US-China Education Review 2013 (12B)

US-China Education Review
B
Volume 3, Number 12, December 2013 (Serial Number 31)
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US-China Education Review

B
Volume 3, Number 12, December 2013 (Serial Number 31)
Contents
Educational Policy and Management
Teachers Self-efficacy on School Improvement: A Comparative Analysis of Private and Public Junior High Schools in the Takoradi Metropolis, Ghana Winston Kwame Abroampa, Kwesi Nkum Wilson Teachers Perspectives on Principals Leadership in Mexican Schools Rubi Surema Peniche Cetzal Classroom Management and Feedback Systems Yavich Roman, Starichenko Boris, Egorov Artem 918 914 903
Educational Evaluation and Assessment

Reforming Educational Measurement for National Security: The Role of Item Response Theory in Test Fairness John Nwanibeze Odili 924
Educational Psychology
Exploration on Keyess Model of Mental Health for French Physically Active Adults Mare Salama-Younes The Effect of Reality Therapy Group Training on Decreasing Social Phobia of Students in Eghlid City High Schools Ali Akbar Rahimi, Reza Sattar The Management of Stress in Students Brbara-Emma Snchez-Rinza, Ana Laura Luna Peralta 950 933
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Educational Theory and Practice

Some Ontological Issues on English Education in Chinas Universities Tian Qiang, Cai Jian, Qiao Hui 958
Curriculum and Teaching

Exploring an Effective Model to Support Freshmen to Learn Calculus Jung-Chih Chen, Yung-Ling Lai 967
US-China Education Review B, ISSN 2161-6248 December 2013, Vol. 3, No. 12, 903-913
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PUBLISHING
Teachers Self-efficacy on School Improvement: A Comparative Analysis of Private and Public Junior High Schools in the Takoradi Metropolis, Ghana
Winston Kwame Abroampa, Kwesi Nkum Wilson
University of Education, Winneba, Ghana
One construct of teachers belief that has consistently been associated with the numerous qualities of an effective teacher, is teacher efficacy. Varying studies conducted have established relationships between teacher efficacy and motivation, learners outcomes and job performance. More so, studies conducted have attributed the differences in the performance of public and private schools to supervision, school climate, availability of teaching, and learning materials among others. However, not much has been studied about the teachers belief in these two working environments. The study therefore sought to examine teacher efficacy in public and private basic schools and how it influenced the general improvement of their schools. A correlational design was employed for the study. The stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 15 public and private schools; a total of 134 teachers comprising 90 public and 44 private basic school teachers respectively. A standard questionnaire for measuring teacher efficacy was used in gathering data. The study revealed that, among other things, though, there are more professional teachers in public schools than private schools, teachers in the latter have a slightly higher efficacy. More so, there was no relationship between teacher qualification and teacher efficacy. Thus, it was recommended that, in the short term, circuit supervisors and heads of schools should organize seminars for teachers on changing their mindset about teaching in general and learners who go to public schools in particular, since this has serious implications for teachers self-efficacy and school improvement. Keywords: self-efficacy, teacher efficacy, school improvement, public schools, private schools
Introduction
That education is the single most important building block on which a nations development is founded is an understatement. In fact, it is the fulcrum, around which all the nations enterprises and endeavours revolve. The extent to which these enterprises are functional and the endeavours are worthwhile, is largely dependent on the quality of education that a nation provides for its people. This explains the large proportions of resources that nations devote to the provision of education for their citizens (Ankomah, 2002). Though, the efforts at providing quality education require the inputs of various stakeholders, teachers are the prime vanguards, they are the final implementers of the curriculum. As a result, the quality of learners that an education system turns
Winston Kwame Abroampa, M.Phil., B.Ed., lecturer, Department of Psychology and Education, University of Education, Winneba. Kwesi Nkum Wilson, M.Phil., B.Ed., lecturer, Department of Psychology and Education, University of Education, Winneba.
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TEACHERS SELF-EFFICACY ON SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
out is determined by the quality of teachers (Hallack, 1977), to a greater extent, learners achievement is determined by the quality of teaching. Without mincing words, one can say that no nation can develop beyond the level of its teachers. Awoniyi (1979) concurred by reiterating that the quality of teachers largely determines the quality of education in a society. Awoniyi emphasized that the indicators of the quality of a school system are the qualifications and experiences of teachers, which may influence teachers level of efficacy. Bandura studied self-efficacy concepts in relation to a variety of concepts, such as motivation (Schunk, 1991) and phobias (Bandura, 1983, as cited in Adu, Tadu, & Eze, 2012). The studies noted that individuals develop ideas and self-perceptions of their capabilities. These capabilities drive individuals when interacting with their environment. Bandura (1977) referred to this control as perceived self-efficacy, this research supports the relationship between teacher efficacy/self-determination and academic achievement. Ross (1995) also found a positive relationship between teacher efficacy and working conditions. Teachers with high efficacy interact more frequently with peers, participate in joint work (team teaching, peer coaching, mentoring, or committee work), and assume a stronger role in school decision-making than teachers with lower efficacy. Therefore, it is probable that teachers self-efficacy may influence school improvement.
Teacher Efficacy
One construct of teachers belief that has consistently been associated with the numerous qualities of an effective teacher, is teacher efficacy. Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk (2001) (as cited in Vasquez, 2008) defined teacher efficacy as a teachers judgment of his or her capabilities to bring about desired outcomes of student engagement and learning, even among students who may be difficult or unmotivated (p. 283). Teacher efficacy has been related to students outcomes, such as motivation (Midgley, Feldlaufer, & Eccles, 1989), achievement (Ashton & Webb, 1986), and students own sense of efficacy (Anderson, Green, & Loewen, 1988). Teacher efficacy has also been related to teacher behavior in the classroom. Allinder (1994) found that teachers with high efficacy beliefs plan more thoroughly and are more organized. Highly efficacious teachers have a willingness to try new strategies (Guskey, 1988), they persist longer when teaching becomes difficult (Coladaraci, 1992) and work with struggling students (Gibson & Dembo, 1984). Teachers with high efficacy show greater commitment to teaching (Evans & Tribble, 1986), more enthusiasm for teaching (Allinder, 1994), and are more likely to stay in the profession (Burley, Hall, Villeme, & Brockheimer, 1991). More so, Ashton and Webb (1986) found that teachers with a high sense of efficacy have high expectations for all students, establish classroom environments that encourage warm interpersonal relationships, and promote strong academic work. They are more humanistic in their classroom management style (Woolfolk, Rosoff, & Hoy, 1990), evoke trust from their students (DaCosta & Riordan, 1996), and favor student-centered classrooms (Czerniak & Schriver, 1994), as well as activity-based and experiential learning (Enochs, Scharman, & Riggs, 1995). Furthermore, teachers with high efficacy are more likely to seek assistance from other educational professionals (DeMesquita & Drake, 1994) and promote parental involvement in schooling (Hoover-Dempsey, Bassler, & Brissie, 1992). A gleaning of the forgoing suggests that teacher efficacy influence most attributes that a teacher demonstrates and it also plays a significant role primarily in learners outcomes. However, considering the key role a teacher plays in the entire life of a school, it cannot be overestimated that the extent to which a teacher is efficacious may influence all aspect of a school, which may invariably impinge on its improvement.
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School Improvement
School improvement entails a whole gamut of worthwhile activities that schools employ in order to make the schools better and ensure the achievement of educational outcomes. Welzen (1985) believed that it is a systematic and sustained effort to improve learning outcomes. Hopkins, Ainscow, and West (1994) discussed the two meanings of school improvement: (1) It is a common sense which relates to general efforts to make schools better places (p. 3); and (2) It is a distinct approach to educational change that enhances students outcomes as well as strengthening schools capacity for managing change (p. 3). School improvement is not an event but a deliberate effort to systematically set a process in motion geared towards making schools better. Stoll (1998) argued that it is not a quick fix but part of an ongoing process that requires the participation of teachers in decision-making. Therefore, this implies that it is a process of sustained activities that seek to enhance benefit for learners, which may be influenced by responses from internal or external contributions. Some internal elements that may facilitate school improvement may be an open school climate, participation of teachers and learners in decision-making, provision of resources, enforcing discipline, etc., whereas, a strong school community relationship that allows for parental and community involvement may constitute external factors. The ultimate aim is to enhance learners progress, achievement, and development (Stoll & Fink, 1996). The extent to which teachers are efficacious may influence all these.
Problem Statement
A growing line of literature, starting with Coleman, Hoffer, and Kilgore (1982), have suggested that other things equal, private schools are more effective learning institutions (Hall & Vedder, 2004, p. 77). Ankomah (2002) intimated that inspite of the effort of the government of Ghana at providing sound education, especially at the basic level, public schools continue to lag behind private schools in pupils performance with unacceptably wide disparities, which has implications for school improvement. It may be argued that schools with appreciable learners outcomes are progressively improving most aspects of schools, such as teachers participation in decision-making, provision of resources, enforcing discipline, encouraging parental and community involvement, etc.. Though the contributing factors for these disparities are not farfetched, the irony is that most teachers in public schools are certified, more trained and qualified, and are better paid than most of their counterparts in private schools, which may naturally prop up their level of efficacy. More so, most studies conducted have concentrated on resources availability, management, supervision, learners socio-economic background, students self-efficacy and teacher efficacy, and their relationship with learners academic performance. Most of such studies have all shown a positive relationship among all these variables. This investigation, however, seeks to examine the extent to which basic school teachers level of efficacy in other aspects of school life in public and private JHS (junior high schools) influence the school improvement.
Research Questions
The study addressed the following research questions: (1) What is the difference between teacher efficacy in public and private JHS? (2) How does teacher qualification relate to teacher efficacy? (3) What are differences in public and private school teachers efficacy in other aspects of school life?
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Methodology
The correlational design was deemed appropriate for the study, since the study sort to examine the relationship among variables. All teachers in JHS in the Takoradi Metropolis constituted the target population. The stratified sampling was used to group the schools into public and private. The lottery with replacement method of simple random sampling was employed in the selection of 22 JHS, comprising 15 public and seven private schools. A total of 134 respondents was purposively selected for the study, which consisted of 90 and 44 teachers from public and private JHS respectively. These groups of teachers were selected because they have been teaching in their respective schools for more than two years. The questionnaire was the main research instrument designed to gather data for the study. Gibson and Dembos (1984) Teacher Efficacy Scale was adopted with minimal changes. This instrument has been widely used (Reames & Spencer, 1998; Yisrael, 1996; Hipp, 1996), it is reliable and recognised as a standard measure of teachers professional efficacy (Ghaith & Yaghi, 1997, p. 453). The questionnaire consisted of 30 mainly close-ended items on a 5-point Likert Scale with the following weightings: 1N (Nothing); 2VL (Very little); 3SI (Some influence); 4QB (Quite a bit); and 5GD (A great deal).
Data Analysis Procedure

Data gathered were serially numbered, edited, and coded accordingly. Frequencies and percentages were used to analyse biographic information. The rest of the items in the questionnaire were analysed using means. The Pearsons product moment correlation coefficient was computed to ascertain the relationship between teacher qualification and teacher efficacy. Relationships were interpreted within the confined ranges suggested by Cohen (1988). That is: R = 0.10 to 0.29 or R = -0.10 to -0.29, small; R = 0.30 to 0.49 or R = -0.30 to -0.49, medium; R = 0.50 to 1.0 or R = -0.50 to -1.0, large. The independent sample t-test was also used in determining the differences between teacher efficacy in public and private JHS. All the research questions were addressed at a significance level of 0.05.
Interpretation and Discussion of Results

Data in Table 1 indicate that there were more male teachers in the private schools (54.5%), but more female teachers in the public schools (63.3%). Table 1 Sex Distribution of Teachers
Sex Male Female Group Public Private Public Private Frequency 33 24 57 20 % 36.7 54.5 63.3 45.5
The distribution of the educational qualification of teachers in both public and private schools is presented in Table 2. It may be deduced from the data in Table 2 that an overwhelming majority of the public school teachers constituting about 90. 1% are professional, whereas 63.5% of their counterparts in the private schools also
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have education that qualifies them to become professional teachers. This is not surprising since most teachers are now taking advantage of the certificate, diploma, and post diploma education programmes by regular, part-time, or distance education, offered by various public and private tertiary institutions, to upgrade themselves. Table 2 Highest Educational Qualification of Teachers
Qualification High school 3/4 year post secondary Diploma with education Diploma without education Degree with education Degree without education Masters degree Group Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Frequency 1 8 22 9 38 13 3 5 21 6 4 3 1 % 1.1 18.2 24.4 20.4 42.4 29.5 3.3 11.4 23.3 13.6 4.4 6.8 1.1 -
Data in Table 3 sort to explore both public and private teachers efficacy levels. It may be deduced from the data in Table 3 that with respect to influencing class sizes, teachers in the public basic schools have very little influence as compared to their counterparts in the private schools, who indicated that they have some influence. This may be attributed to the fact that enrolment in public basic schools is heavily influenced by and controlled by government policies. For instance, in recent times, enrolment figures and attendance in basic schools have doubled due to the introduction of policies, such as the capitation grant, free school feeding (Osei-Fosu, 2011), and free school uniform without much corresponding increase in facilities and infrastructure. However, in the private schools, admissions and enrolment figures are controlled by the proprietors, who may seek the opinion of class teachers before admitting learners into their classes. With regard to how much teachers can do to get community members to be involved in working with the school, whereas teachers in the public schools have some influence, and those in the private schools have little influence. This may be due to the fact that public schools are community owned. As a matter of fact, most communities provide land and other resources for the establishment of basic schools in their communities, thus, they are major stakeholders and partners in school development. In order to strengthen the community-school relationship, committees, such as the SMCs (school management committees) are formed, apart from the traditional PTA (Parent Teacher Association) with some members of the community handling key positions. Elders, groups, and individuals in the community are directly or indirectly obliged to take keen interest in the activities of public schools in the community. Thus, it becomes easier for teachers in such school to involve the community in the activities of the school when the need arises. On the other hand, private schools are established and owned by private person(s). As a result, apart from the PTA or the parents of wards, private school teachers have little influence when it comes to involving the community in what the school does.
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Table 3 A Distribution of Teachers Self-efficacy Levels

Efficacy statements How much can you influence decisionmaking in school? How much can you express your views on matters? How much can you do to get instructional materials and equipment? How much can you do to influence class sizes? How much can you do to get through to the most difficult students? How much can you do to promote learning when there is no support from home? How much can you do to keep students on tasks? How much can you do to increase students memory of previous lessons taught? How much can you do to motivate students who show low interest in school work? How much can you do to get students to work together? How much can you do to minimize the influence of adverse community conditions on students learning? How much can you do to get students to do their homework? How much can you do to get students to follow classroom rules? How much can you do to get students to control disruptive classroom behaviours? How much can you do to prevent problem behaviours on school grounds? How much can you do to get parents to be involved in school activities? How much can you assist parents in helping their children to do well in school? How much can you do to get parents to feel comfortable coming to school? How much can you do to get community groups involved in working with the school? How much can you do to get churches involved in working with the school? How much can you do to get local colleges and universities involved in working with the school? How much can you do to get businesses involved in working with the school? How much can you do to make the school a safe place? How much can you do to make students enjoy coming to school? Group Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private GD Freq. (%) 11 (12.2) 0 ( 0.0) 28 (31.1) 9 (20.5) 10 (11.1) 21 (47.7) 9 (10.0) 7 (15.9) 20 (22.2) 12 (27.3) QB Freq. (%) 26 (28.9) 19 (42.3) 27 (30.0) 18 (40.9) 27 (30.0) 9 (20.5) 15 (16.7) 13 (29.5) 32 (35.6) 14 (31.8) SI Freq. (%) 23 (25.6) 6 (13.6) 13 (14.4) 6 (13.6) 15 (16.7) 7 (15.9) 11 (12.2) 3 (6.8) 22 (24.4) 13 (29.5) VL N Freq. (%) Freq. (%) 27 (30.0) 3 (3.3) 16 (36.4) 3 (6.8) 21 (23.3) 1 (1.1) 11 (25.0) 0 (0.0) 36 (40.0) 2 (2.2) 6 (13.6) 1 (2.3) 29 (32.2) 26 (28.9) 17 (38.6) 4 (9.1) 15 (16.7) 1 (1.0) 5 (11.4) 0 (0.0) 2 (2.2) 0 (0.0) 2 (2.2) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 1 (1.1) 0 (0.0) 1 (1.1) 0 (0.0) Mean 3.17 2.93 3.67 3.57 3.18 3.97 2.47 3.04 3.61 3.75 3.17 3.70 3.79 3.93 4.13 4.30 4.02 4.16 4.13 4.27 Remarks SI SI QB SI SI QB VL SI QB QB SI QB QB QB QB QB QB QB QB QB SI SI QB QB QB QB QB QB QB QB SI SI SI SI QB QB SI VL SI SI VL VL VL VL QB QB QB QB
13 (14.4) 18 (20.0) 32 (35.6) 25 (27.8) 9 (20.5) 14 (31.8) 19 (43.2) 2 (4.5) 26 (28.9) 27 (30.0) 31 (34.4) 13 (29.5) 17 (38.6) 12 (27.3) 38 (42.2) 32 (35.6) 14 (15.6) 19 (43.2) 19 (43.2) 6 (13.6) 32 (35.6) 34 (37.8) 19 (21.1) 17 (38.6) 18 (40.9) 8 (18.2) 38 (42.2) 32 (35.6) 15 (16.7) 22 (50.0) 12 (27.3) 10 (22.7) 7 (7.8) 2 (4.5) 42 (46.7) 24 (54.5) 55 (61.1) 25 (56.8) 43 (47.8) 29 (65.9) 21 (23.3) 15 (34.1) 10 (11.1) 7 (15.9) 4 (4.4) 2 (4.5) 6 (6.7) 0 (0.0) 4 (4.4) 1 (2.3) 4 (4.4) 0 (0.0)
19 (21.1) 29 (32.2) 26 (28.9) 13 (29.5) 18 (40.9) 11 (25.0) 30 (33.3) 13 (29.5) 21 (23.3) 9 (20.5) 31 (34.4) 10 (22.7) 36 (40.0) 13 (29.5) 26 (28.9) 18 (40.9) 14 (15.6) 4 (4.4) 7 (15.9) 0 (0.0) 9 (10.0) 5 (5.6) 10 (22.7) 0 (0.0) 13 (14.4) 3 (3.3) 4 (9.1) 1 (2.3) 22 (24.4) 9 (10.0) 12 (17.3) 3 ( 6.8) 29 (32.2) 19 (21.1) 9 (20.5) 9 (20.5)
9 (10.0) 2.88 0 ( 0.0) 3.14 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 0.(0.0) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 2 (2.2) 1 (2.3) 6 (6.7) 1 (2.3) 2 (2.2) 1 (2.3) 3 (3.3) 1 (2.3) 4.22 4.39 4.40 4.34 4.27 4.52 3.72 3.86 3.17 3.48 3.37 3.55 3.88 4.14
12 (13.3) 28 (31.1) 33 (36.7) 15 (16.7) 5 (11.4) 19 (43.2) 16 (36.4) 3 (6.8) 29 (32.2) 32 (35.6) 21 (23.3) 22 (50.0) 10 (22.7) 9 (20.5) 6 (6.7) 2 (4.5) 6 (6.7) 2 (4.5) 4 (4.4) 1 (2.3) 6 (6.7) 9 (20.5) 21 (23.3) 21 (47.7) 43 (47.8) 24 (54.5) 5 (5.6) 2 (4.5)
20 (22.2) 31 (34.4) 26 (28.9) 6 (13.6) 12 (27.3) 18 (40.9)
7 (7.8) 2.91 6 (13.6) 2.55
13 (14.4) 23 (25.6) 25 (27.8) 23 (25.6) 2.74 9 (20.5) 9 (20.5) 18 (40.9) 6 (13.6) 2.61 12 (13.3) 24 (26.7) 30 (33.3) 20 (22.2) 2.49 5 (11.4) 11 (25.0) 19 (43.2) 8 (18.2) 2.31 13 (14.4) 10 (22.7) 38 (42.2) 17 (38.6) 28 (31.1) 11 (25.0) 23 (25.6) 25 (27.8) 23 (25.6) 15 (34.1) 10 (22.7) 0 ( 0.0) 0 (0.0) 24 (26.7) 7 (7.8) 2 (4.5) 1 (2.3) 3 (6.8) 15 (16.7) 4 (4.4) 0 (0.0) 8 (18.2) 1 (2.3) 0 (0.0) 2.44 2.41 3.81 4.25 4.22 4.25

(Table 3 to be continued) How much can you do to get students Public to trust teachers? Private How much can you do to help other Public teachers with their teaching skills? Private How much can you do to enhance Public collaboration between teachers and Private administration? How much can you do to reduce Public school drop out? Private How much can you do reduce school Public absenteeism? Private How much can you do to get students Public to believe they can do well in school? Private Note. Mean ranges: 0.00-1.59: N; 1.60-2.59: VL; schools3.54 and private schools3.69.
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40 (44.4) 34 (37.8) 12 (13.3) 4 (4.4) 26 (59.1) 7 (15.9) 6 (13.6) 5 (11.4) 22 (24.4) 36 (40.0) 19 (21.1) 13 (14.4) 7 (15.9) 17 (38.6) 15 (34.1) 5 (11.4) 19 (21.1) 27 (30.0) 21 (23.3) 22 (24.4) 12 (27.3) 17 (38.6) 10 (22.7) 5 (11.4) 9 (10.0) 14 (31.8) 17 (18.9) 9 (20.5) 42 (46.7) 22 (50.0) 2.60-3.59:
0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 1 (1.1) 0 (0.0)
4.22 4.23 3.74 3.60 3.46 3.82
QB QB QB QB SI QB
32 (35.6) 31 (34.4) 13 (14.4) 5 (5.6) 3.30 SI 4 ( 9.1) 18 (40.9) 8 (18.2) 0 (0.0) 3.54 SI 27 (30.0) 27 (30.0) 16 (17.8) 3 (3.3) 3.43 SI 21 (47.7) 10 (22.7) 4 (9.1) 0 (0.0) 3.80 QB 31 (34.4) 16 (17.8) 1 (1.1) 0 (0.0) 4.27 QB 13 (29.5) 9 (20.5) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 4.30 QB SI; 3.60-4.59: QB; and 4.60-5.00: GD. Mean of means: Public
On the issue of how much can be done to get local colleges and universities involved in working with their schools, both public and private school teachers indicated that they have very little influence. This may be attributed to the fact that, especially in Ghana, because universities are highly placed, pre-tertiary institutions have a difficulty in soliciting assistance from them. More often, it has been the universities rather getting institutions at that level involved in their activities. For instance, universities sometimes involve basic and high schools in their teaching practice and attachment programmes. Similarly, both public and private school teachers indicated that they can do very little in involving cooperate bodies in school activities. Though well-established cooperate bodies have vaults for social responsibilities, they decide what to use such resources for. Individual teachers can therefore hardly do something in this regard. Summarily, data in Table 3 suggest that private school teachers have a slightly higher efficacy level than public school teachers. This is confirmed by a cumulative mean of 3.69 for the former and 3.54 for the latter. Table 4 T-test Results for Level of Efficacy of Public and Private School Teachers
Group Public Private Note. p < 0.05 N 90 44 X 106.18 110.75 SD 16.019 12.735 T -1.654 -1.788 df 132.000 104.914 Sig. (2-tailed) 0.101
A t-test for independent samples was used to ascertain the differences in the efficacy levels of public and private school teachers. The result of the analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the efficacy levels of teachers in public and private schools. This was indicated by a significance value of 0.101, which is greater than the conventional marker of 0.05 (see Table 4). It was thus concluded that teachers in public and private basic schools did not differ significantly in efficacy levels. The relationship between public and private basic school teachers qualification and teacher efficacy level was investigated using Pearsons product moment correlation coefficient. The data suggest that there is a low, negative correlation between the two variables (r = -0.066, n = 134, and p < 0.05), high level of qualification associated with lower levels of efficacy (see Table 5). The significant differences in the private and public school teachers level of efficacy in various areas of school improvement are demonstrated in Table 6.
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Table 5 Results of Correlation Between Teacher Qualification and Teacher efficacy

