Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy / There were two major aims in the current study. The first was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Thai Social and Emotional Skill Rating Scale (TSESRS) developed by the author. The measurement model of this material is a three factor model containing social skills, emotional skills, and social-cognitive skills. These factors were measured from eight indicators. Data were collected from 685 lower secondary school students who were studying in schools under the jurisdiction of the Phatthalung Educational Area Office, Thailand. Materials used in this phase were the trial version of the TSESRS, the Thai Emotional Skill Scale (TESS) and the Thai Social Skill Scale (TSSS). The evidence suggested that the following psychometric properties of the TSESRS are within the acceptable cut-off levels: item-validity, item-reliability, item-discrimination, test-reliability, construct validity, criterion related validity, and factorial validity. It was also found that a three factor model was the best fitting model. These results suggest that the TSESRS measures three distinct latent constructs, that is, social skills, emotional skills, and social-cognitive skills. The second aim was to examine the structural relationship of three exogenous variables, that is, social skills, emotional skills, and social-cognitive skills with two types of behaviour problems, that is, internalizing and externalizing problems. Data for this phase were collected from 951 students drawn from the same population as the first phase. Materials used for data collection were the TSESRS and the Thai version of the Youth Self-Report (YSR). The results revealed that among the three exogenous variables, social-cognitive skills was the only significant predictor of both internalizing and externalizing problems. The relationship between social-cognitive skills and two types of behaviour problems was negative. This means that the higher a students’ social-cognitive skills, the lower their level of internalizing and externalizing problems. The indicators of social cognitive skills were emotion control, problem solving, and decision making skills. This finding has important implications for dealing with behaviour problems in Thai students. Thai teachers or educators may use these findings for selecting from available programs or for developing new programs.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy / There were two major aims in the current study. The first was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Thai Social and Emotional Skill Rating Scale (TSESRS) developed by the author. The measurement model of this material is a three factor model containing social skills, emotional skills, and social-cognitive skills. These factors were measured from eight indicators. Data were collected from 685 lower secondary school students who were studying in schools under the jurisdiction of the Phatthalung Educational Area Office, Thailand. Materials used in this phase were the trial version of the TSESRS, the Thai Emotional Skill Scale (TESS) and the Thai Social Skill Scale (TSSS). The evidence suggested that the following psychometric properties of the TSESRS are within the acceptable cut-off levels: item-validity, item-reliability, item-discrimination, test-reliability, construct validity, criterion related validity, and factorial validity. It was also found that a three factor model was the best fitting model. These results suggest that the TSESRS measures three distinct latent constructs, that is, social skills, emotional skills, and social-cognitive skills. The second aim was to examine the structural relationship of three exogenous variables, that is, social skills, emotional skills, and social-cognitive skills with two types of behaviour problems, that is, internalizing and externalizing problems. Data for this phase were collected from 951 students drawn from the same population as the first phase. Materials used for data collection were the TSESRS and the Thai version of the Youth Self-Report (YSR). The results revealed that among the three exogenous variables, social-cognitive skills was the only significant predictor of both internalizing and externalizing problems. The relationship between social-cognitive skills and two types of behaviour problems was negative. This means that the higher a students’ social-cognitive skills, the lower their level of internalizing and externalizing problems. The indicators of social cognitive skills were emotion control, problem solving, and decision making skills. This finding has important implications for dealing with behaviour problems in Thai students. Thai teachers or educators may use these findings for selecting from available programs or for developing new programs.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Also available in print.

abstract: The population of intellectually gifted youth encompasses a wide range of abilities, talents, temperaments, and personality characteristics. Although generalizations are often made outside of the empirical literature regarding the interpersonal skills of these children, much remains to be understood about their social behavior. The aim of this study was to examine the within-group differences of gifted children, and it was hypothesized that subgroups of the gifted population would differ from each other in terms of interpersonal skill development. Gifted education teachers within a large K-12 public school district in the Southwestern United States completed the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) regarding the social-emotional competence of 206 elementary and middle school students classified as gifted. Correlational analyses and factorial analysis of variance were conducted to compare interpersonal skills (as measured by DESSA ratings) and students' level of giftedness, area of identification as gifted, gender, and age. Results indicated that interpersonal skills were significantly related to gender, area of identification, and level of giftedness. Female children were described as having significantly higher levels of interpersonal skills overall, and children identified as gifted with both nonverbal and quantitative measures exhibited significantly higher levels of interpersonal skills than those identified with verbal or nonverbal measures alone. Significant correlations were also observed between the level of children's estimated gifted abilities and their interpersonal skills. Trends in the data suggested that as children's cognitive abilities increased, their interpersonal skills also increased, placing profoundly gifted children at social advantages over their moderately gifted peers. However, it was also noted that although the two variables were significantly related, they were not commensurate. While children presented with above-average cognitive abilities, their interpersonal skills were within the average range. This suggests that gifted children may benefit from interventions that target interpersonal skill development, in an effort to bring their social skills more in line with their cognitive abilities. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Psychology 2012

