Journal of Instruction and Evaluation: 2 (38)

Open Access Article

1 - The Factor Analysis, validity, Reliability and Standardization of Teacher Violence Scale (TVS) among High School and Pre University Students
Tahereh Pazhoohi Mohammad Ali Nadi

The aim of this research was to construct and validate the teacher violence scale, which measures different forms of violent behaviors displayed by teachers against students. 374 students were selected from Gachsaran through randomized categorical sampling as a sample, More

The aim of this research was to construct and validate the teacher violence scale, which measures different forms of violent behaviors displayed by teachers against students. 374 students were selected from Gachsaran through randomized categorical sampling as a sample, which responded to Piskin et al.ʼs (2014) teacher violence scale and Nadi and Alsafiʼs (2013) teachersʼ retaliatory behaviors questionnaire. The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients were found to be 0.90 for the entire scale, and 0.87, 0.79, 0.85, 0.72 and 0.77 for physical violence, taunting, critics, oppress and sexual violence respectively. The exploratory factor analysis of the scale showed that it has five factors with opimal fit indices (p>0.05). Moreover, this scale can be used as a diagnostic instrument to determine the extent of teacher violence at schools Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

2 - The Effect of Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) on Reducing Test Anxiety and Enhancing Academic Performance in Physics
Khadijeh Yoseflo Heidar Ali Zarei

The purpose of the present study is to determine the effectiveness of Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) on reducing test anxiety and enhancing academic performance of Iranian female secondary students in physics during academic year 1393-1394. The research method was qu More

The purpose of the present study is to determine the effectiveness of Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) on reducing test anxiety and enhancing academic performance of Iranian female secondary students in physics during academic year 1393-1394. The research method was quasi experimental with the experimental and control groups. To do this, forty students were selected through convenience sampling technique out of the research population, which included all students suffering from test anxiety. The research sample was then randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The experimental group had been under group intervention with an approach based on stress inoculation training (SIT) for eight sessions. During this period, no intervention on control group was done. The research instruments were Philipʼs test Anxiety Questionnaire (PAQ) and scores in physics which were used for both groups during the pretest and posttest. The researchers used Analysis of Covariance to analyze the obtained data. The results showed that Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) led to decreased test anxiety and increased academic performance of the experimental group during the posttest (p< 0/05). Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

3 - The Role of Teachersʼ Professional Competencies in Predicting Mathematical Achievement of Students in Rregular and Special Schools
Hossein Motahhari Nejad Fardad Fatehi Chenar

The aim of this research was to determine the role of teachersʼ professional competencies predicting mathematical achievement of students in regular and special schools. To this end, a sample consisting of 363 boy students of high schools in Rafsanjan (210 from regular More

The aim of this research was to determine the role of teachersʼ professional competencies predicting mathematical achievement of students in regular and special schools. To this end, a sample consisting of 363 boy students of high schools in Rafsanjan (210 from regular schools and 153 from special schools) were selected. To measure the academic achievement of the students, their math scores were used and to determine the professional competencies of math teachers, a questionnaire was used. After exploratory factor analysis of the questionnaire, three factors including competencies of cognitive, affective and skill were identified. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the fundamental factors were found to be 0.88, 0.87 and 0.83, respectively. The results of the convergent and discriminant validities showed that the questionnaire had sufficiently good validity. Then, math teachers’ professional competencies from the students' point of view were prioritized. The results showed that between competencies of cognitive, affective and skill of math teachers and mathematical achievement of the students there was a positive relationship and that its amount in special schools was more than regular schools. It was found that skill competencies of teachers in regular schools and affective competencies of teachers in special schools can be predictors of the studentsʼ mathematical achievement. Finally, the importances of professional competencies in the process of training, attraction and performance appraisal of math teachers were emphasized. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

4 - Predicting the Quality of Female Teachers’ Work Life based on Work-Family Conflict and Organizational
rahmkhoda javadi Mohsen Rasouli Ali Mohammad Nazari Jafar Hassani