Qualification (Pearsons correlation) Sig. (2-tailed) No. Efficacy (Pearsons correlation) Sig. (2-tailed) No. Qualification 1 134 -0.066 0.445 134 Efficacy -0.066 0.445 134 1 134
Table 6 T-test Results of Public and Private School Teachers Level of Efficacy in Various Areas of School Improvement
Areas Decision-making Resources Self-efficacy Discipline Parental involvement Community involvement School climate Group Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private Public Private N 90 44 90 44 90 44 90 44 90 44 90 44 90 44 X 6.80 6.50 3.08 3.95 32.42 34.66 12.39 12.73 10.59 9.93 10.59 9.93 30.46 31.82 SD 1.98 1.90 1.11 1.18 5.51 3.64 2.03 2.36 3.83 2.89 3.83 2.89 4.95 4.93 T -93 -94 -4.195 -4.112 -2.442 -2.799 -0.860 -0.816 1.007 1.107 1.007 1.107 -1.500 -1.501 df 132 88.713 132 81.170 132 120.328 132 74.977 132 109.447 132 109.447 132 85.709 Sig. (2-tailed) Ns 0.355 0.000 0.016 0.391 0.316 0.316 0.136 S S Ns Ns Ns Ns
Notes. Ns: Not significant; S: Significant; and p < 0.05.
The significant differences in private and public school teachers level of efficacy in various aspects of school improvement were tested at a p value of 0.05. The data above illustrate that there were significant differences in the private and public school teachers level of efficacy in influencing the provision of resources and self efficacy. This was because their significance values (0.000 and 0.016) were less than the conventional marker (0.05). The means show that the public school teachers level of efficacy in influencing the provision of resources is higher than the teachers in private schools. Contrarily, the private school teachers seem to have a higher self-efficacy than teachers in the public schools.
Discussion of Findings
Self-efficacy refers to an individuals belief on his or her capacities to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments (Bandura, 1977; 1997). It also reflects confidence in the ability to exert control over ones own motivation, behaviour, and social environment. An individuals own self-evaluations not only influence his or her goals for which he or she strives, but also affect the amount of efforts used toward the attainment of goals. Moreover, self-efficacy beliefs are varying depending on the domain of functioning and surrounding circumstances (Khurshid, Qasmi, & Ashraf, 2012). The present study was designed to explore the differences between public and private teachers self-efficacy and its influence on school improvement. The investigation revealed that though public school teachers have more professional (qualified) teachers, teachers in the private schools have a slightly higher self-efficacy than teachers in the public schools. This is contrary to the findings of Khurshid et al. (2012) that
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highly educated teachers have higher self-efficacy. However, further analysis showed that there is no significant difference in the efficacy levels of public and private school teachers. This may be as a result of the slight differences in the means. Ashton and Webb (1986) found that teachers with a high sense of efficacy have high expectations for all students, they establish classroom environments that encourage warm interpersonal relationships and promote strong academic work. It also came to light that the relationship between teachers professional qualification and their level of efficacy is negative and low. This suggested that an increase in one variable does not bring about an appreciation in the other. More so, out of the seven areas of school improvement, there was a significant difference in their self-efficacy and how they influence resource availability. The latter may be due to the fact that, in public schools, teachers are supposed to make inputs with regard to the materials to buy with the capitation grant that government gives to schools before the SPIP (School Performance Improvement Plan) is drawn. As a result, individual teachers have some influence when it comes to what resources should be procured for a school.
Conclusions
(1) Private school teachers level of efficacy is slightly higher than that of public school teachers; (2) There is no significant difference in the level of efficacy of public and private school teachers; (3) There is a low relationship between teachers professional qualification and their level of efficacy; (4) Out of the seven areas, there is a significant difference only in the extent to which teachers influenced resources availability and self-efficacy.
Recommendations
Since teachers beliefs and orientation largely influence their self-efficacy, in the long term, it is important that colleges of education that turn out teachers, through seminars encourage pre-service teachers to develop a positive orientation and belief towards their learners and the teaching profession in general. It is a common knowledge that most people who enter the teaching profession in Ghana do not do so with a positive mindset. In the meantime, circuit supervisors who visit public schools more than any other education officer, as part of their responsibilities, should encourage teachers to change their beliefs and orientation about the teaching profession in order to increase their level of efficacy, since it has implications for learners outcomes or achievements in particular and school improvement in general.
References
Adu, E. O., Tadu, R., & Eze, I. (2012). Teachers self-efficacy as correlates of secondary school students academic achievement in South Western Nigeria. Discovery, 2(4), 8-16. Allinder, R. M. (1994). The relationship between efficacy and the instructional practices of special education teachers and consultants. Teacher Education and Special Education, 17, 86-95. Anderson, R., Green, M., & Loewen, P. (1988). Relationships among teachers and students thinking skills, sense of efficacy, and student achievement. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 34(2), 148-165. Ankomah, Y. A. (2002). The success story of private basic schools in Ghana: The case of three schools in Cape Coast. Journal of Educational Management, 4, 1-14. Ashton, P. T., & Webb, R. B. (1986). Making a difference: Teachers sense of efficacy and student achievement. New York: Longman.
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Awoniyi, T. (1979). Principles and practice of education. London: Hodder and Stoughton. Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215. Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W. H. Freeman. Burley, W. W., Hall, B. W., Villeme, M. G., & Brockmeier, L. L. (1991). A path analysis of the mediating role of efficacy in first-year teachers experiences, reactions and plans. Paper presented at The Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, I.L.. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, N.J.: Elrbaum. Coladaraci, T. (1992). Teachers sense of efficacy and commitment to teaching. Journalof Experimental Education, 60, 323-337. Coleman, J. S., Hoffer, T., & Kilgore, S. (1982). High school achievement: Public, private, and catholic schools compared. New York: Basic Books. Czerniak, C. M., & Schriver, M. L. (1994). An examination of pre-service science teachers beliefs and behaviors as related to self-efficacy. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 5(3), 77-86. DaCosta, J. L., & Riordan, G. (1996). Teacher efficacy and the capability to trust. Paper presented at The Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, N.Y.. DeMesquita, P. B., & Drake, J. C. (1994). Educational reform and the self-efficacy beliefs of teachers implementing nongraded primary school programs. Teaching and Teacher Education, 10, 291-302. Enochs, L. G., Scharmann, L. C., & Riggs, I. M. (1995). The relationship of pupil control to preservice elementary science teacher self-efficacy and outcome expectancy. Science Education, 79(1), 63-75. Evans, E. D., & Tribble, M. (1986). Perceived teaching problems, self-efficacy and commitment to teaching among preservice teachers. Journal of Educational Research, 80(2), 81-85. Ghaith, G., & Yaghi, H. (1997). Relationships among experience, teacher efficacy, and attitudes toward the implementation of instructional. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 569-582. Gibson, S., & Dembo, M. H. (1984). Teacher efficacy: A construct validation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 503-511. Guskey, T. R. (1988). Teacher efficacy, self-concept, and attitudes toward the implementation of instructional innovation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 4, 63-69. Guskey, T., & Passaro, P. (1994). Teacher efficacy: A study of construct dimensions. American Educational Research Journal, 31, 627-643. Hall, J. C., & Vedder, R. K. (2004). The impact of private schools on public school performance: Evidence from Ohio. Journal of Economics and Politics, 16(1), 2003-2004. Hallack, J. (1977). Investment in future setting educational practice in developing world. Paris: UNCESCO International Institute of Educational Planning. Hipp, K. A. (1996). Teacher efficacy: Influence of principal leadership behavior. Paper presented at The Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, N.Y.. Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., Bassler, O. C., & Brissie, J. S. (1992). Parent involvement: Contribution of teacher efficacy, school socio-economic status, and other school characteristics. American Educational Research Journal, 24, 417-435. Hopkins, D., Ainscow, M., & West, M. (1994). School improvement in an era of change. New York: Teachers College Press. Khurshid, F., Qasmi, F. N., & Ashraf, N. (2012). The relationship between teachers self-efficacy and their perceived job performance. International Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 3(10), 86-99. Midgley, C., Feldlaufer, H., & Eccles, J. (1989). Change in teacher efficacy and student self- and related- beliefs in mathematics during the transition to junior high school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 247-258. Osei-Fosu, A. (2008). Evaluating the impact of the capitation grant and the school feeding programme on enrollment, attendance and retention in schools: The case of Weweso circuit. Journal of Science and Technology, 31(1), 55. Reames, E. H., & Spencer, W. A. (1998, April 13-17). Teacher efficacy and commitment: Relationships to middle school culture. Paper presented at The Annual Meeting of the 179 American Educational Research Association, San Diego, C.A.. Ross, J. A. (1995). Beliefs that make a difference: The origins and impacts of teacher efficacy. Paper presented to The Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, Alberta, Canada. Schunk, D. H. (1991). Self-efficacy and academic motivation. Educational Psychologist, 26, 207-231. Stoll, L. (1998). International handbook of educational change (pp. 297-321). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. Stoll, L., & Fink, D. (1996). Changing our schools. Buckingham, Philadelphia: Open University Press.
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Vasquez, A. (2008). Teacher efficacy and students achievement in ninth and tenth grade reading: A multi-level analysis (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of South Florida). Welden, V. (1985). Quality in schools: Developing a model for school improvement. In International handbook of educational change (768-789). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. Woolfolk, A. E., Rosoff, B., & Hoy, W. K. (1990). Teachers sense of efficacy and their beliefs about managing students. Teacher and Teacher Education, 6, 137-148. Yisrael, R. (1996). Extending the concept and assessment of teacher efficacy. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 56(6), 1015-1025.
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Teachers Perspectives on Principals Leadership in Mexican Schools

Rubi Surema Peniche Cetzal
Autonomous University of Yucatn, Merida, Mexico
This paper aims to examine the perceptions of school principals and teachers about principals leadership competencies. The study was conducted in schools located in rural communities in southern Mexico. Data collection involved document analyses and surveys addressed to principals and teachers. Findings of the study indicate that principals perspectives are different from those of teachers. Principals emphasized on motivation and leadership competencies, while teachers were more concerned about principals school management competencies. Some differences were found on teachers perceptions about principals effectiveness in relation to teachers level of preparation and years of experience. Keywords: educational administration, perspectives, leadership, principal
Introduction
One of the main challenges for improving Mexican education is to provide education opportunities for all students, increasing the quality of educational process and the transition between educational levels, as well as improving the integration of the whole educational system (Presidency of the Republic, 2006). These challenges are particularly important in the case of Mexican high school education. High school education has a very important role in national development (Presidency of the Republic, 2006). According to the Mexican National Plan of Development (2006-2012) (Presidency of the Republic, 2006), Mexico needs to improve the quality of this educational level by increasing innovation and providing more access opportunities for all students. Thus, administrators at this educational level need to innovate and provide quality education for all students, particularly those who live in remote rural areas. However, this is a challenge for most principals, since most rural schools in Mexico confront serious educational problems, such as low academic achievement, lack of preparation of the administrative staff, and limited resources (Blair, 2002). Given the important role of principals in school effectiveness and innovation, more research is needed on principals competencies. Particularly, more studies are needed on the competencies of principals of schools located in remote rural areas in Mexico (Fernndez & Gonzlez, 1997; Fernndez, 1998; Cisneros-Cohernour, 2009; Cisneros-Cohernour & Merchant, 2005).
Objective
This study focused on examining the leadership competencies of school principals from the perspectives of the principals and teachers from two schools, which were located in rural communities in southern Mexico.
Rubi Surema Peniche Cetzal, Ph. D., professor, Faculty of Education, Autonomous University of Yucatn.
TEACHERS PERSPECTIVES ON PRINCIPALS LEADERSHIP IN MEXICAN SCHOOLS
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Perspective or Theoretical Framework

Lashway (1996) and Deal and Peterson (1994) stated that effective principals need to be well-organized passionate and creative leaders. Stolp (1994) also stated that school principals have to be both managers and leaders. As leaders, they have to promote a vision expressing the central values of the school. As managers, they develop structures and policies that help to institutionalize the vision. Kyrillidou and Blixt (1992) also examined the competencies of effective principals. They stated that all principals need to develop essential competencies required for effectively accomplishing their roles. Studies on principals leadership in Mexico found that most principals in elementary and junior high schools start their positions without having prior preparation in the required competencies for the position (Cuellar, 1989; Cisneros-Cohernour, Barrera, Polanco, Len, Gonzlez, & Rodrguez, 2004; Cisneros-Cohernour & Merchant, 2005). Given the limited number of studies examining the competencies of school administrators in Mexico, Cisneros-Cohernour and Merchant (2005) conducted a study examining the competencies of school principals for elementary and secondary schools, as well as for higher education administrators in southern Mexico. This study was part of that research, conducted in rural schools in Yucatan, Mexico.
Methods
This was a descriptive study conducted in two high schools in the southeast of Mexico. Two questionnaires were used to collect information from the principals and the teachers about principals leadership competencies. Participants were two principals and 79 teachers37 teachers from school A and 42 teachers from school B. The survey addressed to principals was a self-assessment questionnaire designed by Cisneros-Cohernour et al. (2004). This survey was developed after a review of the literature on principals competencies that was later validated with a Delphi of experts from the US and Mexico who worked for the last 10 years on principal preparation in Mexico. Then, the survey was validated with a sample of principals from elementary, junior high, and high schools in southern Mexico. The final version of the survey has 110 items measuring the following nine competencies: (1) management; (2) communication; (3) human relations; (4) academic development; (5) education for a globalized society; (6) legislation; (7) leadership; (8) motivation; and (9) ethical, social, and professional responsibility. The second survey addressed to the teachers was an adaptation of the Principal Evaluation Form Questionnaire developed by Kyrillidou and Blixt (1992). This survey includes 30 items focused on measuring the following competencies of the principal: management, professional development, and personal characteristics.
Results
Findings of the study indicate that the principal of school A believed that she demonstrated in her work the competencies related with motivation and leadership. She believed that the competencies she used less were ethical, social, and professional responsibility and education for a globalized society. She added that she would like to receive preparation in these two sets of competencies. Although this principal indicated that she considered all competencies to be important, she believed that motivating school personnel and leading the school were essential for an effective school leadership. On the other hand, the principal of school B stated that what he used more in his job were the
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competencies related to academic development and ethical, social and professional responsibility. He stated interest on receiving professional development about the competency related to education for a globalized society. Although this principal also stated that all competencies were important, but he believed that the essential competencies for an effective principalship were motivation and ethical, professional, and social responsibility. Results from the teachers survey show that school personnel have a different perspective of the principals competencies. The teachers gave a high assessment to the principals in the following aspects of the competency of professional development: (1) Allowing a harmonious relationship among teachers; (2) Promoting a high morale of the staff; (3) Being respected by students; (4) Promoting harmony among school stakeholders; (5) Making the staff feel trusted by the administration; (6) Attends; (7) Attending the school every day. Both principals obtained high assessment from the teachers in relation to certain personal characteristics: (1) Dressing in an appropriate way; (2) Demonstrating maturity and emotional stability. However, the principals obtained lower scores from the teachers in the following aspects of the management competency: (1) Providing clear and consistent instructions to the staff; (2) Reducing non-academic work that affect academic responsibilities (3) Having resources for schools to support school work available for teachers; (4) Organizing academic meetings only when they were necessary; (5) Establishing a working schedule according to the school and staff needs. Of the two principals, the principal of school A was better evaluated by the staff in relation to her personal characteristics. However, teachers who had low experience in the job (1-10 years of experience) or high experience (21-30 years of experience) rated this principal more positively than those with medium experience in the job (11-20 years of experience). It was also found that teachers who were less prepared (bachelor degree) provided a higher assessment of the two principals in the competency related to management than those with a higher degree (graduate degree).
Conclusions
Findings of the study were consistent with the work of Cuellar (1989), Cisneros-Cohernour and Merchant (2005), and Cisneros-Cohernour et al. (2004) regarding the lack of experience and preparation of the principals prior to their appointment. It was also found that the principals do not use all the expected competencies for their job, nor are prepared in all of them. Although both principals considered all the competencies as important, they were not interested in receiving professional development in all of them. The teachers evaluated higher the principal of school A than did the teachers of school B. These findings were consistent with school department officials who indicated that the performance of students in school A was higher than those of school B. The principal of school A also had a strong positive reputation within the
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community surrounding her school. In spite of these findings, it is desirable for both principals to receive professional development in all the competencies, primarily in those related to school management, ethical, social, and professional responsibility, and education for a globalized world. Future studies will examine deeper differences in teachers and administrators perceptions and the challenges faced by principals in their real work. This research should use multiple methods of data collection and examine deeply the complexities of the school context and the reasons for possible explanations of principal behavior.
Educational Significance
The study is important, because it adds to the literature on school leadership in Mexico, primarily on effective competencies for principals of rural schools in Latin America. This research is necessary given that most of the studies have been conducted in other countries and cultures. The inclusion of teachers and principals perceptions was important, because it allowed examining similarities and differences between these two stakeholders at the school level. The research also permitted to validate findings of prior studies on school leadership competencies from abroad (Harris, Day, & Hadfield, 2003; Checkley , 2000), as well as other studies on principal leadership conducted in Yucatan in other educational levels (Cisneros-Cohernour et al., 2004; Que, 2005). Results of the study can be used for designing and implementing professional development for school principals.
References
Blair, M. (2002). Effective school leadership: The multi-ethnic context. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 23(2), 179-191. Cisneros-Cohernour, E. (2009, April). Leadership preparation in Mexico. Paper presented at The Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Seattle, W.A.. Cisneros-Cohernour, E., & Merchant, B. (2005, March). The Mexican high school principal: The impact of the national and local culture in the principalship. Journal for School Leadership, 15(2), 215-231. Cisneros-Cohernour, E. J., Barrera, M., Polanco, M., Len, G., Gonzalez, M., & Rodrguez, G. (2004). Issues of using a competencies approach for identifying needs of professional development for school administrators in Mexico. Paper presented at The Annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, C.A., USA. Cuellar, A. (1989). School principal in Mexico: A research agenda. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ERIC document No. ED318113. Checkley, K. (2000). The contemporary principal: New skills for a new age. Educational Update, 43(3), 1-8. Deal, T. E., & Peterson, K. D. (1994). The leadership paradox: Balancing logic and artistry in schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ERIC document No. ED371455. Fernndez, R. (1998). Obstculos para una eficacia escolar (Barriers to school effectiveness). Mxico: Trillas. Fernndez, M., & Gonzlez, A. (1997). Desarrollo y situacin actual de los estudios de eficacia escolar (Development and current situation of school effectiveness studies). Revista Electrnica de Evaluacin Educativa (Journal of Educational Evaluation), 3(1), 45-68. Harris, A., Day, C., & Hadfield, M. (2003). Teachers perspectives on effective school leadership. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 9(1), 34-59. Retrieved from http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/research/digests/ThuJul291445142004/ Kyrillidou, M., & Blixt, S. (1992). Teachers perceptions of a successful principal. Catalyst, 4, 11-14. Lashway, L. (1996). Cleringhouse on educational management. Retrieved from http://eric.ouregon.edu./publications/digest /spanish/digest105.html Presidency of the Republic. (2006). Mexican national plan of development 2006-2012. Retrieved from http://pnd.presidencia.gob. mx Que, G. (2005). Determining needs and interests of professional development among school administrators from high school. (Unpublished thesis, Faculty of Education, UADY). Stolp, S. (1994). Leadership for school culture. Retrieved from http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-3/escolar.htm
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Classroom Management and Feedback Systems

Yavich Roman
Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
Starichenko Boris, Egorov Artem

