beSMART

DISCOURSE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT OF ESL LEARNERS
AT THE BASIC EDUCATION LEVEL

Antonio M. Asuncion, Ph.D.

Studies showed that the learners’ interlanguage exhibits acquisition order and developmental pattern. Empirical evidence of systematicity was provided by morpheme studies which led to the postulation of natural order hypothesis. This study aimed to determine the development of discourse skills as revealed in the written narratives of elementary pupils in three grade levels. It also aimed to find out if the development of discourse skills among the English as Second Language (ESL) learners follows a natural order as in the acquisition of morphemes. The
longitudinal study presented and encapsulated a description of the development that the pupils go through in the acquisition of macro and micro discourse skills, as reflected in their written narratives in Grade 4, Grade 5, and Grade 6. Particularly it utilized the narrative compositions of 74 pupils when they were in Grades 4, 5 and 6, which yielded the discourse features that provided the corpus of this study…………………………

Acquisition, Discourse Skills, Functions, Narrative discourse macro pattern, Narrative discourse micro pattern, Sequence, Systematic variability, Variability.

IMPORTANCE OF ACADEMIC SUPPORT SERVICES : AN ASSESSMENT BY THE STUDENT OF OMAN

Dr. Cecilia Junio-Sabio

This research paper makes an attempt to assess the relative importance of academic support services provided by Gulf College as per its students’ assessment. For this, a self-designed and validated questionnaire with Likert scales was used for six academic support services viz., (1) registration and admission services, (2) library services, (3) information and learning technology services, (4) academic advising, (5) student learning support services, and (6) teaching resources. Descriptive statistics, particularly weighted mean, was used, to get an overall assessment. To delimit the population and for determining the sample size, Sloven’s formula was utilized. Simple random sampling was utilized to give the population an equal chance of being selected. The findings revealed that students generally find all the six academic support services provided by the College to be important there by implying that any Higher Education Institution (HEI) should really give emphasis on improving the provision of their academic support services as the benefit redounds in the students’ overall development.

Academic support, student services, Gulf College

CONFIDENCE-MOTIVATION-SATISFACTION-PERFORMANCE(CMSP) ANALYSIS OF BLENDED LEARNING SYSTEM IN ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY BAHRAIN

KNOWLEDGE RECORD AND KNOWLEDGE
PRESERVATION: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE AT
MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

M. Saufi, C. Rusuli, Tasmin, R., Takala, J.

International Journal of Information Technology and Business Management  pp 030 – 039   Vol 03. No. 1 — 2012

Today, an evolving set of Knowledge Management Practices (KMP) in libraries has grown tremendously in research and publication. By exploring and expanding from the previous research that has found to have a significant impact and gaps in KMP, this Paper intends to propose a conceptual framework of KMP at Malaysian university libraries. This paper emphasizes the core of knowledge processes such as Knowledge Create (KCr), Knowledge Acquisition (KAc), Knowledge Capture (KCa), and Knowledge Sharing (KSh). However, Knowledge Record (KRe) and Knowledge Preserving (KPr) are the new processes and gaps, as identified in literature survey, are expected to have a positive relation to KMP and as borne out in this research. As emphasized in this study, filling these "knowledge gaps‟, it is hoped, would not only add to the existing knowledge but also provide a new direction for future research.

Knowledge management practice, Malaysia, Knowledge record, Knowledge preserving, University libraries.

THE DAY-OF-THE-WEEK EFFECT IN SELECTED
BALANCED FUNDS IN THE PHILIPPINES

The returns of selected balanced funds in the Philippines were tested for conformity with the dayof-the-week effect. Annual and cumulative analyses (Almonte, 2012) were conducted for the years 2006 to 2010. The results of the Kruskal-Wallis Test indicate that, for at least one fund, Thursday returns are higher than the returns of other days in the week. Therefore, similar with the implication of maximizing earnings (Almonte, 2004; 2012), an investor might one to time his or her redemptions (i.e. selling transactions) on a specific day where returns are high (in this case, on a Thursday).

market efficiency, day-of-the-week effect, mutual funds

PHARMACEUTICALS LAW MANAGEMENT: ASSESSMENT OF FEASIBILITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THE UNIVERSALLY ACCESSIBLE CHEAPER MEDICINES ACT OF 2008

Cristina Teresa N.Lim

The study aimed to assess if Republic Act No. 9502, otherwise known as Cheaper Medicines Act of 2008 has been adequately implemented in making cardiovascular medicines accessible and affordable in the Philippines. Sample respondents from the City of Manila, Makati City and Quezon were interviewed. These include pharmaceutical companies, pharmacists, cardiologists, internal medicine specialists, and out-patients from charity wards of selected public and private hospitals and drugstores were interviewed. Results of the study showed that after two years of the implementation of the Act, medicines are still expensive and branded medicines are still dispensed, prescribed and purchased more than generic medicines. Stakeholders have low level of perception of the Act resulting to non-compliance. They also believed that the Act is not strong enough to enforce generic prescription while patients are apprehensive of the effectiveness of generic medicines. Pharmaceutical companies experienced a decreased in the production output, thus, pharmaceutical companies were not encouraged to manufacture and offer for sale generic medicines.

Accessible, affordable, generics

CALENDAR EFFECTS IN THE PHILIPPINE STOCK
MARKET

The returns of the Philippine stock market’s Composite Index (PSEi) were tested for conformity with Fama’s (1970) weak form of market efficiency (Almonte, 2004) using daily values from 2001 to 2010. Analyses were made annually and cumulatively. The results revealed the existence of a day-of-the-week effect, the month-of-the-year effect was evidently absent, and the quarter-of-the-year effect was also absent with the exception of the phenomenon occurring in 2002. Thus, generally, traders are advised to buy equities on a Tuesday and sell them on a Thursday or Friday.

weak form of market efficiency, day-of-the-week effect, month-of-the-year effect, quarter-of-the-year effect, stock market