The purpose of the current study was to predict the quality of female teachers’ work life based on work-family conflict and organizational commitment. The population of the study included all married female teachers who were teaching in primary, first and second g More

The purpose of the current study was to predict the quality of female teachers’ work life based on work-family conflict and organizational commitment. The population of the study included all married female teachers who were teaching in primary, first and second grade high schools during the academic year 1393-1394, among whom 128 teachers were selected through multistage stratified random sampling as the sample of the study. The design of the study was descriptive-correlational and the instruments included the questionnaires of quality of work life (Walton, 1973), work-family conflict (Rastegar Khaled, 1385), and organizational commitment (Allen & Meyer, 1990). The research data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise regression analysis. The results revealed that there was a meaningful relation between the indices of work-family conflict and organizational commitment with dimensions of the quality of work life. Also, there was a negative significant relationship (P≤0.05) between work-family conflict (interference of work role with family role, subscales of family and work role interface, and overload of family role and overload of work role) and dimensions of the quality of work life. Moreover, there was a positive significant relationship between organizational commitments (affective continuance and normative commitment) and dimensions of the quality of work life (P≤0.05). Additionally, the stepwise regression analysis showed that the “interference of work role with family role” together with “normative commitment” and “interference of family role with work role” can predict the total score of the quality of work life (P≤0.05). It can be concluded that the indices of work-family conflict and organizational commitment can predict dimensions of the quality of work life Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

5 - Structural Equation Modeling in Teaching Effectiveness of Upper Secondary Level Math Teachers in East of Mazandaran during the Educational Year 2015-16
Hossein Ali Zaraei Ommo Kolsoum Golam Hosseinzadeh Mahdi Charmchian Langroudi

The purpose of this study was to model teaching effectiveness of upper secondary level math teachers in east of Mazandaran during the educational year 2015-2016. The research methodology in this descriptive study was a survey type. The research sample included 214 peopl More

The purpose of this study was to model teaching effectiveness of upper secondary level math teachers in east of Mazandaran during the educational year 2015-2016. The research methodology in this descriptive study was a survey type. The research sample included 214 people among whom, based on random sampling and using Krejcie and Morgan table, 134 math teachers (male and female) were selected. The questionnaire was checked by the supervisor, advisor and a panel of experts to ensure its content validity. The data gathering tool was a researcher made questionnaire (with the validity of 0.929) with six parts including teaching skills, class management, in-service training, problem solving skills, and educational tools, including 44 questions.  To analyze the data, the descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, were calculated, using SPSS and LISREL softwares.  The results showed that there was a meaningful relationship between teaching skills, class management, in-service training, problem solving skills, educational tools, and educational planning and teachers’ teaching effectiveness. Structural equation revealed that 94 percent the effectiveness can be explained by problem solving skills and teaching process skills. Regarding the teaching of math teachers, it is recommended that due attention should be paid to parentsʼ involvement in the educational process of their children in order to encourage teachers to provide more activites, to welcome studentsʼ interaction with each other to study and provide solutions for the posed problems in the class and to each problem solving skills to improve studentsʼ learning Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

6 - Effectiveness of Problem Solving Training on Dysfunctional Attitudes and Irrational Beliefs of Third Grade-High School Students in Sanandaj
Hassan Garibi Sara Javanmardi Changiz Rostami

The current study was designed to determine the effectiveness of problem solving training on dysfunctional attitudes and irrational beliefs of third grade-high school students. This research, in terms of purpose, is an applied inquiry and in terms of implementation is q More

