This action research aims to trace the development of a model of portfolio for formative assessment in a non-credit, remedial writing skills’ course at a private higher education institute in Karachi. It is aimed to gain holistic insights into the ways portfolio is used, the benefits that emerged and the challenges that arose. At higher education level, writing is mainly assessed through traditional methods, which have several limitations (Sahakian, 2009). A portfolio has the potential to overcome these limitations. Most of the studies on portfolios in ESL/EFL settings employ quantitative methodology (e.g., Moradan & Hedayati, 2011; Öztürk & Çeçen, 2007; Qinghua, 2010; Tabatabaei & Assefi, 2012) and a few of them are action researches. Drawing upon multiple sources for data collection that was subjected to thematic analysis, it was found that portfolios enhanced students’ writing abilities in terms of producing paragraphs with better organisation and clearer sentences, citing evidences for arguments, and demonstrating awareness of metacognitive strategies. For these benefits, the students found the teacher’s feedback particularly useful. Portfolios also allowed focus on critical thinking skills rather than reproducing content knowledge, provided a clear means of monitoring progress, and fostered students’ creativity. These perceived benefits were consistent with previous findings. However, the challenges were that most of the students did not consistently meet the submission deadlines and maintain the portfolio in the prescribed order. Moreover, some students displayed negative attitudes towards revision. Despite these challenges, the educational value of portfolios cannot be denied. The implications of these findings relate to the issue of students’ ownership of work, assessing their work in a formative context, and the difficulty of changing their attitudes towards formative assessment. Pedagogical suggestions for improving the portfolio model are offered for English language teachers of tertiary level students. At the end, recommendations for the stakeholders are presented.
ڈاکٹر جوہر قاضی والدہ تعزیت رُکن مجلسِ ادارت اعزازی ماہنامہ برہان ڈاکٹر جوہر قاضی کی والدہ محترمہ ۵؍ جولائی ۱۹۹۷ء کو شنبہ کی صبح مختصر علالت کے بعد دہلی میں اپنی رہائش گاہ پر انتقال کرگئیں۔انا ﷲ وانا الیہ راجعون۔ مرحومہ کی عمر تقریباً پچھترسال تھی۔ وہ ایک دین دار خاتون تھیں۔ان کی وفات بلاشبہ ڈاکٹر جوہر قاضی،اہل خاندان اوران کے رفیق سفر جناب حکیم قاضی محمدیٰسین عالم صاحب مدیر اعلیٰ ماہنامہ ’راحت وصحت‘ کے لیے ایک عظیم صدمہ ہے۔ میں اپنی طرف سے اور کارکنانِ ادارہ کی طرف سے دعا کرتا ہوں کہ اﷲ تعالیٰ مرحومہ کواپنے جوار رحمت میں جگہ دے اور لواحقین کو صبرجمیل عطا فرمائے۔ ہم جناب ڈاکٹر جوہرقاضی اوران کے اہل خاندان کے اس غم میں برابر کے شریک ہیں۔مجھے بذاتِ خوداس سانحۂ ارتحال سے سخت جھٹکا لگاہے۔ [عمیدالرحمن عثمانی،جولائی واگست ۱۹۹۷ء]
Rehabilitation forms an important tire in well operating health care systems. Within the areas as mentioned on the World Health Organisation factsheet about rehabilitation the therapeutic professions such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, prosthetists and orthotists and clinical psychologists play an important role. They do not only treat people’s conditions such as diseases, disorders, injuries or trauma, they furthermore promote good health and help to prevent diseases. This can significantly lead to better overall wellbeing of the population. To gain the best client outcome and support the health care system in an effective way, regulation is as important as interprofessional collaboration. Thus there is an intense need to highlight these two main aspects to ensure quality rehabilitation provided by therapeutic professionals.
This study was designed to test the path-goal theory of leadership in Pakistan telecom (mobile) industry. The
study explored relationship between leadership behaviors (directive, supportive, participative and
achievement-oriented) of middle managers and job satisfaction of subordinates. Path-goal leadership model
attempts to explain the impact of leader behavior on the subordinate motivation, satisfaction and
performance.
Leadership behaviors (directive, supportive, participative and achievement-oriented) of managers were
measured through leader behavior items. Subordinates’ satisfaction was measured by the job descriptive
index. While job expectancy I and job expectancy II were measured through job expectancy scale. The four
path-goal leader behaviors, seven moderating variables and nine subordinates’ outcomes were measured
through the instrument comprising of 189 items. Further, the results of study were obtained by testing 28
hypotheses.
The analysis suggested that the moderating variables influence preference for a particular type of leadership
behavior (by the subordinate) and leader behavior has an impact on subordinate satisfaction, job expectancy
(I&II) and acceptance of leader. Leader behavior affects satisfaction directly. Further subordinate satisfaction
has a direct effect on the subordinate performance which is further influenced by the task demand. There was
no difference between male and female respondents regarding any dependent measure. Moreover, the
direction of association between variables is not known and it is difficult to predict accurately without further
research, which is replicated and revalidated.
Due to time constraints, the research has several limitations. Recommendations are made for future study,
particularly replication in the public and private sectors to ensure validity which will help in determining
causal relationship between leader behavior and subordinate satisfaction.