Jana Borůvková, Lenka Lízalová

The aim of the research was to find out what factors influence the development of cognitive dimensions in college students. The following factors were considered: field of study, academic achievement in a selected economic subject and abstract visual intellectual level. The reason for doing this research was to increase the quality of teaching economic subjects across bachelor study fields in the conditions of a practically oriented College of Polytechnics, Jihlava in the Czech Republic. Two fields of study were selected - the economic field - Finance and Management (N = 52 students) and the technical field - Applied Computer Science (N = 30 students). Study plans of both fields included the subject Corporate Economy in the first term of studies. Methodological research was based on the theory of problem-based learning. It was built on a test method that was used to gain data to identify the context of variables with the development of cognitive dimensions in the context of an internationally recognized framework for evaluating the success - the Bloom's Taxonomy. Two tests were used to collect the data: (a) a test measuring the abstract visual intellectual level; (b) a non-standardized test to measure students' achievement in the six cognitive dimensions of the Bloom's Taxonomy. The initial knowledge of students was comparable. The data were analyzed by factor analysis, followed by the Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficients. Cognitive dimensions could be grouped into two factors. Factor 1 - Application-Evaluation Dimension that was explained by the dimensions of Knowledge, Application, Evaluation; Factor 2 - Analytical Dimension that was explained by the dimensions of Comprehension, Analysis, Synthesis. The results showed that an individual did not have to be competent in the whole complexity of the Bloom's Taxonomy. The development of cognitive dimensions correlated with the field of study, the economic field was correlated with factor 2 and the technical field with factor 1. The development of cognitive dimensions did not correlate with the abstract-visual intellectual level. Factor 2 weakly negatively correlated with academic achievement in the subject Corporate Economy. This means that students who were successful in developing lower-order cognitive dimensions had a weak analytical orientation in the economic area, and vice versa. The results brought by the research will help improve teaching of economic subjects across the two disciplines, especially with regard to the innovation of learning and teaching strategies with a positive impact on the desired cognitive development of students.

800-815

Authors: Lee Jin Choi

Despite increasing scholarly interest in language learners’ identities, little effort has been devoted to critically reviewing the latest research on second language learners’ identities and providing future directions for study. This recent increase in research then raises an important set of questions: (a) How have second language learners’ identities been portrayed and explained in empirical research?, (b) What are the general trends in language identity research, and what are the key factors that have driven such development?, and (c) What are the limitations of current studies and the future directions for research on second language learners’ identities? To answer the above questions, the paper critically reviewed and analyzed 109 major studies about second language learners’ identities since the 1990s. This critical review of current studies of second language learners’ identities aimed to address an important issue related to ESL/EFL students’ identity, which may be used to shape an international agenda on how to best support and meet the needs of these students. It also enables educators, school administrators, and policy makers at all levels to better understand the increasing number of second language learners and their multiple identities, as well as providing researchers a new perspective on conducting research in language learners’ identities.

834-846

Authors: Rymshash Toleubekova, Engilika Zhumataeva

Since gaining independence in 1991, the Republic of Kazakhstan has been consistently working on restoring the national identity. An important role in this process is played by education, therefore, there is a growing Government interest in instilling national values in pre-service and in-service teachers. The aim of the research was to establish whether the attitudes towards the traditional values of the Kazakh people held by Master's students majoring in Education would change as a result of studying an elective course in Ethnopedagogy. Based on an analysis of the traditional values of the Kazakh people undertaken by Kazakh researchers, a classification of these values was developed and used as a basis for a questionnaire designed to identify attitudes towards these values. A survey was conducted with the students from two universities. The sample of the research was 119 people: 59 students formed the experimental group (the one where the elective course was taught), the remaining 60 were in the control group (that did not study the course). The survey was conducted twice: before the beginning and after the end of the course. The results of the first survey showed no statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups. The second survey clearly showed positive changes in the attitudes towards the traditional values of the Kazakh people in the experimental group, while in the control group the results remained approximately at the level of the first survey. A conclusion was made that it is necessary to strengthen the national and cultural components in the content of pedagogical education in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

864-880

Authors: Ephraim Zulu, Theodore Haupt, Vittorio Tramontin

The aim of the research was to explore the levels of cognitive loading induced by certain tenets of constructivist pedagogy namely self-directed learning complex questions and zone of proximal development. The study also sought to investigate the associations between these constructs and with cognitive loading and complex questions. Data for the research were collected using a questionnaire survey of a sample of students studying towards undergraduate degrees in construction-related studies at - public universities in South Africa. The data were factor analyzed to determine the factor structure of the constructs and to assess instrument validity and reliability. The relationships between the various constructs were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Consistent with other studies, the research found that complex questions induce a statistically significant amount of cognitive loading in students. The study also found that self-directed learning does not induce cognitive loading while subjecting students to tasks which are in their zone of proximal development is likely to induce some cognitive loading albeit much less than that from complex questions. Locating tasks in the zone of proximal development of students is likely to lead students to engage in some self-directed learning. It was also found that complex questions had a small significant association with self-directed learning. To reduce the amount of cognitive loading which students are subjected to, complex questions should be avoided for students with little subject prior knowledge, otherwise, students should be appropriately scaffolded. Students should be encouraged to engage in self-directed learning in order to reduce cognitive loading. Learning tasks assigned for self-directed learning should not be complex relative to the knowledge of the students as this discourages students from persisting with self-directed learning due to high cognitive loading.

904

Authors: Editorial Board

End page, Vol. 76, No. 6, 2018, PEC