Ural State Pedagogical University, Yekaterinburg, Russia
This article devoted to discuss the contemporary techniques of students educational work activation during lectures. The necessity for a lecturer to apply CRS (classroom response systems) is substantiated. Consider some of the technical aspects of CRS, possible models of using of RS in the lectures are discussedtraditional and activating the educational work of students. Three groups of didactic functions of RSmotivation, activating, and management are assigned. On the basis of this classification and didactic functions of CRS, teachers can build various options, lectures, including those that enhance the learning activities of students. Such experience is available from the authors of this article. Highlight issues requiring decisions in connection with the use of CRS in the educational process. Keywords: teacher feedback, CRS (classroom response systems), management training, modern lecture, clicker
Introduction
A tool paradigm refers to the usage of a new invention and assimilation of that invention in human lives, such as the telephone, the personal computer, and every other innovative invention that changed our lives. The term uses to articulate todays status in education, whereas ICTs (information and communication technologies) recently revolutionized in its field, as they compel teachers to adapt to the new environment: (1) Will the new ideas regarding what is needed to be studied chang? (2) How effective is the new technology in students learning experience? (3) How students see the effectiveness of the new technologies? (4) How can we estimate the effectiveness of the new technologies? (5) How should we run the course and the direct connection with students? Proper use of ICTs in education can help achieve two major educational goals: individualization of education and enhanced training of students. The importance of these tasks has long been declared, however, real opportunities to address them in the traditional educational process (without the use of ICTs) were absent. According to Starichenko (1998), this is due to teachers difficulty in organizing exchanges of information among many students, in view of the volume and speed of communications needed for active learning activities (pp. 106-110). Contemporary uses of ICTs in higher education institutions, including universities digital libraries, distance learning, websites of academic disciplines, computer control systems, and so on, offer students effective access to diverse sources of information and allow students to develop an individualized learning path. Availability and access to such emerging resources is also a condition for enhancing training,
Yavich Roman, Ph.D, Responsible for Support of Computing Systems, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Ariel University. Starichenko Boris, Doctor of Pedagogic, professor, head, Department of Information Educational Technologies, Ural State Pedagogical University. Egorov Artem, postgraduate student, Department of Information Educational Technologies, Ural State Pedagogical University.
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT AND FEEDBACK SYSTEMS
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improving cognitive independence, and a shift of emphasis to individual students work. Another condition for intensification of educational activity is feedback between students and teachers, which corresponds to general theory of systems control. In the works of Bespalko (2002), Itelson (1964), Mashbitz (1987), and Starichenko (1998), which dealt with informational aspects of educational processthe great didactic importance of feedback between students and teachers is stressed. It is on the basis of information obtained through feedback channel that a teacher can manage the course of obtaining and adoption of educational information. The theory of feedback in educational process is rooted in the works of Thorndike written in 1911. It touches upon the issues of feedback model construction in educational process, effective means and methods of its realization, timing of feedback, and feedback learning outcomes (Mory, 2003). In the control theory for a general case, the requirements for information obtained through feedback channels are defined: completeness, adequacy, and immediacy. It is very difficult (or even impossible) to provide this requirements at the lecture without using a teacher of technical means. It is connected with the limited information bandwidth teacher, and as a consequence, impossibility to properly manage the progress of the learning process, which involves simultaneously many students. Main problems can be solved if the teacher use RS (classroom response systems). Many papers on various aspects of CRS have been published (Crouch & Mazur, 2001; Fies & Marshall, 2006; Martyn, 2007; Lasry, 2008; Mayer; 2008). However, the above-mentioned works mostly are dedicated to technological and organizational aspects of the use of CRSs or describe the authors (private) experience of the application of the RSs. The questions connected with pedagogical and methodical peculiarities of CRS use are discribed in the literature much weaker. The discussion of some didactic aspects related to the use of CRS in lectures is the subject of this article
Formulation of Research Problem

According to Crouch and Mazur (2001) and Fies and Marshall (2006), proper organization of educational resources and the use of modern means of communication not only improve information delivery and management of educational process in traditional university forms of educational process, but also create a fundamentally new form of education involving remote lectures, seminars, forums, consultations, self-testing, and the use of Wiki-resources (Fies & Marshall, 2006). The use of these resources significantly change the content and organization of practical classroom courses (laboratory work, seminars, practice sessions, and tests), and especially, self-learning activities. Management of educational work of the students under any form of training is carried out on the basis of inspection results. In educational practice, methods of control are well developed and widely used. The inspection results are useful to evaluate the quality of teaching. It should be noted that the control, and accordingly, the adoption of decisions on the management of the learning process are suspended characters (performed in off-line mode): The inspection is conducted in the course of the training session, and the verification and analysis of its results in extracurricular time. Apparently, this situation can be considered acceptable during training of a practical nature. However, management of the learning process should be carried out by the teacher during the lectures too. We can identify two main features of the lecture form of training sessions complicating the organization of feedback:
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(1) A significant number of students (50-200 persons), with whom communication should be supported simultaneously; (2) The connection must be made directly during presentation materials (in the on-line mode). Feedback from the audience allows the teacher to identify and assess mastery of the material in the audience during the presentation, and if necessary, adjust the presentation. Usually, a lecturer sets the connection through questions addressed to the audience: Is it clear?, Are there any questions?, and so on, but the verbal poll of the audience, at which the participants should give answers publicly, as a rule, does not reflect the true understanding and mastery of the material, due to the psychological characteristics of an individuals conduct in the large group. In this regard, it seems to be important to explore the use of technical means in lectures conducting, which could provide operational feedback to the teacher with a large audience in real time. Problem involves many aspects of technology (What technical means are needed?), substantial (What are the peculiarities of representation and presentation of the material?), organizational (How to organize the work of the listeners?), and analytical (What should be the content of information in the feedback circuit and what conclusions can the teacher make in the course of lectures on the basis of this information?)Obviously, this list can be continued. Any of the above aspects of the problem can be adopted as the primary and by them will be determined by decision of the remaining aspects. In our research, as a primary was adopted the technology of CRS, based on ICTs. Such systems are quite actively used in educational institutions in the USA, however, experience in universities of Russia and Israel are much more modest. This work, performed in the Ural State Pedagogical University (Yekaterinburg, Russia) and Ariel University of Samaria (Ariel, Israel), is a development of joint research on various aspects of application of information technologies in educational process at universities (Yavich, Starichenko, Makhrova, & Davidovich, 2007; Starichenko, Egorov, Davidovich, & Yavich, 2010; Egorov, Davidovitch, & Yavich, 2012; Starichenko, Egorov, & Yavich, 2013). In particular, it considers the didactic possibilities of CRS and discusses the conditions for their efficient use.
Technical Aspects of CRS

Electronic surveys, introduced in the mid-20th century, were the forerunners of classroom-based feedback systems. Electronic surveys were bulky, wired systems, and used mainly for ongoing or final test control. In the 1970s-1980s, many universities had such systems in place, although, their use was not associated with the task of enhancing students learning. With the introduction of PCs (personal computers) into higher education, electronic survey systems were replaced by computerized control systems, which provide teachers with greater pedagogical options relating to developing tasks, and automating surveys and evaluations. Computer control systems continue to perform successfully, but they are not suitable for use in lectures with large audiences. The first wireless device suitable for large classrooms, remotely connected to a PC, appeared in the US in the 1990s. These devices were called response systems (or distant response systems) and were designed to process and present survey results to teachers or participants almost instantaneously. These systems were originally used primarily in various polls and were first implemented in education field in the late 1990s. Since then, devices that poll and present survey results in real time have not changed fundamentally: Systems comprise personal wireless devices, a signal receiver, and hardware and software installed on a PC. In recent years, the entire system is installed in a notebook, which also offers portability.
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Wireless remote control is a device with one or more keys, which participants use to respond to the survey and send a signal to a receiver connected to a computer. In English literature, such devices were unofficially coined clickers. Recently, clickers were supplemented with an independent memory that not only sends the responses to the signal receiver in the form of alphanumeric expressions, but also stores them in memory for later use. Reception and transmission use infrared or radio frequency communication. Systems based on infrared communication require a line of sight between the transmitter and the receiver, and these systems also have problems registering a large number of simultaneous signals from the transmitters. Therefore, in our view, they are ill-suited for large lecture halls. In terms of quality, systems based on radio communications should offer two-way transfers. The receiver is typically connected to a computer using a USB (universal serial bus) port. The software package usually contains tools for designing surveys and classroom management tools. Software integrates with Microsoft PowerPoint, which allows teachers to design, aggregate, and display survey results in the form of interactive presentations in real time. The described array includes a laptop, a receiver, and 30-50 remote devices, and it is very compact and can be easily deployed in all types of audiences, and does not require significant technological teacher training.
Didactic Models and Functions of CRS

Based on previous studies and our own experience, we distinguish two models of application of CRS when conducting lectures. In the first model (traditional), the survey system is considered as a superstructure over the traditional lecture. The teacher is the central active figure in the classroom, while the students play the role of passive listeners, and the teacher occasionally involve the students in some activities. Surveys during the lecture take the form of questions pertaining to the factual parts of the material presented or formal evaluations of the students level of assimilation (such as Is everything clear? and Should I repeat the material?). The second model (activating), known as peer instruction, represents a much-needed paradigm shift to active learning in the classroom. In this case, the students are the central active figures, while the teacher develops the materials, manages the students discussions, and guides the students in the necessary direction. Discussions are took place in pairs (student-student) or groups, and are typically limited in time. Questions are presented twice: after the first presentation, each student answers individually; the question is presented once again after the debate. A good question can be considered as the question which causes even distribution of answers in the first round of voting, but it has a concrete answer, which students must find in the process of discussion. Apparently, it is possible to combine the models of the application of CRSChoice should be determined by the didactic expediency and objectives of the lecture, which are set by the teacher. In all cases, CRS performs the same technological functionIt provides rapid feedback between students and teachers. The listed models using CRS can be associated with its pedagogical functions. The following classification is based on the authors experience with CRS at the Ural State Pedagogical Universite in Russia and Ariel University of Samaria in Israel, and on existing literature. We distinguish between three groups of functions of CRS: motivation, activation, and management. The first two groups relate to students activities in the classroom, while management pertains to teachers activities. (1) Motivational functions include:
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(a) Audit attendance; (b) Provide an interactive and engaging classroom experience; (c) Anonymous survey; (d) Check students understanding and assimilation of new materials. (2) Activating functions include: (a) Ensure participation; (b) Enhance learning; (c) Develop analytical thinking; (d) Develop skills of scientific discussion. (3) Management functions include: (a) Provide rapid feedbacks from audience, regardless of its size; (b) Simultaneous collection of survey results from all students; (c) Instantaneous processing and output survey results in a convenient form for subsequent analysis; (d) Opportunity to view and analyze individuals responses and detect clusters of patterns; (e) Accumulate, store, and subsequently processing individual and group results of the survey. In the development of the latter, it should be noted that due to the CRS, it is possible accumulation, storage, and subsequent processing to facilitate the development of extensive databases on the ongoing work of each student in each class. The use of automated statistical methods allows teachers to review and examine the progress and predict the results of the learning process for students in groups and individual students. Thus, CRS give teachers a wide range of opportunities associated with the organization of lectures and management process transfer-receipt and uptake of educational information.
Conclusions
On the basis of the above-mentioned classification of didactic functions of CRS, teachers can build various options, lectures can enhance the learning activities of students. Such experience is available from the authors of this article. However, the drafting of such lectures creates the need to address a diverse range of issues: (1) Based on the results of voting (the distribution of responses identified by CRS), how teachers diagnose the pedagogical situation in the audience and choose the optimal management action? (2) How to include a variety of continuation of the lecture, depending on the distribution of votes in the answers to check question? (3) What type of and how many questions for the audience should be considered as pedagogically justified? (4) How to estimate the lecture activities of the students and how it may affect the final evaluation of study of academic subject? (5) How to make a statistical analysis of the current results and build a forecast at the end of the training? Our research is focused on the solution of the listed problems. Through solution, these issues can be expected the fundamental change of the methodology of lectures, as they are adapted to the requirements of modern education. This determines the relevance of our study.
References
Bespalko, V. P. (2002). Education and training with the participation of computers (pedagogy of the third Millennium) (p. 352). Moskow: MPSI.
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Crouch, C. H., & Mazur, E. (2001). Peer instruction: Ten years of experience and results. American Journal of Physics, 69(9), 970-977. Egorov, A. N., Davidovitch, N., & Yavich, R. P. (2012). Features of the use of classroom feedback system at the lectures in Russia and Israel. Pedagogical Education in Russia, 2, 160-165. Fies, C., & Marshall, J. (2006). Classroom response systems: A review of the literature. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 15(1), 101-109. Itelson, L. B. (1964). Mathematical and cybernetic methods in pedagogy (p. 248). Moskow: Education. Lasry, N. (2008). Clickers or flashcards: Is there really a difference? The Physics Teacher, 46, 242-244. Martyn, M. (2007). Clickers in the classroom: An active learning approach. Educause Quarterly, 2, 71-74. Mashbitz, E. I. (1987). Psychological bases of learning activity management (p. 179). Kiev: Higher School. Mayer, R. E. (2008). Clickers in college classrooms: Fostering learning with questioning methods. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 34(1), 1-7. Mory, E. H. (2003). Feedback research revisited. In D. H. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of research for educational communications and technology (2nd ed., pp. 745-783). Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum. Starichenko, B. E. (1998). Computer technology in matters of optimization of educational systems (p. 208). Yekaterinburg: UrGPU. Starichenko, B. E., Egorov A. N., Davidovich, N., & Yavich, R. P. (2010). Auditorium interrogation systems in a teachers lecture work/Innovation techniques in educational process of higher school (Part 1, pp. 77-82). Materials of The VII International Scientific Conference/USPU, Yekaterinburg. Starichenko, B. E., Egorov, A. N., & Yavich, R. P. (2013). Feautures of application of classroom response system at the lectures in Russia and Israel. International Journal of Higher Education, 2(3), 23. Yavich, R. P., & Gerkerova, A. (2013). Teaching methods and assessment. American Journal of Educational Research, 1(7), 260-262. Yavich, R. P., Starichenko, B. E., Makhrova, L. V., & Davidovich, N. (2007). Management training activities of students on the basis of networked information technology. Education and Science, 6, 3-15.
DA VID
PUBLISHING
Reforming Educational Measurement for National Security: The Role of Item Response Theory in Test Fairness
John Nwanibeze Odili
Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria
Systematic error variables are those in which sub-population of test-takers do not have an equal standing in achievement testing, such as English language. When it is not managed in achievement testing, it creates test unfairness, which could be a source of imbalance in education, and hence, a threat to national security. This paper demonstrated how IRT (Item Response Theory) of measurement can manage systematic error variables, such as English language in test items, in order to enhance test fairness in a heterogeneous society, like Nigeria. The paper recommended that in achievement testing, test items should be couched in positive phrase, items should be phrased in few non-technical words as much as possible, as well as the use of contrasting terms of quantity in stems of multiple-choice test items in order to ensure test fairness. Keywords: systematic error variables, test fairness, IRT (Item Response Theory) of measurement, national security
Introduction
Security is freedom from fear, danger, or risk. Because it is essential for national development, nations of the world invest billions of dollars on security budgets every year. Such budgets are used for procurement of arms and ammunitions, employment, and maintenance of security personnel. In spite of such huge financial investment on security, people all over the world still move with fear as a result of security risk posed by terrorism, arm conflict, and armed robbery and rape. Education can foster national security by adopting procedures in measurement of learning outcomes that can yield test fairness, and thus, minimize the problem of educational imbalance which fosters insecurity. Test unfairness is a psychometric condition, in which a test item presents differential difficulty to testees of the same subject matter ability, simply because they are from different sub-population of test-takers. This happens when a test item measures the ability that is alien to the subject matter, for example, English language and other cultural elements, in which standing in these are not evenly distributed within test-taking population. Test unfairness could be a source of test invalidity, and increases imprecision in understanding students academic achievement. At a national level, such as Nigeria with heterogeneous population, test unfairness could foster educational imbalance and gender inequality. These could be a source of threat to national security. Instances of educational imbalance and gender inequality are evident and they have continued to be sources of challenge to the national security in Nigeria. For instance, Jubril (n.d.), as far back as in 1975, described educational imbalance in Nigeria as a time bomb. In his opinion, educational imbalance will lead to outright political domination and oppression by those who can control events through their vantage
John Nwanibeze Odili, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Guidance and Counselling, Delta State University.
REFORMING EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
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position, which is time-honored. The deprived (hewers of wood and drawers of water) will resort to survival tactics which will attract appropriate anticipatory counter tactics. Under this condition, national exercises, like census and elections cannot be conducted without drawing hostility, bitter disputes and clashes which may be physical. The problems of Boko Haram in northern part of Nigeria and unrest in the Niger Delta of Nigeria are instances of national insecurity, which are partly as a result of educational imbalance observed by Jubril more than 30 years ago. In many countries of the world, there have been agitations for gender equality in politics, government, and science and technology. These led to the inclusion of gender equality as one of the Millennium Development Goals in the 21st Century by United Nations Organisation. The desire to achieve gender equality in Nigeria is still being vigorously pursued as evident in national policy that recommends recognition of women in political offices and increasing women access to science education. The Nigerian national policy on education recognises education as an instrument for the achievement of a just and egalitarian society; a united, strong, and self-reliant nation amongst others (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004, p. 6). Apart from establishment of schools, there is a need for education process to address the problem of inequality, which can engender insecurity by using test whose items are fair to testees from different backgrounds, such as gender, ethnic groups, and geographical regions. Test fairness is a condition, in which a test item measures the same latent trait for individuals not withstanding their standing in variables which are extraneous to measurement precision in a subject. The achievement of this in measurement is a requirement in addressing educational imbalance and gender inequality, which are threats to the national security in a heterogeneous society, like Nigeria. Systematic error variables are those in which sub-population of test-takers do not have an equal standing. Examples include English language, test wiseness, comprehension skills, and communication skills (Nenty, 1996). Literature reveals that English language ability is not evenly distributed among students from urban and rural locations, high and low socio-economic status, and both genders. Thus, inability to manage the English language of test items for reduced complexity will result in test unfairness for testees from sub-populations described by locations, socio-economic status, and genders. This will create problems of understanding and interpretation of performance in achievement testing, as well as the problem of selection, placement, classification, and certification. The problem of this paper is: How can systematic error variable of test item be minimized by writing test items in simplified English language in order to develop test items which are fair to testees from different sub-population of test-takers in a heterogeneous society, like Nigeria, in order to achieve national security? The purpose is to illustrate how IRT (Item Response Theory) of measurement can be used to reform measurement process by proper management of a systematic error variable in test construction, so as to minimize educational imbalance and gender inequality, which are sources of threat to national security.
Literature
Achievement testing is the process of test administration in order to ascertain how much behavioural objectives in the curriculum have been achieved. According to Egglestone (1992), achievement testing demands that test items should call for knowledge learnt in the subject matter in the school and nothing less. Okorodudu (2012) noted that when achievement test items call for knowledge that is not taught in the subject matter in the school, such procedure can be referred as examination malpractice and could lead to invalidity of
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test scores. According to Mordi (2013), valid test scores can only be obtained from tests, which have been planned and prepared with care. Two theories govern preparation of test items. They are CTT (Classical Test Theory) and IRT. CTT According to Nenty (1998), Charles Spearman is generally credited with the fundamental ideas of the CTT. The theory postulates that an observed score (X) for an individual is made up of two components, the true score (T) representing the quantity of the variable or attribute under measurement, and the error score (E) representing a numerical value that is due to the influence of error during the measurement process. Represented in a mathematical equation: Equation (1) X = T + E The observed score (X) is obtained by adding all the examinees scores on all the items of a test. The error score (E) is random, due to factors not controlled in the measurement procedure, which include such factors as state of health of the testees, announcement by invigilators, and noise from fellow testees. In the mist of many questions, and within the duration of a test, these errors were cancelled out. In the opinion of Mordi (2013):
CTT starts from the assumption that systematic effects (difference) between responses of examinees, due only to variation in ability of interest. All other potential sources of variation existing in the testing materials, such as external conditions or internal conditions of examinees are assumed, either to be constant through rigorous standardization or to have an effect that is non-systematic or random by nature. (p. 26)
Assumptions of CTT The assumption underlying CTT is that strictly parallel tests can be constructed. In other words, based on the same table of specifications, two or more tests can be developed such that each test will have the same mean, standard deviation, reliability, and variance in each test, which is not explainable by true score due to random error (Nenty, 1998). In a nut shell, the theory assumes that given a pair of parallel tests and the relationship in Equation 1, the following is deducible:
(1) The expected error score is zero; (2) The correlation between error scores on two parallel tests is zero; (3) The correlation between error score on one measurement and true score on a parallel measurement is zero; (4) The correlation between error and true score on the same measurement is zero and since error scores are uncorrelated it follows that the variance of the observed score is equal to the sum of the true score and error score variances. (Nenty, 1998, p. 94)
True and Error Score Components and Reliability of a Test According to Equation 1, random error (E) under testing condition with many items is expected to be zero. In the real sense, this is not true because that would mean that X will always be equal to T. According to Nenty (1998), the proportion of true score variance to the observed score variance gives an index of the consistency with which the test measures what it is measuring or test reliability. Under this premise, it would mean that reliability of tests would be equal to one when error score is zero, but we know that it is not true. When two or more persons take a test, difference in the true score (between persons variation) is due to the difference in the ability under measurement. On the other hand, difference in the error score component (within person variation) is due to the difference in the operation of error in the test within individuals. When the contribution of the true score component is high in a test, the performance or observed score of the individual
REFORMING EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT FOR NATIONAL SECURITY will be consistent or stable over time. The test is described as having high reliability. Item Selection Under CTT
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In selecting items for a test under the CTT, consideration is made on having tests items that will contribute to high reliability and validity. According to Nenty (1998), in order to ensure that the test is reliable, the following factors must guide item selection: (1) Items selected should be those answered by about half of the examines. In other words, they should be items with difficulty index of 0.50; (2) In order to ensure high reliability, items selected should correlate as high as possible with each other. One should avoid items with low inter-item correlation; (3) In order to ensure high validity, items that correlates as high as possible with the criterion but as low as possible with each other should be selected. This will ensure that a wide spectrum of the criterion is covered. This represents a conflict which Lord (1980) termed paradoxical classical rules for building a test. Criticism of the CTT The CTT has been criticized on the ground that it lacks objectivity. Nenty (1998) regarded this as a serious problem because if psychological measurement is scientific in its enterprise score from test must be objective, that is freedom from bias. Under the CTT, item parameter, such as difficulty index, discrimination index is not a quality of the item but of the sample used in calibrating the item. Thus, it is common to see item parameters change when the calibration sample changes. The CTT makes a persons ability in a test or subject to be a function of the particular group of persons in which he/she took the test. Thus, when an average student takes a test with very high-performing students, he/she is at the average position. On the other hand, when he/she takes the test with very low-performing students, he/she is at the top of the group. According to Nenty (1998, p. 95), these make the results of psychological measurement based on the CTT scientifically meaningless, dangerously slippery, undependable, and risky as basis for decision-making, especially when it involves comparative consideration of scores from different tests. Test items generated under the CTT are not likely to address the problems of educational imbalance and inequality which can be a threat to national security. The third criticism of the CTT resides in masking of all errors in a test score as random error which can be minimized through rigorous standardization process (Mordi, 2013; Vander-linden & Hambleton, 1980). It is too wild to assume that the differences between responses of examinees are due only to variation in ability of interest. Research has revealed that the difference in testees in the area of English language ability cannot be said to be constant neither can it be eliminated through rigorous standardization to have an effect that is non-systematic (Odili, 2010). Other areas of difference, such as culture, test wiseness when not properly managed in the construction process cannot be eliminated by rigorous standardization. There is a need for a measurement theory that properly isolate and manage systematic errors in the process of test construction. This is examined under the IRT of measurement. IRT of Measurement IRT of measurement is considered as the most significant development in psychometrics (Warm, 1978). Other names for IRT are ICC (Item Characteristic Curve) and Latent Trait Theory. According to Warm, the exponents of IRT are Ferguson (1942), Lord (1980), and Rasch (1960). IRT postulates that latent trait or mental trait is responsible for an individuals performance in a given test. An individual possesses a given amount of latent trait in a given subject. For instance, there is latent trait for mathematics, English language, biology, and
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geography. In IRT, latent trait is given the name of the Greek letter . Its value ranges from -3 to +3. It has no natural zero point or unit. The zero point is taken as the mean and standard deviation respectively. According to IRT, when an examinee walks into a testing room, he brings with him his theta (Warm, 1978, p. 14). The purpose of testing is to measure the amount of theta inherent in the testees. In IRT parlance, testing is a process of using relevant task to challenge and quantify the amount of latent trait in an individual. Therefore, each item has a specific amount of latent trait demand. During testing, there is an encounter between the latent trait demand of the item and the amount of latent trait possessed by an individual. If the amount of latent trait possessed by the individual is lower than that demanded by the item, the individual will not be able to overcome the item (fail the item). In testing, an individuals observed score Xi is made up of three orthogonal components, viz: Xi = i + i +i Equation (2) In this equation: Xi = Observed score for the individual; i = True ability component for the individual; i = (Lambda) is the systematic error variable component; i = (Epsilon) is the random error component of the score. The recognition of lambda is a major deviation from the CTT. Lambda is the component of the score, which is sustained by systematic error of measurement. It cannot be eliminated by sampling but can be minimized through proper management during test preparation stage. Sources of systematic error variable are those factors that rest on the testees. According to Nenty (1996), they include language of test item, test wiseness, culture, and communication skills which may differ among testees. When they are not checked in test construction process, an individuals performance in the test will be a function of standing on the extraneous ability and not the latent trait position in the subject matter. Such test item will differentially function for examinee of the same position but from different position in the extraneous variable. There are four basic assumptions of IRT, viz: (1) know-correct assumption; (2) local independence assumption; (3) unidemensionality assumption; and (4) the normal ogive assumption. The unidimensionality assumption illustrates how measurement can be reformed by management of sources of systematic error variables in achievement testing for enhancing test validity and fairness. It is considered as the most far-reaching assumption of IRT. It states that test items should be constructed so as to measure a single trait. For instance, a biology test item should be constructed to measure only biology trait, without including English language. When this assumption is violated performance in the test item, can no longer be sustained by ability in the subject matter but other abilities that are alien to the subject matter under measurement. In the earlier discussion, it was pointed out that in IRT, a test score for an individual can be decomposed into three orthogonal componentstrue score component, systematic error variable component, and random error component. Attempts to write items that are unidimensional demands recognition of sources of contribution to systematic error component, viz: language of test items, test wiseness, culture, and communication skills. This paper will illustrate how language of test items can be managed to minimize systematic error in testing, and thus, ensure test fairness for national security. Complexity in English language of test items in subjects other than English language (biology, chemistry, and physics) could be a source of systematic error variable in testing. English language competence is not evenly distributed among population of test-takers. For instance, such competence is higher for testees from
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high and medium socio-economic status (Beirnstein, 1961) and students in urban school location (Obanya, 1982). Cassel and Johnstone (1984) and Johnstone and Selepeng (2001) have demonstrated that test items in chemistry which are phrased in complex English language posed additional problem of language dimension to the testees. Odili (2010) also demonstrated that biology test items in complex English language differentially functioned, that is measured different things for the testees of the same biology ability from different socio-economic status and school locations. Cassel and Johnstone (1984) provided models that can be used to manage test items so as to reduce the influence of English language in testees performance. This paper illustrates such modification that affects the stem of a multiple-choice test item.
Models for Managing the English Language of Test Items

