CAUSES OF SCHOOL ABSENTEEISM: CONFLICT EXPERIENCES OF PUPILS OF THE CHILDREN SOCIALIZATION CENTRE

Destructive conflicts between a pupil and a teacher are considered to be one of the main reasons for avoiding school. Inappropriately managed conflicts lead to negative attitudes toward teachers and a school, course fear of the school. As a result of avoiding comes decrease in academic achievements, deteriorating relationships, dropping out of school. Research conducted in Lithuania shows that conflicts are often resolved in violation of the students’ rights and regardless of their interests; the applied forcing and avoiding strategies lead to conflict escalation as both the number of its participants and its objects increases, the actions of the conflict resolution process become more stringent. Therefore, the aim of the study is to reveal the courses of conflicts due to absenteeism. Applied research method is interview; data analysis method is thematic content analysis. 4 students of Children Socialization Centre were interviewed to gain information on the causes of their school nonattendance. Research results show that 4 main types of reasons are to be identified such as learning difficulties; usage of alcohol and drug; rejection of help of specialists; influence of the authority of friends. The study emphasizes the importance of preventing the escalation of conflicts in schools, and provides insights into alternatives for their constructive management.

STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD TEACHERS’ CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK

Recently we have done some research about feedback and student’s attitude toward it. The objective of the research is to explore learner attitudes to correction of mistakes or feedback as a language learning tool in oral, electronically- and paper-written work as well as peer correction of mistakes. Feedback is a method used in the teaching of languages to improve performance by sharing observations, concerns and suggestions with regard to written work or oral presentation. It includes not only correcting learners, but also assessing them. Both correction and assessment depend on mistakes being made, reasons for mistakes, and class activities. Recently the value of feedback in language studies has been a matter of debate among language teaching practitioners. The research into the effects of feedback is far from conclusive. Teachers’ and students’ expectations toward feedback are found to be opposing, and the most frequent reason given its negative impact on students’ confidence and motivation. However, at the university level the issue of feedback has been examined in passing and there is insufficient research into learner attitudes to feedback in English for Specific Purposes. The hypothesis for the present study is to find out whether criticism has a negative impact on student confidence and whether perceptions of feedback depend on professional specialization

THE ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS OF 1911-1914 YEARS TO SOLVE THE TEARCHERS’ PROBLEM

The article deals with the issues of preparation and retraining of teachers, as well as the problems of their financial and legal status, which became the subject of consideration of the pedagogical congresses of 1911– 1914. The study identifies ways to address these issues that were proposed by participants in educational congresses. There is a gradual democratization of education, a revision of the requirements for vocational training and retraining of teachers, their status, national and religious characteristics, and political preferences. The preconditions of scientific approach to pedagogy and necessity of university pedagogical education are considered. The study of the pedagogical congresses of 1911–1914 allows to argue that during this period, educators were deeply concerned about the problems of teaching: the issues of teacher training and retraining, their financial and legal status, as well as during this period, there were first attempts to democratize education and attitudes toward teachers: the issue of the abolition of restrictions on national and religious grounds was discussed, conditions for the admission and dismissal of teachers were prescribed, commissions were created that objectively examine each case and listen to the explanations of the teacher, who was accused of something. One of the characteristics of that period was the transition to a scientific approach to pedagogy and the justification of the need for university teaching education. It should be noted that many of the issues that were considered during the congresses of the mentioned period remain relevant even in the 21st century. Among the prospects for further research, we can mention the consideration of these issues in the dynamics during the next pedagogical congresses and the implementation of decisions taken at these congresses and their influence on the development of education in our country.

INVESTIGATING IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD TEACHERS’ CODE SWITCHING

Code switching is defined as change in language teaching to help learners understand the EFL points. Code switching can be enjoyed at different times in the EFL classes by the teachers and may be as a safe help to understand and comprehend the points and materials. The present paper is to analyze and study the Iranian learners’ attitudes toward teachers’ code switching in EFL classrooms. The researchers enjoyed a questionnaire adopted from a study done by Yao (2011). The questionnaire had 20 items in different topics. The learners’ attitudes toward the questionnaire’s items were stated in percentage form. The findings showed that most of the learners had a positive look toward code switching by their teachers because some EFL points are really difficult to understand and it is better to change the language of teaching and help learners achieve the EFL points.

Migrant Students' Perceptions of Teachers, School and Self

The number of returning migrants of school age in Puerto Rico has increased dramatically in the past five years. This study explored the perceptions of returning migrants and circulating migrant students of teachers, school, and self in Puerto Rico and the United States. The sample of 117 were recent arrivals from the mainland to the southern part of Puerto Rico. The circulating migrant students had more positive attitudes toward teachers, school, and self on the mainland than in Puerto Rico. The returning migrant students expressed a positive feeling toward school, teachers, and self in Puerto Rico.