The ability to write in a second language is one of the major skills required in academic settings. However, research about the effectiveness of academic programs on second language writing in long term perspective is rather scarce and the findings are mixed (e.g. Archibald, 2001; Elder & O’Loughlin, 2003; Hu, 2007; Knoch et al., 2014, 2015; Storch 2007). The present study aimed to contribute further empirical evidence about the effectiveness of academic training on the development of the writing skills of Vietnamese second language learners enrolled in an undergraduate English program. The investigation was designed in view of the L2 writing standards set by the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and in reference to the specificities of the Vietnamese English language educational system. The sample involved a total of 90 participants, 30 from each of the following CEFR English language proficiency levels: B1, B2, and C1. The instrument was modeled after the IELTS Academic Module Writing Task 2 which requires test-takers to write a minimum of 250-word essay on a given prompt. The participants’ essays were scored by two independent raters following the IELTS Writing Task 2 Band Descriptors. The data was analyzed through 5 one-way ANOVAs, which aimed to compare the three levels of proficiency, B1, B2, and C1, on their overall writing scores, and on each of the two macro (Task Response and Cohesion and Coherence) and micro sills (Lexical Resources and Grammatical Range and Accuracy) The results revealed two main trends. First, it was found that the writing skills of Vietnamese L2 learners of English have shown a significant improvement in the course of their study, across proficiency levels. Second, the development was of a bigger magnitude between levels B1 and B2 and on a smaller scale between levels B2 and C1. The latter trend appears more meaningful when juxtaposed with the expected IELTS writing band score ranges for each of the three CEFR levels investigated in the present study. Specifically, the obtained scores matched the CEFR standards at level B2, but were above the expected minimum score for level B1 and below the minimum expected score for level C1. These findings carry valuable implications for the specific Vietnamese educational context, highlighting both the strengths and lacks of the English language writing curriculum. They pinpoint issues related to the placement of students in CEFR levels without specific empirical data as well as raise questions about the time, effort, and teaching practices necessary to secure learners’ progress from lower to higher proficiency, particularly after level B1. Another contribution of the study is that it examined developments in L2 academic writing both on the macro and micro level, and has, thus, offered a more comprehensive picture of the different components of the writing skill and their development through a course of study. In contrast, existing research has either looked at the writing skill in a holistic way or focused on one or some of its elements, but has rarely approached writing as a balanced composite of macro and micro skills.

Rápidos avanços da tecnologia e desenvolvimentos em diversos campos da ciência têm provocado mudanças profundas no mercado de trabalho. Nesse contexto, é bem documentado o papel relevante das competências socioemocionais no desenvolvimento de competências para o trabalho, sugerindo que os retornos do mercado de trabalho para habilidades não cognitivas têm aumentado ao longo do tempo e que os retornos são particularmente fortes para indivíduos que possuem habilidades cognitivas e não cognitivas. Nosso estudo busca trazer evidências do retorno associado às competências socioemocionais no mercado de trabalho brasileiro. Encontramos evidências de que existe um retorno positivo associado às competências socioemocionais e que esse retorno é diferente entre grupos de ocupação. Acreditamos que este conhecimento possa incentivar e reforçar as parcerias entre governos, educadores, formadores, trabalhadores e empregadores, a fim de gerir melhor o impacto transformador da Quarta Revolução Industrial no emprego, nas competências e na educação do Brasil. / Rapid advances in technology and developments in various science fields are driving deeply changes in the labor market. In this context, the relevant role of social-emotional skills in the development of job skills is well documented, suggesting that labor market returns to non-cognitive skills have been increasing over time and the pay-offs are particularly strong for individuals who have both cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Our study seeks to bring evidence of the return associated with social-emotional skills in the Brazilian labor market. We found evidence that there is a positive return associated with socialemotional skills and that this return is different between occupation groups. We believe that this knowledge can encourage and strengthen partnerships between governments, educators, trainers, workers and employers in order to better manage the transformative impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on employment, skills and education in Brazil.

The construction industry is an essential component of the U.S. economy, yet even amid good wages, construction companies are having trouble finding enough individuals who are ready for work in the industry, and they fear they will not be able to do so in the future because training options for potential workers are inadequate. Better training options are needed. Much research has pointed to soft and academic skills as necessary skills for successful workers that are missing from worker preparation programs, but little has been done to establish an actual correlation between these skills and workforce readiness. In this study, the underlying premise was that students who spend more time on learning tasks are more engaged and will be more likely to be successful in school. As such, time on task (TOT) was defined as the time construction students spent in school preparing for competition at SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC). TOT was measured for three skill sets: academic, soft, and hard skills. The results were correlated with student success at NLSC to determine if related preparation led to increased success in the competition (the proxy for workforce readiness in this study). The results across skills sets showed that competitors at this high level of competition spent a high percentage of their TOT integrating the skill sets. In addition, multiple hierarchical regression analyses were performed with the TOT in the three subscales and competition placement. Overall, related results suggested some limited correlation between skill set integration and final placement at NLSC. In this regard, it is possible that the homogeneity of the population likely limits the generalizability of results.

No description available.

No description available.