Elimination of Negative Phrase in the Stems of Multiple-Choice Test Items In achievement testing, negative phrases take the form of do not, except, etc.. The use of such phrases creates additional problems to testees, which is of language dimension. Martin-Loeches, Fernandez, Schacht, Sommer, Casado, Jimenez-Ortega, and Fondevila (2012) in their research on the influence of emotional words on sentence processing found that there are reduced error rates and reaction times to emotionally positive words in semantic decision tasks compared with negative phrases or words. Downing (2005) also advocated the elimination of negatives in the stems of multiple-choice test items. The following research report (see Table 1) by Cassel and Johnstone (1984) showed the effect of the elimination of negatives on difficulty index of test items. Table 1 Effect of Changing From Negative to Positive Phrase
Original question Correct response (%) Which one of the following particles does not have the same number of 24 electrons as a calcium ion? Note. Source: Cassel and Johnstone (1984, p. 614). Simplified question Correct response (%) Which one of the following particles has the same number 80 of electrons as a calcium ion?
Odili (2010) demonstrated that the elimination of negative phrases in biology multiple-choice questions used by WAEC/SSCE (West African Examinations Council in Senior School Certificate Examination) reduced differential item functioning for testees described by genders, socio-economic status, and school locations (urban/rural). Thus, it is arguable that the elimination of negative phrases in the stems of multiple-choice questions can greatly enhance test fairness and minimize the problem of educational imbalance in a language heterogeneous society, like Nigeria. Reducing the Number of Non-technical Words in the Stems of Multiple-Choice Questions The stems of multiple-choice questions can properly be managed to reduce the number of redundant non-technical words in order to enhance test fairness. Modern item writing guidelines (Haladyna, Downing, & Rodriguez, 2002) advocate reduction of number of redundant non-technical words in the stems of multiple-choice test items. According to Cassels and Johnstone (1984), it was easier to intellectually organize a stimulus with few words in order to answer a question than when the stimulus has many unnecessary words and redundant clauses. Cassel and Johnstone (1984) demonstrated the effect of reducing the number of non-technical words in the stems of multiple-choice questions (see Table 2).
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Table 2 Effect of Reducing the Number of Non-technical Words in the Stems of Multiple-Choice Test Items
Original question Correct response (%) When a metal Z was added to the sulfate of a metal X, the metal X was precipitated and there was no effervescence. When the test was repeated using the metal T in place of Z no reaction occurred. When a metal Y 47 was added to a solution of the sulfate of X, a brik effervescence occurred. Which one of the following is the correct order of decreasing activity (i.e., the most reactive first) of the four metals.? Note. Source: Cassel and Johnstone (1984, p. 614). Simplified question Correct response (%)
Three metals Z, T, and Y were added to separate solutions containing metal X, ions Z, precipitate X; T had no effect; and with Y, a gas was given off from the 67 solution. Which one shows the metals in the correct order of activity (the most reactive first)?
Test fairness can be greatly enhanced when these principles are applied in item writing. The outcome is likely a balance in achievement among students from diverse English language ability backgrounds, thus, fostering national security. Avoidance of Contrasting Terms of Quantity in the Stems of Multiple-Choice Test Items Contrasting terms of quantity are such phrases as least abundant, most dilute, and least concentration. When used in the stems of multiple-choice test items, they increase difficulty which is not intended by the subject matter. Similar terms of quantity like most abundant, most concentration will eliminate such problem and make the item to measure ability in the subject matter alone. Cassel and Johnstone (1984) illustrated the effect of changing terms of quantity on facility of test items (see Table 3). Table 3 Effect of Changing Terms of Quantity
Original question Correct response (%) Which one of the following solutions of a salt in water is of the least 59 concentration? Note. Source: Cassel and Johnstone (1984, p. 613). Simplified question Correct response (%) Which one of the following solutions of a salt in water is of the 85 most concentration?
The elimination of contrasting terms of quantity in the stems of multiple-choice test items was also found to be capable of reducing differential item functioning (Odili, 2010) for testees from low socio-economic status and those from rural school locations. From the above empirical evidence (Cassel & Johnstone, 1984; Odili, 2010), it could be posited that management of the English language of test items in test used in public examination can reduce the effect of language as systematic error variables in test performance. In other words, presenting test items in simplified English language will increase the validity of a test as a measure of ability in a given subject. This no doubt will improve precision in interpretation of test scores as well as ensure the use of education to improve national security in a multicultural society, like Nigeria.
Conclusions
The need for the national security in Nigeria is vital for national development. Education can promote national security when it gives equal opportunity to learners to develop their potential for the purpose of
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certification and placement. This can be greatly enhanced if educational measurement is reformed by application of the ideas in IRT of measurement.
Recommendations
From the foregoing, the following recommendations have been made: (1) It is recommended that teachers and item writers should be conversant with IRT of measurement in order to understand the techniques of ensuring test fairness in local and national testing sessions; (2) Since English language ability is not evenly distributed among the population of test-takers, item writers should be mindful of use of complex English language in testing in order to ensure test fairness for national security; (3) It is recommended that item writers should minimize the use of negative phrases in the stem of a multiple-choice test item; (4) Item writers are also encouraged to reduce the number of non-technical words on the stem of a multiple-choice question and test items in general; (5) It is also recommended that to reform measurement processes for test fairness, item writers should avoid the use of contrasting terms in questions.
References
Bernstein, B. (1961). Social class and linguistic development. In J. Floud, A. A. Halsey, & C. A. Anderson (Eds.), Education and society. Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press. Cassel, J. R. T., & Johnstone, A. H. (1984). The effect of language on student performance in multiple choice in chemistry. Journal of Chemistry Education, 61(7), 613-615. Downing, S. M. (2005). The effects of violating standard item writing principles on tests and students: The consequence of using flawed test items on achievement examinations in medical education. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 10, 133-143. Retrieved May 13, 2013, from http://www.Valenciacollege.edu/faculty/development/courseResources/documents/steveDow ning Handout2.pdf Egglestone, J. (1992). The challenge for teachers. London: Cassel. Federal Republic of Nigeria. (2004). National policy on education (4th ed.). Lagos: Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council. Haladyna, T. M., Downing, S. M., & Rodriguez, M. C. (2002). A review of multiple choice item writing guidelines for classroom assessment. Applied Measurement in Education, 15(3), 309-334. Retrieved May 4, 2013, from http://www.comp.dit.ie/dgor don/courses/ILT/ILT0005/A review of multiplechoice itemwriting.pdf.11/5/13 Johnstone, A. H., & Selepeng, D. (2001). A language problem revisited. Chemistry Education: Research and Practice in Europe, 3(1), 19-29. Jubril, A. (n.d). Educational imbalance: Its extent, history, dandgers and correction in Nigeria. Retrieved May 13, 2013, from http://www.yoruba.org/magazine/summer97/F5.html Lord, F. M. (1980). Applications of items response theory to practical testing problems. Vocational Measurement, 6, 39-48. Martin-Loeches, M., Fernandez, A., Schacht, A., Sommer, W., Casado, P., Jimenez-Ortega, L., & Fondervila, S. (2012). The influence of emotional words on sentence processing: Electrophysiological and behaioural evidence. Neuro Psychologia, 50, 3262-3272. Mordi, C. E. (2013). Understanding students academic achievement (30th in the series of inaugural lectures of the Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria). Nenty, H. J. (1998). Introduction to item response theory. Global Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences, 4(1), 93-100. Nenty, J. H. (1996). Advances in test validation. In A. B. Gani, & I. O. Peter (Eds.), Challenges of managing educational assessment in Nigeria. Abuja, Nigeria: JAMB, NABTEB, NBEM.
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Obanya, P. A. I. (1982). Secondary English teaching. Lagos: Macmillan. Odili, J. N. (2010). Effect of language manipulation on differential item functioning of test items in biology in a multicultural setting. Journal of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa, 4, 269-286. Okorodudu, R. I. (2012). Understanding educational and psychological measurement and evaluation. Abraka: Delta State University Printing Press. Vander-Linden, A., & Hambleton, R. (1980). Introduction to scaling. New York, N.Y.: Wiley. Warm, T. A. (1978). A primer of item response theory. Springfield, V.A.: National Technical Information Services, US Department of Commerce.
DA VID
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Exploration on Keyess Model of Mental Health for French Physically Active Adults
Mare Salama-Younes
Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt
In France, there are relatively few studies concerning the SWB (subjective well-being) in sport field, partly because of the lack of valid and reliable scales to measure this construct. The purpose of this study was to test the validity of Keyess model of mental health. The sample consists of 663 French physically old adults. For positive mental health continuum, we used the MHC-SF (Mental Health Continuum-Short Form), the SVS (Subjective Vitality Scale), and the SWLS (Satisfaction With Life Scale). For evaluating the negative mental health continuum, we used the GHQ-12 (General Health Questionnaire-12). The results show a good structure validity for the French versions of MHC-SF, SVS, SWLS, and GHQ-12. They also demonstrated the bi-dimensionality of the complete mental health and confirmed positive and significant correlations among the positive well-being scales (MHC-SF, SVS, and SWLS) and negative correlation between these positive constructs and the GHQ-12. Keywords: mental health model, French adults, well-being scales
Introduction
Within the general population, considerable research has shown that regular participation in physical activities is associated with improvements in a wide range of SWB (subjective well-being) outcomes (Ku, McKenna, & Fox, 2007; Netz, Wu, Becker, & Tenenbaum, 2005; Stathi, Fox, & McKenna, 2002). In sport domain, there are relatively few studies of physical activities and SWB (subjective well-being) components (physical, social, psychological, emotional, spiritual, etc.). There are several reasons for limited existing literature on the topic. One essential contributor is that we have not valid and reliable scales to measure the different components of the SWB in many different languages. More precisely, it is probably possible to have translated scales in French language, but there is no valid and reliable questionnaire measuring the different aspects of well-being for physically active people (Salama-Younes, Montazeri, Ismal, & Roncin, 2009). Secondly, the relationship between physical activity and SWB is complex. One contributor is that there are many types, forms, and modes of physical activity. For example, as mentioned by Berger, Pargman, and Weinberg (2002), exercise, a type of physical activity, may refer to acute and chronic exercise, aerobic and anaerobic activities, competitive and non-competitive recreational physical activities, and group and solitary activities. Even within a single exercise mode, many factors vary. These include practice or training characteristics, the exercise environment, psychological characteristics and backgrounds of the participants, fitness and skill levels of participants, and the instructors characteristics and approaches to exercise. Another contributor to the
Mare Salama-Younes, associate professor, Department of Psychology, Sociology and Evaluation in Sport Field, Helwan University.
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EXPLORATION ON KEYESS MODEL OF MENTAL HEALTH
complexity of the relationship between exercise and SWB is that the type and extent of the psychological benefits (and decrements) of exercise may differ for specific groups of participants. Participants may vary in age from pre-schoolers to the elderly and include normal and psychiatric populations. Despite such complex issues, there is a strong consensus that many types of exercise are associated with enhanced SWB, vigour or vitality, and a sense of feeling better (Netz et al., 2005; Osei-Tutu & Campagna, 2005; Berger et al., 2002). In France, there are few studies of SWB in sport and exercise psychology, partly because of the lack of valid and reliable scales to measure this construct. So, a validation of a French version of SWB scales would be important for studying in order to evaluate this construct for French speakers. The concept of SWB has traditionally been viewed from two different perspectives (Keyes, 2002; 2006). The long-standing clinical tradition operationalizes well-being through measures of depression, distress, anxiety, or substance abuse, whereas the psychological tradition operationalizes well-being in terms of ones subjective evaluation of life satisfaction. The latter tradition is reflected in the considerable breadth of literature in psychology, yet, as Ryff and Keyes (1995) noted that the absence of theory-based formulations of well-being is puzzling (p. 719). These authors further noted the need for developing theoretical models for testing the fit of such models with empirical data and for conducting theory-guided structural analyses. The development of comprehensive theoretical models requires a working elaboration of the concept of well-being. SWB reflects the multidimensional evaluation of a persons life and includes cognitive judgments of life satisfaction and affective evaluations of moods and emotions. It is a major contributor to quality of life and can be conceptualized as a momentary state or as a relatively stable trait, depending on the time frame of the assessment period (Diener, 1994). SWB must include at least three components: (1) It should be subjective, reflecting a concern for how the individual views himself/herself; (2) It should include positive indices of an individuals sentiments toward life as opposed to negative ones; and (3) It should be global to encompass all areas of an individuals life (Hattie, Myers, & Sweeney, 2004). In sum, SWB should be composed of three major constructs: (1) the presence of positive effects; (2) the absence of negative effects; and (3) high levels of life satisfaction (Diener, 1994 ; Diener & Suh, 2000). Happiness is considered synonymous with SWB. Many studies of hedonic well-being have shown that it consists of two main dimensions, the first being how satisfied you are with your life overall, and the second being the emotions that one experiences in a typical month (e.g., how frequently one experiences happiness, joy, or contentment). The domain of functioning well in life consists of psychological and social well-being. Psychological well-being consists of dimensions, such as self-acceptance, purpose in life, personal growth, positive relations with others, autonomy, and environmental mastery. Social well-being consists of acceptance of others, a sense of social contribution, feeling socially integrated, an interest in society and what is going on, and a sense of social growth (Keyes, 1998). Thus, when the six dimensions of psychological well-being are combined with the five dimensions of social well-being, there are at least 11 different signs of positive functioning in life. With the two dimensions of hedonic well-being, which represent whether and how much one feels good about life, the set of 13 dimensions of SWB provides a comprehensive assessment of the overall quality of life. Mental Illness and Mental Well-Being Form Two Continua in the Population Mental health can be seen as a continuum, where an individuals mental health may have many different
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possible values (Keyes, 2002). The theory that the measures of mental health and mental illness belong to latent continua was tested using data from a representative sample of American adults between 25 and 74 years old. Three scales served as indicators of mental health: (1) the summed scale of emotional well-being (i.e., single item of satisfaction + single item of happiness + scale of positive effect); (2) the summed scale of psychological well-being (i.e., six scales summed together); and (3) the summed scale of social well-being (i.e., the fives scales summed together). Four summary measures served as indicators of mental illness, based on the number of symptoms of four mental disorders: generalized anxiety, panic disorder, major depressive episode, and alcohol dependence (Keyes, 2007; Keyes, Wissing, Potgieter, Temane, Kruger, & Van Rooy, 2008). Another study is based on three mental disorders symptoms: anxiety and depression, social dysfunction, and loss of confidence (Salama-Younes, Montazeri, Ismal, & Roncin, 2009). Two competing theories were tested. The single factor model hypothesizes that the measures of mental health and mental illness reflect a single latent factor, support for which would indicate that the absence of mental illness implies the presence of mental health. The two-factor model hypothesizes that the measures of mental illness represent the latent factor of mental health that is distinct from, but correlated with the latent factor of mental illness that is represented by the measures of mental illness. The data strongly supported the two-factor model, which was a nearly perfect fitting model to the MIDUS (Midlife Development in the United States) data (Keyes, 2005). As predicted, there is a modest association between mental health and mental illness; level of mental health tends to increase as level of mental illness decreases. However, the modest correlation suggests that the latent constructs of mental health and mental illness are distinctive. This distinctiveness raises the empirical question of the risk of an episode of mental illness as levels of mental health decrease. Languishing adults report the highest prevalence of any of the four mental disorders as well as the highest prevalence of reporting two or more mental disorders during the past year. In contrast, flourishing individuals report the lowest prevalence of any of the four 12-month mental disorders or their comorbidity. Compared with languishing or flourishing, moderately mentally healthy adults were at intermediate risk of any of the mental disorders or two or more mental disorders during the past year. Thus, the 12-month risk of major depressive illness, for example, is over five times greater for languishing than flourishing adults. Support for the two-factor model provides the strongest scientific evidence to date in support of the complete health approach to mental health. The evidence indicates that the absence of mental illness does not imply the presence of mental health, and the absence of mental health does not imply the presence of mental illness. Thus, neither the pathogenic nor the salutogenic approaches alone accurately describe the mental health of a population. Rather, mental health is a complete state that is best studied through the combined assessments of mental health with mental illness. Complete mental health is a state, in which individuals are free of mental illness and they are flourishing. Of course, flourishing may sometimes occur with an episode of mental illness, and moderate mental health and languishing can occur both with and without a mental illness. Flourishing Mental Health is Even Better Than Moderate Mental Health To have complete mental health, one must be flourishing and free of most common mental disorders over the past years. Research has supported the hypothesis that anything less than complete mental health results in increased impairment and disability. For example, adults diagnosed as completely mentally healthy functioned superior to all others in terms of reporting the fewest workdays missed, fewest workdays cutback by one-half, the
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lowest rate of cardiovascular disease, the lowest level of health limitations of activities of daily living, the fewest chronic physical diseases and conditions, the lowest healthcare use, and the highest level of psychosocial functioning. In terms of psychosocial functioning, this meant that completely mentally healthy adults report the lowest level of perceived helplessness, the highest level of knowing what they want from life, the highest level of self-reported resilience (e.g., they try to learn from adversities), and the highest level of intimacy (e.g., they have very close relationships with family and friends). In terms of all of these measures, completely mentally healthy adults functioned better than adults with moderate mental health, who in turn functioned better than adults who were languishing (Keyes, 2007). Just over 20% of adults in the MIDUS study had an episode of at least one of the four mental disorders. However, and very importantly, levels of mental health differentiate levels of impairment and disability even among adults who have had a mental illness in the past year. Adults with a mental illness who had either moderate level of mental health or were flourishing reported fewer workdays missed, fewer workdays cutback, and fewer health limitations of daily living than those who were languishing and had a mental illness. Thus, languishing individuals who also had one or more mental disorders functioned worse than all others on every criterion. Adults with a mental illness who also had either moderate mental health or flourishing function no worse than adults who were languishing and did not have a mental disorder. Thus, mental illness that is combined with languishing is more dysfunctional than the situation when a mental illness occurs in the context of moderate mental health or flourishing. Another published paper investigated the association of the complete mental health diagnoses with chronic physical conditions associated with age (Keyes, 2005). The complete mental health diagnosis was associated with 85% of the chronic physical conditions measured in the MIDUS study. The prevalence of chronic physical conditions was the highest among adults who are languishing and had an episode of major depression, and the lowest among completely mentally healthy adults. The prevalence of chronic physical conditions was slightly higher among moderately mentally healthy adults than completely mentally healthy adults, whereas languishing adults reported even more chronic conditions than adults with moderate mental health. Overall, adults with major depression and languishing had an average of 4.5 chronic conditions. Adults with depression but who also had moderate mental health or flourishing had an average of 3.1 chronic conditions, which was the same as adults who were languishing but without any mental illness. Moderately mentally healthy adults without any mental illness had an average of 2.1 chronic conditions, compared with adults with complete mental health who had on average of 1.5 chronic conditions. When compared against completely mentally healthy adults, chronic physical conditions increased as the level of mental health decreased. It is noteworthy that mental health status was a significant predictor of chronic physical conditions, even after adjustment for the usual sociodemographic variables, as well as body mass index, diabetes status, smoking status, and level of physical exercise. In sum, in psychology and physical activities, there are a few studies that have tested the factorial structure and the internal consistency for different aspects of well-being scales. In addition, knowledge about relation among mental, psychological, and physical well-being aspects is rare, especially for physically old adults. So, our main purposes of this study were: (1) the development and psychometric testing of a number of SWB scales (i.e., emotional, physical, psychological, and social aspects) with French physically active old adults; and (2) testing the relationships among these different aspects.
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Methods
Participants and Procedure Using forward and backward translation by four bilingual individuals, experimental French versions equivalents to the original following scales were created. More precisely, the original scales were translated from English into French by two bilingual persons. The two translated versions were then back translated into English by two independent translators. Translators were not affiliated with the study to ensure comparability and meaning equivalence (Vallerand & Halliwell, 1983; Vallerand & Hess, 2000). Using the different versions, authors have created the French version for each scale. An independent professional has revised the created French versions. In general, minor differences were corrected at this stage by agreement between the different translations. The participants of this study were aged French physically active people between 57 and 77 years old (M = 62.28, SD = 4.78). There were 401 women and 262 men (n = 663) from Rennes city (i.e., Villejean, Centre-ville, Beaulieu, Maurepas, Zip Sud, and Cleunay). They practiced a range of team and individual physical activities. Currently, they were practicing their activities at least three times per week. We used in these two studies with four scales: (1) the MHC-SF (Mental Health Continuum-Short Form); (2) the GHQ-12 (General Health Questionnaire-12); (3) the SVS (Subjective Vitality Scale); and (4) the SWLS (Satisfaction With Life Scale). We used the French versions which have been established in previous studies (Salama-Younes et al., 2009; Ismal & Salama-Younes, 2011) and the short versions of the MHC-SF, the GHQ-12, and the SVS. Authors informed samples about the objective of the study, their participation was voluntary and they could withdraw at any time. Both oral and written instructions were given regarding items understanding (i.e., There was no right or wrong answer to the questions and they should freely state what they think), and they were reassured about the confidentiality of their responses. Measures MHC-SF. The MHC-SF (Keyes, 2007) consists of 14 items. It measures the degree of: (1) emotional well-being (items 1-3) as defined in terms of positive effect/satisfaction with life; (2) social well-being (items 4-8) as described in Keyes (1998) model of social well-being (one item on each of the facets of social acceptance, social actualization, social contribution, social coherence, and social integration); and (3) psychological well-being (items 9-14) as described in Ryffs (1989) model (including one item on each of the dimensions of autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance). Short versions have been used in many cultures, such as South Africa, USA, and Iran. In France, it has exploited by Salama-Younes, Ismal, Montazeri, and Roncin (2011). GHQ-12. Each item of the GHQ-12 (Goldberg & Williams, 1988) assesses the severity of a mental problem over the past few weeks using a 4-point Likert-type scale (from 0-3). The score was used to generate a total score ranging from 0-36. This questionnaire was validated in many countries and languages (e.g., Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, French, etc.). It has rarely been used with physical activity samples (Salama-Younes et al., 2009). SVS. According to Ryan and Frederick (1997), the concept of subjective vitality refers to the state of feeling alive and alert to having energy available to oneself. Vitality is considered then as an aspect of physical well-being. It is considered also as an aspect of eudaimonic well-being. The SVS is a short instrument to measure vitality. A 7-point Likert Scale was used ranging from Strongly disagree (1-point) to Strongly agree (7-point). The scale has two versions: (1) The Individual Difference Level Version that asks individuals to respond to each of the items by indicating the degree to which the item is true for them in general in their life;
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and (2) The State Level Version that asks individuals to respond to each items in terms of how they are feeling right now. There is another version of the instrument that contains six items. Bostic, Rubio, and Hood (2000) have developed this new version. Since one item from seven items was negatively worded, they excluded this item to yield a better fitting model for their data. The questionnaire is a brief measure of vitality and it is simple and easy to complete. In this study, we used this short version that consists of six items and purposes to evaluate the individual difference level. It has rarely been used with physical activity sample (Salama-Younes et al., 2009). SWLS. Life satisfaction is a more general construct of SWB. Theory and research from outside of the rehabilitation fields have suggested that SWB has at least three components: positive affective appraisal, negative affective appraisal, and life satisfaction. Life satisfaction is distinguished from affective appraisal in that it is more cognitively than emotionally driven. Life satisfaction can be assessed specific to a particular domain of life (e.g., work and family) or globally. The SWLS is a global measure of life satisfaction. The SWLS composes of five items. A 7-point Likert Scale was used ranging from Strongly disagree (1-point) to Strongly agree (7-point). The SWLS is a measure of life satisfaction developed by Diener, Emmons, Larsen, and Griffin (1985). The SWLS is shown to have favourable psychometric properties for French speaking in Canada (Vallerand, Blais, Brire, & Pelletier, 1989). It is noted that the SWLS is translated and used in a very wide countries and suited for use with different age groups (Diener, 2009; Diener, Kahneman, & Helliwell, 2010).
Results and Discussion