The current study was designed to determine the effectiveness of problem solving training on dysfunctional attitudes and irrational beliefs of third grade-high school students. This research, in terms of purpose, is an applied inquiry and in terms of implementation is quasi-experimental with pre-post test that was executed among high school female students in Sanandaj in 2015. The sampling method was based on random multi-phase clustering. The sample included in two the experimental and control groups randomly selected, each containing 15 people. After selecting the participants and assigning them to the experimental and control groups, the researcher did not provide the control group with any training but the experimental group received 10 one-hour problem solving training sessions based on Hepner and Peterson problem solving skills. In order to collect the data, the irrational beliefs Questionnaire of Jones, and Wisemanʼs Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale have been used. At the end of the experiment, the post test was performed in the experimental and control groups. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics such as the mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics such as ANCOVA and MANCOVA were used. The results indicated that problem solving skills training affect the dysfunctional attitudes and irrational beliefs, such that the attitudes and irrational beliefs decreased as the problem solving skills improved. Also, the covariance analysis results indicated that by eliminating the effectss of the scores of the subgroups of irrational beliefs in the pre-test as a covariate variable, the main effect of training on the scores of irrational beliefs in all dimensions in the post-test is significant Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

7 - A Comparison of Highly Successful, Moderately Successful, and Unsuccessful Test-Takers’ Performance on EFL Reading Comprehension Test Regarding Test Taking Strategies Use
Maryam Bahardoust Alireza Ahmadi

Because of the crucial role of test taking strategies in the test taking process, this paper set out to investigate whether EFL test takers differ in using cognitive and metacognitive test taking strategies or not. In addition, the study aimed at finding how the test ta More

Because of the crucial role of test taking strategies in the test taking process, this paper set out to investigate whether EFL test takers differ in using cognitive and metacognitive test taking strategies or not. In addition, the study aimed at finding how the test takers might differ in their performance on different aspects of reading comprehension test. To this end, 130 female EFL learners who ranged in age from 19-21 were selected based on their availability to participate in the study. These university students were majoring in different fields of study including architecture, electronics, computer science, and hotel management. A reading comprehension test, a questionnaire, and a retrospective interview were the main instruments used to collect the data. The strategies of guessing, prior knowledge, translating, note taking, and underlining, as cognitive strategies and planning, self-management, and monitoring as metacognitive strategies were focused in this study,. Analysis of the data indicated that there was not a significant difference between highly, moderately, and unsuccessful test takers in their use of cognitive and metacognitive test taking strategies. However, based on the results of this study, there was a significant difference in the performance of highly, moderately, and unsuccessful learners on different reading comprehension items. The highly successful test takers appeared to perform more effectively than the moderately and unsuccessful test takers in responding to the reading comprehension items including main idea, factual information, vocabulary, and reference Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

8 - The Effect of Teaching Critical Thinking Skills on Iranian Advanced EFL Learners' Motivation
Parvaneh Rajati Nasrin Hadidi Tamjid Saeedeh Ahangari

Critical thinking, being one of the many skills teachers should teach, might be of great advantage to learners in improving their motivation. The present study was an attempt to probe the effect of teaching critical thinking skills on the Iranian advanced EFL learners' More

Critical thinking, being one of the many skills teachers should teach, might be of great advantage to learners in improving their motivation. The present study was an attempt to probe the effect of teaching critical thinking skills on the Iranian advanced EFL learners' motivation. The study was carried out at Simin language center in Tabriz. From among 60 initial participants, 42 were selected based on the results of TOEFL Proficiency test. Then, the selected participants were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group, each consisting of 21 participants. A motivation questionnaire, adopted from Salimi (2000), including 36 items on a 5- point Likert Scale, was administered at the beginning of the study to the students in both experimental and control groups in order to evaluate their motivation. Subsequently, the Watson and Glaser (1980) critical thinking appraisal, comprising 80 items on five subtests, representing critical thinking sub skills, were instructed to the 21 students in the experimental group.. The sub skills of critical thinking included skills such as inference, recognition of assumptions, deduction, interpretation, and evaluation of arguments. The instructional treatment took 10 sessions twice a week for advanced students. In each session, 20 minutes were devoted to the treatment. The traditional instruction was conducted in the control group. Analyzing the motivation scores, attained through independent samples t-test at the end of the treatment, and showed that teaching critical thinking skills had significant effect on enhancing the participantsʼ motivation. The obtained results have some implications for teachers. Through applying critical thinking skills in their classes, teachers can help their students enhance their motivation, and thus, improve their learning Manuscript profile

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