In the broad field of education, studies have been done to understand the ways in which adult learning, development, and transformation are fostered in travel contexts. Such studies mainly used the experiential learning and transformational learning theoretical frameworks to look at participants’ lived learning experiences from travel. However, there is a void when one searches for studies that examine the intersection of self-directed learning and travel. This study used self-directed learning theory to explore the essence of learning from foreign travel experiences. The aim of this study was to understand the role of self-directed learning as a learning process that adults use to design and pursue learning and personal enrichment experiences in foreign travel contexts. This was about understanding the ways in which adults find joy in travel through creating their own learning environments. Qualitative interviews were gathered from participants who wished to share their experiences and conclusions were reported following a phenomenological framework. Today, becoming a self-directed learner is more important and prevalent than ever. Especially with the improved ease of use with technology to find and/or create learning opportunities and the availability of a multitude of travel options, information and experience-seekers have today a variety of ways to satisfy their hunger for personal enrichment. In an age when more adult learners are taking learning experiences into their own hands and looking to explore the foreign destinations that they might have only read about in books, or searched for online, it is important for travel-related providers and academic thought-leaders to understand the self-directed learning process as it relates to adult learners in foreign travel contexts. The findings of this study show that Knowles’ self-directed learning theory can be an applicable and advantageous learning framework to be utilized during foreign travel experiences and that traveling with learning goals and strategies enhances such experiences. My personal goal with this project was to give readers a better understanding of how self-directed individuals learn through travel and an applicable construct with which to do so.

This study took place at Florida International University (FIU), a large public research university in Miami, Florida and one of largest Hispanic serving institutions in the United States. The purpose of this study was to explore the motivations of non-Japanese undergraduate students for taking a beginners’ Japanese language course. In-depth one-hour semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 participants before the fall semester of 2014 (Phase I) and 10 after the semester (Phase II). Two major themes emerged from the inductive analysis of the data: attraction to Japanese culture and utility of using the Japanese language. Sub-themes for attraction to Japanese culture were anime and manga, martial arts and various types of games. Sub-themes for utility of using the Japanese language were study abroad and employment which both require residing in Japan. In particular to Phase II, three other themes emerged: a sense of community, openness to others, and investment of time. The findings were analyzed through the lens of L2 motivational-self system. L2 is a foreign language that is not the native language of the speaker. The L2 motivational self-system supports the idea that the images of a possible future-self as a successful learner in L2 acquisition which directs a language learner to have motivating behavior The researcher saw significant changes in participants’ motivational level during qualitative comparative analysis of Phase I and II, especially for those who had and/or gained possible future L2 ideal-self during L2 learning experience. The findings might be used by policy makers or curriculum developers for Japanese language education to refine, enhance or strengthen the competency-goals for Japanese instructions. Moreover, the findings suggested that by creating a personally relevant and inspiring vision of possible-future ideal L2 self, the students will be inherently motivated, which then allows the instructors to be more productive and effective in their teaching.

The purpose of this study was to determine international students satisfaction with regards to the education, services, and facilities at an institution of higher education. Results showed that most of the students were satisfied with the quality of programs at their institution.

This diploma thesis deals with the comparison of education of upper secondary teachers in chosen countries including the Czech Republic. Its objective is to analyse requirements for teachers' training, qualifications and continuing professional development. The thesis primarily looks into the organisation of the education system and governance, legislation and principals of upper secondary teachers' training in chosen countries. The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first one specifies the environment of chosen countries using different criteria (the Czech Republic, England and Wales, Finland) and also the teachers' training, qualification and development dilemma in particular countries is detailed in this part. The countries involved are described in general (geographic location, political system, social, cultural and economic situation). The outline of the development and current situation of each society contributes to the understanding of particular systems of education. Chosen countries are characterised by a considerable geographic distance and also by different historical development. The general information is enhanced with legislation and administration and governance specifics. We can assess the causes and consequences of various factors which can influence teachers' education...