The SPSS (Statistic Package for Social Sciences) 18.00 was used to perform the EFA (exploratory factor analyses) and the internal consistency (Cronbach alpha ). The LISREL (Linear Structural Relations) 8.7 computer program was used for testing the CFA (confirmatory factor analyses). Firstly, we tested the internal consistency (Cronbach alpha ) by SPSS software. Secondly, using LISREL software, we tested the CFA and examined the correlation among different well-being aspects (see Table 1). Internal consistency that tests reliability was assessed by calculating the Cronbachs coefficient. The values of 0.70 or greater were considered satisfactory. After being tested the factor structure by EFA, we performed CFA to assess the five instruments structure for each sample. The intention was to indicate if the model fits well the data. There are varying suggestions in the literature about the number, type, and cut-off values for goodness-of-fit required to be reported for CFA (Byrne, 2009). A popular recommendation is to present three of four indices from different areas. Accordingly, we report several goodness-of-fit indicators including GFI (Goodness-of-Fit Index), NFI (Normed Fit Index), RMR (Root Mean Square Residual), RMSEA (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation), and 2/df (see Table 2). The recommended cut-off values for acceptable values are 0.90 for GFI and NFI. The RMR and RMSEA test the fit of the model to the covariance matrix. As a guideline, values below 0.05 indicate a close fit and values below 0.11 are an acceptable fit. The value of 2 alone may be used as an index, but 2 divided by the degrees of freedom (2/df) reduces its sensitivity to sample size (cut-off values < 2-5). For physically old adults, the GFIs for SWLS, MHC-SF, GHQ-12, and SVS were acceptable in terms of 2 /df ratio, GFI, RMR, and RMSEA. The factor structure and internal consistency of the four scales have tested only for physical education students (Salama-Younes, 2011). For exemple, we present the CFA result of MHC-SF for French youth.
EXPLORATION ON KEYESS MODEL OF MENTAL HEALTH Table 1 Bi-dimensionality of the Complete Mental Health Model
Item MHC-FS 1 MHC-FS 2 MHC-FS 3 MHC-FS 4 MHC-FS 5 MHC-FS 6 MHC-FS 7 MHC-FS 8 MHC-FS 9 MHC-FS 10 MHC-FS 11 MHC-FS 12 MHC-FS 13 MHC-FS 14 GHQ 1 GHQ 2 GHQ 3 GHQ 4 GHQ 5 GHQ 6 GHQ 7 GHQ 8 GHQ 9 GHQ 10 GHQ 11 GHQ 12 Propre value % of variance Factor 1 0. 73 0.62 0.58 0.43 0.49 0.52 0.46 0.44 0.42 0.46 0.49 0.52 0.47 0.46 8.69 33.87 Factor 2 0.43 0.49 0.47 0.42 0.44 0.41 0.54 0.48 0.41 0.51 0.52 0.40 5.65 21.98 M 4.79 4.84 4.31 2.90 4.67 1.87 2.99 2.51 4.28 4.18 4.83 3.45 4.30 4.06 1.66 0.66 1.71 1.57 1.12 1.21 1.66 1.56 0.78 0.94 0.62 1.59 SD 1.04 1.26 1.06 1.37 1.57 1.13 1.28 1.33 1.34 1.38 1.07 1.42 1.42 1.58 0.70 0.78 0.66 0.77 0.82 0.84 0.70 0.67 0.87 0.88 0.87 0.64 Skewness -0.97 -1.28 -0.84 0.48 -0.87 1.46 0.23 0.66 -0.71 -0.69 -1.26 0.11 -0.70 -0.28 -0.93 0.80 -1.39 -1.37 -0.23 -0.42 -1.43 -1.22 0.53 0.12 0.83 -1.22 Kurtosis 1.09 1.15 0.59 -0.44 -0.59 1.84 -0.63 -0.37 -0.37 -0.43 1.51 -1.03 -0.42 -1.18 3.02 -0.51 2.23 0.09 -1.47 -1.47 1.55 0.21 -1.26 -1.69 -1.16 1.12 -
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Table 2 Goodness-of-Fit of the CFA Models (n = 636)

Scale MHC-SF (3 factors) 2 257.81 df 74 34 76 9 5 GFI 0.95 0.93 0.88 0.90 0.99 NFI 0.90 0.90 0.80 0.87 0.99 RMR 0.07 0.08 0.08 0.02 0.02 RMSEA 0.06 0.07 0.11 0.03 0.02 2/df 3.37* 2.11 7.95
* *
Cronbach alpha 0.78 0.71 0.52 0.81 0.87
GHQ-12 (3 factors) 71.96 Psychological 786.99 well-being (2 factors) SVS 99.86 SWLS 27.90 Notes: *p < 0.01 and **p < 0.001.
11.01* 4.01**
We concluded that the four scales have an acceptable factor structure for physically old adults. In the exercise psychology domain, we have few studies concerning these variables. So that results presented here are probably due to physical activity practicing. In the second time, we used the same data to explore the correlation among the positive concepts (MHC-SF, SVS, and SWLS) and negative symptoms (i.e., GHQ-12).
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Table 3 Correlations Among Different Variables for Physically Active Old Adults
Variable (1) Emotional well-being (2) Social well-being (3) Psychological well-being (4) Total score of MHC-SF (5) Satisfaction with life (6) Subjective vitality (7) Psychological destress (GHQ-12) Notes. **p < 0.01 and *p < 0.05. 1 0.49** 0.58** 0.76** 0.43** 0.37** -0.20** 2 0.49** 0.81** 0.28** 0.30** -0.13* 3 0.88** 0.34** 0.44** -0.28** 4 5 0.42** 0.48** 0.36** -0.56** -0.12* 6 -0.33** 7 M 4.66 3.01 4.23 3.89 4.93 3.31 1.26 SD 0.91 0.89 0.93 0.76 1.13 0.59 0.32
Relations Among the Different Variables Negative and significant correlation between the GHQ-12 and the MHC-SF sub-scale was obtained (see Table 3). It is ranged between r = -0.13 and -0.56, p < 0.01. The negative correlation among GHQ-12, total scores of MHC-SF, and the sub-scales was confirmed in different countries, for exemple, in South of Africa (Keyes et al., 2008), France (Salama-Younes et al., 2011), Egypt (Salama-Younes, 2011), and USA (Keyes, 2006; 2007). The GHQ-12 is also negatively correlated with SWLS and SV. It was r = -0.36 and -0.33, p < 0.01 respectively. This finding is similar to the results of Keyes et al. (2008). In other side, the correlation between the MHC-SF total and sub-scores with SV and SWLS is significantly positive (r = 0.28 to 0.88, p < 0.01). In our knowledge, for physically old adults samples, there is the first investigation to test the correlation among the MHC-SF, SVS, and SWLS. In conclusion, as expected, a significant negative correlation emerged of GHQ-12 and positive construct indicating that those who were more distressed showed lower levels of mental well-being, subjective vitality, and satisfaction with life. Discussion Objectives of this study were: (1) the development and psychometric testing of a number of SWB scales (i.e., emotional, physical, psychological, and social aspects) with physical education students in France; and (2) testing the relationships among these different aspects. The MHC-SF is actually known as a continuum for evaluating the emotional, social, and psychological well-being (Keyes, 2006; 2007; Keyes, Dhingra, & Simoes, 2010; Salama-Younes et al., 2011; Salama-Younes et al., 2009). The GHQ-12 is a well-known instrument for measuring minor psychological distress and has been translated into a variety of languages (Salama-Younes et al., 2009). However, it was not used for indicating a specific diagnosis for active people. This study reports data from a validation study of the MHC-SF and 12-item GHQ in France. This model has been investigated in different countries but not for physically active people (Salama-Younes, 2011). In general, the findings showed satisfactory results and were comparable with most research findings throughout the world (Keyes et al., 2010). In addition, for the first time, we reported data on the SVS and the SWLS for physically active old adults from France lending support to its validity for using these instruments in French populations. The findings from present study showed that the French versions of the MHC-SF and the GHQ-12 are a valid measure for testing a mental well-being and mental illness from a complet mental health perspective (positive and negative aspects). Although this model shows valid in many countries, it has not yet been studied for physically active old adults. The findings from our study indicate that the SV and the SWLS are valid scales for this population.
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Adults with a mental illness who had either moderate mental health or flourishing reported more work-days missed or more work cutbacks than languishing adults (Westerhof & Keyes, 2010). However, languishing adults reported the same level of health limitations of daily living and worse levels of psychosocial functioning than adults with a mental illness who also had moderate mental health or flourishing. Individuals who were completely mentally illthat is, languishing and one or more of the mental disordersfunctioned worse than all others on every criterion. In general, adults with a mental illness who also had either moderate mental health or flourishing functioned no worse than adults who were languishing and did not have a mental disorder. Thus, mental illness that combined with languishing is more dysfunctional than the situation in which a mental illness occurs in the context of moderate mental health or flourishing. In the next manuscript, we will test: (1) the effect of the three categories of complete mental health (flourishing, moderately, and languishing) on perceived physical health; and (2) the structural equation modelling among the three categories and these different variables.
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Netz, Y., Wu, M. J., Becker, B. J., & Tenenbaum, G. (2005). Physical activity and psychological well-being in advanced age: A meta-analysis of intervention studies. Psychology and Aging, 20(2), 272. Osei-Tutu, K. B., & Campagna, P. D. (2005). The effects of short- vs. long-bout exercise on mood, VO <sub> 2max. </sub>, and percent body fat. Preventive Medicine, 40(1), 92-98. Ryan, R. M., & Frederick, C. (1997). On energy, personality, and health: Subjective vitality as a dynamic reflection of wellbeing. Journal of Personality, 65(3), 529-565. Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069-1081. Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 719. Salama-Younes, M. (2011). Positive mental health, subjective vitality and satisfaction with life for French physical education students. World Journal of Sport Sciences, 4, 90-97. Salama-Younes, M., Ismal, A., Montazeri, A., & Roncin, C. (2011). Factor structure of the French Ryffs psychological well-being scales for active older adults. In The human pursuit of well-being (pp. 203-212). Netherlands: Springer. Salama-Younes, M., Montazeri, A., Ismal, A., & Roncin, C. (2009). Factor structure and internal consistency of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and the Subjective Vitality Scale (SVS), and the relationship between them: A study from France. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 7(1), 22. Stathi, A., Fox, K. R., & McKenna, J. (2002). Physical activity and dimensions of subjective well-being in older adults. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 10(1), 76-92. Vallerand, R. J., Blais, M. R., Brire, N. M., & Pelletier, L. G. (1989). Construction et validation de l'chelle de motivation en ducation (EME). Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue Canadienne des Sciences du Comportement, 21(3), 323. Vallerand, R. J., & Halliwell, W. R. (1983). Formulations thoriques contemporaines en motivation intrinsque: Revue et critique (Contemporary theoretical formulations intrinsic motivation: Review and critique). Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 24(4), 243. Vallerand, R. J., & Hess, U. (2000). Mthodes de recherche en psychologie (Research method in psychology). Morin: G. Morin. Westerhof, G. J., & Keyes, C. L. (2010). Mental illness and mental health: The two continua model across the lifespan. Journal of Adult Development, 17(2), 110-119.
DA VID
PUBLISHING
The Effect of Reality Therapy Group Training on Decreasing Social Phobia of Students in Eghlid City High Schools
Ali Akbar Rahimi, Reza Sattar
University of Farhangian, Eghlid, Iran
In this study, the effect of reality therapy group training on decreasing social phobia of students was investigated. It is a semi-experimental study, and also, pre-test and post-test with control group were used. Statistical society includes 3730 high schools students (girls and boys aged 15-18) who studied in Eghlid city (2011-2012), but for exact investigation, the researcher used multi-stage clustering random sampling. Labitous social phobia questionnaire was administered on 518 students from six high schools and their social phobia was assessed. Then, for making group consouling sessions, 40 students with high scores in social phobia questionnaire selected randomly and divided in two groups (the control group and the experimental group). The experimental group (20 girls and boys) received eight consulting sessions of reality therapy group training (two groups, 10 boys and 10 girls), but the control group received no intervention. After experiment, post-test administer for four groups and the data were analyzed. Descriptive methods, such as covariance and variance analysis and t-test were used. Based on the results, the experiment and the control groups scores were obtained for post-test, 40.12, 68 for the boy group and 45.01, 70.72 for the girl group. Covariance analysis (f = 35.31) was showed in general. There was a significant difference between the control group and the experiment group, so, statistical hypothesis was rejected and study hypothesis was accepted. The results showed that reality therapy group training decreased the social phobia of high school students. Also, it is determined that there was a significant difference in social phobia between boys and girls. Keywords: social phobia, reality therapy, group counseling
Introduction
It was said that humans in different societies shared basic needs with no regard to their class, ethics, schooling, IQ (intelligence quotient), and so on. But the ability to satisfy these needs are very different. In this relation, many people, whose needs are not satisfied, are unable to be loved and to love others (Khosravani, 1999). Sometimes, a tow of us became anxious in social situations. Social phobia is a shape of this kind of fear, people with social phobia feared to be seen. They feared to act in a scorning manner or to be shamed or placed in attack of fearful situation. They feared from speaking rating or drinking among people (Silgman & Monahan, 2001). Clinical attention to shy, social hermit children in following studies showed that satisfied relationship with
Ali Akbar Rahimi, Ph.D., M.S. family consular, Department of Education, University of Farhangian. Reza Sattar, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Education, University of Farhangian.
944 THE EFFECT OF REALITY THERAPY GROUP TRAINING ON DECREASING SOCIAL PHOBIA
their peers in childhood period has a major and basic function in growing and development of social relations in last period of juvenile and adulthood. Those children who attend to be depressed and aloneness and also have less function in school are hermit socially. Those children who have less interaction with their peers, sometimes are considered as social anxious children. Children or juveniles who have this malfunction/difficultly, are modest, shy, bashful, prevent of participating in social interactions, and always concern about seem to be foolish from other peoples views, they also have negative evaluation of others, escaping from expressing themselves, and have little activity in school. A child cannot released himself/herself from his/her fears and agitations and always continues to his/her presentation. Finally, he/she changes to a hermit, inactive and recluse. With regard to charges of social phobia in children and juveniles, determining, evaluation, and early therapy intervention can be helpful if this disorder examined early, so, it can be remediable and otherwise became chronic (Vaziri, 1997). Since, decreasing social distress to provide for individuals, society, and family mental health, so, it is necessary to spread studies carom plashed in order to achieve the best solutions in this area. Reality therapy is based on sound judgment and affective filters/conflicts, and it emphasizes reality, responsibility, and recognizing correct and incorrect behaviors, and its relation to daily life. Glisters venality therapy procedure is an integration of existing philosophy and behavioral methods that are similar to self-rotating behaviors of therapists (Prochiska & Jane, 2001/2002). Golssters theory is a training-educational (presentation) and therapy theory. It consists of three efficiency in home, school, and therapy center. It emphasizes on releasing person from external controls and moving him/her toward internal controls. In fact, Glosters theory considers concept of social learning theory that is based on the relationship between behaviors and ills consequences. According to this theory, those persons who understand the relation between behavior and its consequence enjoy from internal control, in fact, these persons believe that they can impact on their environment. Internal control category caused identity grace in home environment and achievement. High scores, perseverance, attention to homework, and preventing from social phobia (Khosravani,1999). The main purpose of reality therapy is changing unsuccessful identity and forming responsibility behavior in person, because unresponsive ability behavior causes distress and unhappiness in person (Sheikh Abaci, 1386). In Glosters view, appearing unsociability behavior in a person is an attempt for controlling understandings in his/her life, it means that a person make anxious and depression (feeling of sin) for himself/herself; in order to control his/her anger and benefit from others protection support. Anxious people are those who are inflexible, irresponsible, have defeat identity, and also in facing reality of life, they became sad and anxious (Rahimian, 1999). Reality therapy procedure is formed for people, in order to stable their behaviors and have correct and suitable choices in their life. Recently, Glasser proposed choice or control theory, he believed that people are responsible for their life and also what they think, do, and feel, and all behaviors of human are a result of in teal motives (Glasser, 2003). So, this study investigated that whether reality therapy procedure in other countries has high performance and decreased social phobia, whether proportionate to value and culture of Iran society or also whether in action proved its usefulness. Since early intervention applied for children with first causes of social distress and training suitable methods of cognition are important (Miller, 2002). In this study, counseling for its saving time and suitable effects (Shafih, Abdullah, & Qolam, 2001) performed in group for juveniles.
THE EFFECT OF REALITY THERAPY GROUP TRAINING ON DECREASING SOCIAL PHOBIA 945
Method
Statistical society of this study includes all students (15 to 18 years old girls and boys) who studied in high schools of Eghlid city (1390-1391) in first to third grades. The number of all the students (girls and boys) of the 1st to the 3rd grades in this city was about 4730 (2120 + 2610 = 4730) (2120 boys from 14 high schools and 2610 girls from 12 high schools), because of high statistical society, the researcher used multi-stage clustering randomly sampling. First, 518 schools were selected, and then, among these schools, 18 schools (six 1st grades, six 2nd grades, and six 3rd grades) were selected randomly, then, students filled libelous social phobia questionnaire and their social phobia was evaluated. After extracting and grading scores, 40 students with the highest scores in social phobia questionnaire were selected randomly (18.6%). Then, they divided into four groups, each group consists of 10 students (two witnesses and two experimental groups). It is a semi-experiment study that pre-test and post-test were used. After sampling and deterring groups, one explaining session was executed for experimental groups, they were informed about purposes, whole problems, educational program, and also timing table of classes that given to group members. Then, educational program set and execute for them. The experimental groups (two girls and two boys high school) passed one-hour educational program. The control groups did not passed any program, except they should performing post-test in a determined date (1/5 month later). After ending educational period, students filled in the social phobia questionnaire. Then, data were collected and analyzed. In this study, the independent variable is group reality therapy and the dependent variable is social phobia. Age, fathers educational degree, mothers educational large, and social phobia background in family are considered as variables. In order to examine social phobia, libelous social phobia questionnaire consists of 24 questions was used. Labitous social phobia questionnaire consists of 24 multiple-choice items, and each item consists of two elements, fear with Never to Very scales and avoidance with Never to Usually. Scoring of questionnaire: Never gets zero point, Sometimes gets one point, Offen gets two points, Very and Usually get three points. In general, for each test, three scores of fear, avoidance, and total score were obtained. Based on this scale, students with total score lower than 65 were lack of social phobia, between 65 to 80 have social phobic apparently, 80 to 95 have low social phobia, and 95 to 120 and above 120 have server social phobia. With regard to social phobia, it includes two dimensions of fear and avoidance, Nouzad (2008) investgated correlation coefficient of these variables together and compared with total score in pre-test. The results are shown in Table 1. Table 1 Correlation Coefficient Matrix of Social Phobia Components and Social Phobia Total Scores
Avoidance Fear Social phobia 0.92 0.92 Variable name Social phobia Fear Avoidance N = 42
0.78 p < 0.001
As it can be seen, correlation coefficient of the two components together and total score of scale were at p
< 0.001 significant level that can consider it as component validity. Noosed (2001) used kronbakh cofficient for investigating the reliability of social phobia questionarie, which includes 24 items and for 42 students. cofficient obtained internal consistency. In this study, he obtained cofficient ( ) that is high and suitable. Subheads were investigated in eight counseling sessions include: (1) familiarity of group members with each other; (2) introducing laws and regulations of counseling groups; (3) social phobia and depending situation; (4) introducing reality therapy elements; (4) increasing cognation and awareness of each member of self-recognizing social phobia signs; (5) obtaining skills facing to phobia, identity, and basic needs, responsibility and reality; (6) training some methods for decreasing tress; (7) attending to present time and self-behaviors; (8) training resting-body techniques and regular sensitiveness, basic concepts of reality therapy. And the 8-stype process applied includes following instances (Sharf, 1996; Firozbakht, 2002). Affective conflicts of therapist with clients, concentration on present behavior on feeling, evaluating behavior and valued judgment by clients, planning for having responsibility behavior, deciding and undertaking for accomplishing scientific steps in a responsibility way, incepting of any kind of excluding and pretending (in cases that clients do not execute programs), did not punishment and uncritizing of clients and did not submitting for unsuccessfully of clients in program and duties. So, necessary condition for making responsibility behavior and creating successful identity were provided for members. Other useable techniques in group reality therapy sessions include: obtaining some skills for decreasing stress, attending to present time and self-behaviors, training restingbody techniques and regular sensitiv recognizing purposes and values, making and accepting responsibility, accepting of life realities and dinging them, ability in satisfying basic needs, and achieving to successful identity (Khaje, 1998).
Results
After extracting scores, all data were analyzed by SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) software, descriptive and differencing methods were used for analyzing data. Labitous social phobia questionnaire administered on a group of 518 students. In descriptive analyzing, central data indicators and deviations of scores were calculated (see Table 2). Table 2 Statistical Indicators of Students Stress Scores
Boy Girl Total SD 20.35 22.60 21.45 Max. 73 87 87 Min. 3 2 2 Median 42.58 47.95 43.12 Mean 47.12 52.01 49.20 No. 247 271 518
Table 2 shows that mean score of score of social phobia of 518 students was about 49.20, also, medians about 43.12, minimum of 2 and maxium of 87. Research hypothesis: Administering group reality therapy has an impact on decreasing social phobia of students (girls and boys). Method used: Co-variance statistical test. As it can be seen in Table 3, mean scores of the experiment and the control groups in post-test were about 42.25 and 69.65 respectively. When pre-test controlled by covariance analysis, as you can see by f = 35.32, the
THE EFFECT OF REALITY THERAPY GROUP TRAINING ON DECREASING SOCIAL PHOBIA 947 difference between groups became significant. Null hypothesis was rejected because 0.001 < p < 0.05 is in 0.05 level, and main hypothesis based on effectiveness of therapy treated. Table 3 Comparing Four Groups by Covariance Analysis
f Girl pre-test Gils post-test Boy pretest Girl post-test Pre-test total Post-test total 6.251 36.681 5.541 34.981 6.001 35.319 MS 970.412 750.321 934.251 720.300 955.650 739.389 Freedom degree 1 1 1 1 3 3 SS 970.000 750.321 934.251 720.300 955.650 739.389 Significant level 0.030 0.001 0.040 0.001 0.030 0.001
There is a significant difference on social phobia between girls and boys. Difference scale of means was used for assessing this hypothesis of statistical test. T-test for comparing students (girls and boys) showed social phobia of 42.25. Girls have a higher level of social phobia than boys. This hypothesis was accepted. Table 4 Social Phobia on the Experiment Group
Boy (The experiment group) Girl (The experiment group) Total Mean 40.12 45.01 42.25 No. 10 10 20 SD 6.31 6.54 6.54
Table 5 Social Phobia

