Two graduates from CIE are authors of papers which are in the top ten downloads of the nearly 48,000 papers on the UMass Scholarworks site. The capstone research projects of two CIE Master’s graduates are ranked in the top ten based on the average number of full-text downloads per day since the papers were posted. Papers on Scholarworks are available via the internet from anywhere in the world and can be downloaded for free.
The research paper of Javid Mussawy was ranked fourth on the list of ten and has been downloaded over 58,000 times since it was posted in 2015. The paper, Assessment Practices: Student’s and Teachers’ Perceptions of Classroom Assessment - explores pre-service teachers’ perceptions of classroom assessment. The paper also explores the perceptions of faculty members about classroom assessment and their expectations of student learning. In addition the study examines the extent to which assessment results were used to improve student learning and classroom instruction. The research was carried out at Baghlan University in northern Afghanistan.
Javid is currently a doctoral student at CIE where he earlier completed a Master’s degree in 2009 before returning to Afghanistan. Upon his return, he served in successive positions at Baghlan University until he was appointed and served for six years as the Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
The Master’s research project of Yuri Kumagai was ranked sixth on the download list and has been downloaded over 30,000 times since it was posted in 2015. The paper, The Effects of Culture on Language Learning and Ways of Communication: The Japanese Case, was completed in 2009.
The paper examines how cultural values, beliefs and norms can sometimes interfere with the learning of a foreign language. Her analysis focuses primarily on the Japanese methods of learning and using English. The research describes some of the verbal and non-verbal features of Japanese language behaviors to understand how they affect the ways in which Japanese express themselves in English. Her study outlines the implications of her findings for the ways English is taught to Japanese speakers.
Dr. Kumagai is currently a Senior Lecturer at Smith College where she teaches courses at all levels of Japanese language as well as a culture course. She has developed a project-based language and culture learning curriculum in collaboration with other language teacher-researchers worldwide. She has published books and articles in both Japanese and English on topics including critical literacy, multi-literacies in foreign language, analysis of classroom discourse and interactions, and ideology and language.
To see other Master’s projects, doctoral dissertations, research and project papers produced by CIE visit CIE Scholarworks which currently contains over 600 documents.