Im Mittelpunkt der Arbeit steht Bildungssponsoring als organisatorisches Verfahren der Finanzierung. Verfahren regeln in Bildungsorganisationen und im Bildungswesen organisatorische Abläufe - das gilt auch für das Sponsoring. WATERKAMP thematisiert die Tatsache, dass die Abläufe in Bildungsinstitutionen und im Bildungswesen insgesamt durch Verfahren reguliert werden. Er weist auf die erziehungswissenschaftliche Relevanz des Themas "Verfahren" hin, die sich insbesondere in der international vergleichenden Sicht erschließt. Anknüpfend an diese Grundlegungen geht die Arbeit folgenden Fragen nach: Durch welche Besonderheiten ist das Finanzierungsverfahren "Bildungssponsoring" gekennzeichnet? Welche Varianten gibt es in den organisatorischen Abläufen des Bildungssponsorings? Welche Implikationen und Folgen hat diese Verfahren für die organisatorische und pädagogische Gestaltung der Bildung an beruflichen Schulen? Ziel dieser Untersuchung ist zu verdeutlichen, welche legalen, strukturellen und geistigen Voraussetzungen für eine positive Wirksamkeit des Verfahrens geschaffen und welche möglichen Risiken bei der Nutzung des Verfahrens berücksichtigt werden müssen.

This text is the carefully adapted transcription of the recording of the presentation of Zheng Li and Huo Gua at the symposium in Leipzig 2014. Prof. Dr. Zheng Li read parts of her presentation in Chinese language alternating with her assistant Huo Gua, who translated into English. Only the English part is printed in this book. The title is given from the editor.

The chapter starts systematically clarifying the meaning of comparing and then steps into the field addressing systematic problems of comparative research in music education historically and theoretically. Picking up an idea of Bray & Thomas, finally the field of comparative music education is sketched in the form of a cube.

This study analyzed hypothetical would-clauses presented in Korean high school English textbooks from two perspectives: real language use and Focus on Form approach. Initiated by an interest in the results of a corpus study, this study discussed hypothetical would-clauses in terms of how their descriptions in Korean EFL textbooks matched real language use. This study additionally investigated whether the textbooks presented the target language features in ways recommended by the Focus on Form approach. In the past few decades, authentic language use and the Focus on Form approach have received a great amount of attention in the SLA field. Recognizing the trend in SLA as well as necessities in Korean EFL education, the Korean government has incorporated these two into the current 7th curriculum. Such condition provided the momentum for the evaluation of the textbooks in these respects. The findings show that the language features were hardly supplemented by the information drawn from real language data. In addition, there were very few attempts to draw learner attention to language forms while keeping them focused on communication as recommended by Focus on Form approach. With increasing use of the English language, it is becoming more necessary for Korean EFL learners to use English in real life contexts where understanding correct nuances and delivering appropriate expressions may be important. Also, in EFL contexts like Korea, the students may have limited access to the target language input and little opportunities to produce outputs in extracurricular settings, so the integrated methodology of Focus on Form approach, rather than just using either one of structure-centered or meaning-oriented approach, would be of greater benefit to the students. However, the results strongly indicate that the textbooks neither incorporate the language features as they occur in naturally occurring language nor present them as to facilitate the learning of both form and meaning. This study suggests that greater use of real language data and more thorough application of Focus on Form methods in the textbook writing process should be seriously considered. Thus, this study could be useful for curriculum developers and textbook writers in creating curriculum and language materials concerning the incorporation of grammar patterns based on actual language use as well as in improving textbooks with respect to the Focus on Form approach.

This study used the capability approach as a lens to understand teacher quality from both the perspective of educational leaders and practicing teachers in a rural community in central Malawi. The overarching question of this research study was “How can the capability approach inform our understanding of teacher quality from both the perspective of educational leaders and practicing teachers?” The focus questions to guide this research were: What do national educational leaders value in a quality teacher? What do rural, Malawian, female teachers value in teaching? How do these teachers pursue and achieve what they value in teaching? This study included qualitative data collection and analysis of two specific contexts: the official context of educational leadership and educational policy in Malawi and the teacher context of daily life working in a rural school in Malawi. The official context was concerned with the larger field of educational policy that impacts education in rural Malawian communities. These data were collected through document review and semi-structured interviews with educational leaders at primary schools, secondary schools, school zone leaders, and teacher training college staff. Additional data about the official context were collected via review of documents regarding the official definition of quality teaching. The research site for investigating the teacher context was a rural community in the central region of Malawi. Data were collected through interviews and observation of female, primary school teachers from four school sites within a single school zone. The discussion and analysis of the data collected in both research contexts include the values of teacher participants, the ability of the teachers to achieve their valued functionings, common constraints experienced by teachers, as well as comparison of the valued functions of teachers to the valued teacher functions defined by official documents and educational leaders. The discussion and conclusions from this research include policy recommendations regarding teacher quality and thoughts on the further application of the capability approach to understanding teacher quality.