Social phobia T 4/25 Freedom degree 19 Significant level 0.001
Discussion and Results

With regard to obtained results of this study, group reality therapy has a basic function in decreasing social phobia. Although, by referring to internal and external data, there was no any comprehensive and complied study, but in the area of reality therapy procedure in counseling, we can referred to studies done by Androbil (1994), Kots (1966), and Glassier (1996) (as cited in Jarare, 2001), English (1970), Kots (1966), Houws (1971), and Menie and Wats (1973) (as cited in Khaje, 1998). In all studies, reality therapy efficiency in counseling has a positive effect on students behavior and also on counseling. Other studies, such as a study by Soinanoich and his colleagues in 2002 titled An Investigation of Group Reality Therapy on Decreasing Psychological Disorders, for instance, An Investigation of Effectiveness of Group Reality Therapy on Self-careens Behavior of People With Schizophrenia Disorder, and by Bizarre (2001), An Investigation of Group Reality Therapy on Decreasing Aloneness Senility of Students, also, Khaje (1998), in his study, same to this study titled An Investigation of Effectiveness of Group Reality Therapy on Decreasing Social Phobia of Students (Girl) in Kazeron City, concluded that group reality therapy has a positive effect on decreasing social phobia of girls. All results of these studies showed that reality therapy has a positive and deductive impact on decreasing mental disorder. This therapy method can be used for helping and fostering
misdemeanors in prisons and amendment centers (Khaje, 1998). Also, this method has a positive effect on anxious and hopeless people and schizophrenia patients, and applying this method in recovering them was effective (Rahimian, 1999). This study tries to apply concepts and elements of reality therapy, such as making and accepting responsibility, accepting life realities and not denying them, ability in satisfying basic needs, achieving successful identity, and so on. We can decrease students social anxious and distresses, as statistical results showed that group reality therapy method decreased social phobia of students (girls and boys) in this study, and so, the result confirms effectiveness of this method in decreasing social phobia. In general, with regard to the results of this study and other studies, it can be expressed that this method has a positive and effective function in decreasing anxious, identity crisis, aloneness feeling, and psychological disorders.
Recommendations
(1) Comprehensive and skillful training on school counselors of this method in school in order to decrease stress disorders of students; (2) Performing study same as the third study on spread society and participating students in suggestion study; (3) Familirizing students in the area of using reality therapy in performing other daily life behaviors; (4) Using of other therapy methods, such as gestalt therapy in other studies for confronting with anxious disorders and comparing the results of those studies with present study; (5) The time of training period for this study in eight sessions was about one hour. In future studies, the researcher will increase the time and also the duration; (6) In this study, variables, such as educational degree of parents and socio-economic status were not the same. It is suggested that in future studies, these variables will be the same; (7) In present study, the effect of training reality therapy on decreasing social phobia was assessed. It is suggested that in future studies, the effect of training reality therapy on other variables, such as self-confidence will be assessed.
Limitations of This Study

(1) This study was conducted in Eqlid city (girls and boys), so, the results of this study can only be generalized for this city; (2) The place for training persons was very noisy, with low-quality facilities and low lighting; (3) Participating students in the study (especially boys) were not always in regular order.
References
Akbari, H. (2000). The effect of group reality method on decreasing students loneness feeling (Masters thesis, AlameTabatamaee University). Cvitanovich, A. P. (2002). Application of choice theory and reality therapy in the guidance of school children suffering from psychosomatic diseases. Paediatr Croat, 46, 201-207. Glasser, W. (2003). What is reality therapy? Chatsworth, C.A.:The Glasser Institute. Inthing, S. (1998). Effects of reality group therapy on psychological seft-care behaviors of schizophrenia relative. Retrieved from http://www.chiangmai.ac.th/abstract/hum.980290.htm1 Jarare, J. H. (2001). The effect of group reality therapy on decreasing identity crisis in juveniles (Masters thesis, AlameAbatable University).
THE EFFECT OF REALITY THERAPY GROUP TRAINING ON DECREASING SOCIAL PHOBIA 949
Khaje, J. L. (1998). The effect of group reality therapy on decreasing social phobia of girl students in Kazeron city (Masters thesis, Marvadasht Azad University). Miller, L. (2002). Disabling disorder too often over looked. BCS Mental Health Journal. Mosavi, M. (1998). Stress and ways for confronting it. In Ardebil: NickAmoz Journal (1st ed.). Nouzad, N. (1996). The effectiveness of expressing self on social phobia and expressing self by deficiey (Masters thesis, Shahid Chamran University). Prochiska, J. O., & Jane, C. N. (2002). Psychotherapy theories. (S. M. Yahiya Trans.). In Tehran: Growing Journal (Original work published in 2001). Rahimian, H. B. (1999). Theories and methods of counseling and psychotherapy. In Tehran: Mehrdad Jouranal. Shafih, A., Abdullah, N., & Qolam, R. (2001). Counseling theories and psycho therapy. In Tehran: Information Journal (2nd ed.). Shiling, L. (1990). Counseling theories. (Arian Trans.), khadije (p. 1374). In Tehran: Information Journal (2nd ed.). Silgman, M. E. P, & Monahan, D. A. (2001). Psychology, abnormality psychology. (S. M. Yahiya Trans.). (1997). Arabian Journal, 2(6). Vaziri, N. R. (1997). Anivestigation of social phobia prevalence in high school students in Kerman city (Physician Ph.D. thesis, Physician Science and Sanitary Surviving University of Kerman, Afzalipoor Physician Engeeneering University).
DA VID
PUBLISHING
The Management of Stress in Students

Brbara-Emma Snchez-Rinza
Autonomous University of Puebla, Puebla, Mxico; National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics, Puebla, Mxico
Ana Laura Luna Peralta

Autonomous University of Puebla, Puebla, Mxico
Currently, we face stress along with social progress. It is an unbalanced state of the organism, which turns out to be a health problem, and if we reviewed at this phenomenon in students observing that also occurs more frequently in this context. At present, the students who were admitted to the BUAP (Autonomous University of Puebla) have big challenges, starting with the admission process beginning with the admission process to it, and once it has been accepted to face the demands from implying be a upper level student; homework, papers, tests, projects, etc., all these coupled with their own personal issues and family issues can do suffer stress. Stress is a state of tension of the organism that is obliged to put into action all their defenses, to cope a situation of functional imbalance. This imbalance can be caused by physical reasons, such as an infection or mental effort or continuous muscle, or a psychological situation that causes an exaggerated motivational reaction. Because of the importance and consequences of stress, the idea for this research is on the stress in students. The study is carried out with students of the Faculty of Computer Science, psychologist Ana Laura Peralta (the co-author of this paper) helps us in the sense that assists us with the development of the questionnaire for data collection, and interpretation of the same. Specifically, we conducted a survey of 107 students from the Faculty of Computer Science to knowing their stress level, taking into account gender and age variables to investigate which one is the best for stress management, that is to say, males or females and what is the age at which young people throw more stress. To make this work, a computer program with a database was developed, which allows us to see how much stress is on young students of this faculty. Keywords: stress, gender, statistics, program
Introduction
The stress on college students is associated with the different demands that they face, such as school performance, which involves many challenges in different areas of development, some of these are homework and assignments, preparing for presentation of exams and assessments, teamwork and understanding the topics of various subjects, and the relationship with their teachers, as each teacher has its own working style and personality. Another challenge is facing social adjustment, especially when entering college, and then, the different challenges that have to be resolved during their different classes, especially now, with the credit
Brbara-Emma Snchez-Rinza, B.Sc., professor, Faculty of Computation, Autonomous University of Puebla; Ph.D., National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics. Ana Laura Luna Peralta, M.A., professor/psychologist, Autonomous University of Puebla.
THE MANAGEMENT OF STRESS IN STUDENTS
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management within the BUAP (Autonomous University of Puebla). Students reach the university context with a set of expectations, needs, and problems with very personal, emotional, and even familial character. All these influence significantly in how they keep up with the demands that are presented in this ambit. Francisco and Maria (2003) and Tomas (2011) suggested that the factors that cause stress are not just having to deal with so much work and a lot of demands, but are four factors which are described as follows: (1) NewSomething that involves a new experience; (2) UnpredictableSomething that arises unpredictably in our lives; (3) No controlSense of chaos, when we have no control over situations; (4) Threat to personalityWhen they question our personality. A study by David (2013) showed that men were three times more reactive to stress than women, and women tend to suffer more depression compared to men. This author also mentioned that a hormone which is secreted in the state of stress is cortisol, and to cause the opposite effect is oxytocin. Stress affects the health of individuals, and in the case of students, it not only affects their school performance, but also their personality, family, and social life, including their physical health. Sometimes, it can get to the involvement of various processes in the body that triggers certain diseases, such as cardiovascular, digestive as gastritis, colitis, etc., and some can even lead to death as in the case of heart attacks. Stress is a phenomenon which includes a wide variety of factors, being immersed also to the kind of thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs that a subject has. That is, a student who has a pessimistic attitude about his/her performance capabilities to conditions will have bad results in the same. There are chances of stress in situations like the followings: (1) In case of physical or mental exhaustion; (2) Before a family disgrace; (3) Facing a student failure or sentimental; (4) In situations of economic or social crisis; (5) As a result of an illness. It should also make it clear that a subject may have some other anxiety disorders, anxiety, and even depression that are not necessarily due to stress, some may be caused by other factors, both biological and psychosocial as in the case of the latter, and events, such as the death of loved ones, loss, i.e., moments that are called situational crises, which are unpredictable in a subjects life. Here are some very clear signs of a crisis of stress: alternative moments of anxiety, aches and pains in the stomach, undue stress, sadness for no apparent reason, and general physical decay (Barbara & Ana, 2013).
What Causes Stress in Student Population

In Figue 1, we can see some factors that cause stress to students at the age of 19 within the university. The maximum stress is caused by the application of a test and having to face the competition with their peers. They are the catalyst for students to have stress at this age. We can also see resulting zero stress of having to make a team work, doing work, and having to interact with teachers and peers. Compared with Figures 1 and 2 with the same factors, but at the age of 26 in college students from the Faculty of Computation, we see that the stress of students is higher at this age, having to submit a test is the
952
maximum stress, and when to give a presentation and the other factors had a maximum in Figure 1, facing competition with peers are still held only that in Figure 2, have increased factors that provocate stress, now appear other parameters not previously appeared as:
14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 19 When I i have to do my homework When I i have to work with a team When I i have to make an exposition in class When I i have to do an exam i feel like When I i have to do homework When I i have to compete with my classmates The lack of time to meet the academic The work in the classroom in the areas that I When I do not understand the contents within my classes Having to interact with my teachers Having to socialize with my fellow
Figure 1. Plots of stress factors at the age of 19. 25 When I i have to do my homework When I i have to work with a team 20 When I i have to make an exposition in class When I i have to do an exam i feel like When I i have to do homework When I i have to compete with my classmates The lack of time to meet the academic The work in the classroom in the areas that I When I do not understand the contents within my classes Having to interact with my teachers 26 Figure 2. Stress factors at the age of 26. Having to socialize with my fellow
15
10
(1) Having to do my homework; (2) Working on a computer; (3) When I have to do work;
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(4) Lack of time to meet the academic activities; (5) When I cannot understand the contents within my classes. We can see in Figure 1 that at the age of 19, students are not concerned about socializing with peers and teachers and making teamwork. We can also see in Figure 2 that as a students age increases, the stress does too, their level of socialization decreases, and responsibility factors and competition increase in students producing more stress in this population. We can deduce that this change around stress and age is a function of the students begining to realize that they will soon move to another stage of life, in which they will be inserted into the productive life of the country, where opportunities are not for everyone but for those with more preparation. However, it is an assumption and that the latter was not investigated in the questionnaire we used.
How to Manage Stress, Men and Women in the Field Students

In the next section, we will see how men and women handle stress, just give us the task of showing the Figures that caused more stress in the student sector. Figure 3 shows a 71% stress in women versus 100% in men by the concept of making teamwork, but this figure is at the students background of age 26, which are not visible when the students were 19 years old, this may be due to women are more sociable than men and know how to handle most social relations within their environment.
400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 When I i have to work with a team Figure 3. Stress of men and women due to When I have to work with team at the age of 26. Female
Male
Figure 4 shows that men and women about the stress caused by having to do tasks, resulting in 67.5% stress in women and 100% stress in men. Figure 5 again shows that men have more stress than women when they have to give a presentation in class, compared to 80.9% stress in women and 101% stress in men.
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In Figure 6, we represent the reason that causes increased stress in young students is when they have an exam, giving greater stress again 100% stress in men and 77.7% stress in women. Figure 7 shows that stress in men is 100% against 62.5% in women by the concept of when they cannot understand the contents within their classes.
450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 When i I have to do my homework Figure 4. Stress of men and women due to When I have to do mu homework at the age of 26. Female Male
450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 When I i have to make an exposition in class Female Male
Figure 5. Stress of men and women regarding When I have to give a presentation in class at the age of 26.
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We can see from Figures 3 and 5 that men have more stress on socializing with increasing age, unlike women. Women have better stress management. Figure 8 is very interesting, because it is the only chart that women have more stress than men. The lack of time for academic activities may be because women go to college, but in Mxico, they are also active at home, and the responsibilities that is required of women and men at home are different, which caused 100% stress in women and 66.6% stress in men.
500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 When I i have to do an exam i feel like Figure 6. The maximum stress in students is When I have to take exams at the age of 26. Female Male
450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 When I do not understand the contents within my classes Figure 7. Stress of men and women regarding the stress factor When I do not understand the contents within my classes at the age of 26. Female Male
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500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 The lack of time to meet the academic Figure 8. Stress of men and women due to the lack of time at the age of 26. Female Male
Stress Symptomatology
One symptom that clearly demonstrates the existence of stress is anxiety, which is part of a critical stress state with the fear of the future and a general state of worry indefinitely. State anxiety appears when the feeling of possible failure is evident in the patients mind, which is one of the most dangerous psychological manifestations of stress. The heart, the head, and the different parts of the digestive system are the most important areas where psychosomatic disorders are located. Stress can cause disease, which weakens the walls of the stomach lining and opening the way to possible gastric ulcers, pancreas also suffers the effect of stress with inflammation and when reach to the intestines, we find digestive diseases related to stress, such as gastro duodenal ulcers, ulcerative colitis, and colon irritation, which are some diseases that cause stress. One of the most serious problems that afflicts people under stress is the difficulty to rest properly, since rest is essential for physical and mental recovery of any organism.
Conclusions
We can see in this papers some of the factors that exacerbate stress within the college student population by age and sex. In relation to stress management by gender, we must notice that the stress in men is mainly the sociability that is lost with age, and the stress in female population is the lack of time for academic work. It is important to note here that the traditional role of women in Mexico still continues to stay in families, then, a woman is the one that basically does the housework, therefore, in addition to the workplace or school, she has to work double shifts, including the home. In the case of men, the stress level increases as they approach the time of the completion of their studies, which also means that they have to face new challenges, such as job search.
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As discussed in the first part of this work, stress is a state of imbalance, putting to work all of our defenses our body, and the longer the time we are subject to that state, the greater the problem is, it will be a problem to a problem psychic somatic. Stress can cause problems in different parts of our body, the heart, the head, and different parts of the digestive system, which are the most important areas where psychosomatic disorders are located . Because stress is the cause of some diseases, it is important to talk to college students to help them better manage their stress, as well as strategies for planning and organizing time, which aimed at achieving a better quality of life and overall health. In Mxico, prevention efforts in health are very poor, however, it is necessary to do so, taking into consideration the statistics about the stress on the upper level student population, and in this case, this study was conducted in the Faculty of Computation. It is essential for students to learn to plan their academic activities, as well as organize their time around the work and tasks that require them, and the organization of leisure, because in Mxico, habits lack proper planning and organization, primarily in education, as most students do their jobs and tasks with little time in advance, instead of making them in a proportional manner and well-planned. It is pertinent that students learn strategies for stress management as part of what is currently known in psychology as emotional intelligence development and a change of attitude towards study, work, making use of one of the new approaches of psychologypositive psychology, which puts emphasis on positive thinking, optimism, constructive use of leisure time, resilience, managing emotions, and promoting positive emotions that will guide students to a better quality of life.
References
Abraham, S. (2002). Database fundamentals (4th ed.). Mexico: McGraw Hill. Barbara, E. S. R., & Ana, L. P. (2013). Stress within the student population. Mexico: Laccei. David, P. (2013). Goodbye to stress. Spain: Auditorium Publishing. Francisco, J. L., & Maria, C. (2003). Stress. Spain: Synthesis Publishing. Tomas, G. C. (2011). Beyond the stress. Spain: Pegasus Publishing.
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Some Ontological Issues on English Education in Chinas Universities*

