The purpose of this study was to examine the construct validation of an instrument based on students university choice and their perceptions of professor effectiveness and academic reputation at the University of Los Andes (ULA). Moreover, a comparative analysis was carried out to determine how the selected factors that influence the students decisions and perceptions differ according to student demographic factors such as: gender and university campus. This instrument was developed with items based on the three domains formulated: university choice process, professor effectiveness, and university academic reputation. To determine the instruments appropriateness to measure the students decisions in university choice process and their perceptions about professor effectiveness and university academic reputation at the ULA, this research examined the reliability of scores by domains and factors across domains. The participants were undergraduate students who were registered in the second semester of 2002 and enrolled in the different courses by college within the ULAs main campus, which consists of ten colleges throughout the city of Merida, and within the other two university branch campuses in Tachira and Trujillo. For purposes of this research, a stratified probability sample was used to select the participants. The data show that the instrument designed has adequate internal consistency reliability estimates (all the domains exceeded .70). The confirmatory factor analysis shows that the overall fit indices revealed values at or close to the acceptable range .90, even when the model has statistically significant chi-square and demonstrates significant problems with some of the standardized residuals, which indicates that the fit of the model could possibly be significantly improved. The modified model revealed a relatively small improvement in the overall goodness of fit. These results provide supportive evidence of construct validity. Finally, the multivariate analyses of variance using gender and university campus as the predictor variables revealed a nonsignificant gender effect and a significant university campus effect, respectively. The Tukey multiple comparison test used to determine university campus differences across the domains showed approximately similar results, although they are separate and distinguishable. ULA-Merida established the highest mean scores when they are compared on the factors that influence their decisions in university choice process and their perceptions about professor effectiveness and university academic reputation, and the campus 1 (NURR-Trujillo) show the smaller mean scores.

While various studies have investigated the effectiveness of certain types of error treatment methods, there has been little linguistic research conducted to examine how actual language teachers have been dealing with L2 learners’ written errors. The current research was designed to investigate the types of written errors ESL teachers corrected and the types of error treatment methods they used to correct those errors in the context of Bond University on the Cold Coast. Moreover, it was intended to highlight the relationship between the literature and actual practice in terms of error treatment of written work. In this study, sixty-six students’ written texts corrected by nine different teachers were collected and examined. The teachers’ treatment of the learner errors found in each sample were identified and classified according to their features. The findings from both quantitative and qualitative data on the patterns of error treatment were analysed, and following this, various comparisons were made. The results of the study indicated that despite the current trend of language teaching, error treatment was frequently provided by the teachers in the ESL classrooms. Moreover, the teachers constantly corrected the deviations of local aspects of the language, which did not seriously influence the intelligibility. In addition, the results of the study also demonstrated that the teachers used both explicit types and implicit types of correction methods in a hybrid manner, and they altered their mode of correction depending on the types of errors. They tended to provide explicit correction for wrong vocabulary and sentence construction errors whereas other surface features, such as grammatical and mechanical errors were generally highlighted with implicit correction, especially with correction codes. The findings of this study suggest that increasing the use of less-time consuming error treatment methods for rule-governed lexical errors and educating learners to be able to carry out self-correction could reduce the teachers’ burden of written error treatment. Moreover, constant information exchange would allow the teachers to revise, refine and change their ways to deal with errors. Until clear effectiveness of certain patterns of error treatment is proven by further studies, these suggestions could be made in order to maximise the benefits of the teachers’ treatment of written errors.

No description available.

Graduation date: 1995

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

No description available.

This mini-dissertation reports on a case study of teachers' perceptions of the performance appraisal system used at an independent school in the greater Durban area in Kwa-Zulu Natal. As the system was implemented at a time when appraisal was only mandatory in government schools and not in / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

Teacher evaluation is a management tool for all educational organizations as it is used to research information on teacher performance. Information on teacher performance is important in the decision making process regarding employment of teachers, confirmation of appointment, and identifying potential for promotion and staff development. Over the years teachers have raised serious reservations about teacher evaluation procedures in South Arica. In the apartheid days teacher evaluation was summative and contentious. It was marked by unannounced visits by inspectors to observe teachers' lessons. No feedback would be offered after they left. This system was not very well received by educators and teacher unions. Teacher lobby groups, belonging mainly to S.A.D.T.U rejected this system and demanded that it be removed. This case study is a qualitative study of the perceptions of educators in the ex Model C schools in the Queensburgh area, these schools were previously under The House of Assembly and only admitted white children. The study aims to capture to some extent the feelings, views, attitudes and perceptions of the educators towards DAS. The interviews with these educators have provided me with direct evidence of teachers' perceptions towards DAS. DAS was introduced in 1998 and it replaced an autocratic, judgmental and summative system. This system allowed the educator to identify his own developmental needs, through a democratic and formative process with the participation of education managers, peers and experts. This is a developmental approach and it is important at the planning stage to build in time for reflection and improvement in developing strategies. The overall impression gained from the study was that most educators were favorably disposed towards DAS. DAS was found to be a good system and that it would definitely have a positive impact on the professional development and growth of the teacher. However, some educators had reservations about this new system of evaluation. They felt that it was too time consuming and the system allowed for abuse. The policy gave educators the opportunity to review their work output, their strengths and weaknesses, but most of all DAS allowed for helpful and supportive advice and guidance This is a developmental approach and it is important at the planning stage to build in time for reflection and improvement in development strategies for educators to identify their own developmental needs, through a democratic and formative process, together with the participation of education managers, peers and experts. If implemented correctly DAS can make a positive impact on our present education system. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

The re-structuring and re-conceptualization of the South African Education System after 1994, necessitated a transformation of the evaluation process. The emphasis was now on enhanced performance at school level. This is clearly stipulated and documented in the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996. Thus, it was with such policy initiatives that the Developmental Appraisal System of South Africa (DAS), was designed, developed and implemented at school level. The rationale focussed on improving the quality of teaching and learning and organizational growth and development. This research explores how the Developmental Appraisal System has moved from being entrenched with inflexible characteristics to a more educator-friendly approach of evaluation. The appraisee is the principle role player in the whole process. The purpose of this research is to undertake a case study to evaluate the implementation of the Developmental Appraisal System (DAS) at a single secondary school in the North Durban Region. The main finding was that due to multi-faceted reasons, this school has not been able to complete the implementation of the DAS. A small percentage of educators have been appraised. However, this is not sufficient to improve organizational growth and ensure that teacher development is taking place. The research makes recommendations based on the findings which if implemented could change the educator's perception of DAS. The emphasis is on developmental rather than criticism. In this way the culture of teaching and learning can improve. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.