L’évaluation des apprentissages est un thème central dans le contexte scolaire qui préoccupe de nombreux acteurs s’inscrivant de près ou de loin dans le quotidien des salles de classe et des pratiques et décisions qui s’articulent au sein de celles-ci : ministères de l’Éducation, directions d’établissements, enseignants, élèves et parents. En parallèle, les concepts d’efficacité et de performance sous-jacents au néolibéralisme (Levasseur, 2006) tendent à se tailler une place grandissante dans certains pans de la gestion du système éducatif québécois, entre autres (Duclos, 2014). Dans d’autres systèmes éducatifs, comme celui de la Finlande, c’est plutôt la mise de l’avant du processus d’apprentissage et de l’accompagnement de l’élève dans ce processus par le biais de l’évaluation qui ressort apparemment du discours éducatif. Les pratiques d’évaluation des apprentissages, puisqu’elles sont à la fois soumises à de nombreuses contraintes et dynamiques sociales ayant cours entre plusieurs acteurs scolaires ou extrascolaires, peuvent constituer un reflet pertinent du contexte éducatif et évaluatif au sein duquel elles s’insèrent. D’un autre côté, d’autres acteurs du milieu scolaire peuvent aussi nous permettre de mieux comprendre les enjeux et mécanismes entourant l’évaluation des apprentissages : les élèves. Comment vivent-ils avec l’évaluation dans le contexte éducatif précis qui les concerne ? S’agit-il d’un passage obligé sans réelles conséquences graves ou d’un processus plus difficilement vécu par ces derniers ? La littérature relève à ce propos plusieurs impacts significatifs de l’évaluation sur les élèves. C’est donc en nous attardant non seulement aux perceptions d’enseignants quant à de tels impacts et aux éléments influençant leurs choix évaluatifs, mais aussi aux pratiques évaluatives autodéclarées de ces acteurs du contexte scolaire que nous avons tenté d’appréhender la culture évaluative de deux contextes bien distincts : celui du Québec et de la Finlande. Cette recherche de maitrise se veut explorer, d’un point de vue sociologique interactionniste, les mécanismes de création et de variation d’une telle culture dans différents contextes ainsi que les possibles retombées de celle-ci sur les élèves. Cette exploration a été permise notamment par un fort désir de recours au terrain nous ayant menés à réaliser des entretiens avec des enseignants issus des deux contextes étudiés. / Learning assessment is a central theme in the school context that preoccupies many actors who are involved in the day-to-day life of classrooms and the practices and decisions that are made within them: Departments of Education, school principals, teachers, students and parents. Concurrently, the concepts of efficiency and performance inherent to neoliberalism (Levasseur, 2006) tend to play an increasingly important role in certain management aspects of the Quebec education system, among others (Duclos, 2014). In other education systems, such as Finland’s, it is rather the emphasis on the learning process and supporting the student in this process through evaluation that apparently emerges from the educational discourse. Since learning assessment practices are subject to numerous constraints and social dynamics between several school or out-of-school actors, they can accurately reflect the educational and assessment context in which they are used. However, there are other actors in the school environment can also help us better understand the issues and mechanisms surrounding learning assessment: the students themselves. How do they cope with evaluation in the specific educational context that concerns them? Is it an obligatory step with no real serious consequences, or is it a process that is more difficult for them? In this regard, the literature identifies several significant impacts of evaluation on students. By focusing not only on teachers’ perceptions of such impacts and the elements influencing their evaluative choices, but also on the self-declared evaluative practices of these actors in the school context, we have attempted to understand the evaluative culture of two very distinct contexts: Quebec and Finland. This master’s research aims to explore, from a sociological interactionist point of view, the creation and variation mechanisms of such a culture in different contexts as well as the possible repercussions of this culture on the students. This exploration was made possible by a strong desire to do fieldwork, which led us to conduct interviews with teachers from the two contexts studied.