Tian Qiang
Harbin Insititute of Technology, Harbin, China
Cai Jian
Beijing International Studies University, Beijing, China
Qiao Hui
Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
The present thesis deals with issues that are cardinal for EECU (English education in Chinas universities). Taking an ontological approach, the thesis arrives at the following conclusions: (1) As the consequence of historical and theoretical causes, EECU has been weak in the cognitive foundation, and that weakness in turn results in the problems in EECU related to the cognition, including the misunderstanding on the nature of EECU as a system and the poor efficiency of its operation; (2) The functional goal of EECU is currently mislocated, both deviating from the essence of education and violating the basic principle of communication. In consideration of the educational function of a language, in the first place, as the carrier and transmit means of knowledge, the functional goal of EECU ought to transmit or impart the domain or part of knowledge or information which is inaccessible to Chinese or works less effectively with Chinese; (3) In China, the environment has been poor for English learning, and both the learners and their parents are ignorant about that. In consideration of the necessity of EEC (English education in China) and of that reality, EECU ought to feature prescriptiveness in what to learn and the systematice integration of language knowledge and cultural knowledge; and (4) As there is no ready visible goal in the direct environment to guide the learning endeavor, artificial ones have to be set up to avoid aimless learning, and testing, as the best choice in China, is thus indispensable. The problem with testing in EECU is not that it is unnecessary but that it is put in the wrong place and its functions are unnecessarily magnified. Keywords: English education, Chinas universities, learning, learner
Introduction
EECU (English education in Chinas universities) may claim with confidence the largest number of non-native learners of English, but under that gleaming covering, it is found to be suffering from (possibly) the poorest performance of all massive language learning in the world. The case resembles, in a sense, the symptoms of highly complicated syndrome, with confusingly numerous interrelating and interacting causes. In the present thesis, some key issues in EECU will be discussed at the ontological level, or rather from an
As part of the project A Study of the Ontological Basis of the National Entrance Examination of English for Postgraduates (Project No.: GFA111021) and the project A Study of English Education in Chinas Universities from an Educational Approach (Project No.: HIT.HSS. 201231). Tian Qiang, B.A., professor, English Department, School of Foreign Languages, Harbin Insititute of Technology. Cai Jian, M.A., associate professor, International Exchange and Cooperation Office, Beijing International Studies University. Qiao Hui, M.A., assistant researcher, Department of Foreign Languages, National Education Examinations Authority, Ministry of Education.
SOME ONTOLOGICAL ISSUES ON ENGLISH EDUCATION IN CHINAS UNIVERSITIES 959 ontological perspective.
The Weakness in Cognitive Foundation of EECU

As a socialized institution, education in China has been built on a poorly constructedweak and incompletecognitive foundation (which will be specifically discussed in another thesis), and it is especially true in the case of EECU. While assumed to be sufficiently knowledgeable about practically everything in EECU, both educators and the educated are confused about the essential issues in it, and some erroneous ideas about it are pervasive even among those who are devoted to and (assumed to be) expert on it. This weakness has two causes or sources: The defectively developed history and the misdirected theoretical efforts. Historical Causes The traditional Chinese cultureas the particular mode of life of the Chinese people prior to the early 1910sfeatures the following with regard to education: (1) The purpose of the public education was to train potential candidates of bureaucrats for practically all tiers and all departments of the civil government over the ruled area; (2) The teaching materials of the public education were a fixed pool of classics by masters of various schools of thought or disciplines of studies, though centering, since the 1st century BC (Before Christ) mostly, about the Confucius school of thought; (3) The process of education was left to various private tutorial schools, usually with a single master who taught his/her own interpretation of the masterpieces; meanwhile, a fully grown system of imperial examination organizations was established, responsible for the assessment of the education, or rather the selection of the above-mentioned candidates. Obviously, almost everything was fixed, eventually into the stereotyped format of education, and as the exterior environment was enclosed, with little essential changes in the cycling operation of centralized dynasties, the format fit well into the wholly static mode of life or culture of China then. Yet, the intrusion of Western culture, in such indecent form as the Opium War, fundamentally interrupted the stereotyped development of China in the Qing dynasty. After some ineffective adjustment, the last dynasty in the long history of China ended, so did the format of education as a part of the dynastic culture. The death of the old form of education was easily claimed and accepted, but the birth of the new form of education has come so hard. The emergence of a new form of education, as an affiliate to, or a concomitant with, a new culture, calls for some systematic and thorough cognitive and intellectual preparation. This relationship has been proved with examples from history of the world culture as a whole: The long-lasting traditional way of education in China, as part of the traditional Chinese culture, was cognitively and intellectually foreshadowed by the huge collective brainstorm of Contention of Numerous Schools of Thought occurring in the period from the late spring to autumn annals throughout the warring states and spanning about 250 years (approximately 470 BC-220 BC). Similarly, the modern education form was built upon the solid foundation laid down by the Enlightenment running almost about the European and North American intellectual world through the 17th and 18th centuries. But the death of the Qing dynasty in China was succeeded by endless wars, in which neither real contention nor true enlightenment was possible. In the early period (1949-1978) of New China, public life and the mainstream of thought were guided towards
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SOME ONTOLOGICAL ISSUES ON ENGLISH EDUCATION IN CHINAS UNIVERSITIES
irrational, even fanatic, devotion to some unrealistic tenets on the one hand, and overwhelming suppression of any liberal ideas. The construction of a new system of education never completed. Yet, many living in the contemporary China, out of ignorance or vanity, hold that the constructive endeavor was completed as a whole long ago, leaving nothing but some minor and maintaining work to the late comers. The old system has vanished, with the exception of a few remnants, but the cognitive preparation and theoretical construction of the new system is yet to come. This is an embarrassing fact for EECU and other components of education in China now. Cognitive Causes The theoretical builders of EECU have been active in their construction, yet, their effort has to be described as either deviated or incomplete. The effort is deviated because the foci of theoretical or academic devotion have been literary and linguistic in ECCU. Whatever the reasons are and however devoted the effort is, neither literature nor linguistics works well with education as a system. In a recent writing (Tian, 2012), Tian listed the major components (see Table 1) that make up the system of EEC (English education in China), of which EECU is a part: Table 1 Major Components or Issues of EEC as a System of Education
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) EEC as an independent and distinctive identity Issues concerning EEC as a system or a structure Theoretical issues Meta-education and philosophy Position in Chinas social educational system Historical development Purpose or goals Content and epistemological issues Syllabus and course system Mode and method studies Teachers or teaching staff Vocational or occupational education Facilities and conditions Achievement assessments Environmental issues Psychological issues Relationship with social practice or life Position of the native tongue (Chinese) Family education
It is easy to find the literature, either as a system or as a branch of theoretical study, is rarely overlapping English education. Yet, linguistics, defined by some as the scientific study of language (Simpson, 1979, p. 42), may sometimes lead people into believing that it is right to serve EECU in the theoretical or cognitive sense. In an authoritative reference (Encarta Premium, 2007), the major subfields of linguistics are listed as: sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, applied linguistics, anthropological linguistics, philosophical linguistics, and neurolinguistics.
SOME ONTOLOGICAL ISSUES ON ENGLISH EDUCATION IN CHINAS UNIVERSITIES 961 According to Crystal (1997), the interdisciplinary fields of linguistics are (alphabetically) listed as: anthropological linguistics, applied linguistics, biological linguistics, clinical linguistics, computational linguistics, educational linguistics, ethnolinguistics, geographical linguistics, mathematical linguistics, neurolinguistics, philosophical linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, statistical linguistics, and theolinguistics. Linguistics, essentially, sets language, instead of education, as the subject of its study, and inevitably deviates as a system, from the system of education. Such deviation will naturally result in the absence or lack of attention and consideration on some parts in the system of education. To the system of education, such theoretical attendance or effort proves incomplete. In fact, the parts that are left unattended in the system of EECU, as can be seen, are mostly the important ones on the cognitive level. Whatever the causes are, cognitive weakness account essentially for the confusion and erroneous understanding about EECU, and for the poor quality of its operation, i.e., high time-consumption and low efficiency.
The Nature of for What Purposes to Learn in EECU

For what purpose do college students in China learn English? Or what is the functional goal of EECU? These are among the first questions that learners of English in Chinas universities have to be clear about. Most of them do have their answers, but these answers usually crumble in no time upon the hit of rational consideration. A widely hailed answer regarding the functional goal of EECU is I learn English for the purpose of cross-cultural communication. In an age of globalization as an overwhelming trend, this claim does sound both inviting and convincing. Yet, any scrutinizing look may take us to the points which do not hold water. First of all, this claim deviates from the essence of education, especially formal education. In China, EECU has always been part of formal education. Education ... referring to the general process by which a social group ... transmits attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and skills to its members (Borgatta, 2000, p. 798). Formal education is a conscious effort by human society to impart the skills and modes of thought considered essential for social functioning (Lagass, 2000, p. 867). The principal function of education, thus, is to transmit or to impart, and in this process or effort, language serves in the first place as a carrier of information or knowledge, of what is essential for a social group or in a society. Communication, as one of the means of that transmitting or imparting, serves at most a secondary function. Moreover, this claim violates the nature or basic principle of communication. By definition, communication is the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, signals, writing, or behavior (Soukhanov, 1996, p. 383). In turn, exchange is the act or instance of giving in return for something received (Soukhanov, 1996, p. 639). It is easy to learn from this couple of definitions that anyone who intends to be effectively engaged in a communicative act has to be loaded beforehand, with the type of thoughts, messages, or information in order to give in return for something received in the communication. Thus, the loading, transmitting, or imparting, as the prerequisite condition, has to occur prior to any communication. A conclusion can therefore be drawn as such: The chief functional goal of learning English is not for cross-cultural communication, but most possibly for the learning of knowledge. This late assumption may fit well into the mode based on another understanding of cross-cultural
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communication. Our discussion has to start from the concept of culture. Tian, one of the coauthors of the present thesis, once dwelt on the relations among state, nation, culture, and cross-cultural communication (Tian, 2009): Culture, in a sense, is nothing but the way or mode of life for a people. Here, people can be defined as the social group conventionally and legitimately living in a state. Having noticeably coexisted with tribe (the tribe state), polis (the city state), and princedom (the princedom state), state is now coexisting with nation (the nation state). To an ordinary mind, such a chain of equation can naturally be established: A state = A nation = A people = A culture But another conclusion can be drawn simultaneously: Just as the state never stopped with any of the earlier combinations, it will not stop for good with the nation, but will find a new partner. It is beyond our imagination to describe what the new form of state is like, but one thing is certain: This new form of state must be larger in dimension than nation, as a nation is larger than a princedom, a princedom larger than a city state, and so on. Before the emergence of a better name, we call it, for time being, the inter-nation or the international state. Tian pointed out in another co-authored thesis (Tian & Ma, 1999) that the so-called intercultural communication refers on the one hand to the effort of each nation and her members to maintain her well-being and theirs, and on the other hand to the unconscious effort of various nations to prepare for the advent of a new age dominant by international states. The national language, coexistent with the nation state, has played a vital part in the integration of the latter. Yet, with the explosion of knowledge, with the internationalizing trend of states, and with the globalization of economic life, the national language can no longer cover the need of the well-being of its corresponding nation and of the individuals in that nation. A specific language to be accepted by people from various states, nations, or cultures will serve as the international or global language. Its chief function resembles that of the national language: transmitting or imparting of knowledge or information necessary for the well-being of the various nations and the individuals in them, but inaccessible to the reach ofor less effective withthe national language. Unlike any foreign language in the traditional sense which is regional in coverage and caters often only to the particular aspects of interest of some individuals, this international language is global in coverage, and has impacts on all aspects of life of practically all nations and all individuals in these nations. Owing to various factors in history and reality, English has now taken the position as international language. To many of the non-English speaking nations and their people, English comes to combine with each national language to form the bi-lingual set of knowledge carrier and transmission means. The corresponding national language is in the prior position regarding the domain of knowledge that composes that national culture, and English is more often than not in the prior position regarding the domain of knowledge that goes beyond the national boundary. Thus, the learning of English or English education, becomes a necessity in China, simply because the domain of knowledge with Chinese as the sole carrier or transmission means can hardly fulfill peoples need of living a desirable life, which is especially true of the college attendants and the college graduates. The principal functional goal of English education is to transmit or impart the domain or part of knowledge or information which is inaccessible to Chinese or works less effectively done with Chinese.
SOME ONTOLOGICAL ISSUES ON ENGLISH EDUCATION IN CHINAS UNIVERSITIES 963
The Nature of What to Learn in EECU

With the settlement of the issue concerning the functional goal of EEC, including that of EECU, then, here comes the next or succeeding issue: What to learn in EECU? As for EECU, this issue demonstrates itself in the form of two fundamental questions: (1) Who is responsible for what to learn? and (2) Are we learning English for its own sake?. The first question may seem unreasonably raised as it is against the pillar principle of self-motivation in modern education, yet, it does have some significance with EECU. In a co-authored thesis (Tian & Li, 2012), Tian pointed out that, in China, due to the facts that English is rarely related to the daily life of the ordinary people and that the absolute majority of the learners of English and their parentsthe decision on learning English is usually made by the parents instead of learners themselves, who are ignorant of English education or learning of English, EEC has featured, among other things, reason-supportedness and others-directedness. Having been told of the importance of English, prospective learners of English and their parents, even in the remote and backward areas of the country, rationally know the necessity of English education and would like to do their best in such an efforttheir positive attitude being spurred or encouraged not by some visible demand or convenience directly related to the use of English in their daily life, as there has been almost no such happening. Their support to English education comes from the consciousness of the relation of English education to some successful people seen on televisions or heard from some casual chats in the neighborhood. It may come more often from the example of some kids at the next door or a nearby village who have entered some great universities, and thus, completely changed their fate. Anyway, they are reason-supported in terms of EEC. Unlike those conducting their learning in environments or conditions rich in indications or revelations about what is needed in the immediate life, learners of English in China and their parents, though, motivated towards willing involvement of or devotion to English education, know practically nothing about it, and naturally turn to others for directions, i.e., others-directed. It is only natural and necessary that administrators and educators competent are responsible for providing the learners with the directions or instructions on what to learn. To put it simply, prespcriptiveness ought to be a feature in terms of what to learn in EEC as a whole, including EECU. Another issue, regarding what to learn in EECU, that should have received the academic and public attention is the relation between the language knowledge and the knowledge about culture and daily life. Learners of English in China have been taught that We are learning for its sake. Indeed, since the mid-1950s, the education of foreign languages, including English, has been deprived of systematic, substantial knowledge about culture and daily life (Tian, Li, & Qiao, 2013, p. 680). Merely the language aspects are left for EECU. Even for the recent three decades when EECU enjoyed the official, academic, and public attention and favor, the integration of language knowledge with systematic cultural knowledge has never been noticed and sincerely considered by the decision-makers of EECU. This separation has not been inborn or indigenous of EECU. EECU in the period prior to 1949 had witnessed a well-knit combination of language knowledge with cultural or life-related knowledge due to some particular reasons: The models of specialty education in nearly all universities were mostly imported from the US, and as there were rarely specialty textbooks in Chinese. Moreover, these courses were more often taught in English and by those who had had their college education in the US or the UK. Thus, there was no such
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concept or existence as specialty Englisha bottleneck and headache for EECU nowas specialty education was, with few exception, synonymous with English education. It was in the 1950s that EECU went through or suffered a total alteration. English was first deserted as a whole, as a consequence of the deteriorated Sino-US and Sino-UK relationship, and in contrast, the honeymoon of the Sino-USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) relationship. The rare and tiny remnant of EECU started to take after the model of English education in the USSR, which then featured the separation of language and culture. Though English was picked up again some four years later as the Sino-USSR relationship rapidly cooled down and EECU revived in a sense, the nature of EEC was defined as a tool in the struggle against the enemy. This orientation coincided with official consideration of preventing the learnersmostly the youngsterfrom being spiritually polluted. Eventually, this practice hardened into a format, and then, part of the tradition. This separation or isolation of language knowledge from systematic cultural or life-related knowledge is, in fact, one of the major causes for the problem of high time-consumption and low efficiency, a long-lasting nightmare haunting EECU all the decades. Isolated and random bits of language knowledge, failing to find any system of cultural and life-related knowledge to which they attach themselves, can hardly stay in the memory; even the bits that do will soon find that the honor is often too temporary, or even fleeting. Most learners of EECU complain about the poor quality or low efficiency in their learning of English, yet, very few realize that the problem occurs as often a result of the separation or detachment of language knowledge from cultural knowledge. A rebutting question may be raised as such: In the environment where English is learned as a native tongue, little consideration is given to the integration of language knowledge and cultural knowledge. Yet, the fundamental difference is that, in that environment, there exists a hidden but ubiquitous cognitive framework, which may respond to the learning endeavor whenever necessary. The same framework does exist in China for learners of Chinese, but not for learners of English. Thus, for both administrators and learners of EECU, systematic integration of language knowledge and cultural knowledge is a key issue, in consideration not only for the quality or efficiency of learning, but also for the overall goal of EECU, as discussed above.
The Indispensable Position of Testing to EECU

Testing in EECU has been under attack for at least two decades, yet, it remains intact. This seemingly amazing case of paradox shows a simple truth: Testing is indispensable to EECU, or EEC as a whole. Any endeavors, if labeled to be rational, must have something visible as its goal or target, for it will otherwise become aimless. For education of English in its native countries, as teaching of Chinese in China, this kind of goals or targets is readily set at every corner of the learning process, visible to the consciousness or sub-consciousness of learners. But in China, where learning resources are scanty, artificial goals or targets have to be set up so that the learners can avoid aimless learning. In other words, testing marks the difference between a learning endeavor with visible goals and one without them. Moreover, in China, where testing has been skillfully and effectively used in the history, the most feasible form of goals is testing of some kind. This, however, does not mean that the current type of test-oriented practice of EECU is justifiable. The problem with EECU in relation to testing results not from the the existence of testing in EECU, but from the misplacement of testing in the system. In a normal condition, an effective system or an effective set in the system of public or social education is composed of purpose, content, and method, setting a logically jusitifiable circuit (see Table 2).
SOME ONTOLOGICAL ISSUES ON ENGLISH EDUCATION IN CHINAS UNIVERSITIES 965 Table 2 Set of Education in a Normal Condition
Purpose and motivation The overall purpose or goal of education (conceivable to the senses or foreseeable to the mind) Content Materials in whole set or system as are required by the overall purpose or goal Macroscopic Teaching as a system (The arrangement and layout of materials) Method Microscopic Teaching as a process (The concrete handling of materials)
Considering the absence of visible goals or targets in the environment of EECU, an artificial set of visible goals or targets has to be set, and that set has to include reasonable testing. The mode of EECU is, in this sense, test-oriented. Yet, the mode of EECU, as is modified above, is only test-oriented in the sense that the top layers of purpose and motivation and content are clearly present and unaffected by the presence of testing. Or, to be more concrete, the orienting power of testing is seen only in the realm of method in the narrow or microscopic sense. The washback function of testing is used only on the condition that the purpose, the content, and the overall arrangement are readily available, as shown in Tables 3 and 4. Table 3 The Should-Be Position of Testing in the Layout of EEC
Purpose and The overall purpose or goal of education (conceivable to the senses or foreseeable to the mind) motivation Content Materials in whole set or system as is required by the overall purpose or goal Macroscopic Teaching as a system (The arrangement and layout of materials) Testing as the goal of the phase or period Method Microscopic Teaching as a process Learning endeavor to attain the goal of, among other things, success in the tests
If such an arrangement is justifiable, then, the problem with the status quo of test-oriented in EEC is easily recognizable. Table 4 The Actual Position of Testing in the Layout of EEC
Purpose and Lack of something with consideration of entirety and foresight motivation Content Lack of something with consideration of system and function of knowledge in view of life-relevance Macroscopic Lack of something with consideration of the overall purpose and function in view of the learners life Testing as the goal of teaching and learning and the foundation of Method knowledge system Microscopic Teaching as a process Learning endeavor to attain the sole goal of success in the tests
With the lack of a clear purpose and systematic materials, the teaching system cannot function so well as to give learners guidance on the purpose and materials of the learning, learners naturally take testing, the only visible goal, as the purpose of their learning endeavors. Such a magnified functioning of testing, the consequence of the inadequence or absence of worthy purpose or motivation and materials in reasonable and systematic positioningwhich in turn results from the problem with cognitive faculty discussed in first sectionaccounts for or is related to practically all the problems with testing-orientedness of EECU. Thus, EECU is indispensably in need of testing as a visible goal for learners of English, and testing ought to be rightly set under the clearly stated general purpose, systematic materials, and the teaching system.
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Conclusions
China is liable to go lowly without English education, while English education will go incomplete without its part in China. English education has become a cardinal part to the higher education system in China. Yet, it has been in an embarrassing position in the last two decades: On the one hand, it was embraced with hearty enthusiasm or even burning heat by the largest people in the world; on the other hand, it was under constant attack for its inefficient behavior. There is nothing wrong with English education in China, including Chinas universities. The problem is that it has been set on a wrong track, the cause of which used to be an ideological bias and is now a cognitive weakness, especially at the ontological level. As that bias has been largely removed the starting point, thus, it is a reflective brainstorm, aiming at an diagnostic discovery of the root cause of the problems with EECU. EECU should go with a route map. That is the intention of the authors of this paper.
References
Borgatta, E. F. (editor-in-chief). (2000). Encyclopedia of sociology (p. 798). New York: Macmillan Reference Crystal, D. (1997). The Cambridge encyclopedia of language (p. 418). Beijing: Cambridge University Press. Encarta Premium. (2007). Linguistics, the entry of student with Encarta Premium. Copyright of Microsoft. Lagass, P. (ed.). (2000). The Columbia encyclopedia (p. 867). Wisconsin: Columbia University Press. Simpson, J. M. Y. (1979). A first course in linguistics (p. 42). Edinburg: Edinburg University Press. Soukhanov, A. H. (Ed.). (1996). American heritage dictionary of the English language. Houghton: Mifflin Company. Tian, Q. (2009). My views on culture and education. Retrieved from http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_604d3dbe0100eot3.html Tian, Q. (2012). Major causes of problems with English education in China. In English in China Today at the Harbin Institute of Technology (Vol. 2, p. 4). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Tian, Q., & Li, J. H. (2012). Excessive asynchrony and priority inversion in Chinas English education. In English in China Today at the Harbin Institute of Technology (Vol. 1, pp. 16-17). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Tian, Q., & Ma, J. (1999). The position of intercultural communication in human history. Paper presented at The Northern Forum, Harbin, China. Tian, Q., Li, J. H., & Qiao, H. (2013). Three models of English education in Chinas universities. Sino-US English Teaching, 10, 680.
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Exploring an Effective Model to Support Freshmen to Learn Calculus

Jung-Chih Chen, Yung-Ling Lai
National Chiayi University, Chiayi, Taiwan
Within the educational system, many factors may impact students learning. This study is designed to explore an effective model of teaching and learning in the calculus classroom. This is a quasi-experimental study and is conducted for one year. Samples were selected from two classes of freshmen in the engineering college. Basically, both of quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed. Students should understand what they learned is the most important focus. Inside the classroom, the teacher often asks open-ended problems using different kinds of questioning techniques to motivate students interest and promote their understanding. Outside the classroom, students are grouped based on their dormitory assignments. Each group is encouraged to discuss big ideas and do some challenging problems regularly. In addition, in order to examine students understanding, each student needs to submit one page report each week to describe what he/she has learned in the previous week. Several types of data were collected, including all test scores, mathematical writing reports, questionnaires surveys related to motivation and strategy in learning, and selected students interviews data. Some statistical hypothesis tests between the experimental group and the control group and the techniques in multivariate analysis were used to analyze data. Results indicate that students in low achievements usually spend less time each week in writing report and doing homework, and they often dislike of teachers classroom questioning. Keywords: mathematical writing, quasi-experimental study, semi-structured interviews, teachers classroom questioning
Introduction
Many factors influence what students learn, including teachers actions, textbooks selected, and students readiness and willingness to learn. Yet, students should understand what they learned is always the most important concerns. In Taiwan, many math teachers often pay little attention to the process of learning math and directly teach students formulas or algorithms, regardless of the process of reasoning, understanding, and communication. Hence, some students do not understand why and have little motivation or interest in learning mathematics. Thus, many students in high schools often dislike of mathematics. A teacher plays a key role in shaping what calculus is taught and learned in classroom. The NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) remarked that What we teach and how students experience it, are the
This study was partly supported by the NSC (National Science Council) in Taiwan (Grant No.: NSC 99-2511-S-415-009). However, the opinions reflected here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the NSC. Jung-Chih Chen, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Applied Mathematics, National Chiayi University. Yung-Ling Lai, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Chiayi University.
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EXPLORING AN EFFECTIVE MODEL TO SUPPORT FRESHMEN TO LEARN CALCULUS
primary factors that shape students understanding of what mathematics is about (NCTM, 1989). In this study, a model involving mathematical writing and question-based teaching intends to enhance students understanding. Some studies also reported that, through the process of interacting with students, some cognitive contradictions could be happened. This implies to overcome students misconceptions of mathematics and develop correct concepts. Based on the results of Masons (2000) study, there are three different types of teachers classroom questioning, including inquiring, focusing, and testing. Furthermore, Resnick (1995) proposed that there were four techniques available in questioning process, including repetition, re-voicing, questioning, and challenging. Therefore, by using these techniques in the experimental group, we increase the frequencies of classroom questioning to make sure students understanding.
Research Questions
This study is to explore an effective model of teaching and learning in the calculus classroom. One important dimension of this study focused on the impact of mathematical writing on students learning. The second dimension is to see how an effective pedagogy can be evolved within the class. Two primary research questions were the focus of this study, namely: (1) Are there differences in students achievement patterns associated with mathematical writing? (2) To what extent and in what ways are students involved in classroom questioning similar or different in the calculus classroom?
Methodology
The research questions required a project design that captured the complexity of calculus learning and was simultaneously sensitive to the reality of classroom settings. Hence, this research employed both qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews, were used to describe the nature of mathematical writing reports. The quantitative methods employed aggregating data from several achievement tests, graded mathematical writing reports, and questionnaires surveys related to motivation and strategy in learning. Based on the collected data, some statistical hypothesis tests between the experimental group and the control group and the techniques in multivariate analysis were used to analyze. In an effort to reflect a similar background, samples were selected from two freshmen classes in the same departments, located in the engineering college. Each class was composed of about 45 students. In addition, a number of instruments was adopted in order to gauge the processes of teaching and learning calculus. Each of these instruments was briefly described below. Pretest (or Prior Achievement) This was a national test for high school graduates. Before students were admitted to the university, they should take entrance examination in some core courses, including mathematics. This test was designed to provide a common measure about basic ideas of mathematics in high school. Official scores were classified by 15 classes, and the higher class indicated a better performance. At the beginning of this study, data were gathered from existing school records, these data were converted to normal curve equivalents so that they were in a standard format for comparative purpose. Regular Quizzes This test provided a common measure across several sections or topics. Most often, quiz could push
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students to keep up the materials teacher taught. In addition, a teacher might adjust the pace of teaching in class according to the results of quizzes. Maybe we could associate the regular quizzes with mathematics knowledge and skills. Formal Assessments These included the formal midterm and final examinations in each semester. These were often comprehensive tests that measured mathematical understanding, critical thinking, and problem-solving across several chapters. For instance, students might be asked to prove a theorem or to sketch the graph of a function as well as providing short constructed responses. Perhaps, we could associate the formal assessments with problem-solving, reasoning, and communication. Achievement Test This test included a multiple choice with 20-item administered in the late May of each year to all students in the science and engineering college. Test materials included coverage by two semesters. This test measures students basic ability and understanding about differentiation and integration. Mathematical Writing Report Each student was expected to submit one page report each week to describe what he/she has learned in the previous week. These reports were collected and graded by three assistants based on 5-point rubrics (Stonewater, 2002). Questionnaires Survey This survey was designed to collect students motivation and strategy for learning calculus. Basically, most items in this survey were modified from the MSLQ (Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire) so that they were appropriate for calculus classroom (Pintrich & DeGroot, 1990). Semi-structured Interviews Students in the experimental group were divided into three classes based on their semester assessments. That is: (1) below 60 points (low class); (2) 60-75 points (middle class); and (3) above 75 points (high class). From each class, two students were selected for interviews. Therefore, there were totally 12 students selected for interviews under this study. Indeed, individual interviews provided additional perspectives regarding students attitudes about learning calculus.
Findings and Discussions

In most cases, an examination of data on students performances collected in one year showed no significant difference between the experimental group and the control group. Table 1 is a summary of the findings, where a 0.05 level of significance was used throughout. Table 1 Students Background in Mathematics (100 Points System)National Test
Group Statistis Pretest Note. P value = 0.974. The experimental group Mean SD 52.45 14.51 The control group Mean 58.52 SD 14.63
Discussion: No significant difference was detected on students prior achievement (see Table 1).
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Table 2 Students Performances

The experimental group Statistic category Quiz 1 Quiz 2 Midterm Quiz 3 Quiz 4 Final exam Semester score Mid. HP* Fin. HP
* *
The control group SD Second semester 21.99 21.72 18.08 18.85 24.47 23.83 14.25 16.76 32.54 First semester 42.33 58.91 54.47 42.57 47.70 56.52 63.61 38.63 49.57 Mean Second semester 37.51 38.49 64.68 27.05 29.78 54.83 61.41 65.07 60.11 First semester 16.86 17.54 10.65 17.99 16.50 16.92 9.67 18.46 19.87 SD Second semester 17.31 26.85 18.25 14.69 21.47 18.80 11.73 24.62 29.43
First semester 53.20 59.20 59.36 53.61 46.66 50.91 63.48 52.93 50.00
Mean Second semester 54.50 54.68 66.86 34.16 49.77 46.59 60.93 74.98 45.45
First semester 12.34 14.23 15.42 20.70 17.40 15.39 10.37 22.62 21.31
Note. HP stands for high level test problems, including to prove, to sketch, etc..
Discussion: (1) First semester: Midterm (p = 0.902) and final exam (p = 0.203); (2) Second semester: Midterm (p = 0.210) and final exam (p= 0.956). Therefore, no significant difference was detected on students performances in midterm and final exam (see Table 2). Table 3 Students Performances in HP (High Level Test Problems)
Group Statistic First mid. HP* First fin. HP* Second mid. HP* Second fin. HP* Mean 52.93 50.00 74.98 45.45 The experimental group SD 22.62 21.31 16.76 32.54 Mean 38.63 49.57 65.07 60.11 The control group SD 18.46 19.87 24.62 29.43
Discussion: (1) First semester: Mid. HP* (p = 0.001) and fin. HP* (p = 0.460); (2) Second semester: Mid. HP* (p = 0.014) and fin. HP* (p = 0.986). Therefore, no significant difference was detected on students fin. HP*. However, significant differences did exist on students mid. HP* (see Table 3). Table 4 Students Achievement Test
Group Statistis Achievement test Note. P value = 0.605. Mean 63.07 The experimental group SD 18.05 Mean 64.02 The control group SD 15.73
Discussion: No significant difference was detected on students achievement test (see Table 4).
EXPLORING AN EFFECTIVE MODEL TO SUPPORT FRESHMEN TO LEARN CALCULUS Table 5 MSLQ

Group Category statistic Motivation Test Internal motivation anxiety (5)* (7)* 3.290 3.135 4.822 4.399 3.307 3.492 5.013 2.768 Course Self-control value * (5) (3)* 3.913 3.896 3.850 1.883 3.600 3.564 2.646 2.442 Underst -anding (6)* 2.586 4.321 3.005 3.823 Strategy Exercise Class practice attentive (6)* (4)* 4.243 3.399 3.024 2.500 4.080 3.539 1.919 2.273 Study plans (4)* 2.190 2.891 2.547 2.070
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The experimental Mean group SD Mean The control group SD
Notes. * The number in parenthesis indicates the total number of items in this category. Each item is rated by a 5-point scale (5 = Strongly agree; 4 = Agree; 3 = No opinion; 2 = Disagree; and 1 = Strongly disagree).
Discussion: (1) With regard to motivation, Table 5 indicates that students in the experimental group have almost the same internal motivation; have less test anxiety; have higher self-control; and have higher course value; (2) With regard to strategy, Table 5 indicates that students in the control group generally have higher mean except exercise practice. Table 6 Analysis of Some Critical Items Related to Motivation in MSLQ
Question Remark I like calculus now, because I liked mathematics Students in both groups almost have the same level Internal motivation before. (Experimental group: 3.297 and control of internal motivation. group: 3.231) Before test, I am often nervous because of my class Students in the experimental group seem to have low Test anxiety absences. (Experimental group: 2.081 and control anxiety before test. group: 2.923) I believe I can pass if I am present in calculus class Latent factors may include: (1) more teaching and teaching assistants class or discussions. Self-control assistants time offered; and (2) more group (Experimental group: 3.514 and control group: discussions provided. 3.077) I feel that calculus will be important and helpful for Most students in both groups clearly agree with this Course values other core courses, I will take later. (Experimental statement. group: 4.243 and control group: 4.000) Notes. The numbers in parenthesis above indicate the mean of students responses in each group. Each item is rated by a 5-point scale (5 = Strongly agree; 4 = Agree; 3 = No opinion; 2 = Disagree; and 1 = Strongly disagree). Analysis category
Discussion: Test anxiety deserves our attention, students in experimental group have less test anxiety (see Table 6). Table 7 Analysis of Some Critical Items Related to Strategy in MSLQ
Analysis category Question I am able to read class notes, but I seldom do exercises Understanding in textbook. (Experimental group: 2.946 and control group: 3.500) I feel that teaching assistants class helps me pretty Exercise practice much learn calculus. (Experimental group: 4.541 and control group: 4.094) I hope teacher often asks questions in class, or asks Class attentive students to do problems (Experimental group: 2.784 and control group: 3.031) Remark Students in the control group seem to have higher mean. Students in the experimental group are divided into small groups, they often share discussions about exercises. Students in the experimental group seem to have lower expectation about teachers questioning in class.
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(Table 7 to be continued) I first set goals to determine the degree of my studying Most students in both groups disagree with this Study plans hard. As long as 60 points work through. (Experimental statement. group: 2.432 and control group: 2.594) Notes. The numbers in parenthesis above indicate the mean of students responses in each group. Each item is rated by a 5-point scale (5 = Strongly agree; 4 = Agree; 3 = No opinion; 2 = Disagree; and 1 = Strongly disagree).
Discussion: Analysis indicates that both understanding and exercise practice categories deserve our attention (see Table 7). Analysis of Mathematics Writing Reports
HP* mean Below 50 51-59 Above 60
Writing mean 45.45 30.00 45.91
Figure 1. (Mid. HP* + Fin. HP*)/2 vs. mathematical writing score (first semester).
HP* mean Below 50 51-69 Above 70
Writing mean 43.93 50.66 45.57
Figure 2. (Mid. HP* + Fin. HP*)/2 vs. mathematical writing score (second semester).
EXPLORING AN EFFECTIVE MODEL TO SUPPORT FRESHMEN TO LEARN CALCULUS An examination of Figures 1 and 2 revealed that no pattern or trends existed.
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Semester score Below 60 61-69 Above 70
Writing mean 36.22 46.12 45.40
Figure 3. Semester score vs. math writing mean (first semester).
Semester score Below 60 61-69 Above 70
Writing mean 42.78 49.54 46.00
Figure 4. Semester score vs. mathematical writing mean (second semester).
An examination of the Figure 3 revealed that almost a pattern or trends existed. An examination of the Figure 4 revealed that no pattern or trends existed.
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Achievem ent test Below 60 60-70 Above 70
Writing mean 49.00 53.61 64.23
Figure 5. Achievement test vs. mathematical writing mean.
An examination of the Figure 5 revealed that a nice pattern or trends did exist.
Analysis of Mean of Semester Scores vs. Pretest
Mean of sem. score Below 60 60-70 Above 70
Pretest mean 43.83 53.77 55.37
Figure 6. (1 Sem. score + 2 Sem. score)/2 vs. pretest mean.
An examination of the Figure 6 revealed that a nice pattern or trends did exist.
EXPLORING AN EFFECTIVE MODEL TO SUPPORT FRESHMEN TO LEARN CALCULUS Analysis of Interviews Data on Consistence Parts Table 8 Interviews Summary on Consistence Parts
Score class Question & Answer How long did you spend in mathematical writing each week? Did you try your best to write reports? Below 60 60-75 Above 75
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20-30 min. 30-60 min. 15-30 min. Remark: Most students spent about half hour each week. Yes, always try best. Yes! Yes, write many stuff. Remark: All answers are positive. Yes, push to read and promote May clarify concepts and help Yes, help reviews. impression. reviews. Did you feel mathematical writing did help your learning? Remark: Most students feel that mathematical writing can play roles: help reviews, clarify and rethink some concepts taught in class. Help much! For reviews, solve Yes, supplement concepts. Yes, very careful explanation. Did you feel teaching assistant problems. helpful? Remark: Help students learn by grouping, discussing, and sharing.
Discussion: (1) Based on the analyses, most students agree that mathematical writing helps their learning; (2) Most students also agree that a teaching assistant helps them much in learning calculus; (3) Most students spent about half hour in writing report each week (see Table 8). Analysis of Interviews Data on Difference Parts Table 9 Interviews Summary on Difference Parts
Score class Below 60 60-75 Above 75 Question & Answer Just ok Great! Have room to get better Were you satisfied in your Unsatisfactory semester score? Remark: Students in low achievement class were usually not satisfied in their semester scores. About 2-4 hours 3-4 hours How long did you spend in About 1 hour calculus each week? Remark: The first semester spent more time, the second semester spent less time. Sometimes, I can Impossible Could you express your Difficult Sometimes, I can not thoughts? Remark: Difficulty includes too many mathematical symbols, English textbook, etc.. Hope, check if I am able to do Yes, do hope Did you hope teachers Not hope questioning in class? Remark: Students in low achievement class did not hope teachers classroom questioning.
Discussion: (1) Students generally spent more time in writing report in the first semester; (2) Students in high and middle achievement class general hope teachers questioning in calculus classroom. On the contrary, students in low achievement class usually dislike of questioning (see Table 9).
Conclusions
According to the coefficients in Tables 10 and 11 below, we see that the variable mathematical writing plays a little role in the first principal component. Yet, Figure 5, Figure 3, and Table 5 provided positive information about the potential role of mathematical writing, although no significant difference was detected on students midterm and final exam based on the results of Table 2. Actually, an examination of Figure 5 revealed that a nice pattern or trends did exist. Future research may expand the size of samples associated with mathematical writing or explore the impact of classroom questioning on teachers practice.
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Table 10 Principal Component Analysis for the First Semester

Eigenanalysis of the correlation matrix Eigenvalue 3.2928 Proportion 0.5490 Cumulative 0.5490 Variable 1 Quiz mean 1 Midterm 1 Final exam 1 Pretest 1 HP mean 1 Writing (Normal curve equivalent) 0.9949 0.1660 0.7150 PC 1 0.487 0.479 0.481 0.316 0.437 0.111 0.7268 0.1210 0.8360 0.5134 0.0860 0.9210 0.3187 0.0530 0.9740 PC 2 0.031 0.046 -0.065 -0.263 -0.066 0.959 0.1534 0.0260 1.0000
Table 11 Principal Component Analysis for the Second Semester

Eigenanalysis of the correlation matrix Eigenvalue 3.7747 Proportion 0.6290 Cumulative 0.6290 Variable 2 Quiz mean 2 HP mean 2 Writing (Normal curve equivalent) 2 Midterm 2 Final exam 2 Achievement test 0.9995 0.1670 0.7960 PC 1 0.484 0.469 0.056 0.446 0.479 0.337 0.6846 0.1140 0.9100 0.2614 0.0440 0.9530 0.1480 0.0250 0.9780 PC 2 -0.010 -0.055 0.988 -0.055 -0.078 0.111 0.1318 0.0220 1.0000
References
Keyon, P. W. (1989). Writing is problem solving. In P. Connolly, & T. Vilardi (Eds.), Writing to learn mathematics and science (pp.73-87). New York: Teacher College. Mason, J. (2000). Asking mathematical questions mathematically. International Journal of Mathematical Educational in Science and Technology, 31(1), 97-111. NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics). (1989). Curriculum and evaluation standards for school mathematics. Reston, V.A.: NCTM. NCTM. (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Reston, V.A.: NCTM. Pintrich, P. R., Smith, D. A. F., Garcia, T., & Mckeachie, W. J. (1993). Reliability and predictive validity of the motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (MSLQ). Educational and Psychological Measurement, 53, 801-813. Pintrich, P. R., & DeGroot, E. V. (1990). Motivational and self-regulated learning components of classroom academic performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 33-40. Porter, M. K., & Masingila, J. O. (2000). Examing the effects of writing on conceptual and procedural knowledge in calculus. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 42, 165-177. Resnick, L. B. (1995). Inventing arithmetic: Making childrens intuition work in school. In C. A. Nelson (Ed.), Basic and applied perspectives on learning, cognition, and development. Mahwsh, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Stonewater, J. K. (2002). The mathematics writers checklist: The development of a preliminary assessment tool for writing in mathematics. School Science and Mathematics, 102(7), 324-334. Wragg, E. C., & Brown, G. (2001). Questioning in the secondary school. New York: Routledge Famler.

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US-China Education Review

David Publishing Company www.davidpublishing.com

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US-China Education Review

Educational Evaluation and Assessment

Educational Theory and Practice

Curriculum and Teaching

TEACHERS SELF-EFFICACY ON SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

TEACHERS SELF-EFFICACY ON SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

TEACHERS SELF-EFFICACY ON SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

Data Analysis Procedure

Interpretation and Discussion of Results

TEACHERS SELF-EFFICACY ON SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

TEACHERS SELF-EFFICACY ON SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

Table 3 A Distribution of Teachers Self-efficacy Levels

20 (22.2) 31 (34.4) 26 (28.9) 6 (13.6) 12 (27.3) 18 (40.9)

7 (7.8) 2.91 6 (13.6) 2.55

TEACHERS SELF-EFFICACY ON SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 1 (1.1) 0 (0.0)

4.22 4.23 3.74 3.60 3.46 3.82

TEACHERS SELF-EFFICACY ON SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

Table 5 Results of Correlation Between Teacher Qualification and Teacher efficacy

Notes. Ns: Not significant; S: Significant; and p < 0.05.

TEACHERS SELF-EFFICACY ON SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

TEACHERS SELF-EFFICACY ON SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

TEACHERS SELF-EFFICACY ON SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

Teachers Perspectives on Principals Leadership in Mexican Schools

TEACHERS PERSPECTIVES ON PRINCIPALS LEADERSHIP IN MEXICAN SCHOOLS

Perspective or Theoretical Framework

TEACHERS PERSPECTIVES ON PRINCIPALS LEADERSHIP IN MEXICAN SCHOOLS

TEACHERS PERSPECTIVES ON PRINCIPALS LEADERSHIP IN MEXICAN SCHOOLS

Classroom Management and Feedback Systems

Starichenko Boris, Egorov Artem

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT AND FEEDBACK SYSTEMS

Formulation of Research Problem

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT AND FEEDBACK SYSTEMS

Technical Aspects of CRS

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT AND FEEDBACK SYSTEMS

Didactic Models and Functions of CRS

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT AND FEEDBACK SYSTEMS

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT AND FEEDBACK SYSTEMS

REFORMING EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT FOR NATIONAL SECURITY

REFORMING EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT FOR NATIONAL SECURITY

REFORMING EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT FOR NATIONAL SECURITY

REFORMING EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT FOR NATIONAL SECURITY

Models for Managing the English Language of Test Items

REFORMING EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT FOR NATIONAL SECURITY

REFORMING EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT FOR NATIONAL SECURITY

REFORMING EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT FOR NATIONAL SECURITY

EXPLORATION ON KEYESS MODEL OF MENTAL HEALTH

EXPLORATION ON KEYESS MODEL OF MENTAL HEALTH

EXPLORATION ON KEYESS MODEL OF MENTAL HEALTH

EXPLORATION ON KEYESS MODEL OF MENTAL HEALTH

EXPLORATION ON KEYESS MODEL OF MENTAL HEALTH

Results and Discussion

Table 2 Goodness-of-Fit of the CFA Models (n = 636)

Cronbach alpha 0.78 0.71 0.52 0.81 0.87

EXPLORATION ON KEYESS MODEL OF MENTAL HEALTH

EXPLORATION ON KEYESS MODEL OF MENTAL HEALTH

EXPLORATION ON KEYESS MODEL OF MENTAL HEALTH

0.78 p < 0.001

Table 5 Social Phobia